Alberta Construction Magazine December 2011

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REBUILDING sLavE LakEafter the wildfireP A G E 2 3

DIaLING Back thE pasta building’s revivalP A G E 7 0

GLazE INto thE fUtUREnew glass technologiesP A G E 7 9

PLUS | ECA celebrates 80th Anniversary PAGE 69

Winter 2011 | $8.00

We reveal the winners of Alberta’s outstanding construction projects

for 2011

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Imperial Oil is a trademark of Imperial Oil Limited, Imperial Oil, licensee. Mobil and the Pegasus design are trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corporation or one of its subsidiaries, Imperial Oil Licensee.

Whether you build, produce, manufacture, run or generate, one fact is clear: better lubricants and better lubricant suppliers lead to increased productivity. That’s why Imperial Oil is proud to offer Mobil Industrial Lubricants – recognized worldwide by more than 5000 equipment builders. With the combination of Mobil Industrial Lubricants and Imperial Oil expertise, we don’t just elevate productivity – we help unleash it. Visit www.imperialoil.ca for more information.

Envision a world that doesn’t just turn. It flies.

Let’s flip back the pages of time and look at what happened in late 2001:• Enron Corp. filed for bankruptcy.• Hamid Karzai was sworn in as the interim leader in Afghanistan.• Shell Canada Limited’s Athabasca Oil Sands Project was still months away from starting.• The Detroit Red Wings were into a season that would see them eventually face the

Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup finals, giving Scotty Bowman his ninth Cup win.• Alberta Construction Magazine published its first issue recognizing the year’s top

construction projects.It’s no accident that last bullet point was included. This is a milestone issue, marking

the 10th anniversary of Top Projects.Who could have predicted what would have happened between late 2001 and now?

The boom. The bust. The labour challenges. The spike in oil prices and what that has meant for Alberta. The growth in population for the province. The amount of construc-tion the industry has taken on.

The first Top Projects feature singled out 20 projects that then-editor Darrell Stonehouse wrote “showed off the creativity of Alberta’s design community and the inventiveness of the province’s builders.”

Reviewing the 38 projects submitted for that first Top Projects issue “offered an opportunity to see where Alberta’s construction industry is headed in the future, and many of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead,” Stonehouse noted. Among his observations:• For commercial projects, there would be growth in building renovations.• In the institutional market, designers and builders would be doing more with less.• On the industrial side, logistics would become paramount as more emphasis was placed

on modular construction.• In civil construction, new project delivery methods would allow value-engineering to

cut costs where opportunities presented themselves.Pretty accurate. Certainly things have changed since we published the first Top Projects

Awards a decade ago. But as the projects chosen by the 2011 judging panel of Randy Kraft and Jacob Coonan of KPMG LLP—the event sponsor of the inaugural Alberta Construction Magazine Top Projects Awards gala luncheon where these winners were announced—Stonehouse (yes, we convinced him to help judge) and myself illustrate, the creativity of Alberta’s design community and the inventiveness of the province’s builders are still going strong.

Congrats to all those a part of the 13 Top Projects chosen this year. May your best years be still ahead.

Chaz Osburn editor’s note [email protected]

Coming next issue: The Green Issue

Alberta Construction Magazine | 7

PreSident & CeOBill Whitelaw • [email protected]

interiM PUBLiSHer & editOrChaz Osburn • [email protected]

aSSiStant editOrJoseph Caouette • [email protected]

editOriaL aSSiStanCe ManagerSamantha Kapler • [email protected]

editOriaL Editorial Assistance Kate Austin, Laura Blackwood, Tracey Comeau,

Marisa Kurlovich • [email protected]

Contributors Candance Ball, Godfrey Budd, Diane L.M. Cook, Randy Kraft, Karen Lamminen, Tricia Radison

CreativePrint, Prepress & Production Manager Michael Gaffney • [email protected] Publications Manager Audrey Sprinkle • [email protected] Director Ken Bessie • [email protected] Services Manager Tamara Polloway-Webb • [email protected] Angie Castaldi • [email protected] Cathlene Ozubko • [email protected] Services Janelle Johnson, Jeremy Seeman • [email protected] Photographers Aaron Parker, Joey Podlubny

SaLeSDirector of Sales Rob Pentney • [email protected] Sales Manager—Magazines Maurya Sokolon • [email protected] Account Representative Della Gray • [email protected] Ad Traffic Coordinator—Magazines Denise MacKay • [email protected] Inquiries • [email protected]

Marketing and CirCULatiOnMarketing/Trade Show Coordinator Jeannine Dryden • [email protected] Designer Corinne McKetiak • [email protected]

OFFiCeSCalgary:

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Email: [email protected] Construction Magazine is owned by

JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group and is published bimonthly.©2011 1080550 Glacier Media Inc.

All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher. The

opinions expressed by contributors to Alberta Construction Magazine may not represent the official views of the magazine. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, the

publisher does not assume any responsibility or liability for errors or omissions. Printed by PrintWest

Postage Paid in Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaIf undeliverable return to: Circulation Department,

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featuresSPECIAL FEATURE

23 Rebuilding Slave LakeDevastated by May wildfire, town prepares for an intensive rebuild By Joseph Caouette

24 Rough road aheadThe long process of restoring Slave Lake’s battered infrastructure will take patience and ingenuityBy Joseph Caouette

27 No sleep yetLocal contractor working around the clock to “make a difference in this town” By Joseph Caouette

29 Lending a handOut-of-town construction companies have a part to play in Slave Lake rebuild By Joseph Caouette

REDUCE, REUSE, REJUVENATE

70 Dialing back the pastRevival of a piece of Edmonton’s history is music to the ears of the building’s new owners—and others By Tricia Radison

BUILDING BLOCKS

75 Sprouting upGreen roofs are increasingly part of the design and construction of new buildings By Tricia Radison

79 Glass technologies promise to change the way we look at the worldBy Diane L.M. Cook

Glaze into the future

8 | Winter 2011

Volume 31, Number 4Published Winter 2011contents

13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nuts & Bolts 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Around Canada 61 . . . . People, Products & Projects 67 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ACA Report 69 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ECA Report 85 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trade Talk 91 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Business of Building 96 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Safety & Security 105 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Legal Edge 108 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time Capsule

35 TOP PROJECTSAnd the winners are...Alberta’s top construction projects of 2011

COver STORY 23

DEPARTMENTS

70

79 Glass technologies promise to change the way we look at the worldBy Diane L.M. Cook


10 | Winter 2011

contributors

Calgary-based freelancer GODfreY BuDD is a veteran writer, contributing many articles for industry magazines and business periodicals on western Canada’s energy industry and Alberta’s construction sector. He reports on building envelopes, which begins on page 91.

trICIa raDIsON, who contributes several pieces to this issue, is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Alberta Construction Magazine and other magazines published by JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group. Radison is an avid reader and expert researcher. She lives in Calgary.

CaNDICe G. BaLL, who researched and wrote this issue’s Time Capsule, is formerly of Calgary, but now lives in Winnipeg. She has covered everything from literature and theatre to construction and oilsands. Her articles have appeared in Alberta-based publications such as Avenue Magazine and Impact Magazine, and national publications such as Canadian School Counsellor. She is a former editor of Alberta Construction Magazine.

DIaNe L.M. COOK frequently writes for JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group trade publications, including Oilweek, Oilsands Review and Alberta Construction Magazine. A freelance writer, she lives in Calgary.

M-Series loaders from Bobcat have big performance, big cabs and big benefits for operators. And now they’re just plain bigger. The NEW S850 and T870 are the biggest machines in our loader lineup, with tremendous operating capacity and the highest lift height in the industry. Pay us a visit and M-POWER yourself with these powerful new loaders from Bobcat – the biggest name in compact equipment.

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How well your equipment performs has a major impact on how well your business performs. That’s why, for more

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TABLE Of CONteNts

nuts & boltsNEWS BRIEfS fOR ThE BuSy CONSTRuCTION PROfESSIONAL

CELEBRATING COLD-WEATHER CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY

Caption

there was a time—some of you may remember those days—when construction in Alberta ground to a halt when the harsh winter weather set in. That was before cold-climate construction technology enabled workers to stick with a job no matter how low the thermometer dropped.

A new six-week event called Metropolis, scheduled to kick off December 31 in Edmonton, uses cold-climate construction in a way no other public festival around the world does. Six free-standing, heated temporary structures made from Aluma Systems construction scaffolding are being assembled on Sir Winston Churchill Square and will be covered with white shrink wrap to serve as pavilions during the festival. A variety of activities including food, music, live entertainment and interactive exhibits will be offered.

These structures are truly one of a kind. Architects from Canada were invited by festi-val organizer Events Edmonton to design the pavilions. They are: Observation Tower: Craig henderson, hIP Architects, Edmonton.Community Centre: Gene Dub, Dub Architects Limited, Edmonton.Children’s Pavilion: Giuseppe Albi, Edmonton.Information Technology: Taymore Balbaa, Atelier3AM, Toronto.POLAR brewhouse: Richard Isaac, Manasc Isaac Architects Ltd., Edmonton.Taste of Winter: Bill Chomik, Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd., Calgary.

Giuseppe Albi, general manager of Events Edmonton, hopes Metropolis gains an international reputation in the years to come.

hold on to your hat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

And while we’re on the subject of elevators… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

A first for Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Taking aim at metal thieves . . . . . . 15

Eight ways to close the productivity gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Pipeline project estimate: $1.2 billion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

STARS and industry team up to build magic at gala . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

These artist renderings give you an idea of what the structures to be built with scaffolding will look like.


▶ Aerial platform▶ Backhoe▶ Counter balance forklift▶ Excavators▶ Narrow aisle forklift

▶ Picker truck▶ Pavers▶ Rough terrain forklift

(zoom boom)

▶ Skid steer

▶ Wheel loader▶ Grader▶ Dozer▶ Compaction rollers▶ Scrapers

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Have you noticed how slow some elevators are? you press the button and wait. And wait. And wait.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has received an order from Shanghai Tower Construction and Development Co. Ltd. to install what it says will be the world’s fastest elevators, travelling at 18 metres per second. They will be in the Shanghai Tower, now under construction in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China.

The current world record for elevator speed is 1,010 metres per minute, which is approximately 16.8 metres per second, according to Guinness World Records.

Three sets of elevators will travel directly between the second basement level and the observation deck on the 119th floor.

Including these three units, Mitsubishi Electric Group will supply all 106 elevators for the Shanghai Tower.

The 632-metre-tall skyscraper complex will house offices, hotel accommodations, commercial facilities, convention halls, exhib-ition halls, restaurants, and culture and tour-ism facilities. It is expected to be the tallest building in China when completed in 2014.

Mitsubishi Electric will also install a group of four double-deck elevators that will travel at 10 metres per second between the ground floor and the hotel lobby on the 101st floor. In addition, the emergency elevator is expected to become the world’s longest-travelling elevator by operating between the third basement and the 121st floor—a distance of 578.5 metres.

HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT

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COM

Otis elevator Company has committed to greening its escalators (OK, they’re not quite elevators, but they do get you to the top).

The company introduced its energy-efficient NCE escalator at Greenbuild 2011, with president Didier Michaud-Daniel commenting that Otis continues “to pursue opportunities to improve our sustainability practices and offer new, innovative energy-efficient products and services.”

Among the NCE’s features are:• A “ReGen” drive that captures

energy generated by the escal-ator on the way down and delivers it back to the building for use by other systems, reducing energy consumption by up to 45 per cent compared to traditional escalators.

• Power standby technology, which uses sensors that detect when pas-sengers are not on the escalator, prompting the escalator to slow down and thereby use less energy.

• LED lighting that uses 30 per cent less energy than traditional lighting.

• high-efficiency lubrication that uses 98 per cent less oil than a traditional lubrication system.

AND WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBjECT Of ELEvATORS…

14 | Winter 2011

nuts & bolts

Mobile OfficesWorkforce

CampsStorage Products

ModularBuildings

800.782.1500www.willscot.com

Offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray

top end of estimate, in u.S. dollars, that the Middle East emirate of Qatar plans to spend over the next five years to prepare and deliver the infrastructure required to support the huge influx of visitors forecast to attend the 2022 fIfA World Cup.

SOURCE: Business Monitor International

in what is being called the first-of-its-kind project in Canada, Lafarge North America and Stantec Inc. have partnered to design and construct a Net-Zero energy duplex for two habitat for humanity families in Edmonton.

There are several interesting aspects to the project, from its innovative design to its use of precast concrete. The project will be a stepping stone for creating more sustainable residential solutions with precast concrete, Lafarge and Stantec say.

Each unit will be two levels totalling 1,060 square feet, plus a 500-square-foot undeveloped basement.

The habitat families pay an interest-free mortgage that is amortized to 25 per cent of their income—the reason

why habitat homes are affordable. The families’ mortgage payments are then reinvested into building more habitat homes, which is what makes the habitat program sustainable. families also con-tribute 500 hours of sweat equity on habitat build sites as their down payment for the homes.

A Net-Zero home is defined as one that produces at least as much energy on site from a renewable source as it uses on an annual basis, according to the Net-Zero Energy home Coalition.

A fIRST fOR CANADA

number of construction jobs added in the houston, Texas, area between August 2010 and August 2011—the most of any metro-politan area in the united States.

SOURCE: Associated General Contractors of America

theft at construction sites has been a problem for years. But when you have the combination of the economy hitting a rough patch and higher-than-normal prices for things like scrap metal, the prob-lem only seems to get worse. Little wonder thefts from construction sites of items like copper wire are up.

In Nova Scotia, a new law targeting copper and metal thieves has been pro-posed. The law would require scrap metal dealers to record transactions, the name of the seller and the licence plate number of any vehicle the seller used to transport the metal. Dealers would have to keep the information for at least a year.

As well, it would be against the law to buy metal or copper from people who appear to be drunk or high or who don’t provide proper identification.

This is probably no surprise, but the metal recyclers and scrap metal dealers don’t like the proposed law.

TAkING AIm AT mETAL THIEvES

100 billion

IMAG

E: S

TAN

TEC

The Net-Zero duplex for Edmonton.


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serving Western Canadaand the northwest territories.

8according to deloitte in Canada, the country’s productivity rate is 86 per cent of the u.S. rate. Because baby boomers will soon begin to retire en masse, the problem is likely only going to get worse, threatening the country’s affluence and standard of living.

But there is a fix. In fact, Deloitte recently finished a study to investigate the major causes of the productivity gap. It identifies six productivity challenges confronting business: Chronic under-investment in machinery and equipment. Protectionist policies at the federal and provincial government levels. Increasing competition for skilled people. Inefficient and insufficient support for innovation. Lack of risk capital for start-up companies. Risk aversion.

So what can be done? The report includes eight recommendations for business, academia and government to help boost Canada’s performance. They are:1. Educate, to improve attitudes towards

innovation, risk-taking and the value of learning.

2. Populate, to re-tool the immigration system to lure and retain skilled workers.

3. Innovate, to improve the effectiveness of research and development.

4. Incubate, to bolster the pool of risk capital for start-ups.

5. Co-locate, to encourage businesses to “cluster.”

6. update, to invest in equipment and machinery while the dollar is relatively high and costs are low.

7. Accommodate, to encourage the flow of foreign investment money.

8. facilitate, to reduce trade barriers and create new markets.

WAYS TO CLOSE THE PRODUCTIvITY GAP

16 | Winter 2011

nuts & bolts

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the estimated cost of Enbridge Inc.’s plans to twin the southern section of its Athabasca Pipeline in order to add 450,000 barrels per day of capacity from Kirby Lake to the hardisty crude oil hub.

The line is expected to be capable of accepting initial volumes by early 2015, with its full initial capacity available by 2016.

The new line will include approximately 345 kilometres of 36-inch pipeline largely within the existing Athabasca Pipeline right-of-way. The new line is designed to accommodate the need for additional capacity in the Kirby area beyond the expansion of the existing 30-inch pipeline to its maximum capacity of 570,000 barrels per day announced last year. Existing Kirby area volumes will be transferred to the new 36-inch line. That will free up the smaller-diameter line to accommodate additional long-haul volumes originating from the Cheecham or Athabasca terminals further upstream on the Athabasca System.

“Twinning our Athabasca system south of Kirby represents a highly efficient solution to the needs we are seeing for additional long-haul and short-haul capacity into hardisty, [Alta.,] leveraging off the advantages of our existing asset base and right-of-way,” Stephen Wuori, Enbridge president of liquids pipelines, said in a news release. While the project is anchored by the needs of Enbridge’s current connected projects, it is readily expandable to accommodate new projects that are also expected to require pipeline capacity beginning mid-decade, he said.

The twinning is also expected to deliver significant local benefits, particularly on the construction side.

With the twinning project, Enbridge will have a total of $3.6 billion of planned expansions or additions to its regional oilsands system go into service between 2011 and 2015, as well as a significant port-folio of additional projects that are under development to meet oilsands growth.

PIPELINE PROjECT ESTImATE:


nuts & bolts

The sparks are flying at Northland and generating a lot of

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With shared values in education, safety and saving lives, members of the Alberta construction industry and STARS created the first annual Building Magic in the Air Gala in support of STARS on October 29 at the Crowne Plaza Chateau Lacombe in Edmonton.

Presented by the Building Trades of Alberta Charitable foundation, the evening was filled with live entertainers including gymnasts, magicians, acrobats and enter-tainment by the 2011 Canadian Country Music Award–winning group of the year, hey Romeo.

“funds raised at the gala help support STARS in providing emergency medical care and transport for the critically ill and injured,” said Gurpreet Lail, STARS director, annual giving and events.

Special guests included Deputy Minister of human Services Steve MacDonald and STARS “Very Important Patients” Brad hainstock and John Neufeld.

“It’s an overwhelming feeling knowing that I owe STARS so much for their

care,” hainstock said. “for me, STARS is something you hope you never need, but you are eternally grateful when they are there to look after those of us who have needed them.”

STARS has been providing helicopter air ambulance services in Alberta and eastern British Columbia since 1985. In this time, STARS has carried out over 21,000 mis-sions from bases in Calgary, Edmonton and Grande Prairie, Alta.

Missions include inter-hospital transfers from rural hospitals to larger hospitals for medical emergencies and traumas. They also include scene responses on highways, in remote areas and at industry work sites. On all missions, the STARS team consists of a nurse experienced in emergency care, an advanced life support paramedic with critical care skills and two pilots.

helicopter air ambulance integrates with other emergency medical services. Together with local EMS, fire departments, police and health regions, STARS works to ensure the best possible outcome for patients.

STARS AND INDUSTRY TEAm UP TO BUILD mAGIC AT GALA

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18 | Winter 2011

nuts & bolts

573032Western Environmental Canada Inc.

full page · fp

$IN WORK AWARDEDaecon Group Inc.’s Lockerbie

& hole Eastern Inc. division has

been awarded two significant

contracts at mine sites in British

Columbia and New Brunswick.

The contracts, with the Thompson

Creek Metals Company Inc.

and the Potash Corporation of

Saskatchewan Inc., are expected

to generate over $250 million in

revenues for Aecon.

under the first contract, Aecon

will install the interior structural

steel, equipment, piping, electrical

and control systems at Thompson

Creek’s Endako Molybdenum Mine

site located just west of fraser

Lake in British Columbia. The cost-

reimbursable contract is expected

to be completed this winter.

The second contract was

awarded by Potash Corporation

for work at their Picadilly site in

Penobsquis, N.B. Aecon will install

mechanical equipment, process

and utility piping systems, as

well as all electrical and control

systems. The contract includes

both cost-reimbursable and

fixed-price components, and is

scheduled to be finished at the

end of 2012.

Amount neighbouring British Columbia spent to upgrade Highway 52/Boundary Road, which is used heavily by the oil and gas sector.

SOURCE: B.C. Oil and Gas Rural Road Improvement4 mill

ion$

million

A portion of the toronto-York spadina subway extension now under construction is not being built with concrete that uses conventional steel rebar—and for good reason. The tunnel-boring machines used for the project cannot cut through steel-reinforced concrete drilled shaft walls because the steel bars get caught in the shovels of their shields. And if that were not enough, the steel bars cannot be cut into pieces small enough to allow transport by the boring machines’ conveyor belt systems.

Instead, a glass fibre–reinforced polymer rebar product supplied by Schöck Canada Inc. called ComBAR is being used.

The bars have a much higher tensile strength than steel rebar, according to Schöck Canada, and are easily machined and can be broken down into small bar segments by the cutter head of the tunnel-boring machines. That should speed construction.

The 8.6-kilometre subway extension should open in 2015.

NuMBer Of tONNes OF GREENHOUSE GASES THAT ARE ExPECTED TO BE SAVED ANNUALLY DUE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF A LIqUEFIED NATURAL GAS FUELLING STATION IN ABBOTSFORD, B.C.

SOURCE: FortisBC

3,500 that’s the amount Bird Construction Company spent to acquire H.J. O’Connell Ltd., an 80-year-old company that specializes in heavy construction, civil construction and contract surface mining and has operations in Newfoundland & Labrador, northern quebec and Manitoba. Bird says the equipment and expertise in earthwork and surface mining that H.J. O’Connell brings will permit Bird to expand its civil industrial business “into new scopes of work.’’

SOURCE: Bird Construction$78.

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During a busy construction year in Slave Lake, Alta., 15 new homes might be built in town.

Now imagine 25 busy years crammed into the span of 24 months—the northern Alberta town’s estimated timeline for the recovery process—and you start to see the challenge facing this town as it begins to rebuild fol-lowing a devastating wildfire last May.

Slave Lake lost 374 dwellings and 52 more were seriously damaged in the fire, which investigators now believe was caused by arson. Another 59 were destroyed and 32 damaged in the surrounding area. In total, 732 residents in a town of 7,000 were left without a home.

Alberta Construction Magazine visited the town, located over 250 kilometres north of Edmonton, in the fall. Most of the debris

had been cleared away by then, except for the occasional burned-out car that still littered the landscape. The southeastern part of town—hardest hit by the fires—no longer appeared like a rubble-strewn war zone. It was now like a new development ready for construction to begin.

There will be difficulties along the way, no doubt. There is so much activity that the town’s infrastructure is struggling to keep up. Small towns have small workforces, and finding the necessary skilled workers has proven challenging for local builders. Even more difficult has been finding accommo-dations for these extra workers when one-tenth of the town’s population is without a home and every hotel and campsite is full. But after all that Slave Lake has been through, these are happy problems to have.

DEVASTATED By MAy WILDfIRE, TOWN PREPARES fOR AN INTENSIVE REBuILD

By Joseph Caouette

The smouldering remains of a house in Slave Lake that was destroyed.


By Joseph Caouette

ThE LONG PROCESS Of RESTORING SLAVE LAKE’S BATTERED INfRASTRuCTuRE WILL TAKE PATIENCE AND INGENuITy

rian Vance’s new office has a view. It just happens to be a view of his old office.

It is mid-September and the chief administrative officer for the Town of Slave Lake is beginning to settle into his new office. The town has only recently moved into its new location on the second floor of the Lakeland Centre building on Main Street.

Across the street are the gutted remains of the Slave Lake Government Centre. The $35.8-million building was completed in 2010 and housed—if only briefly—provincial government offices, the town hall and the library. Now the front entrance is boarded up, while a charred metal frame is all that is left of the library. Repairs and reconstruction won’t be complete until 2013.

Dealing with hundreds of displaced residents is all the more challenging when the town office itself has been displaced.

“It certainly made it very difficult,” Vance says. “Of course, we lost all of our hard records. We lost approximately a month of our computer records and all our programs.”

Vance believes it will take several years to gather this information and fill in the gaps. For now, the town is rely-ing on the records of the provincial gov-ernment, local utility companies and engineering firms like Stantec Inc. and Associated Engineering Group Ltd., all of which have offered up information on the town’s battered roads, sewers, and gas and water pipelines.

Demolish firstAs the town reconstructs its records, it will also face the daunting task of restor-ing its infrastructure. This will be a long process requiring much patience, and it begins with demolitions.

Rough road ahead

This aerial photo shows what Slave Lake looked like before a wildfire destroyed a third of the town.

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rebuilding slave lake

A consortium was formed between the insurance companies and the Alberta and Slave Lake governments to speed the pro-cess. “By doing that, what they were able to do was set up an assembly line oper-ation,” he explains. “They had a magnet go through and pick out all the metal. Then they would go through the wood, pull it all out and chip it.”

This massive coordination effort spared the town the chaos of hundreds of home-owners acting in isolation. “It helped the rebuild hugely because if we waited for people to do it one at a time, they’d be interfering with each other,” Vance says. “It would have taken us two years just to get to this stage.”

Demolition work began late in June and was completed by the end of September. “To do this in two and a half months is just incredible,” he says.

With most of the damaged areas cleared for construction in September, the frames of new homes have begun to sprout. The scars left behind by the fire are less visible now, but many areas still bear the traces of the firefighting effort, which left behind its own mark.

“One of the things that happened as part of firefighting is that heavy equipment went in to take care of the remaining hotspots in the basements, and they did a lot of damage to the roads and sidewalks,” Vance says.

That has been the challenge facing Roger Borchert, director of operations for the town. He oversees the day-to-day busi-ness of keeping Slave Lake’s infrastructure running smoothly—even if it is in rough shape these days.

“The equipment fighting the fires walked up the middle of roads,” he says. “Some of the roads were recently repaved, so they were leaving track marks all through the area.”

“We maxed the capability of the area to do the job,” Borchert says, although he remains confident the work will be done in due time. “We’ll wait and be patient and deal with it in a different fashion.”

The roads may be in rough shape, but they will likely have to wait—there are other, more pressing concerns right now.

“It’s one thing to know you have to go in to replace a sidewalk, but is now a proper time?” Borchert asks. “Would we be in the way of the actual construction process and holding that up while people are sitting out-side their homes?

“I don’t think they want us in their way while their contractors are there.”

With hundreds of homes and numer-ous infrastructure repairs and additions required, it’s the equivalent of building a medium-sized village from scratch. The town has to take the long view on the recov-ery process—this can’t happen overnight.

According to Vance, the town is work-ing with a two-year schedule for the rebuild. Still, the town can only do so much. It can clear away the debris, repair the infrastruc-ture and make sure the right development permits are issued promptly, but the future of Slave Lake ultimately rests in the hands of its citizens.

“Now each individual homeowner has to rebuild his home, and there’s nothing we can really do as the town to coordinate that,” Vance says. “In the end, it’s the home-owners that set the schedule.”

And the heavy equipment didn’t leave town once the fires were put out. If any-thing, there’s only more of it around now as part of the rebuilding process.

The fires may have devastated homes, but it’s the recovery process that is ruin-ing roads.

Roads take a beating“The older infrastructure we have isn’t neces-sarily standing up so well because its lifespan was nearing a need for rebuild,” Borchert explains. “Every 30 seconds there’s a truck coming to the temporary housing sites that are under construction, and they’re heavily loaded with gravel or they’re heavily loaded with material coming out of those sites.

“Some of our roads are taking a heck of a beating.”

In normal circumstances, the town would just set to work on repairing that infrastructure. But there is nothing nor-mal about these circumstances.

It can take a lot of ingenuity to complete even the simplest jobs. Resources like man-power are tight. Even something as basic as taking down the temporary fencing around burned areas requires some wheeling and dealing in order to get done.

“We don’t have the manpower to take down 14 kilometres of fencing,” Borchert says. To solve the problem, the town made the public an offer: if you want it, take it down yourself.

“We’re selling the fencing off as is, where is. We’ve had quite a few people interested in it and they’re taking down the fencing as we sell it.”

And that’s just a minor job. Larger jobs can be even more difficult to complete.

“We tendered the rebuilding of some lanes—not one taker on it, because there were no trucks available to take on the work. There was no gravel to be had.

“ One of the things that happened as part of firefighting is that heavy equipment went in to take care of the remaining hotspots in the basements, and they did a lot of damage to the roads and sidewalks.”

— Brian Vance, chief administrative officer, Town of Slave Lake

Roger Borchert

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yson Houle is tired, but he can’t rest yet. There’s just too much to do.

Any small business owner will tell you of the many hats he must wear, and Houle is no exception. As co-owner of Bullitproof Construction Ltd. in Slave Lake, with his brother, Todd, and Devon Phelps, Houle might begin his day on site checking on the progress of the company’s latest project before heading out to drum up business with potential clients and then moving on to line up suppliers.

There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. A recent trip to Edmonton

LOCAL CONTRACTOR WORKING AROuND ThE CLOCK TO “MAKE A DIffERENCE IN ThIS TOWN”

By Joseph Caouette

to pick up construction materials—all part of the job—ended with Houle arriv-ing home at 3:30 a.m. The trip takes six hours both ways, give or take a roadside nap (or three).

When the fire hit Slave Lake in May, destroying half the town, Houle was on vacation in Cancun, Mexico. He returned to find his home—including Bullitproof’s offices in the basement—burned to the ground. Now he is struggling with his insurance company because the house was not reassessed following $80,000 in renovations.

For a family man with an 18-month-old son and an expecting wife, those are a lot of reasons to lose sleep at night.

On the day he talks to Alberta Construction Magazine, Houle admits to running on just a few hours of sleep. Not that he’s complaining.

focus is on work“We’re fortunate we’re busy,” he says. “Because of what we’re doing now, we’re

not dwelling on it. We’re focused on get-ting people into their homes.”

The Bullitproof team built the first new home in Slave Lake after the fire. It’s a modest-size structure by most stan-dards—2,100 square feet of finished space across two levels, with an attached garage—but that’s not the point. What matters for Houle is that the rebuilding process has begun.

“We’re going to make a difference in this town,” he says. “We have a chance to rebuild our town.”

That excitement and enthusiasm shows in the speed with which Bullitproof completed this first home. The foundation was poured on August 23, with the owners moving in by the end of September. All told, Houle says it took 39 days from digging the basement to laying the sod.

The key, Houle explains, was that the company “had pretty much everything in line before building the first house.” The owners had picked out their fix-tures and other features, allowing

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Brothers Tyson (left) and Todd Houle, co-owners of Bullitproof Construction.

No sleep yet



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builders to move quickly in pulling everything together.

Not that there aren’t problems along the way. Labour remains a major stum-bling block in the Slave Lake recovery pro-cess, and Bullitproof has wrestled with it like everyone else in town. The company has rented three houses in town to accom-modate staff and is already looking for a fourth.

Local builders are also discovering the challenge in drawing upon the same lim-ited pool of skilled tradespeople, such as plumbers, drywallers and electricians. Houle says the town is home to four plumbing and heating companies and four residential electrical companies. On top of that, his company has developed an exclusive relationship with one of the two drywall companies in Slave Lake.

With so many jobs for so few trades-people, it can be tough getting that plumber or electrician to squeeze in your project when you need them. But this is a small town, and good relationships go a long way. “Treat them good, pay them fast and maybe they’ll give you considera-tion,” he says.

Where he can, Houle will bring the talent under his own roof. “We’re moving every-thing in-house except for plumbing and heating. It makes it easier to get things done quicker,” he says, before adding, “We’re not going to bite off more than we can chew.”

Young companyThat may be the greatest challenge of all for the young company. Bullitproof formed in 2004 when all of its founders were in their mid-20s, and even today it still feels like a young company, brim-ming with energy and ambition in spite of everything they’ve faced.

Yet the company will have to grow in order to face the massive task of rebuilding Slave Lake. Bullitproof’s usual workload is a mixture of oilfield camp construction with residential building. The size of the company has fluctuated between 11 and 30 employees over the years, with around 30 people currently on staff and more on the way. They’ve seen highs and lows, but this is something entirely different.

“In a really busy year, [the town] might build 15 houses,” Houle says. Of those, Bullitproof might handle two or three.

For the fall, the company had 12 new homes lined up, with more expected next year. “If we get all we’re looking at, that’s more than all the houses we’ve built in Slave Lake,” he says.

“It’s going to be hard on us all the way through.”

They’re bracing for the challenge. Bullitproof is almost a month into construction on its second house, which is expected to take around 50 days to complete.

And there’s no plan to let the momen-tum slacken. The company wants to start a new house every 10 days, and so far it seems to be keeping pace with that plan. Speaking in mid-October, Houle says the fourth foundation has been poured, with the fifth almost ready to begin as well.

“We’re not afraid to grow,” he says. By the time everything is done, he expects Bullitproof will have 40–50 employees. “This is a huge step for us.”

And even if Houle has only a couple of hours of sleep behind him, it’s impos-sible to discern any exhaustion beneath that enthusiasm.

“I’m not going to slow down,” he says.

28 | Winter 2011


geotextiles from Layfield were installed in order to create a working pad to build the trailer park upon. Not surprisingly, it was messy work.

“It was essentially a crew of labourers rolling out each roll [of geotextile] indi-vidually, sometimes in water up to their armpits, to get the proper overlaps, and weighing the rolls down with available rocks or whatever they could find until the fill could be applied on top of it,” says Dave Redgate, manager at Seguin Construction (1979) Ltd., a Slave Lake company that worked on the project.

One of the biggest single projects in the town is similarly relying on the combination of out-of-towners and local businesses: the rebuilding of the Slave Lake Government Centre, a $35.8-million complex that previ-ously housed the local and provincial gov-ernments, as well as the town library.

PCL Construction Management Inc.—one of the largest construction firms in North America—has been heading up the project, relying on a mixture of local craft workers and tradespeople, as well as Edmonton-based contractors.

Mike Wieninger, operations manager for PCL’s Edmonton construction unit,

isitors at the new offices for the Town of Slave Lake might

notice an odd decoration sitting in a corner of the lobby—an over-

sized cheque for $100,000 from EllisDon Construction Services Inc.

The construction contractor may not currently have any projects in Slave Lake, but that doesn’t mean it can’t contribute to the recovery process. Like many other businesses around Canada who were touched by the devastation in the wake of the May wildfire that destroyed a large part of the town, employees at EllisDon took it upon themselves to raise funds for the town through the Red Cross, and the company matched the donation.

It’s a simple reminder that the town can’t do it alone. Like any small town, Slave Lake has its own local builders and skilled tradespeople, but a rebuild on this scale will tax the local construction industry

to its limits. That’s where outside com-panies come in.

“It’s going to take out-of-town builders and factory builders,” says Brian Vance, chief administrative officer for the town of Slave Lake. “It’s difficult for local builders to take on a job of this magnitude.”

Larger construction firms from across the country are making their presence felt in the town. Some, like EllisDon, might provide charitable support, but others have been hired to offer their expertise on the difficult construction projects facing the town.

One such company is Layf ield Geosynthetics and Industrial Fabrics Ltd., which provides construction materi-als across North America. The company was called in to help on the building of a 150-unit trailer park on a muskeg on the east side of town.

With winter on the way, they only had a narrow three-week window to complete the project so that it could be ready in September. Heavy rains poured down in July, saturating the marshy soil with water and complicating the already difficult job.

In order to make the site suitable for building, trees had to be cleared away and

By Joseph Caouette

OuT-Of-TOWN CONSTRuCTION COMPANIES hAVE A PART TO PLAy IN SLAVE LAKE REBuILD

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Brian Vance, chief administrative officer for the Town of Slave Lake, stands outside the boarded-up remains of the Slave Lake Government Centre.

Lending a hand



couldn’t be happier to take on the job. “It’s very satisfying,” he says. “You can see the excitement in the town when they see the rebuilding going on.”

But residents will have to be patient before their town hall is restored to its former glory. The building originally took nearly

two years to build, and it will take almost as long to restore. Wieninger expects the project to be finished in the spring of 2013.

Fortunately for the builders, much of the centre remains intact, albeit with severe water and fire damage. “Forty per cent of the building burned right down, and

there was lots of damage to the part that survived,” he says.

The job will be divided into a first phase dedicated to renovations on the damaged half and a second phase focused on rebuilding the destroyed wing, which housed the library. Wieninger says the building will be opened in stages, although specific dates have not yet been set.

PCL has around 10–15 staff working in town on the project, and it plans to bring in outside contractors as it needs them. But given the choice, Wieninger would like to tap the local talent pool. “The preference is local,” he says. “If local isn’t available, we’ll bring in from out of town.”

While other companies may be grappling with finding skilled workers (and then finding accommodations for them), PCL has avoided such problems, Wieninger says.

“We’ve just been very fortunate to have all the needs of the project met so far.”

Indeed, the last thing he wants to do is complain about minor difficulties on a construction project.

“Seeing what the town has gone through, our problems are minimal.”

“We’ve just been very fortunate to have all the needs of the project met so far. Seeing what the town has gone through, our problems are minimal.”

— Mike Wieninger, operations manager, PCL’s Edmonton construction unit

30 | Winter 2011


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| BUILDINGS | CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE | HEAVY INDUSTRIAL |

At PCL, we aspire to be the most respected builder by delivering

superior service and unsurpassed value to our customers.

The process of identifying potential 2011 projects began June 1 with an

annual call for entries in four categories— commercial, industrial, institutional and civil. After receiving 37 submissions, a panel of four judges carefully reviewed the nom-inations and chose 18 finalists. Then came the hard part of narrowing down that list to winners and runners-up in each of the four categories based on the following criteria: Design functionality and appearance. Construction process (on time, on budget, innovative tools or building methods, etc.). Usage of unique or innovat ive construction materials.

Project delivery method (stipulated bid, design-build, construction management, P3, etc.). Any other unique features that made the project stand out, such as the use of recycled materials, innovative technology, etc.

Ten years ago, Alberta Construction Magazine reported that those first winning projects stood as “a proud reflection of the creativity and inventiveness of our construction community.” There is no argument that much has changed in a decade, but as the projects on the next 23 pages illustrate, there’s no question that is still true.

Alberta Construction Magazine created the annual Top Projects feature in 2001 to

recognize the creativity and inventiveness of our construction community.

And the winners are...


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The 49-storey east tower of Eighth Avenue Place—

the third-tallest building in downtown Calgary—boasts

a number of environmentally friendly features, starting

with the envelope.

Location: CalgaryCost: Not disclosedProject delivery method: Guaranteed maximum priceContractor: EllisDon Construction Services Inc.architect: Pickard Chilton, Kendall/heaton Associates Inc., Gibbs Gage ArchitectsStructural engineer: Read Jones ChristoffersenMechanical engineer: hemisphere Engineeringelectrical engineer: Stebnicki Robertson & Associates Ltd.

Eighth Avenue Place

at a glance

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36 | Winter 2011

A unitized curtain wall system with dual-pane glass that has solar screening coatings and thermally separated interior and exterior aluminum mullions pre-vents heat transfer. The mullion system was custom-designed and fabricated for the building.

Eighth Avenue Place also has a building management and control system that monitors the carbon dioxide level in the tower and the carbon monoxide level in the parking garage. When levels go higher than desired, air is brought in just until the level reaches the right point.

The system also monitors temperature and lighting. It will make automatic adjustments to ensure air quality and operators can make adjustments from a computer, in the building or remotely.

The first pre-certified commercial Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum high-rise in Canada, Eighth Avenue Place is also topped with what may be the largest green roof in the country. The 30,000-square-foot green roof mitigates the heat island effect in summer and retains and treats stormwater, reducing the amount of water discharged into the municipal stormwater system.

Other features include: Low-flow washroom components that reduce water use by 40 per cent.

Low-emitting paints, adhesives and solvents. Environmentally sensitive refrigerants. 300 stalls for bicycle parking with adjacent showers.

Kim Rishel, manager of sustainable building services, western Canada, for EllisDon Construction says the sustainability of Eighth Avenue Place was a combined effort.

“It’s that collaborative, integrated design process where you have everybody working together all the time,” Rishel says.

Eighth Avenue Place is also noteworthy because it’s the first high-rise building in Calgary since 1984 that consists of a concrete core with a structural steel frame. The core was poured using self-climbing formwork.

The entire project consists of the tower, a Plus 15 connected podium, a six-level parkade and a winter garden.

3

1. At 312.3 metres tall, Eighth Avenue Place was built on the former site of the Penny Lane Shopping Centre.

2. In addition to a winter garden, the Calgary high-rise also offers 52,000 square feet of retail space.

3. This view shows the interior of Eighth Avenue Place bathed in natural sunlight.

PhOTOS: ELLISDON


top projects

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(780) 448-9765

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The tower is expected to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold with features like high- performance glass to reduce heat loss and gain. Designed by Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd., the envelope includes balconies—a rarity in office buildings and a nice change for occupants who can also enjoy

Location: EdmontonCost: $335 million

the spacious feeling of 13’6” f loor-to-floor heights.

The project included the installa-tion of an LRT line under the four-level parkade before the construction of the tower foundation and parkade. Although the logistics of building downtown are always challenging, the tower was com-pleted three months ahead of schedule.

Construct ion manager Ledcor Construction reports that the primary trades provided design-assist services and enhanced value to the construc-tion design team. AECOM Canada Ltd. provided structural, mechanical and electrical services. EIDOS Consultants Incorporated provided landscape servi-ces, and Thurber Engineering Ltd. was responsible for the geotechnical work.

EPCOR Towerat a glance

The $335-million EPCOR Tower is the first new office

tower in Edmonton’s core in two decades.

The EPCOR Tower taking shape in 2010.

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top projects

Sustainable building practice is here to stay and EllisDon is committed to being a leader in the eld. The push to “go green” has never been more pronounced. It is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. The quality of our environment and our quality of life depend on it. That’s why EllisDon is applying all our experience and knowledge to become good at sustainable building…really good.

w w w . e l l i s d o n . c o m

Green isn’t just a colour.

Designed by Ernst Von Meijenfeldt of EVMPA Architecture, the building works with the landscape, with visitors moving down toward the entrance and, once inside, up toward the light and spectacular views. Sustainability was key to the 242,000-square-foot project. It was built using green construction methods and includes energy-saving and water-management features as well as rooftop garden modules. The

Location: St. AlbertCost: Not disclosed

The Enjoy Centre

Envisioned as a “destination that is about living and life,

not just gardening,” the Enjoy Centre in St. Albert, Alta.,

owned by the Hole family of Hole’s Greenhouses &

Gardens, is an exciting and unique addition to

the province.

project provides space for a number of retailers as well as a 1,300-square-metre event space with a nine-metre-high glass roof.

General contractor McLean Young Construction Ltd. in Edmonton, Clark Engineering (mechanica l), KSJ Engineering & Projects Pvt. Ltd. (electrical) and Eadie Engineering Inc. (structural) brought their expertise to bring the innovative concept to life.

Nature and the environment are important components to the Enjoy Centre.

at a glance

PHOTO: ACM

comm

ercialrunner-up


top projects

TELUS Spark

The new TELUS Spark (TELUS World of Science)

in Calgary is the first multi-purpose science centre

in Canada in more than a quarter century, offering

visitors the chance to put their imagination to

the test—regardless of their age.

The building was designed to be highly efficient and sustainable while at the same time being comfortable to be in, being attractive and allowing vis-itors to enjoy plenty of natural light. The

use of displacement air ventilation, radi-ant cooling and heating, along with the reuse of rainwater for toilets and a host of other initiatives, have resulted in a sustainable building targeting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification. Among the features: Extensive reuse of water, including a rainwater storm pond for irrigation.

Radiant wall panels used extensively for the heating and cooling of spaces, reducing energy use and increasing cost savings. Minimized waste removal and the recycling of the majority of the waste. Regional materials were sourced and used in various areas of the project.

Building materials were reused materials wherever possible.

With its dramatic design, the new centre is both technically and structurally complex.

For example, the structural steel skeleton includes a highly complex digital dome theatre component and 45-metre- long, 10-metre-high atrium trusses that were erected in single lifts. The building envelope is made up of highly efficient insulated metal panels and curtain wall to provide access to natural light.

A structural steel framework that includes perforated metal panels and programmable LED lighting has been constructed outside of the building walls to provide some solar shading, protection for the metal panel walls and architec-tural interest.

To deal with the complexity, CANA Construction used Building Information Modelling technology on certain areas of the structure.

Perhaps one of the most complex elements of the building is the 3-D dome

40 | Winter 2011

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at a glancetheatre. This theatre is expected to be one of the world’s most advanced facilities and will be used for presentations, performances and the screening of 3-D films. The 70-foot-diameter dome theatre is at a 26-degree tilt and was designed to function as both a live performance and projection theatre.

There are many other things that make the project stand out. Some are tangible. Others are not so obvious. In its nomination, CANA offered this observation:

“The key to the success of the project was the collaborative effort made by all the team members to plan, organize and coordinate the work for the project. This team focused on finding and developing the innovative ideas for the project in order get the best possible result for the new science centre.”

Location: Calgary

Cost: $88 million

Project delivery method: Construction management

general contractor: CANA Construction

Sub-construction manager electrical: Custom Electric Ltd.

Sub-construction manager mechanical: Botting & Associates Alberta Ltd.

Others: Triangle Steel (1999) Ltd.; Bauer foundations Canada Inc.; Thermo Design Engineering Ltd.; Igloo Erectors; Skyline Roofing Ltd.; ferguson Corporation; Concrete Reflections; flesher Marble & Tile; Iron horse Earthworks; Volker Stevin Contracting Ltd.; Alpha Better Landscaping Inc.; Morrison hershfield (civil engineering); DIALOG (prime consultant and architecture/mechanical engineering); Sunco; Stantec (structural engineer and construction manager); SMP Consulting Electrical Engineers (electrical engineering); O2 Planning + Design Inc. (site development and land-scape architecture); AMEC (environmental engineering); Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd. (digital dome theatre and interior design)

The TELUS Spark is a structurally and technically complex building that has presence for both passersby and visitors alike. Once inside (inset photo), visitors will enjoy an accessible environment.

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DELIVERING MORE POWERFULLYWe are AECOM. Advancing technical excellence and innovation, we provide planning, design, engineering and construction management services to deliver projects across Alberta.

Together with our clients, we are honoured to have the EPCOR Tower, Northwest Anthony Henday Drive and Health Sciences Centre Roof/HVAC upgrade at the University of Calgary projects included in Alberta Construction’s 2011 Top Projects.

AECOM...Creating, enhancing and sustaining the world’s built, natural and social environments.

www.aecom.com

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Working under a very tight construction schedule,

design builder PCL Construction Management

Inc. not only completed the 26,000-square-foot Morinville

Community Cultural Centre project on schedule, but also

under budget.

The centre is located adjacent to the Morinville High School. It features, among other things, a 500-seat auditorium with an elaborate polished and stained concrete floor, a stage and a commercial kitchen that can accommodate 500 people for events such as weddings. The centre also has change rooms with counters

Location: MorinvilleCost: $10.65 million

and makeup lighting, large meeting rooms for community groups and office space for the town’s community services department.

Manasc Isaac Architects Ltd. was the project architect. Other key players were Read Jones Christoffersen and FSC Architects & Engineers Inc.

Morinville Community Cultural Centre

The Morinville Community Cultural Centre.

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THE LEDCOR GROUP OF COMPANIES

www.ledcor.com

Ledcor Construction Limited wishes to congratulate EPCOR on their milestone anniversary!

Quality. Collaboration. Diversity. This is the foundation of Ledcor’s success. No project is too complex. No location is out of reach. Since 1947 - we have grown and gone wherever our clients take us. Together.

Ledcor Construction LimitedLedcor Campus • 7008 Roper Road NW, Edmonton, AB • 780.395.5400

Designed by Stantec Architecture Ltd., and built by CANA Construction, the 44,000-square-foot hall of fame includes a museum, a 3-D theatre that can accom-modate up to 120 people for movies, news conferences, seminars and product

launches, and more than 50 electronic audio-visual interactive exhibits. One of the standout features of the building is the grand main entrance and atrium. And then, of course, there are the displays.

Building Information Modelling technology played a critical role in the creation of the building, which was com-pleted on time and on budget.

Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame

It’s nearly impossible not to feel a deep sense of national

pride when first entering Canada’s Sports Hall of

Fame, which was designed to capture the energy and

passion of Canada’s athletes.

Location: CalgaryCost: $30 million

at a glance

Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame is targeting LEED Gold certification.

PHOTO: CANA

The building is targeting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification. Consulting engineers on the project included CFMS Alberta Limited, SMP Consulting Electrical Engineers (formerly Stebnicki + Partners) and Weibe Forest Engineering Ltd. (now SNC-Lavalin). Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc. designed the exhibits.

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PCL Construction Management Inc. had

to overcome numerous challenges as the general

contractor for the roof replacement and heating,

ventilation and air conditioning upgrade project

at the University of Calgary’s Health Sciences Centre.

Among them: work ing in the f light path of the STARS air ambu-lance resulted in continual work stop-pages during incoming and outgoing f lights, and strict attention to safety as the prop wash from the copters could cause material to f ly away. Plus, close to 500 penetrations in the existing roof were required to install the structural steel columns to support the oversized ductwork. And each opening had to be watertight until the new roofing

Location: CalgaryCost: $18.32 million

system was installed and openings were permanently sealed.

Project consultants included AECOM Canada Ltd., Wiebe Forest Engineering (now SNC-Lavalin) and DIALOG Alberta Architecture Engineering Interior Design Planning Inc.

The project has a couple sustainable plusses: the roof ballast was recycled and, for the first time in PCL’s Calgary district, power from renewable energy provider Bullfrog Power Inc. was used at the site trailers.

Health Sciences Centre Roof/HVAC Upgrade

A STARS helicopter comes in for a landing during construction.

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The northwest leg of Anthony Henday Drive is a 21-kilometre section of

Edmonton’s ring road that runs from Yellowhead

Trail to the Manning Drive Freeway.

The project consists of 15 different construction sites along the stretch of four- and six-lane divided highway. Highlights include:

Additional basic and auxiliary lanesEight interchangesFive flyoversTwo rail crossingsTwenty-nine bridge structures

Teamwork was essential for the suc-cess of the new stretch of highway, which officially opened in November. The design proposed by the construction team improved the constructability, shortened the construction timeline and decreased project costs by more than $15 million. In fact, Alberta Transportation had pre-viously recognized the redesign of two major interchanges on the project with the Minister’s Award for Transportation Innovation.

Throughout construction, the project was plagued by extremely cold and wet weather. This was a major issue for the project team because the new roadway and associated grading and subgrading required the soil to be dry.

A number of environmental factors were also taken into consideration dur-ing the life of the project. For example, to

mitigate the potential loss of rare plants known to occur within the proposed road alignment, plants within the disturbance zone were transplanted to different sites. In addition, vegetation clearing was com-pleted in the autumn to avoid disturbances to natural habitats during key spring breeding times. Erosion controls were also put into place to minimize potential sediment release into local water bodies, including fish-bearing waters such as Kirk Lake. Finally, in compensation for loss of wetlands within the construction area, a plan was put in place to create new wet-lands in the form of naturalized storm-water management facilities.

Other challenges included traffic man-agement due to construction intersecting pre-existing highways and roads in the area. Various lane, ramp and road closures were put into effect during construction,

Northwest Anthony Henday Drive

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at a glancebut for short periods of time, and on even-ings and weekends when possible. Standard closures ranged from one to 2.5 days. In all cases, detours were planned and a six-lane detour was constructed in November of 2008 to alleviate driver delays.

Completion of this latest leg to the ring-road project means that only one more section of the Henday remains before motorists can have a free-flowing drive around the capital city.

Location: EdmontonCost: Approximately $1 billionProject delivery method: Public private partnershipProject owner: Alberta Transportationdesigner: AECOMContractor: A joint venture between flatiron Construction Corp., Graham GroupLtd. and Parsons Corporationengineer: AECOM

Completion of this latest leg to the ring-road project means that only one more section of the Henday remains before motorists can have a free-flowing drive around the capital city.

In all, 29 bridge structures were constructed on the 21-kilometre stretch of the Northwest Anthony Henday Drive project.

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For more than 100 years, the City of Edmonton has

been practicing trenchless tunnel construction. The

W-12 syphon and river crossing, completed in May,

is the most recent project to be built using the latest

tunnelling technology.

The $27.3-million project is the product of five years of planning and construction by the City of Edmonton Drainage Services’ Design and Construction team.

Location: EdmontonCost: $27.3 million

Featuring a 2,400-metre siphon crossing under the North Saskatchewan River, it is part of the city’s long-term sanitary servicing plan.

Understandably, the project had its challenges, including cold temperatures and water f lowing into the project. Geotechnical conditions also posed risks: the project was located within the footprint of abandoned coal mines and methane gas, under pressure, was present.

A new tunnel-boring machine was purchased to deal with the ground conditions.

The project is expected to reduce sewer overflow discharge into the river by up to 75 per cent, improving water quality. The city worked with Associated Engineering Group Ltd. for preliminary design and Thurber Engineering Ltd. for geotechnical consulting.

W-12 Syphon and River Crossing

A tunnel-boring machine operates on an earlier City of Edmonton project.

PHOTO: JOEY PODLUBNY

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Pagnotta Industries would like to congratulate Ledcor Group on the successful completion of the Epcor Tower!

We are happy to be part of a great local project that has changed our skyline!

Much of the bridge was constructed using a unique launched-girder technique that minimized environmental impacts on the river. Launching 10 girders simultan-eously—one of the widest highway bridge launches in North America—was also faster.

To accommodate oilsands develop-ment, the bridge was built to bear more than three times the weight most bridges bear—1,100-tonne loads. It’s possible to expand the bridge to up to 10 lanes.

CH2M HILL designed the bridge, while Flatiron Construction Corp. was the general contractor and Stantec Inc. was the primary consultant. Infinity Engineering Group served as construction engineers and Surespan Construction Ltd. handled steel construction.

Athabasca River Bridge

The completion of the $138-million Athabasca River Bridge brings much-needed

infrastructure to the Fort McMurray, Alta., region. The 472-metre-long, seven-span bridge on Highway 63 adds five traffic lanes, improving

safety and reducing congestion on the main

corridor between the city and the oilsands facilities.

Location: fort McMurrayCost: $138 million

at a glance

The new bridge, at left, will help reduce Fort McMurray’s traffic congestion.

PHOTO: FLATIRON

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Tried, TesTed and True...

F O R M I N G T H E F U T U R E

Location: EdmontonCost: $13 million

The Capitol Theatre provides a year-round 250-seat entertainment venue for local drama, theatre and music. The reconstructed theatre building recreates the former 1929 Jasper Avenue facade, and internally the building incorporates modern construction methods with the necessary technical infrastructure while still achieving historical authenticity.

The Capitol Theatre project was deliv-ered through a construction management process by PCL Construction Management. The project was built using traditional con-struction methods, but with the full use of Building Information Modelling (BIM). Changes during construction were auto-matically updated to BIM and those changes

The reconstruction of the Capitol Theatre at Fort Edmonton Park is

the first of what will be many enhancements

within the park.

Fort Edmonton’s Capitol Theatre

This drawing shows how the new Capitol Theatre fits in with its surroundings at Fort Edmonton Park.

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were made in the model. And clash detec-tion was used to provide the look ahead as it related to design changes and to avoid rework during the construction phase.

Artisan Design was the architect on the project. Other key players included Stantec Structural, Williams Engineering Canada and HIP.

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www.spatialtechnologies.ca

Vancouver: P: 604.214.9453 F: 604.214.9455TF: 1.877.252.0070

Calgary: P: 403.252.0070 F: 403.259.3992TF: 1.877.252.0070

Edmonton: P: 780.486.2111 F: 780.486.2155TF: 1.877.252.0070

A Master of Measurement!

Leica 3D DistoCapture and record distances,

areas, inclinations, and angles effortlessly,even for inaccessible points.

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or project layout for floors or walls – theLeica 3D Disto projects your design onto

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TFT Barge and Walkway Construction Project

This aerial photo shows the TFT barges, for use in oilsands tailings ponds, under construction.

This year’s submission by Canadian Dewatering

L.P. of its TFT Barge and Walkway Construction

project is among the most unique submissions Alberta Construction

Magazine has received during the 10-year history

of the Top Projects Awards.

In ef fect, the Edmonton-based company is constructing floating factories to tackle one of the toughest challenges oil-sands producers face: speedier reclamation of tailings ponds. Tailings are a mixture of fine clay, sand, water and the residual bitumen that is produced through oilsands extraction.

Suncor Energy Inc. awarded a con-tract to Canadian Dewatering to design, engineer, procure, fabricate, construct, commission and turn over three TFT—short for thin fine tailings—barges. The barges have 12,000-horsepower engines,

giving each the capacity to pump 140,000 gallons per minute. They will represent the largest industrial pumping system in western Canada. The footprint of these barges will be in excess of 4,200 square feet and will weigh over 1.5 million pounds, the company says.

Canadian Dewatering is no stranger to oilsands operations, providing fluid man-agement services to major oilsands mining players as well as to the many supporting industry suppliers within the region.

Suncor recently selected the company as the main contractor for deployment of

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its TRO tailings management technology.Canadian Dewatering stressed the

partnerships that resulted between all parties, especially the vendors and subcontractors, made execution of the project possible.

“Engineering and designing systems for new technologies, such as TFT, is always challenging,” says Ian Ross, the company’s vice-president of product sup-port, “but we are executing successfully within aggressive timelines.”

To be sure, the project has involved considerable logistical challenges and a

widespread network of suppliers provid-ing everything from pumps (from the United States) to hulls (from the United States and Mexico) and motors (Taiwan), and much more.

Considerable fabrication took place in western Canada with the components moved to Fort McMurray, Alta., for assembly. All told, more than 300 truckloads of materials will have been delivered to the jobsite when the project is officially wrapped up this winter and, to date, there have been no hours lost to injuries.

Cost: $75 millionProject delivery method: Lump sumProject owner: Suncor Energy Inc.Project contractor: Canadian Dewatering L.P.engineering subcontractor: Temec Engineering Group Ltd. (All disciplines)Mechanical subcontractor: Bunch Welding Limitedelectrical subcontractor: Techmation Electric & Controls Ltd.Others: for a complete list of compan-ies involved in this project, check out www.albertaconstructionmagazine.com

at a glance

A ground level close-up of one of the barges.PHO

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The barges have 12,000-horsepower engines, giving each the capacity to pump 140,000 gallons per minute. They will represent the largest industrial pumping system in western Canada.


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RSC Equipment Rental delivers innovative solutions that go beyond equipment and tools. Total Control®, RSC’s industry leading fleet management system, enables customers to maximize productivity and

profits through improved efficiency and utilization. Total Control provides 24/7 oversight of both rented and owned equipment

through an advanced management-by-exception model that has saved customers up to 35% on rental costs. Additional features include GPS, emissions tracking and KPI reporting.

Experience Total Control over your projects and jobsites.

Call 800.222.7777 or visit RSCrental.com to learn more.

The project was both an expansion and a renovation. A new turbine hall was added to the north end of the plant with features that include acoustic panels, louvres and doors used to control turbine noise. The new cogeneration system consists of two key components: the tur-bine, which generates power, and the heat recovery boiler, which generates heat. New office space was also added.

When the turbine is combined with the heat recovery boiler, it will reduce the university’s carbon dioxide emissions by 80,000 tonnes per year and result in a cost savings as well.

Contractor Clark Builders, architect Stantec Architecture Ltd., consulting engineer Stantec Consulting Ltd., ATCO Noise Management Ltd. and RWDI were the key players on the project.

The University of Calgary’s new cogeneration system does more than give the university’s central heating and cooling plant a much-needed update. It incorporates modern and greener technologies that will be used to generate three-

quarters of campus power requirements while meeting all of the U of C’s heat demand throughout the year.

University of Calgary Cogeneration Project

Location: CalgaryCost: $38 million

at a glance

The University of Calgary cogeneration project was both an expansion and a renovation.PH

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Increasing final grading speeds up to 200% is only possible with Topcon’s industry-leading 3D-MC2 Machine Control

from Brandt Positioning Technology Division.

Featuring Topcon components and the world’s easiest user interface, Topcon’s 3D-MC2 makes equipment

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of the 3D-MC2 with the accuracy of the Brandtnet GNSS RTK network and Topcon’s revolutionary line

of lasers, complete equipment control has never been easier. That’s powerful value, delivered.

For more information about Brandt Positioning Technology or our Topcon product line, visit www.brandtnet.com or call 1-877-291-7503.

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build, sustain, and connect your knowledge

visit www.extension.ualberta.ca/sciencesor call 780.492.3116

construction administrationenvironmental resource managementoccupational health and safety

Congratulations to the Hole Family.We are proud to have been part of the construction team for

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Creating Alberta’s Future

In addition to the Top Projects featured on the previous 22 pages, the judges of Alberta Construction Magazine’s Top Projects Awards also chose these projects as finalists:

Western Canada high School, CalgaryProject owner: Calgary Board of EducationCost: $26 milliongeneral contractor: Clark Buildersarchitect: DIALOGConsulting engineers: DIALOG

Energy, Environment, Experiential Learning Building, CalgaryProject owner: university of CalgaryCost: $134 milliongeneral contractor: EllisDon Construction Services Inc.architects: DIALOG, Perkins+WillConsulting engineers: Read Jones Christoffersen, DIALOG

The fenlands (Banff Recreation Centre), BanffProject owner: Town of BanffCost: $26.8 milliongeneral contractor: Stuart Olson Dominion Construction Ltd.architect: GEC ArchitectureConsulting engineers: Cascade Engineering, Inc., hemisphere Engineering, SMP Consulting Electrical Engineers (formerly Stebnicki + Partners)Others: MMM Group Limited, Mistaya Construction Ltd.

PHOTO: THIVIEER

PHOTO: ELLISDON

PHOTO: STUART OLSON DOMINION

Atlantic Avenue Art Block, CalgaryProject owner: J.D. hill Investments Ltd.Cost: $57 milliongeneral contractor: Clark Builders (construction managers)architect: ABuGOV - KASPARConsulting engineers: Williams Engineering Canada Inc., TMP Consulting Engineers, Robertson & Associates Engineering Ltd.IMAGE: CLARK BUILDERS

finalists


WinSport Canada Athletic and Ice Complex, CalgaryProject owner: WinSport CanadaCost: $166 milliongeneral contractor: CANA Constructionarchitect: GEC ArchitectureConsulting engineers: Read Jones Christoffersen, SMP Consulting Electrical Engineers (formerly Stebnicki + Partners), Wiebe forest Engineering Ltd. (now SNC-Lavalin)Other: Stantec Consulting Ltd.

Valley Zoo Pinniped Exhibit

CBE Education Centre

Integrity Post Structures headquarters

Mahogany Lake & West Beach Phase I

Queen Elizabeth Outdoor Pool

Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre

Lessard & Callingwood interchanges

LRT Stations Martindale & Saddletowne

East Village Phase V—4th St. SE underpass

Ponoka Ag Event Centre

Chinook Centre Expansion

Tenaris Prudential Steel Asbestos Abatement Project

Chinook Regional hospital Parkade

Mitchell Business Centre—Marriott Courtyard & Residence Inn

honourable mentionsProjects deserving of mention:

PHOTO: CANA

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722332KPMG MSLPfull page · fpInsertion #96

KPMG’s Real Estate Leadership Team is proud to congratulate the winners of the 2011 Top Projects AwardsKPMG Canada’s Building, Construction and Real Estate practice is the result of a 35-year effort to forge one of the largest and strongest full-service practices.

We know the Alberta construction industry intimately.

The knowledge that KPMG’s professionals bring to each engagement helps to set us apart.

For more information please contact:

Randy Kraft Craig SneddonBuilding, Construction Building, Construction & Real Estate Leader, & Real Estate Leader,Calgary Edmonton403 691 8039 780 429 6523 [email protected] [email protected]

kpmg.ca/realestate

© 2011 KPMG LLP, a Canadian limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.

Durwest Construction Systems (Alta.) Ltd. is primarily involved in the following trade disciplines:

Commercial & industrial waterproofing

Bridge deck waterproofing

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Durwest Construction Systems (Alta.) Ltd. has become known for our dedication to customer service and quality installations. We are very interested in providing pricing for any of the services we offer. Consider us for your next project.

www.durwestalta.com

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people, products& projects

TABLE Of CONteNtsGoing for a different look? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Churchill hires first general counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62PROJEX expands into eastern Canada . . . . . . . . . . . 62Interior Designers of Alberta recognize DIALOG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Modular buildings win awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Integrating fire detection with building management system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Singletouch technology available on tablet . . . . . 65McGowan joins Pivotal Projects’ Calgary office . . 65

hOW TO suBMIt IteMsDoes your company have news about personnel changes or new products? Or did it just land a new project in Alberta? We want to know about it. here’s how to get your news to us.

eMaiL iteMS tO: [email protected]

or Send it tO:

Editor, Alberta Construction Magazine,6111-91 St. NW, Edmonton, AB T6E 6V6

or Fax tO: (780) 944-9500

Please include the full name and location of the company.

mAkE TRACkS TO SAvE THE TURfBobcat Company has new turf-friendly replacement track to fit its T250, T300, T320, T750 and T770 model compact track loaders.

Ideal for landscaping and buildings and grounds applications, the flat, even profile of the Bobcat turf track prevents the tearing and cutting of lugs. The tracks create reduced ground pressure, a significantly lighter footprint than conventional tracks, minimal ground disruption and a reduced risk of damage to irrigation sys-tems and underground utility lines.

The replacement track is available in non-marking rubber and in non-marking orange for select models. Additionally, the non-marking rubber compound won’t leave black rubber marks on hard surfaces such as concrete.

for information, visit www.bobcat.com/rubbertracks.

Mike Russnak is the new branch manager for Boncor Building Products’ Edmonton branch.Russnak had been at Gentek Building Products where he held roles of increasing

responsibility, including branch manager. he spent 10 years in sales and sales manage-ment roles in the building materials industry.

Boncor Building Products Edmonton distributes building materials to contractors and builders in the Edmonton area, including such brands as Royal Crest, Celect, Versetta Stone and Solid Core Siding.

BONCOR BUILDING PRODUCTS NAmES EDmONTON mANAGER

Tregaskiss, a manufacturer of metal inert gas (MIG) welding guns, says its new TOuGh LOCK Conversion Series mini-mizes downtime associated with con-sumable changeover—regardless of the type of MIG gun used.

Each consumable system has a lock-ing feature that prevents the contact tip and retaining head from overheat-ing, which reduces wear and extends consumable life. Plus, a dual-lead thread design allows tips to be rotated 180 degrees to create a new wear position that extends the tip life.

To learn more, check out www.tregaskiss.com.

A NEW WAY TO mINImIzE DOWNTImE

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A Bobcat T770 sports the non-marking orange tracks.


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universal Slate International Inc.—a Calgary company that offers natural stones such as slates, limestone, marbles, granites, travertines, glass tiles and large-size ceramic panels from around the world in a range of colors—has something new. for those who are looking to achieve a unique ceramic look but don’t want to use conventional tiles with lots of grout lines, the company has begun carrying a line of “NEO-LITh” ceramic products in large slab sizes (144” x 50”) from a Spanish company, The Size NEO-LITh Ceramics SA. These can be used in all applications requiring cladding—including floors, showers, interior and exterior walls to unlimited heights, and countertops.

Among NEO-LITh’s benefits: the product is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified; the five-millimetre-thick fibre glass–backed slabs are lightweight (20 kilograms per square metre); it offers a hygienic surface that prevents the growth of mould, fun-gus and bacteria; it is certified for hospital environments, restaurant kitchens and schools; it is extremely resistant to scratches and abra-sion; it is fireproof and frost proof; it does not give off any harmful substances into the environment and it can easily be recycled.

According to universal Slate International president Willard Nernberg, the product is made from 100 per cent clay with no additives or resins, using only very high pressure (375 kilograms per square centimetre) and extremely high heat (1,500ºC). The slabs come in a range of sizes.

To learn more, check out universal Slate at www.universalslate.com or call 403-287-7763.

Evan Johnston has joined the Churchill Corporation as vice-president and general counsel.

Johnston is Churchill’s first general counsel, bringing in-house a number of legal activities that had been performed externally. Among his duties are managing Churchill’s relationships with legal firms and advising the company on corporate activities including mergers and acquisi-tions, securities law, employment law and contract law.

Johnston had been vice-president, general coun-sel and corporate secretary for The forzani Group Ltd., which was acquired by Canadian Tire Corporation Limited in May. Before that, he practised law at several law firms in the areas of corporate finance and securities law, as well as private and public equity, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, fund formation and corpor-ate governance. his experience has been in Calgary, Vancouver, New york and London.

Johnston holds Bachelor of Commerce and Law degrees from the university of Manitoba and was also awarded a Certified financial Analyst designation.

Calgary-based Churchill is the parent company of Stuart Olson Dominion Construction Ltd.

GOING fOR A DIffERENT LOOk?

CHURCHILL HIRES fIRST GENERAL COUNSEL

PROjEX EXPANDS INTO EASTERN

CANADACalgary-based engineering firm PROJEX, which specializes in the energy sector, has opened an office in halifax, N.S.

The company employs 240 people at its Calgary head office. To meet the growing demands in eastern Canada, it hopes to have 50–150 full-time positions in place in halifax by the end of 2012. Depending on business climate and market conditions, PROJEX estimates that it will have an annual payroll of upwards of $10 million by the end of next year.

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62 | Winter 2011

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DIALOG recently received multiple honours for interior design excellence.

AIMCo, the new Edmonton offices for the Alberta Investment Management Corp., was presented with Gold recognition, while Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra hospital Robbins Pavilion

INTERIOR DESIGNERS Of ALBERTA RECOGNIzE DIALOG

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The Modular Building Institute, an international trade association for commercial modular building, recognized several modular building projects in Alberta in its annual Awards of Distinction contest.

Projects recognized included the Sunday Creek Lodge, a workforce camp located in the Alberta oilsands that involved Black Diamond Group Limited and Alta-fab Structures Ltd., Alta-fab Structures’ Drilling Control Centre office space and Northgate Industries Ltd.’s “Super Executive” workforce housing building.

The Alberta market for modular buildings is served by at least 48 manufactur-ers and 17 dealers, according to the Modular Building Institute.

mODULAR BUILDINGS WIN AWARDSThe Sunday Creek Lodge typifies modular versatility with seamless customization.

and Calgary’s Nexen Conference Centre were recognized with Silver standing—all part of the biannual Interior Designers of Alberta design competition. As well, the Calgary offices for the united farmers of Alberta were recognized with an honourable Mention award.

1. United Farmers Association corporate offices in Calgary.

2. The new offices for AIMCo.

3. The Nexen Conference Centre.

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Apollo fire Detectors Ltd. says its new OpenConnect Gateway fully integrates fire detection with building management systems without the need for complex systems or the use of multiple cust-omized interfaces.

The OpenConnect Gateway is a plug-and-play device that can be incorporated into a fire control panel design.

Information is relayed from the panel into the building man-agement system using stan-dard protocols such as BACnet, Modbus or LonWorks. This gives both system integrators and end users the advantage of utilizing an intra-system communica-tion architecture between both environments, while maintaining the integrity of each system independently.

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64 | Winter 2011

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Project management company Pivotal Projects Inc. has appointed Jack McGowan as business manager and project dir-ector of its Calgary office.

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aging and delivering large-scale, global construction and infrastructure projects. for the past four years, he worked in Qatar and the united Arab Emirates where he led the development of several complex, high-profile real estate projects.

his most recent projects include the multi-billion dollar Barwa financial District, a mixed-use development in Doha, Qatar; Dubai’s Ritz-Carlton hotel and Limestone house project; and the Index Tower, an 80-storey, A-Grade mixed-use development in the Dubai International financial Centre.

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SINGLETOUCH TECHNOLOGY AvAILABLE ON TABLETSingletouch Corp. has rolled out a tablet-based version of its Singletouch Mobile product. The technology can be accessed with hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.’s hP Slate tablet computer.

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18012 - 107 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T5S 2J5 • Phone: 780.455.1122 • Fax: 780.451.2152E-mail: [email protected] • Web Site: www.albertaconstruction.net

By Ken GibsonACA Executive Director

ACA ACTIVE IN ThREE CORE SERVICES

The Alberta Construction Association (ACA) has been very active this summer and fall in its three core services:• Government advocacy• Promoting the development of a skilled workforce• Developing and promoting industry standard practices

Government advocacyACA committees confirmed advocacy priorities for 2012. Priorities for the government advocacy committee are:1. Sustained and predictable public and private investment in

infrastructure.2. Ensuring our future skilled workforce, with emphasis

on immigration.3. Enhancing industry competitiveness to ensure long-term

capacity and fair opportunity for profit.Last issue, the ACA reported on its work on public private

partnership (P3) recommendations. A separate initiative is the development of “Lunch and Learn” educational seminars to assist members and partners in learning more about the P3 process and the implications of bidding for work procured through a P3 process. The seminars feature knowledgeable ACA contract-ors experienced in P3s with P3 procurement staff from Alberta Infrastructure.

ACA’s Safety/Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) Committee priorities for 2012 include:• Parties should recognize that a culture of safety requires a

partnership of shared responsibility. To be successful, this culture requires an ongoing shared commitment to safety by

three partners—employers, individual personnel on jobsites and the provincial government for regulatory enforcement.

• The ACA has strong misgivings about disability-claims man-agement data collected by the WCB being used in Alberta to measure safety performance. Aggregate trends over time are perhaps the most meaningful use of this data. Over the last decade, the data suggest Alberta worksites have become sig-nificantly safer.

• Adoption of best practices should extend to regulatory com-pliance and enforcement. Measures used elsewhere should be evaluated for their impact on improvements to workplace safety before being adopted in Alberta. New tools contemplated for Alberta should identify the failure of existing tools before pro-ceeding to an evaluation of the impacts of the new tools.

• The ACA believes that ongoing dialogue and consultation among employers and government is essential to moving forward together. Employers believe they can strengthen the initiatives of the government through proactive con-sultation, rather than reacting after an initiative is in place. The Work Safe Alberta consultations in previous years were a good model and we urge the government to return to that approach.Along with the Alberta Roadbuilders & Heavy Construction

Association, the ACA has established a coalition of industry associations from the construction, manufacturing, forestry, oil and gas, and health care sectors that share a common goal to positively influence occupational health and safety legislation, regulation and policy in the interests of our members.


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Promoting a skilled workforceThe ACA has been very active in advocating improvements to the immigration of permanent and temporary foreign workers. The ACA met with federal ministers Jason Kenney and Diane Finley in mid-October. Along with the Merit Contractors Association and the Alberta Roadbuilders & Heavy Construction Association, the coalition of Alberta associations has developed a joint issues paper and advocacy strategy that will be pursued over the coming months. This activity has led to invitations to work with similar initiatives with like-minded groups.

Promotion of local sources of skilled workers continues as the first choice for our members. Member funds have allowed the ACA to offer 32 annual scholarships of $1,000 each to apprentices. The ACA also manages the Trade Up! Careers in Construction website, www.tradeupalberta.ca, on behalf of a consortium of employer associations, labour groups and government partners.

The ACA also advocates for policy improvements to Alberta’s education and apprentice training systems.

Industry standard practicesThe ACA’s active opposition to the practice of non-refundable deposits has achieved some success. The ACA thanks Stantec Consulting Ltd.’s Veronica Panich of their Lethbridge office. The ACA contacted Panich in early July with concerns over the $100 non-refundable deposit on tender documents for the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass 2011 Infrastructure Improvements Projects. When contacted in August about a deposit for the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass CPR Pedestrian Crossing and Trail Construction, Stantec quickly issued an addendum to remove the deposit. Panich confirmed Stantec’s desire to comply with industry practice.

Given the success of the Construction Management Advisory Committee, Alberta Infrastructure has invited the ACA to appoint representatives to the new Design Build Advisory Committee.

The ACA is in the process of updating supplementary con-ditions to align the use of CCDC2 to the Alberta Builders’ Lien Act, and is in the process of developing SC for the suite of CCDC contracts (3, 4, 5b, 17 and 18).

Last issue, the ACA reported on the partnership with Productivity Alberta to boost the adoption of information and communication technologies for the construction industry. A pilot project has been initiated with the Calgary Construction Association. We anticipate the program will expand to other regions once lessons are learned from the pilot.

Promotion of local sources of skilled workers continues as the first choice for our members.

68 | Winter 2011

aca report

To celebrate its 80th anniversary, the Edmonton Construction Association (ECA) recognized a handful of construction indus-try leaders at a special anniversary celebration and Awards of Excellence program on October 29.

Held at the Edmonton EXPO Centre, the event included appearances by Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel, incoming Canadian Construction Association president John Schubert and Alberta’s Deputy Premier, Doug Horner.

A number of awards were presented during the event. They included:Educator of the Year Award: Paul Paridaen, Fillmore

Construction.Outstanding Woman in Construction Award: Patricia Long,

Storage Solutions of Alberta Ltd.Sustainable Construction & Innovation Award: A & B Concrete

Pumping (2007) Ltd.Manufacturer & Supplier of the Year Award: A & B Concrete

Pumping (2007) Ltd.Trade Contractor Project up to $1 Million Award: Priority

Mechanical Services (ORMED headquarters).Trade Contractor Project Over $1 Million Award: Flynn

Canada Ltd. (Art Gallery of Alberta).

ECA CELEBRATES ITS 80Th ANNIVERSARyGeneral Contractor Project up to $15 Million Award: Clark

Builders (ATCO Gas North Edmonton Operations Centre).General Contractor Project Over $15 Million Award: Ledcor

Construction (Art Gallery of Alberta).General Contractor of the Year Award: Jen‐Col Construction Ltd.

The ECA also recognized three original funding members. Awards were given to:Ted Zandbeek (A.V. Carlson Construction Ltd., which is now

Carlson Construction Ltd.).Gary Dewitt (Freeze Maxwell Co. Ltd., which is now Freeze

Maxwell, a division of Freemax Holdings Limited).Joe Thompson (Poole Construction Ltd., which is now PCL

Construction Management Inc.).

The ECA is one of the largest non-profit associations serving the commercial, institutional and industrial construction indus-try in Canada. Established in 1931, the ECA is dedicated to pro-viding effective representation and quality services to 1,095 member firms including general contractors, trade contractors, manufacturers, and suppliers of goods and services to the con-struction industry.

1. Deputy Premier Doug Horner presents the Outstanding Woman in Construction Award to Patricia Long.

2. Paul Paridaen, left, receives the Educator of the Year Award from Deputy Premier Doug Horner.

3. Deputy Premier Doug Horner gives the Sustainable Construction & Innovation Award to Jason Mercier of A & B Concrete Pumping (2007) Ltd.

4. Ron Jodoin, Cory Jodoin and the staff at Jen-Col Construction accept the General Contractor of the Year Award from Deputy Premier Doug Horner.

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Dialing back thepast

revival of a piece of edmonton’s history is music to the ears of the building’s new owners—and others

By Tricia Radison

70 | Winter 2011

The rebuilt Alberta Hotel rises above Jasper Avenue in downtown Edmonton.

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Once the most luxurious hotel in Edmonton, the Alberta Hotel was

deconstructed in 1984 to make room for Canada Place. But the sandstone, bricks, balconies and cupola were saved and, a few years ago, architect Gene Dub, princi-pal of Dub Architects Ltd., began putting the hotel back together with the intent of restoring the façade and creating a bou-tique hotel.

Then CKUA Radio Network, a home-grown radio station and a provincial icon desperately in need of a new home, found out about the restoration and the project took a different turn.

“Sometimes there are just happy acci-dents in life and I really think this is one of those,” says Paul Moulton, executive direc-tor of Arts and Heritage St. Albert and chair of the station’s board, of CKUA’s connec-tion with the Alberta Hotel after almost a decade of researching facility options.

The building was a fit for many reasons.“We are an 83-year-old radio station

and this is a restoration of a 1903 struc-ture,” Moulton explains. “There are syner-gies in history. Additionally, our station is more than simply broadcasting a signal. Its connection to the arts and the commun-ity is very important and this building is in the heart of the arts district.”

Work was well underway when CKUA decided to buy the building, but the timing was right for a shift in direction. In fact, CKUA’s architectural team made just one adjustment, adding a mezzanine in the back. Had the construction of the hotel been just a couple of months further along, the cost and effort of backtracking might have been too high.

While the $17-million project is referred to as a restoration, it is in fact a new building with the original hotel façade facing Jasper Avenue. The north-facing side of the building is a contemporary glass-and-steel structure that extends one storey above the original four-storey hotel.

Inside, the first floor will include a res-toration of the old Alberta Hotel bar.

We’ve found some pieces of the original bar that we’ll be using,” says Dub. “We’re also putting back the original mirrors and wall tiles.”

Dub only has about half the tile required, so the original tiles will be aug-mented by carefully matched new tile. The ceiling and floors will also be recreated based on samples of the originals, the win-dows will be replications and the bar will feature one of the original cash registers.

Most of the building, however, will suit the needs of a modern radio station. There will be five broadcast studios, a produc-tion studio and four small production stu-dios, giving CKUA greater capacity for producing programs. There are also plans for an exhibit area showcasing the history of both CKUA and radio.

The building will also include a live performance space. Located in the rear of the building in a two-storey atrium, the space will have vaulted ceilings and state-of-the-art broadcast capabilities.

“It’s a modest version of what CBC has done with the Glenn Gould studio in Toronto,” Moulton says.

One of the problems with the 100-year-old building CKUA now occu-pies is that it doesn’t provide the proper security and environmental protection

for the station’s world-class library, a col-lection that contains more than 1.5 mil-lion selections and represents almost 80 years of history.

Currently, CKUA has virtually no protection for the collection, which is scattered among five f loors. Much of the archival material is stored in the basement across from the boiler room and has already been threatened by fire and flooding.

The new bui lding wi l l include appropriate fire suppression systems and the library, which will house the entire collection, will have temperature and humidity controls to mitigate deterioration.

At 40,000 square feet, the building also has more space than CKUA requires—space that can be used to provide

An artist’s rendering of what the Alberta Hotel will look like—that’s Canada Place in the background—once completed.

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72 | Winter 2011

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affordable housing for community organizations and CKUA partners.

Although much of the envelope is original, steps have been taken to make the building as operationally efficient and environmentally friendly as other modern buildings. These include an efficient mechanical system, insulation and, on the north-facing section, triple-glazed windows.

There’s definitely buzz about the project. Dub says he’s received more positive reac-tions about the revival of the Alberta Hotel than any building his firm has ever done.

“Edmontonians are really excited about seeing some of their history brought back, especially in a new city where we don’t have many buildings with a long history,” he says. “Retaining our history is an import-ant aspect of our cities.”

fast factsProject cost is $17 million

Original building built in 1903

Alberta Hotel deconstructed in 1984

CKUA will have five broadcast studios, a production studio, four small production studios and live performance space

Mezzanine has been added in back of building

New building will have appropriate fire suppression and material protection for CKUA’s extensive library

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The concept of the green roof has been around for a while, but Alberta

hasn’t been quick to embrace it. That’s not surprising—winters here are cold, and suc-cessfully growing ground-level gardens can be a challenge with a short growing season. But recently, a number of green roofs have been springing up in construction projects around the province, many of them in the Edmonton area, suggesting contractors are increasingly comfortable with incorporating these unique green spaces into their projects.

The Enjoy Centre in St. Albert, Alta., is one example. The 242,000-square-foot facility features four rooftop modules, each encapsulating its own little garden.

The green roof component is the work of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)’s School of Sustainable Building and Environmental Management.

“Many building owners in central Alberta, including the owners of the Enjoy Centre, have an interest in green roofs,

and we wanted more information on the benefits of green roofs in north-central Alberta,” says Leonie Nadeau, a retired senior faculty researcher who remains involved in the project.

Getting answersNadeau explains that the roof will provide some answers specifically for the region. “We have all kinds of information from the warmer, humid areas of the U.S. and Europe. We don’t have as much info for dryer, colder environments like we have in Alberta.”

NAIT has installed roofing evaluation modules designed at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Sensors in the roof allow the team to collect informa-tion about things like heat distribution and loss, and water retention and drainage.

The benefits could extend to the environment and to building owners. For example, in St. Albert, when you buy a piece of land, you are required to buy

enough for the creation of a retention pond. But what if a green roof will retain enough water so that the water can drain off slowly? “That could actually change the way the city does business,” she says.

Nadeau, who has been involved with green roofs for the past four years, says that she believes the technology and knowledge for creating effective, sustain-able green roofs in Alberta already exists. What’s needed now is to fine-tune what is known for different climates.

Mike Widdifield, project manager, PCL Construction Management Inc. in Edmonton, agrees that the technol-ogy and know-how are in place for the successful incorporation of green roofs. Widdifield is in charge of the construc-tion of PCL’s $24-million, 82,000-square-foot headquarters expansion at the PCL Business Park in Edmonton. An impres-sive 40 per cent of the total roof area will be green.

Sprouting UPGreen roofs are increasingly part of the design and construction of new buildings

By Tricia Radison

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Forty per cent of the roof area of PCL’s latest expansion, shown in this artist’s rendering, will be devoted to a green roof.


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“PCL has committed to sustainable design and construction, starting with the Centennial Learning Centre [completed in Edmonton in 2006] being a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design build-ing. It’s pretty important for us to main-tain that,” says Widdifield. “We’re also in a pretty heavy industrial area, and this adds aesthetics for the occupants and makes a more pleasurable space for them.”

Widdifield says that green roofs are becoming easier to incorporate into build-ings because more designers and contractors have experience with them. In addition, the products being developed using green-roof knowledge and technology are making for more efficient installation and maintenance.

PCL is using a relatively new product on the 4,800-square-foot green roof that will top the two-storey component of the build-ing. It’s a lightweight, low-maintenance system of modular, pre-manufactured units that come complete with drainage trays, the growing medium and vegetation.

“We used that recently on a PCL-built project in Edmonton,” says Widdifield. “Feedback from our team on that project led us to use that product here.”

Interestingly, 5,800 square feet of the green roof space on PCL’s new building will actually be at ground level. Because the basement has a different footprint than the three-storey and two-storey compon-ents of the building, two courtyards that appear to be normal green space will, in fact, be roofs.

Called intensive green roofs because they have a deeper growing medium and higher-maintenance vegetation, these roofs will feature grasses, perennials, shrubs and even trees.

With soil a metre deep in some places, it’s important that the roofs are constructed properly. That’s something Widdifield says industry needs to main-tain focus on even as it becomes more comfortable with green roofs.

Attention to detail“The more experience everybody gets doing the construction process for green roofs, the easier it is going to get. But we still have to make sure that we pay special attention to the details and the construction so that the system works, because it’s a main component of the building envelope,” says Widdifield.

Environmental consciousness is the driver behind the green roof movement, but owners are realizing that they aren’t right for every building. “ATB Financial is trying different sustainable options in our facilities,” says John Swarbrick, vice-president, central region, ATB.

The f inancial institution’s new branch in Sylvan Lake has an approxi-mately 1,700-square-foot green roof on its 3,800-square-foot roof, and it has successfully survived its first winter. It’s a pilot project that ATB is watching closely to determine whether or not to include rooftop gardens in future facilities, but it won’t necessarily result in a green roof on every new branch.

“I believe that [ATB] is leaning toward it in the next branches, depending on the location of the branch and whether it makes sense with the design of the branch,” says Swarbrick.

He offers the example of a branch in Red Deer, Alta., that wasn’t a good fit for a green roof because it was designed with an angled roof. At that location, ATB chose to capture used water in underground res-ervoirs for exterior watering as part of its commitment to sustainability.

76 | Winter 2011

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Supreme Group has fabricated and erected

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Since glass was first manufac-tured about 5,000 years ago, glass-

manufacturing techniques have evolved considerably. No longer do we look out single-pane, wavy glass windows. Now we look out quadruple-pane, argon gas– filled glazed windows. Today’s window glass and glazing technologies would def-initely impress our ancestors.

It wasn’t until the 13th century, when a technique for making clear glass was

developed, and by the Renaissance, that glass usage was common. Plate glass for windows only started to become popular in the 18th century after it was discov-ered that the grinding and polishing of cast glass produced a superior f lat sur-face. And by 1958, the float glass proced-ure was developed, where molten glass is floated over molten tin to create high-quality, continuous and uniform sheets of glass.

Although float glass manufacturing is no longer prolific in Canada, this process was the most common method for large-scale glass manufacturing from the 1960s to the 1980s and led to the widespread use of window glass in the modern era.

Since the f loat glass procedure was developed, industry has seen window glass evolve from single- to double-, triple- and now quadruple-pane glass. Inert gases, such as argon, have been used to fill the

glaze into the futureGlass technologies promise to change the way we look at the worldBy Diane L.M. Cook

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Part of the glazing system used at The Bow in Calgary.


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space between two sheets of glass. And myriad glazing applications have been developed to do everything from keep-ing the heat in or out, and most definitely, to keeping the burglars out.

Richard Verdon, president of the Canadian Glass Association, says the glass and window markets in Alberta

have progressed in the last few years, specifically with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and green building programs. “A quick look at the European glass and window markets tells us there is much room for improvement in our markets,” he says. “We still have a lot to learn with regard

to constructing energy-efficient and sustainable buildings.”

The different compositions of glass and varying types of glazing applications allow manufacturers to create many char-acteristics of window glass such as col-our, reflectivity, transparency, strength, thermal conductivity and heat resistance.

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The Bow in Calgary makes extensive use of exterior glass to make the best use of the western sunlight.

80 | Winter 2011


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Big stridesVerdon says the industry has seen tremen-dous improvements in energy models in the last few years that recommend new building technologies with new advanced glazing systems. “The products are out there to construct very good building envelopes,” he says. “However, it’s usually a question of budgets, and the owners of the buildings control the products that will fit these designs.” Some of those new products include glass-clad polycarbon-ate, building-integrated photovoltaics and electrochromic glass.

Marketed as security glass and known for its strength, glass-clad polycarbonate is made from a layer of tempered glass, a vinyl interlayer, a sheet of polycarbon-ate, another vinyl interlayer and another sheet of tempered glass. Examples of glass-clad polycarbonate used as security glass include inmate detention areas, interview rooms, psychiatric wards and banks.

The process used to make security glass is also used to make bulletproof glass by adding more polycarbonate layers. Paul Heyens, chief executive officer of Alberta

Glass Company Inc., says: “Bulletproof glass only makes up a small part of the win-dow glass in use today. However, it’s gain-ing popularity, especially in buildings that require bulletproof glass due to threats of terrorism. Most new embassies and public buildings in the U.S. use bulletproof glass.”

Building-integrated photovoltaics, or solar cell technology, already popular in Europe, is slowly entering the North American market. The technology can be incorporated into building envelopes that are used to capture the sun’s rays,

giving building owners the opportunity to generate their own electricity and even feed electricity back to the grid.

“Clear technology is still in its infancy, and until the technology achieves the architectural look and its cost is not pro-hibitive, it might be a while before we see this technology go mainstream,” says Richard Neal, president of the Provincial Glaziers Association of Alberta.

David Langton, a partner at Competition Glass, says, “As energy costs continue to rise, alternate sources need to be

“ The products are out there to construct very good building envelopes.

However, it’s usually a question of budgets, and the owners of the

buildings control the products that will fit these designs.”

— Richard Verdon, president, Canadian Glass Association



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looked at, especially solar, and [building-integrated photovoltaics] definitely fits the bill.”

Glassonweb.com describes electro-chromic glass, or “smart” glass, as an energy-saving component for buildings that can change colour on command. It works by passing low-voltage electrical charges across a microscopically thin coating on the glass surface, activating an electrochromic layer that changes colour from clear to dark. The electric current can be activated manually or by sensors that react to light intensity. Glass dark-ening reduces solar transmission into the building. When there is little sunlight, the glass brightens, so that the need for the artificial light is minimized.

Time neededBill Coady, architectural sales man-ager, Northwest Region of Guardian

“ It’s great to incorporate many of

the new window glass and glazing

technologies into new buildings,

but the reality is that some of these

technologies are still relatively new

and are just starting to enter the

market now. It will take time for

these new technologies to become

more widely available and more

affordable for building owners

to incorporate into their building

envelope.”

— Bill Coady, architectural sales manager, Northwest Region,

Guardian Industries Corp.

82 | Winter 2011


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Industries Corp., says the challenge today is to push the technology envel-ope for the future while creating a built environment that uses currently avail-able products that are commercially viable, practical and cost effective.

“It’s great to incorporate many of the new window glass and glazing technolo-gies into new buildings,” he says, “but the reality is that some of these technologies are still relatively new and are just starting to enter the market now. It will take time for these new technologies to become more widely available and more affordable for building owners to incorporate into their building envelope.”

For now, Coady says what is most important is that industry incorpor-ate the wisest use of all technologies—not just glass, but architectural, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air condition-ing) and environmental technologies as well—into the planning and design of buildings. “Much can be achieved by installing the most appropriate type of glass in different places in a building to achieve better management of heat gain and heat loss. As well, fixed blinds and automatic shades should be considered as variable options to enhance the func-tion of the building.”

Downtown Calgary has given indus-try an opportunity to install new window glass and glazing technologies.

Alberta Glass, western Canada’s lead-ing glass and glazing service contractor, was the primary glass contractor for The Bow and Eighth Avenue Place. The Bow, which uses 900,000 square feet of glass—enough to cover 10 football fields—is one example where glass is more than an aes-thetic feature.

“For The Bow, we installed Type 2 and Type 3 windows manufactured by Sota Glazing Inc. from Brampton, Ont.,” Heyens says. “These windows were installed in the inside curve, faceted walls that are three to 11 metres apart. They were designed and positioned to har-vest and control the most intense solar gain (southwest facing). Through the use of blinds on the windows, the operable vents and air movement between the two faces of glazing, the building will control heat and cooling, and minimize the use of HVAC systems while allowing fresh air into the workspaces.”



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Publicly listed companies have seen this year’s quarterly financial state-

ments filed under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Preparing transition adjustments and ensuring IFRS-compliant disclosures has, for many people, been a significant mountain to climb.

“Well...that was fun!”This was a common sentiment among financial reporting teams across the real estate industry upon completing their first set of financial statements under IFRS. Many financial reporting teams dedicated a significant amount of time and resources over the last two years prepar-ing for this transition; however, the level

By Randy KraftAudit Partner, KPMG LLP

of effort required to finalize the financial statements came as a surprise to many. The number of decisions required to be made, not only for accounting policy selection, but also for note disclosures in preparing the first set of IFRS financial statements, required financial reporting teams to assess the pros and cons of each alternative—how would it impact our financial reporting measures? What are our peers in the sector doing? These are the questions that went through everyone’s mind, and people may not be done asking yet. It is expected that some entities may adjust their financial statements between the second quarter of 2011 and year-end. Note disclosures will undoubtedly be enhanced going forward as entities transition from interim condensed financial statements to full financial state-ment disclosure requirements.

Policy choices made by real estate industryTo inform reporting issuers on the account-ing policy and disclosure decisions made by peers in the industry, we have summarized a sample of key choices made by 27 selected Canadian real estate reporting issuers, com-prised of seven retail, 10 office, five lodging/seniors’ care and five multi-residential enti-ties. The summary focuses on accounting policies and disclosures particularly relevant to the real estate industry. It is important to note that differences in accounting policies or disclosures chosen may result from vary-ing facts and circumstances rather than dif-ferences of opinion.

Chart 1This summary reflects that while there are a number of areas of consistency among

Transitioning to iFrS poses challenges

ACCOUNTING POLICIES & DISCLOSURES RETAIL OffICELODGING/ SENIORS

CARE

mULTI-RESIDENTIAL

Condensed interim financial statements 100% 100% 100% 100%

Classified balance sheet 86% 70% 100% 80%

real estate recorded on balance sheet using the fair value model 86% 90% N/A 100%

Convertible debentures recorded at fair value (1) 50% 50% 50% N/A

Class B Units recorded as a liability and at fair value (1) 60% 75% 100% 100%

reit Units presented on balance sheet as equity (1) 86% 100% 67% 100%

disclosure of “CaP rates” used by entity in determining fair value (1) 83% 56% N/A 100%

entities using solely internally prepared appraisals (1) 0% 0% N/A 20%

disclosure of components of finance costs on income statement 43% 100% 40% 60%

entities with puttable units disclosing e.P.S. (1) 43% 50% 40% 40%

Chart 1

(1) Percentage provided is for entities where choice was applicable.

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trade talk

reporting issuers, there is also some diver-gence. For example, where there was an option available to report assets and liabil-ities at fair value versus amortized cost, a majority of the issuers selected the fair value option. This accounting policy creates more variability in reported earnings from one reporting period to another, and increases the need for entities to identify and dis-cuss more clearly the impact of these policy selections on the key performance metrics, such as funds from operations and available funds from operations in their management discussion and analysis (MD&A).

In terms of other changes in presen-tation and note disclosure from previous Canadian Generally Accepted Principles and Practices (GAAP), approximately

50 per cent of entities did not disclose earn-ings per share in their financial statements, and the majority of the industry presented a classified balance sheet (current assets and liabilities separated from long term). So, what’s next? If entities are considering making changes to their policy selections where allowed by the standards, they need to be aware of additional requirements. For example, entities changing accounting poli-cies or the use of exemptions during 2011 subsequent to their first set of IFRS finan-cial statements are required to update the IFRS 1 reconciliations in the entity’s first IFRS financial statements. In addition, entities may also be required to enhance their disclosure in the MD&A by discussing instances when a choice was made among

acceptable accounting policies or where no accounting literature exists that covers the accounting for the particular event or transaction.

Impact on financial metrics used in real estate industryAs financial reporting teams across the real estate industry completed their second set of financial statements in accordance with IFRS for the quarter ended June 30, 2011, key stakeholders are reflecting on how the policy choices being applied by the real estate industry are affecting key financial metrics. What does this all mean? How does it impact key ratios? How will the market understand and interpret these results? IFRS financial statements were expected to bring fluctuations in earn-ings and other metrics from one period to another. A single set of global standards was expected to bring comparability to the financial statements. Did it really happen?

Some of the answers to these questions will continue to evolve as preparers and users become more comfortable with IFRS and as companies complete their first set of annual financial statements. So what have we learned so far? To provide some insight to date, we have analyzed the impact on certain key metrics based on the account-ing policies chosen by selected Canadian real estate reporting issuers. The summary focuses on the impact of the transition to IFRS reporting from previous Canadian GAAP reporting as at and for the year ending Dec. 31, 2010, on key perform-ance metrics particularly relevant to the

120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

-20%

IfRS Adjustments to Net Earnings

C-GAAP NET

EARNINGS

INCREMENTAL

INTEREST

REAL ESTATE

ADJuSTMENTS

IMPACT ON

TAXES

OThER IfRS NET

EARNINGS

Chart 3

SEGmENTAvERAGE

DEBT-TO-EqUITY RATIO

AvERAGE DEBT-TO-GROSS

BOOk vALUE

AvERAGE INTEREST

COvERAGE RATIO

AvERAGE INCREASE IN TOTAL ASSETS

AvERAGE INCREASE IN YE NET

EARNINGS

C-gaaP iFrS C-gaaP iFrS C-gaaP iFrS iFrS iFrS

Office 1.95 1.26 0.64 0.55 2.38 2.04 18% 339%

Multi-residential 2.24 1.43 0.66 0.56 2.21 1.49 42% 307%

Retail 2.71 2.18 0.72 0.61 2.03 1.47 17% 717%

Seniors housing 1.96 2.72 0.66 0.75 1.92 2.07 2% 32%

Chart 2

86 | Winter 2011

trade talk

real estate industry. It is important to note that accounting policies or disclosures chosen and their impact on key metrics may result from varying facts and circum-stances rather than differences of opinion.

Chart 2IFRS adoption has created volatility in earnings and caused significant vari-ability in certain key metrics used by the real estate industry, due to either policy selection or presentation and disclosure requirements.

For example, many entities1 disclosed a decrease in the debt-to-gross book value and debt-to-equity ratios. The policy choice allowing for the measure-ment of real estate assets at fair value enabled entities to demonstrate the level of leverage using current market values. These ratios improved despite the fact that the majority of the entities reported higher debt balances as a result of the classification of exchangeable units as a liability and selecting the fair-value option for measuring convertible debentures (as applicable). As noted in the chart, for most entities, the change in value of assets reported was large enough to compensate for the higher debt balances.

The variability is not limited to the balance sheet. As noted in the table, there was significant change in the net earnings between Canadian GAAP and IFRS. To better understand these signifi-cant f luctuations in net earnings, we reviewed the adjustments to net earn-ings recorded to translate the previous Canadian GAAP to IFRS for entities within the retail sector.

We anticipate that the level of disclosure will

evolve as preparers become more

comfortable with the standards.

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Chart 3The third chart confirms the significant changes in net earnings were due to the fair-value changes in real estate and the incremental interest expenses due to measurement and presentation differences of the exchangeable units and convertible debentures. This change is also reflected in the lower interest coverage ratio noted by a majority of reporting issuers.

On a cash basis, the impact of these changes and components may not be significant, and even though entities see most of the financial metrics improved, many key stakeholders dismissed the improvement as it was not reflective of current cash f lows. Some entities are beginning to measure and disclose other financial metrics, such as debt as a mul-tiple of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and debt service coverage ratio. How this evolves and how analysts respond to these changes remains to be seen in future public filings.

A few thoughts on comparability and impact of disclosures: based on our review of a sample of financial statements, we noted inconsistencies in the level of detail provided by entities such as the extent and frequency of using external appraisals, disclosure of “CAP” rates by geographic segment and use of weighted average “CAP” rates versus use of “CAP” rate ranges, etc. For example, approximately 33 per cent of entities provided no disclosure of the extent of using external appraisers. Further, approximately 50 per cent of those entities analyzed provided information on both weighted average and range of “CAP” rates.

If IFRS financial statements are expected to bring more comparability, then given the significance of accounting policy choices and their impact on finan-cial metrics, it is becoming increasingly critical for entities to provide detailed disclosures on the underlying assump-tions and judgments used in the prep-aration of the financial statements and other public documents. We anticipate that the level of disclosure will evolve as preparers become more comfortable with the standards, go through the first full year-end and, as best practices are iden-tified, make the financial statements and public documents more comparable and easier to understand for the users.

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New products designed to improve the thermal efficiency of this or

that component of a building envelope are regularly hitting the market. But for the occupant paying the heating and air conditioning bills, getting value for money out of these new, often pricier items is no slam dunk. That’s because many of them won’t do the job they were designed for if they are not installed properly.

Construction quality control has some-times been an issue in Alberta’s construc-tion sector. The tailwind of the boom that screeched to a halt in 2008 has left a pile

of litigation related to claims of shoddy workmanship in its wake.

“The quality of construction has to be better in order to manage the complexity of an envelope today,” says Randy Smith, a partner and manager of the building envelope group at Williams Engineering Canada Inc.

Smith is an advocate for building fun-damentals and points to older but durable buildings, which, despite their “leakiness,” continue to operate well with low main-tenance requirements. They are buildings that won’t become unusable.

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A plethora of building envelope components are available on the market today.

By Godfrey Budd


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Structural insulated panels, first developed in the United States in the 1930s, are a good system, Smith says, since, among other things, they limit air leakage and avoid thermal bridging. They are also a good fit for sloped roofs. But, he warns: “How well they work can be all in the details. Connections around doors and windows can be complicated.”

An externally insulated concrete wall is another system that gets the nod from Smith. The envelope consists of a con-crete wall on the inside then the mem-brane, girt, insulation and cladding. “All the concrete stays on the inside and the day-to-day fluctuations of its temperature are [minimized],” he says. “I like building that way. It’s just a matter of getting the developers to do that,” adds Smith, who notes that the method can bump construc-tion cost by 30 per cent.

Envelope specialists are increasingly concerned about the loss of energy effi-ciency resulting from thermal bridging. To reduce thermal transference of steel girts, Cascadia Windows Ltd. recently introduced a fibreglass fastener to attach girts to the substrate.

Air leaks are another related issue and spray foams can address this, Smith says.

Double duty“It allows us to insulate and create an air barrier at the same time,” he says.

Gerhard Bender, a partner at Zerodraft Calgary, is a proponent of foam insulation and says the sector has seen strong growth recently. “In the last two or three years, spray foam has been widely accepted as the best performance material for insulation—in all applications—by far,” he says. “If you use spray foam, air leaks get plugged.”

A few years ago, a three-year com-parison was made between two adja-cent houses in Calgary—one insulated with fibreglass, the other with foam. “An independent consulting engineer found that over the last three years, the foam-insulated house had about 50 per cent less heat loss,” Bender says. “The study compared heating bills and used thermo-graphic images.”

With savings on heating/air condi-tioning, payback time for the extra cost of foam insulation is in the three-to-six-year range, Bender says. Foam has

other advantages. It prevents hot and cold spots, dampens sound and keeps buildings cleaner by preventing dust penetration.

“If you look at the life-cycle cost and saving 40 per cent on heating bills, what does this equate to over 100 years for a few extra dollars up front? People need to consider the cost of ownership,” Bender says.

He says the extra cost of foam insula-tion for recently built seniors’ residences in Okotoks, Alta., and Olds, Alta., might be recouped with lower heating bills in as little as three years.

Foam insulation has gone from mar-ginal to mainstream over the last decade. “Ten years ago, we used foam for a dras-tic situation, to solve a problem; today, it’s widely used,” Bender says.

Pierre Couture, business manager for polyurethane spray systems at BASF, a supplier of foam insulation products to Zerodraft, estimates that, overall, across Canada, volumes of spray foam insulation product sold over the last 18 months have grown by about 20 per cent. Apart from its evident advantages, the fact that foam

92 | Winter 2011


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insulation products no longer contain ozone-depleting contents has doubtless also helped.

The benefits of technologies that reduce thermal bridging were highlighted by a recent study. The study looked at the

amount of heat loss stemming from ther-mal bridging in standard concrete and steel construction for high-rise balconies and examined 15 features and their role in thermal bridging. The study found that the standard balconies resulted in

unexpectedly high amounts of heat loss because of thermal bridging. Also, “The rule of thumb for 2 X 6 steel stud con-struction is that about 50 per cent of the effective R factor is lost through thermal bridging,” says Billy Huet, building

Loss of energy efficiency resulting from thermal bridging is one issue that concerns building envelope specialists.

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science manager at Morrison Hershfield, which did the study for the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

Structural insulated panels, he says, are part of the solution. But ensuring that more people on site understand the importance of effective sealing and air barriers, and how to achieve them, should move the ball forward.

Another part of the solution comes from products like those of the Germany-based Schöck AG, of which Schoeck Canada Inc. is a subsidiary. The company’s Isokorb system has been used in concrete and steel construction in Europe since the 1980s. It uses load-bearing elements that include thermal breaks, so that thermal conductivity between the outer edge of

a balcony and the internal floor slab (to which it is connected) is reduced.

No cold floors“You don’t need additional energy, for the thermal bridge is stopped—so no cold floors,” says Angie Tennyson, a consultant for Schöck’s official North American prod-uct launch for Isokorb in January 2012.

Isokorb has already been used for several projects in Alberta, including an entrance canopy for a building at the University of Calgary.

To improve the energy efficiency of curtain walls, Alumicor Limited’s ThermaWall 2600 was introduced a couple of years ago. The new system includes hollow-core gaskets and other compon-ents to reduce thermal bridging.

Says Al Ryland, the southern Alberta sales manager for Alumicor: “On a double-glazed system, the U value goes from 0.4 to 0.33. On a triple-glaze, the U value goes to 0.23.”

In 2010, a 354-unit condo complex, which used “passive-house” envelope design principles and was expected to consume only 14.6 kilowatt hours of energy per square metre per year, was completed in Innsbruck, Austria. Based on 2008 figures from Natural Resources Canada, energy consumption in Alberta’s residential sector averages about 311 kilo-watt hours per square metre per year. In 1990, it was 389 kilowatt hours per square metre per year. Commercial and institutional consumption is typically somewhat higher.

“ In the last two or three years, spray foam has been widely accepted as the best performance material for insulation—in all applications—by far.”

— Gerhard Bender, partner, Zerodraft Calgary

94 | Winter 2011


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Serious injury doesn’t stop man from enjoying career—or hobbiesBy Karen Lamminen

96 | Winter 2011

safety & security | safety

Since Al Gill was a boy growing up in Australia, he has been a motor-

cycle enthusiast. Broken bones are a famil-iar feeling; however, a broken leg sustained at work in August 2008 really put him on the sidelines.

Gill, 58, was overseeing a warehouse refurbishment project in Edmonton when a ladder that he was working on slid out from under him. He knew as he fell that it was going to turn out badly. His left leg slid between the rungs, shattering both his tibia and fibula as he hit the concrete floor.

Since that summer day, Gill has had nine surgeries and two serious infections (one of which placed his life in jeopardy), and spent a total of nine weeks in hospi-tal, six months with his leg in an Ilizarov

After suffering a devastating work injury, 58-year-old Al Gill was able to change his career and get into project management.

frame (a device to lengthen a limb) and almost a year on crutches. Gill’s doctor told him that if it were not for the fact that Gill was in good physical shape, he would have amputated his leg the day of the injury.

With the tibia and fibula damaged so extensively, the range of motion in Gill’s ankle is almost non-existent. Gill can point his toes up and down, but he can-not “roll” his ankle. Trudging on gravel or through snow is out of the question. Additionally, since both bones were badly shattered, Gill’s body couldn’t create enough new bone to heal properly. This led to a series of surgeries to remove weak and infected bone, bone grafts from his hip to strengthen the breaks and other

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repair work. Gill’s surgeon also recently proposed shortening his leg by 3.5 centi-metres, while at the same time inserting a rod from near his knee to just above his ankle to stabilize and strengthen the shortened tibia.

Despite ongoing setbacks, Gill knew from the beginning that he was going

back to work. He isn’t a man who can sit idle for long. It was clear that Gill’s project management profession (but this time in a strictly sedentary role) was a good fit, but his employer at the time couldn’t accom-modate this. After a discussion with his Workers’ Compensation Board case man-ager, it was decided that Gill would have

a more successful return to work if he obtained formal qualifications in project management. While in and out of hospi-tal, he completed an online project man-agement certificate through Mount Royal University in Calgary. Today, Gill is work-ing with a new employer, helping business grow in western Canada.

The last few years have been compli-cated, painful and even life threatening. Sometimes Gill gets discouraged about not being able to do things he used to, like kicking a soccer ball around with his granddaughter, but he has found solace in his love of motorbikes and the uncon-ditional support of his wife and family. He is restoring a number of classic motor-bikes and even continues to ride, choos-ing a fully restored 1971 British Triumph, which has its gear lever on the healthy leg’s side.

“I got to be 58 years old before I did too much harm to myself—in spite of every-thing I tried to do to kill myself motorcycle racing,” Gill says. “I still consider myself to be very fortunate, and am still quite mobile, unlike many others who have suf-fered far worse injuries than I.”

“I got to be 58 years old before I did too much harm to myself—in spite of everything I tried to do to kill myself motorcycle racing. I still consider

myself to be very fortunate, and am still quite mobile, unlike many others who have suffered

far worse injuries than I.”— Al Gill

98 | Winter 2011


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Whether we notice it or not, our everyday lives are ensconced in

security systems. At work, we use fobs to open doors. Everywhere we look, we see surveillance cameras hanging on walls. And in all public and commercial buildings, fire alarms are mandatory. We know what the functions of these security systems are, but do we know about the tech-nology that makes it all possible?

With the rapid advancement of infor-mation technology (IT) and the Internet in the past decade, security systems are no longer the independent, stand-alone sys-tems they once were. Today, access control, digital video surveillance, and fire and bur-glary security systems can be integrated, accessed by browser-based software on a PC or a Mac and synced up with hand-held devices such as smart phones and tablets.

Security surveillance systems progressed in three steps: verification, identification

and analytics. First, VHS tapes from surveillance cameras verified that some-one had entered a building or robbed a store. Then, as camera technology got better, surveillance cameras could identify persons of interest. And finally, surveillance tech-nology advanced to the point where video can now be analyzed for a myriad of things.

Although there hasn’t been any notable changes in the technology of field devices like door sensors, motion sensors, fob readers and even megapixel cameras in the past decade, Scott Knutsen says there has been a huge change in how we can access the information and how it is stored due to the industry shift to IT and networked solutions. Knutsen is co–chief executive officer and director of sales and engineer-ing of Cobra Integrated Systems, one of a myriad of security technology providers.

“In the last five years, there has been a change in security solutions towards

Under a watchful eyeSmart phones and tablets improve access and communications with security systemsBy Diane L.M. CookPH

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integration of security systems with new technologies and syncing them up with smart phones and tablets,” he says. “Prior to this, companies had proprietary soft-ware but there was very little integration. Where now, with browser-based systems, users can access these software programs through smart phones and tablets, even though the software is still proprietary.”

Cobra uses system manufacturers such as S2 for access control, OnSSI for digital video surveillance and DMP for fire and burglary systems. “We use these systems because they are designed to talk to each other,” he says. “Each application can be accessed through any computer or smart device. They are all password protected and very user-friendly.”

With this system, when there is an alarm alert, the smart phone or tablet will immediately check to see what the alert is about and who generated it. “Not only can you see an event in progress,” Knutsen says, “such as a theft or damage to property, you get instant verification of the identification of the person who trig-gered the alarm alert.”

Cobra recently installed the S2 plat-form in the recently completed EPCOR Tower in downtown Edmonton. Knutsen says the builders of EPCOR Tower didn’t think of using a smart phone or a tablet to access its security system; Cobra brought the idea to them.

“EPCOR Tower was a very big project with 400 cameras and 350 access points, and the S2 platform, being accessible with smart phones and tablets, provides the office building and its tenants with the latest, seamless technology available today.”

If there is an alarm at EPCOR Tower, the security guards at the front secur-ity desk can check the alarm remotely on their video surveillance monitors and see what is happening and where. Having this information helps the secur-ity guards know exactly where to check in the building. As opposed to previous security technology, where security guards usually only got an alarm notification for a certain floor, and would then have to leave the security desk and take the elevator to that floor to investigate the alarm. If the alarm were triggered by an intruder, the intruder would be long gone before the guard arrived.

102 | Winter 2011


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Not only does the S2 platform dramat-ically increase the security guards’ ability to check and respond to alarm alerts in real time, it also provides a video record of the event that occurred. This can result in identifying the intruder more easily, assist the police in apprehending the culprit and can result in more convic-tions in court.

Knutsen says the capital cost of security systems has gone down 30–40 per cent in the last five years. “Due to this dramatic reduction in cost, capital costs can be recovered in as little as six months, and users can start seeing a return on their investment at that time.”

The S2 platform can reduce liability for certain users such as retail stores and parking lots. The security system can also reduce the amount of manpower required to check on every single alarm alert or pore through hundreds of hours of video to find one event that might have lasted only a few seconds.

Of course, it’s not only building security that security systems are designed to mon-itor. Reliance Protectron Security Services last year introduced its LoneGARD mon-itoring service, which is designed to check in on people working alone to ensure their safety and security. If a check-in call goes unanswered, the system can check to con-firm that the employee is okay. The system requires no hardware or equipment other than a regular phone or cellphone.

Knutsen says we should watch for two trends on the security system front: “Higher-resolution cameras with 20 and 30 megapixels will be here soon. The cur-rent video security system can handle up to 10 megapixels, which already is 33 times better than analogue video or five times better than even HD video. So with an increase of 10–20 more mega-pixels to 20–30 megapixels, the clarity of the digital video images will be that much better.”

Although analytics software already exists, its functionality is expected to increase in the near future.

“Video analytics, the next generation, will help users find information after the fact by using technology to minimize search times,” Knutsen continues. “As an example, the software can compress 15 hours of video into 15 seconds. Now that’s fast.”



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REfERENTIAL BIDS ARE REPuGNANT

Imagine a sealed bid for a construction tender that fixes itself. Rather than a sin-gle, locked-in price, it would automatically adjust the bid amount to beat other bids, ensuring that it came out on top.

Online auctions have figured this out. On popular auction sites, it’s easy to set up a bid that increases itself to beat other bids as they come in. Third-party software and online services take the idea even further,

offering to swoop in at the last second and “snipe” other bids to get the upper hand.

Following this idea, one might cleverly fashion a referential bid for a construction project that links its price to other bids. One might, for example, bid to do the work for $100 less than the lowest compliant bid

otherwise received. Or if there are alterna-tives and options to the work, one might offer to do whatever work is specified in the other bids for a fixed amount or per-centage less. Or one might offer a series of prices on the basis that the price that is better than any other bona fide offer is to be selected.

Well, all these angles have been tried, and all have failed. Our courts don’t like them.

A good example is the 25-year-old case of Harvela Investments Ltd. v. Royal Trust Co. of Canada (C.I.) Ltd. from England’s highest court. In that case, the English House of Lords ruled that a referential bid, submitted in response to a sealed-bid ten-der, was invalid. Unlike an auction, where

bidders expect to know and are expected to react to each other’s bids, a sealed-bid ten-der is supposed to be in secret. Indeed, the fundamental premise is that bids prepared in secret, not knowing what others will bid, will lead to the best and fairest price for all.

An earlier court decision in another case (SSI Investors Ltd. v. Korea Tungsten Mining Co. Ltd. 449 N.Y.S. 2d 173) explains it nicely:

“The very essence of sealed com-petitive bidding is the submissions of independent, self-contained bids, to the fair compliance with which not only the owner but the other bidders are entitled...to give effect to this or any similar bid-ding practice in which the dollar

Unlike an auction, where bidders expect to know and are expected to react to each other’s bids, a sealed-bid tender is supposed to be in secret. Indeed, the fundamental premise is that bids prepared in secret, not knowing what others will bid, will lead to the best and fairest price for all.


the legal edge

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amount of one bid was tied to the bid or bids of another or others in the same bidding would be to recognize means whereby effective sealed competitive bid-ding could be wholly frustrated.”

More recently and closer to home, the British Columbia Court of Appeal dealt with this issue in Bank of Nova Scotia v. Yoshikuni Lumber Ltd. In that case, sealed bids were invited for certain property. One bidder made a referential bid. That bid offered a range of prices, from which the best price that beat any other bona fide offer was to be selected. As it happened, a price in the middle of the range beat out everyone else, and

so the referential bid won the tender at that price. Afterward, the losing bid-ders complained. The British Columbia Court of Appeal set aside the referential bid because it undermined the fundamen-tal fairness and integrity of the sealed-bid system.

The message from our courts is clear: a referential bid in a sealed-bid tender is unfair. It gives the referential bidder an advantage over everyone else. It allows one bidder to leverage off others, defying the underlying goal of independence.

And there is another problem. If more than one bidder submits a referential bid, there arises a paradox and conundrum

that destroys the entire bidding process. If two or more bidders each say they will do the work for $100 less than the next lowest price, then their prices tailspin into a never-ending spiral and no one wins. As one court has said, it’s like two mirrors facing each other.

So basic is the notion that sealed bids are to be secret, without reference to other bids, that tendering expert Anne C. McNeely squares off on the issue at the very beginning of the very first chapter of her book, Canadian Law of Competitive Bidding and Procurement. “[R]eferential bids...” she says, “are considered repugnant to a competitive bid process.”

The message from our courts is clear: a referential bid in a sealed-bid tender is unfair. It gives the referential bidder an advantage over everyone else. It allows one bidder to leverage off others, defying the underlying goal of independence.

106 | Winter 2011

the legal edge

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TIME CAPSULE

Brooks AqueductIn its glory days, the Brooks Aqueduct set a world record for being the longest concrete structure of its kind and heralded the tech-nical innovation of an inverted siphon that carried irrigation water to farmers’ croplands. Resembling a giant centipede, the Brooks Aqueduxct spans a 3.2-kilometre-wide val-ley with a concrete flume suspended about 20 metres above the ground.

A crucial piece of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR)’s major irrigation project, construction of the aqueduct began in 1912 and the structure first carried irriga-tion water through it in the spring of 1915. The project had a labour force of more than 300 workers, split into 38 crews. The structure required 19,000 cubic metres (25,000 cubic yards) of concrete and

close to two million kilograms (four mil-lion pounds) of steel.

The aqueduct operated until 1979 after the federal and provincial govern-ments took on the cost of irrigation system regeneration. A body was commissioned to investigate all the major works in the Eastern Irrigation District and reported the Brooks Aqueduct needed to be replaced.

108 | Winter 2011

time capsule

KEy fACTSdeSign: hugh B. Muckleston, assistant chief engineer for the department of nat-ural resources for the CPR, cham-pioned the choice of the signature flume design

COntraCtOr: Grant, Smith & Co. & McDonnell

COSt: $569,287

COnStrUCtiOn: 1912-15

SOUrCe: The Official Brooks Aqueduct home Page: www.eidnet.org/local/aqueduct

After the new structure was built, the Brooks Aqueduct was slated for demolition.

Its destruction was narrowly averted by the last-minute intervention of a new management board and the federal min-ister of agriculture. Government bodies co operated to fence in the structure for public safety. Preserved and inter-preted through the collective efforts of

the Government of Alberta, Environment Canada, the Eastern Irrigation District and the Prairie farm Rehabilitation Administration, the structure stands as a tribute to those who pushed the limits of engineering design and technology. In 1980, the Brooks Aqueduct was declared a provincial historic resource, and in 1983 it was deemed a National historic Site.

At left, a portion of the Brooks Aqueduct shown in 1914—about a year before the structure first carried water to irrigate nearby fields.

Below, an aqueduct work crew (circa 1912 or 1913) is shown inside a workroom in Brooks.


time capsuletime capsule

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Accurate Mechanical Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56ACO Systems Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87AECOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Alberta Construction Safety Association . . . . . 30Alberta Wood Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 & 33Associated Engineering Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104ATB financial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Bauer foundations Canada Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Beaver Plastics Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Bibby-Ste-Croix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Bobcat Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Brandt Positioning Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Brandt Tractor Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Brock White Canada Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Business Information Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Calgary Construction Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Cana Construction Co. Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Canadian Institute, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Canadian Western Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Canem Systems Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Canessco Services Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Chase Operator Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Davidson Enman Lumber Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Double Star Drilling Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Durabond Products Ltd . . . . . . . inside front coverDurwest Construction Systems (Alta) Ltd. . . . . . 60Electrical Contractors Association of Alberta . . 48EllisDon Construction Services Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 39Ener-Spray Systems Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26faculty of Extension, university of Alberta . . . . 56flatiron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Graham Edmunds Cartier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Graham Group Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Grant Metal Products Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94harris Rebar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99hAZCO Environmental Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68hemisphere Engineering Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50hertz Equipment Rental Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31ICS Group Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Igloo Erectors Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Imperial Oil Ltd.. . . . . . . . . . 6 & outside back cover Inland Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Integral Containment Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100IVIS Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Joint utilities Safety Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Klimer Platforms Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58KPMG MSLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Kubota Canada Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Ledcor Construction Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Lenmak Exterior Innovations Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Levelton Consultants Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Lloyd Sadd Insurance Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56MAPEI Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Mazer Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Mount Royal university . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103NAIT Corporate and International Training . . . . 26New West Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Northland Construction Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Pagnotta Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49PCL Constructors Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Petro-Canada/Suncor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Phoenix fence Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Priority Mechanical Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Proform Concrete Services Inc. . . . . . . . . . . 16 & 73

PwC Management Services LP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Renfrew Insurance Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Reynolds Mirth Richards & farmer LLP . . . . . . . 63

RSC Equipment Rental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

SEAL IT Waterproofing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Serv-All Mechanical Services Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Sherwood Nissan . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside back cover

Skyjack Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

SMS Equipment Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Spatial Technologies Partnership Group . . . . . 51

Steels Industrial Products Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Stuart Olson Dominion Construction Ltd. . . . . 94

Superform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Supermetal Structures Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Supreme Steel Ltd.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Toole Peet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Vet’s Sheet Metal Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Volvo Rents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Western Environmental Canada Inc. . . . . . . . . . 20

WesternOne Rentals & Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Whitemud Ironworks Limited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Williams Scotsman of Canada, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 15

WorleyParsonsCord Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Workers’ Compensation Board-Alberta . . . . . . 80

Xylem Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

110 | Winter 2011

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Documents

Alberta Construction Magazine December 2011