JEN COL innovates at Quesnel Junior School

from NorthWORKS 2021

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People often think of construction as low-tech when it couldn’t be further from the truth, especially at JEN COL Construction. While hammers and hard hats are a fundamental part of the job, it’s time to upgrade the perception that construction isn’t ahead of the curve when it comes to innovation and the use of technology.

Established in 1978, JEN COL has completed hundreds of construction projects across Western Canada and the Territories. Their project portfolio consists of commercial offices, retail buildings, recreation centres and healthcare and seniors facilities, but JEN COL is quite well-known as Western Canada’s most trusted builder of schools and public facilities. One such project is Quesnel Junior School in Quesnel, B.C. The school, currently under construction, will be a brand new two-storey, 6,300-square-metre facility for a capacity of 550 Grade 8 and 9 students. Quesnel Junior School is expected to be ready for the 2022-23 school year, providing 21st-century learning and a neighbourhood learning centre to meet community needs.

“It’s very important to us at JEN COL to incorporate technology and innovative construction practices into our projects,” Renee McKenzie, senior project manager at JEN COL, says.

For example, the Quesnel Junior School construction project took place

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Established in 1978, JEN COL has completed hundreds of construction projects across Western Canada and the Territories.

in the middle of winter, so McKenzie and her team installed a hoarding and heating system in order to continue working without too many disruptions.

“We knew that there were heavy yearly snowfalls in Quesnel, so we built a canopy system to keep the snow out of the construction,” McKenzie explains. “Typically, when you’re doing work in winter, you use ground thaw. You’d have to heat the ground and use tarps. People would have to shovel and heat the ground again.”

The endless cycle of shoveling out and reheating led to a tenting system over the nine-metre concrete pads, but that wasn’t good enough. Eventually, JEN COL created a system to cover the entire area, making the open trench 12 feet wide to construct the tents over. They worked 200 feet at a time, heating each end and one in the middle, while running fans to allow the heat to circulate within the tented area. As a result, the employees were able to work through the winter weather with little impact from outside conditions.

“The canopy system kept the snow out of the construction trenches for the

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foundation and kept the area heated, thus eliminating the need for snow removal in the trenches and keeping the ground warm for the tradespeople to work within the system and do continuous concrete pours,” McKenzie adds.

All the tradespeople worked within the canopy system, increasing productivity. The materials utilized in this system were subsequently reused as temporary railings, temporary supports, hoarding in other areas and scaffolding, thus reducing waste which is a big focus in JEN COL’s overall corporate social responsibility.

The Quesnel Junior School project also used technology by way of a concrete sensor system, which involves using a cellphone app and a web-based program with real-time accurate information of concrete strength. That data allowed JEN COL and its subtrades to start working on the structural slabs earlier than the 14 days specified. The concrete readings made it possible to cut this duration down by 10 days so subcontractors were able to start ear-

The materials utilized in this system were subsequently reused as temporary railings, temporary supports, hoarding in other areas and scaffolding, thus reducing waste which is a big focus in JEN COL’s overall corporate social responsibility.

lier, meaning they finished earlier.

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McKenzie says they also used concrete moisture sensors via the same app to read the moisture within the concrete.

“Typically what happens when you put a shoring system up, you can’t do work under the shoring until the system comes down because shoring takes up a lot of space,” McKenzie explains. JEN COL put sensors in the concrete for real-time measurements to know exactly when the concrete had reached strength so they could remove the shoring early and work below and also work above on the concrete slab.

JEN COL is not slowing down when it comes to technology. They are currently working with building information modelling (BIM) to streamline their operations, as well as prefabricating mechanical systems and wall systems to make construction more efficient. To keep information flowing and accessible, on-site teams operate in a digital environment using tablets, laptops and large screen virtually connected TVs for everything from co-ordination planning to BIM reviews to real-time QA/ QC feedback with project partners.

For more information, visit jen-col.com. l