On-Site August 2021

AUGUST 2021

2021

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VOLUME 66, NO.5/AGUST 2021

2021 INFRASTRUCTURE REPORT 16 A future on the line Transit tops priority lists as Canadian cities look beyond pandemic

24 Crunching the numbers New AI tool makes short work of scheduling big infrastructure jobs

29 Weighing the community benefits

16

CBAs aim to help all groups share in infrastructure spending, but implementation is a challenge

IN THIS ISSUE 7 Comment Union Station revitalization shows what can go wrong

10 News

The major developments

12 Construction stats The key figures

33 Safety at height New standards accelerate trend towards high-tech boom lift safety solutions

COLUMNS 50 Software Putting estimates in perspective

33

44

52 Contractors and the law Alberta prompt payment

54 Risk

53 Index of Advertisers

Carbon-adjusted procurement

CONCRETE ON-SITE 38 Concrete injection

44

Piling crews in B.C. drill to new depths for pair of Kelowna towers

New technologies making headway, but carbon neutral a tall order

COVER PHOTO: METROLINX

Zeroing in on concrete emissions

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COMMENT

Six years late, Union Station revitalization a case study in what can go wrong

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It can’t have surprised many last year when the yardsticks were moved yet again for Toronto’s Union Station Revitalization Project. The rail hub’s perennial state of construction has been a running joke for Torontonians for years.

Retrofits started in 2010 and were slated to be complete by 2015. Nearly five full years after that misjudged mark, the end seemed in sight, with the city expecting contractors to complete the $824 million overhaul by September 2020.

Still, the station wasn’t finished last fall and a revised, end of 2020 completion date came and went with crews still working on-site.

More than a decade into the five-year project, with costs settled just short of 30 per cent over budget, the saga is now officially over.

Toronto Mayor John Tory dropped the curtain on the job July 27, alongside other government officials, though workers will be doing final touch-ups through the end of the month.

“After years of extensive work on this difficult project, the Union Station revitalization is now complete,” Tory said in a release, before thanking residents and commuters for their patience.

The city-led expansion and retrofit of the station, which opened in 1927, covered several hundred thousands square feet. It added new space for rail passengers and retail, restored heritage elements, and carved out better connections between GO Transit, Via Rail and the Toronto subway. Though hardly excusing its doubled timeline, parts of the job were tremendously complicated, requiring major excavation beneath rail lines that carried hundreds of thousands of commuters in and out of the station each day.

Estimated at $640.2 million when approved in 2009, city reports over the course of the project cite contractor performance issues, inadequate cost contingencies, as well as city resource shortages that made management of the project insufficient. The onset of the COVID19 pandemic injected new layers of complexity.

It’s dragged on longer than most, but the delays at Union Station aren’t unique. The missed marks on schedule and budget are part of an industry-wide problem with over-promising, under-delivering, or both. According to an oft-cited McKinsey study, 98 per cent of megaprojects run at least 30 per cent over budget, and 77 per cent are handed over no less than 40 per cent behind schedule. McKinsey’s research pulls in only megaprojects – those costing over $1 billion – so while the Union Station revitalization doesn’t quite meet that criteria, it shares many of the hallmarks of a big infrastructure job, including considerable complexity, multiple stakeholders and over-optimism about what can be delivered at what cost.

Among other top issues, McKinsey points to poor organization, flawed performance management, inadequate communication, insufficient risk management and contractual misunderstandings as several of the key challenges megaprojects face. With more and more of these big-ticket projects in transit, health care and infrastructure cropping up across Canada, all stakeholders should be working to address these pitfalls by improving collaboration, integrating the proper risk allocation into contracts and, as McKinsey puts it, “overinvesting” in planning.

Teams will get a second chance at hitting their targets at Union Station shortly. The city-led project is complete, but the upcoming Union Station Enhancement Project, headed by Metrolinx, will put crews to work on a pair of new platforms and concourse areas at the southern end of the station. Estimated at between $500 million and $1 billion, the work, likely to start this fall, means there will be little reprieve from the construction noise emanating from Canada’s busiest rail hub for the past 11 years.

David Kennedy / Editor dkennedy@on-sitemag.com on-sitemag.com / 7

CONTRIBUTORS

MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS FOR THIS ISSUE VOLUME 66, NO.5/AUGUST 2021 www.on-sitemag.com

SAUL CHERNOS / Freelance writer On the rise of community benefits agreements: “While construction is generally a strong provider of local and regional employment, infrastructure proponents – typically governments – are increasingly turning to community benefits programs to counter longstanding employment equity imbalances and improve the everyday lives of people living near major projects.”

READER SERVICE Print and digital subscription inquiries or changes, please contact Urszula Grzyb, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Email: ugrzyb@annexbusinessmedia.com Tel: (416) 510-5180 Fax: (416) -510-6875 Mail: 111 Gordon Baker Road, Suite 400, Toronto, ON M2H 3R1 PUBLISHER | Peter Leonard (416) 510-6847 pLeonard@on-sitemag.com

NATE HENDLEY / Freelance writer and author

EDITOR | David Kennedy (416) 510-6821 dkennedy@on-sitemag.com

On the priority mobile elevated work platform makers are putting on safety: “New regulations from the CSA Group and ANSI (American National Standards Institute) have accelerated the move towards high-tech safety features in boom lifts.”

MEDIA DESIGNER | Svetlana Avrutin savrutin@annexbusinessmedia.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER | David Skene (416) 510-6884 dskene@on-sitemag.com ACCOUNT COORDINATOR | Kim Rossiter (416) 510-6794 krossiter@on-sitemag.com COO | Scott Jamieson sjamieson@annexbusinessmedia.com

JACOB STOLLER / Principal, StollerStrategies On estimating software’s role in reducing risk: “More contractors are turning to estimating software as jobs get more complex, and estimators collaborate more closely with other teams in the organization. However, given the interactive nature of estimating and the number of players involved, the change management component is considerable.”

MARIN LECI AND ARBA RADAJ / Borden Ladner Gervais LLP On upcoming prompt payments rules for Alberta: “As Alberta moves toward modernizing its existing construction lien legislation, industry players should apprise themselves of the differences between Bill 37 and Ontario’s Construction Act.”

DAVID BOWCOTT / Global Director – Growth, Innovation & Insight, Global Construction and Infrastructure Group at Aon Risk Solutions On carbon-adjusted pricing finding its way into construction: “Building emissions and construction combine for close to 40 per cent of all carbon emissions, and with these two sectors clearly identified as prime emitters of carbon, governments are starting to find ways to reduce emissions in both sectors.”

8 / AUGUST 2021

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INDUSTRY NEWS

PHOTO: GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO

INDUSTRY>NEWS Work starts on $5.5B Scarborough Subway Extension after years of tense debate

Ford and other officials marked the official start of construction on the project June 23

After more than a decade of study, raucous and repeated Toronto City Council clashes, and several provincial government interjections, construction has started on the Scarborough Subway Extension.

Following preparatory work this spring, the build team, headed by Strabag, has begun construction on the launch shaft that will set tunnel boring machines to work beneath Scarborough.

Premier Doug Ford, Mayor John Tory and other officials were on-hand for the official groundbreaking for the three-stop extension to the Toronto subway’s Line 2

June 23. Nearly 10 years ago, Ford was among the city councillors weighing Scarborough transit options ranging from the three-stop subway, single-stop subway and a replacement light rail line.

“This long overdue project will create thousands of jobs, significantly increase ridership capacity and cut down daily travel times for more than a hundred thousand Scarborough commuters,” Ford said in a release, noting it is one of four “priority” projects the Ontario government is pushing forward.

Provincial agencies Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx awarded the Strabag

team a $757.1 million fixed-price contract for the 7.8 kilometres of tunnelling work this May. The TBMs are scheduled to be launched next year.

Unbundled from the tunnelling component of the project, further contracts for station work, rolling stock and other aspects of the $5.5 billion extension will be awarded later.

Overall, the subway extension is expected to create up to 3,000 jobs per year during construction. According to Metroilnx, crews are aiming to have the line ready for passenger service by 2029-2030.

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Three construction teams have been prequalified to bid on an upcoming hospital project in southeastern Ontario expected to cost more than $1 billion.

Infrastructure Ontario (IO) and Niagara Health have signed off on the credentials of consortia that include Amico, EllisDon and PCL, and plan to issue a request for proposals for the design, build, finance and maintain project this fall.

Plans for the greenfield South Niagara Hospital at Biggar and Montrose roads in Niagara Falls, Ont. include approximately 1.2 million sq. ft. of floor space with 469 patients beds and eight operating suites, among other services. The precise cost of the hospital will not be available until the contract is awarded, but IO lists the project as worth more than $1 billion in its latest P3 Market Update. The procurement agency anticipates picking a winning bidder in late 2022. Construction on the new health care site will take roughly four years once crews break ground.

The 622-acre site has sat vacant for a decade.

Grading and soil remediation is now underway.

Broccolini to redevelop sprawling site of former Ford plant outside London, Ont. The site of a former Ford Motor Co. manufacturing plant, where thousands of Crown Vics and Lincoln Town Cars once rolled off the line, has been snapped up by developer and construction firm Broccolini.

The Quebec-based company said July 8 it has purchased the 622 acres of land in Southwold, Ont. – just outside London – and is drawing up plans to redevelop it. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Built in the late ’60s, the Ford Saint Thomas Assembly Plant closed its doors in 2011. A solar installation was proposed for the site in the interim, but the clean energy project never came to fruition.

James Beach, Broccolini’s vice-president of Real Estate Development, said the company plans to redevelopment the industrial site by “introducing new uses that reflect the modern industrial real estate

Aecon, Oscar Renda win $272M contract to upgrade Winnipeg sewage plant Aecon Group Inc. and Oscar Renda Contracting of Canada Inc. will take on the first phase of a years-long upgrade project at Winnipeg’s largest sewage treatment plant.

The Canadian contractor said July 7 that the City of Winnipeg had awarded the Red River Solutions joint venture a $272 million design-build contract for the Headworks Facilities Project at the North End Sewage Treatment Plant (NEWPCC). The 50/50 JV consists of Aecon and the Canadian arm of Oscar Renda, a subsidiary of Texas-based Southland Holdings.

“The NEWPCC is one of the largest wastewater infrastructure projects in North America and this critical upgrade will enable efficient wastewater treatment capabilities to meet the needs of a growing population in Winnipeg and surrounding communities,” JeanLouis Servranckx, Aecon’s president and CEO, said in a release.

The project at the plant, which treats roughly 70 percent of the Winnipeg’s wastewater, covers construction of a new headworks facility. A new raw sewage pump station, grit removal system, main control room, fine screens and compactors, as well as a plant emergency generator facility are all included in the scope of work, Aecon said.

Construction is scheduled to start in the third quarter of this year and run until mid-2025.

Two other stages will follow as part of the wider plant upgrade.

The second phase, a new biosolids facility, has already been approved, pending funding. Upgrades to the site’s nutrient removal facility are still being finalized.

landscape.” Currently several hundred thousand square metres of crumbling concrete, the former plant sits on Hwy. 4, just south of Hwy. 401.

“This will bring significant and sustained employment opportunities back to the Township of Southwold and Elgin County,” Beach said in a release.

Broccolini’s leading role in several Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment centre projects in both Ontario and Quebec have fuelled recent speculation the U.S. online retail giant is eying the site for its latest hub.

“Specific uses” for the land have yet to be confirmed, Broccolini said July 8. Nevertheless, the company has begun early work on-site.

Grading and soil decontamination activities are ongoing “to ensure the land is prepared for immediate redevelopment.”

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CONSTRUCTION STATS A selection of data reflecting trends in the Canadian construction industry

Workers Employed in Construction by Month 2020

January February March April May June July August September October November December

1,497.6 1,489.7 1,487.5 1,173.9 1,247.6 1,330.8 1,364.3 1,368.8 1,369.4 1,377.8 1,404.1 1,401.2

2021

January February March April May June

1,435.6 1,442.4 1,468.1 1,455.4

CANADIAN JOB MARKET PICKS BACK UP IN JUNE, BUT CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYMENT FALLS Construction job losses in June have set the industry’s labour market back to its position at the start of 2021.

Statistics Canada released its latest Labour Force Survey July 9, reporting a 23,400-job decline last month, or a 1.6 per cent seasonally adjusted drop. It was the third-straight month of jobs losses in construction after a strong start to the year.

The layoffs in construction stacked up against strong gains in the wider economy. The Canadian employment market gained 1.2 per cent, or more than 230,000 jobs, in June.

1,439.6 1,416.2

In thousands of workers, seasonally adjusted SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA

DESPITE PANDEMIC, WOMEN CARVED OUT SLIGHTLY LARGER ROLE IN CONSTRUCTION LAST YEAR

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION MARKET COOLS SLIGHTLY IN MAY

The COVID-19 pandemic kept construction crews off sites last spring, stalled projects throughout the year and prompted lingering job losses, but it did not derail recent gains for women in the industry.

The tough 2020 labour market meant roughly 20,000 fewer men and 1,700 fewer women were employed in construction compared to 2019. On a relative basis, however, women posted small gains, according to the latest data from BuildForce Canada. Women made up 13.36 per cent of those employed in the Canadian construction industry last year, compared to 13.28 per cent the year before.

Though modest, the increase in representation during a challenging year continues a slow, years-long shift toward more women in both on- and off-site roles.

A small amount of heat came off the building construction market in May, as overall spending decreased 1.9 per cent and investments in residential construction dropped for the first time since April 2020.

According to the latest data from Statistics Canada, spending on single-family homes slid 2.7 per cent in May, while multi-unit investments declined 2.6 per cent.

The non-residential side of the market posted mixed results. Investment in institutional projects climbed 1.2 per cent during the fifth month of 2021, outpacing the commercial component, which rose 0.8 per cent. Industrial spending, on the other hand, fell 0.7 per cent during the month.

SINGLE-UNIT

MULTI-UNIT

-2.7%

-2.6%

COMMERCIAL

13.36% OF OVERALL WORKFORCE

12 / AUGUST 2021

4.7%

OF ON-SITE WORKFORCE

+0.8%

41.1%

OF OFF-SITE WORKFORCE

INDUSTRIAL

-0.7%

INSTITUTIONAL

+1.2%

2021 INFRASTRUCTURE REPORT NEXT STOP

PHOTO: © TOVOVAN / ADOBE STOCK

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on-sitemag.com / 15

TRANSIT

A future

on the line Transit tops priority lists as cities look beyond pandemic

BY DAVID KENNEDY

P

ick a Canadian city approaching or over a million inhabitants, and you will find a billion-dollar transit project, often more than one.

Work on new hospitals, and more traditional infrastructure such as roads and bridges, is not letting up, but subway, light rail and even conventional rail lines have clawed their way up urban agendas despite competing budget priorities and more recently, dismal pandemic-induced ridership. With more than two dozen new or extended systems in the works coast to coast, the future of Canadian cities – and no small portion of their contractors’ fortunes – is on these lines.

ORDERS FROM QUEEN’S PARK Canada’s most populous province is, unsurprisingly, home to the largest tally of transit projects in the country, and the list is only growing longer.

It has been a decade since early work began on the 25-stop Eglinton Crosstown that will run across midtown Toronto. Delays have pushed back the timeline, but construction on the new light rail line is scheduled to be complete by 2022. Nearby, on the opposite side of Hwy. 401, construction is also well underway on the $2.5 billion Finch West LRT. The project’s 11 kilometres of rail are expected to open in 2023.

In Toronto’s two largest suburbs, Metrolinx is overseeing construction of the Hurontario LRT as well. With 18 km of rail

16 / AUGUST 2021

and 19 stops, the new $4.6 billion line will carve out dedicated rapid transit space on the busy route through Mississauga and Brampton.

Farther west, trains recently began running on Grand River Transit’s Ion light rail network through Kitchener and Waterloo. Service launched in 2019, but the transit operator for the region is already mapping out a second stage for the 19-km line that will extend the rails southeast into Cambridge.

For Metrolinx, a Crown corporation responsible for transit in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), the list of projects to juggle will only get more complicated as the 2020s wear on. The province set work in motion on four “priority” transit projects in 2019 that will stretch Toronto’s transit system north, west and east.

The marquee component of the Queen’s Park plan, the Ontario Line, will run through Toronto’s downtown, before swinging through East York, and then north to meet up with the Eglinton Crosstown.

Running through dense neighbourhoods, it will require a considerable amount of underground construction. Metrolinx and government procurement specialist Infrastructure Ontario (IO) have broken the megaproject into three P3 contracts.

Cost estimates total $10.9 billion. Major construction could start as early as 2023.

Tunnelling contracts for the longawaited Scarborough Subway Extension

and the Eglinton Crosstown West LRT were handed down this spring, kicking off two other aspects of the four-part plan.

Underground crews are scheduled to have tunnel boring machines in the ground for both projects next year. Procurement and construction for station work will follow later this decade. Combined, the two extensions are expected to cost about $10 billion.

The final priority project, the Yonge North Subway Extension remains in pre-procurement, but an RFQ for the estimated $5 billion job is expected this fall.

With Toronto’s existing Yonge subway line crowded even before four stops are tacked onto its north end, the extension is scheduled to open after the Ontario Line, which is designed to relieve some of the pressure.

A $1.5 billion retrofit is also planned for Yonge-Bloor Station, another bottleneck and the busiest subway station in the city.

Rounding out the considerable roster of Toronto-centric projects, the Sheppard East subway extension has entered the early planning stages, but remains years away.

At the westernmost tip of Lake Ontario, after being abruptly cancelled at the end of 2019, the Hamilton LRT is back on the docket as well. An agreement between the Ontario and federal governments resurrected the 17-stop project this May. Uncertainties remain, but construction on the line, worth $3.4 billion in its latest incarnation, could start next year.

PHOTO: REM/NOUVLR

A launching gantry known as Marie in-use on the REM project in Montreal.

on-sitemag.com / 17

TRANSIT Meanwhile, the years-long initiative to transition GO Transit from a commuter rail service to a fully-fledged regional rail network with all-day, two-way service is scheduled to begin in earnest next year. In addition to ongoing station upgrades, IO expects to begin execution of a mammoth contract that includes a flurry of rail corridor upgrades worth well over $10 billion in 2022.

Not to be outdone, transit activity in Ontario’s other big population centre has picked up considerably in recent years.

After significant delays, Ottawa’s new

GOING OFF-TRACK

Confederation Line opened in late 2019.

But even before light rail vehicles began carrying passengers, the city had handed out contracts for two extensions, cumulatively known as Stage 2.

The first of these projects will extend and upgrade the older Trillium Line, adding four new stations at its south end and an airport spur. Two stations will also be integrated into the existing portion of the line, which has been closed since May 2020 to accommodate the project. Contractors are scheduled to complete the $1.6 billion job by 2022.

Dedicated bus rapid transit (BRT) is becoming increasingly common across Canada, typically in cities or neighbourhoods with population densities unable to support higher-capacity LRTs. Winnipeg, for instance, completed its first BRT line in 2012. The largest Canadian city that relies entirely on buses for local transportation plans to stick to them for the foreseeable future. This April, city council approved a plan that would reorient Winnipeg’s existing bus network to feed three BRT lines. Costs for implementing the 25-year master plan could run to $1.1 billion.

The Confederation Line, which runs parallel to the Ottawa River, will see extensions on both its east and west ends.

The eastern extension will allow O-Trains to run all the way to Trim Road. Those 12 km of new rail and five stations are expected to open by 2024. On the west end of the Canadian capital, crews are tasked with the final part of Stage 2, which includes building 11 new stations over 15 km. That extension, beyond Tunney’s Pasture, is scheduled to open by 2025. The price tag for the work on both ends of the Confederation Line totals approximately $2.6 billion.

MIXING PRIVATE AND PUBLIC IN QUEBEC The Réseau express métropolitain (REM), now three years into construction in Montreal, will keep crews at more than two-dozen sites throughout the city busy through 2024. The largest transit project currently underway in the province, the 26-station light rail network, backed by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec,

18 / AUGUST 2021 OnSite_CIQS_Aug21.indd 1

2021-07-26 9:27 AM

BC MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION

will span 67 km. The pandemic and other issues during construction have pushed the cost of the system to $6.9 billion, up from $6.3 billion originally. That figure is certain to rise further due to problems crews encountered in the Mont Royal Tunnel. However, the cost of bringing the century-old tunnel up to code has not yet been determined. Scheduled to open in stages, segments of the line are currently between three and 18 months behind their original timelines.

As 3,000 workers toil on the original REM, the network’s pension fund backer is already working on expanding it to the east. Last December, officials from the Caisse and the Quebec government unveiled plans for the REM de l’Est. The proposed extension will add 23 additional stations across 32 km of both elevated and underground segments. Planning for the expansion is in the relatively early stages, with cost estimates topping $10 billion.

The wheels are also in motion for a five-stop extension to the Montreal metro’s Blue Line. The on-again, off-again project

Construction on the initial components of the Broadway subway project started this spring.

has been contemplated for more than 40 years, but federal backing announced in 2019 pushed the five-stop extension to the top of priority lists. The Société de transport de Montréal began consultations for the 5.8 km of added tunnel last year and has started prep work. With planning ongoing, however, the original timeline for the start of major construction this year

and the 2026 completion date appear in doubt. Early estimates put the cost of the extension at $4.5 billion.

Meanwhile, in Quebec City, planning is underway for a new light rail line running 19 km through downtown. Initially expected to open in 2027, Le Tramway de Québec hit an early snag due to train maker Alstom’s purchase of Bombardier

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PHOTO: METROLINX

TRANSIT

PHOTO: CITY OF CALGARY

Eglinton Crosstown light rail vehicle testing in Toronto. The new midtown line with 25 stops is scheduled to open late next year.

Transportation this winter, forcing it to relaunch procurement to keep the process competitive. Construction is now scheduled to start on the 28-station line in 2023. Costs are estimated at $3.4 billion Even earlier in the planning process, a light rail line is also being studied in Gatineau. The proposed line would link up with the O-Train across the river in Ottawa.

LRTS LINING UP IN ALBERTA Light rail vehicles have been running in Edmonton since the late ‘70s, but the past decade has spawned a handful of new

20 / AUGUST 2021

A rendering of Sheppard Station on Calgary’s Green Line. The LRT project ran into a hitch during procurement, but is back on track.

plans that will extend two existing lines and add another.

Separated into two phases to simplify delivery, the initial segment of the new 27-km Valley Line is nearing completion and crews are readying their shovels for the second. The P3 consortium behind the $1.8 Southeast portion of the Valley Line started construction in 2016 and is scheduled to hand over the line by the end of this year. This sets the stage for the second phase, for which the city awarded a $2.6 billion contract last fall. Work will get underway on the Valley Line West this

year and light rail vehicles are expected to begin running in five or six years.

In the meantime, an extension of Edmonton’s existing Metro Line started in 2020. The first step in the Metro Line Northwest project, crews are building two new permanent stations and about 1.6 km of track. Two subsequent phases are in planning and design, which will eventually stretch the LRT line seven more stops to the northwest.

The design has also been mapped out for an extension of the Capital Line at the southern end of Edmonton. The city again plans to break the project into separate phases. The preliminary design for a 4.5-km first stage, which will extend the line from Century Park to Ellerslie Road, has been completed. With city and provincial backing, the project is just awaiting a nod on funding from Ottawa.

Transit expansion has climbed priority lists in Calgary in recent years as well, though the process to get shovels in the ground for the Green Line LRT has been relatively rocky. City council signed off on the big-ticket project last June, but a provincial review of city plans put the 15-station light rail project on hold, and funds from both Alberta and Ottawa were only reconfirmed last month. The $5.5 billion project will run from 126 Avenue Southeast to 16 Avenue North, crossing over the Bow River and ducking underground through the city’s downtown. Initially laid out in three stages, the reconfigured plan includes just two.

Following the delay to procurement, major construction is unlikely to start on the Green Line before next year, though early work is scheduled for this fall.

EXTENSIONS ON THE WEST COAST Demolition crews began clearing the way this winter for construction of a six-stop extension of Vancouver’s Millennium Line. The $2.8 billion Broadway Subway project will add a half dozen subterranean stations and extend the western end of the SkyTrain line underground by five km. A 700-metre elevated guideway from VCC–Clark Station is also included.

Construction on the guideway and tunnel portals started this spring. A pair of boring

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SOLUTION

TRANSIT

PHOTO: DAVID KENNEDY

INTERCITY REVIVAL

Passenger trains running between Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City today typically share rail space with freight traffic.

machines, which will dig twin 6.3-m diameter tunnels, are set to launch next year.

The build team is working toward a 2025 completion date.

Work along Broadway is one of several extensions to the SkyTrain currently underway.

Just last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Surrey to announce federal funding for an extension to another of Metro Vancouver’s three SkyTrain lines. The Surrey Langley SkyTrain will add eight stations to the existing Expo Line, extending the system 16 km to the southeast from its current terminus just south of central Surrey. A 2019 cost estimate pegged the project at $3.1 billion, but federal funding commitments indicate the price tag has likely risen to $3.8 billion. The extension replaces an aborted light rail project quashed by Surrey City Council in favour of the higher capacity

22 / AUGUST 2021

SkyTrain in 2018. Early construction could get underway shortly, but regional transit agency TransLink says lining up a build team is likely to take 15 months. Four years of construction will follow.

On the heels of the Broadway Subway project, a further extension of the SkyTrain’s Millennium Line is also under review. That project, estimated at over $3 billion, would pick up where the current extension leaves off, stretching the line farther west to the University of British Columbia campus.

A less conventional project to give students a lift to Simon Fraser University’s campus atop Burnaby Mountain is also being studied. TransLink is deep into its assessment of a proposed gondola project that would run from one of three nearby SkyTrain stations, up the steep route to the forested peak, carrying up to 25,000 passengers per day.

Complementing urban transit upgrades, several prominent projects to build better rail links between cities Canadians often opt to fly between are garnering interest.

Last month, the federal government inched forward on a long-debated high-frequency passenger rail line that would connect Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. Via Rail has long served all destinations, but delays are commonplace, partly due to the passenger trains running primarily on track owned by freight companies. Early studies for the project to build a dedicated line began in 2016, and with the July announcement, stakeholder engagement will now get underway. Early estimates for the project range from $6 billion to $12 billion.

In Alberta, a high-speed connection between Calgary and Edmonton has been bandied about for years. In 2008, for instance, a pair of studies assessed a possible high-speed rail line, and the environmental benefits of such a project have only grown more consequential in the interim. The Alberta Ministry of Transportation is currently working with two separate groups, one of which has proposed building a hyperloop between the two cities; the other, revealed just last month, aims to build a conventional high-speed rail line at an estimated cost of $9 billion. Both projects remain at the early planning stages.

A passenger rail line between Calgary and the mountainous tourist town of Banff is under review as well. The Canada Infrastructure Bank and Invest Alberta Corp. are in the early stages of assessing the project, which would include seven stops along the roughly 150-km route.

Another proposal would make Vancouver the end of a West Coast high-speed line. Though no commitments have been made, a high-speed rail line connecting the largest cities in what’s known as the Cascadia region could eventually tie together Vancouver, Seattle and Portland at a cost of between US$24 billion and $42 billion.

AI

Crunching the numbers

New AI tool brings construction scheduling into modern era

BY DAVID KENNEDY

A

n experienced project scheduler can spend months mapping out one, or perhaps two, iterations for a complex construction job.

“ALICE” can simulate and assess millions in the course of an afternoon.

It takes planning teams from a reality where they often have just a single option, to a simulation where the number of sequences are practically limitless, says René Morkos, the CEO and co-founder of

24 / AUGUST 2021

ALICE Technologies Inc. “You add a crane, add a delay, change the design, try overtime, try fast-drying concrete [or] change the amount of formwork. Whatever it is that you want to do, you change it, and the change ripples through your system.”

A generative construction simulator powered by artificial intelligence, ALICE, an acronym drawn from ArtificiaL Intelligence Construction Engineering, gives construction firms plotting out projects the ability to opti-

mize resources, fine-tune their timing and overcome constraints in ways that human planners couldn’t work through alone.

“Let the humans do what they’re good at, which is the gut sense, the understanding of reality, the risk analysis, those kinds of things,” Morkos says. “Let the machines do what they’re good at, which is crunching.”

It’s one tool in a growing arsenal of software solutions to which contractors are turning to tackle increasingly complicated

PHOTO: ALICE TECHNOLOGIES

Let the humans do what they’re good at, which is the gut sense, the understanding of reality, the risk analysis, those kinds of things. Let the machines do what they’re good at, which is crunching.”

–René Morkos, ALICE Technologies

An AI-powered tool, ALICE relies on human input for the initial parameters, while turning to computing power for crunching the numbers.

projects in an industry that’s always had to juggle a huge number of moving parts.

In five or six years, when light rail vehicles begin running along the 14-kilometre second phase of Edmonton’s Valley Line, it’s ALICE – guided by the scheduling team at Parsons Corp. – riders will have to thank for the construction sequencing that laid the roadmap for the project.

“With ALICE, you still need that experienced scheduler to do the planning, but

PHOTO: © KNSSR / ADOBE STOCK

Human schedulers tell the AI tool the project “rules” and then allow it to create sequences based on a range of different parameters to find the optimal way forward.

once you do the iterations, you can run a million iterations and then you take those iterations and you analyze them,” says Elie Homsi, senior vice-president of Parsons.

“It is that limitation on the number of iterations that you can be running to optimize resources, optimize time, cost schedule, or whatever constraint the project has, that you are benefitting from.”

Parsons, a technology firm that takes on both physical and digital infrastructure work, is one member of the Marigold Infrastructure Partners (MIP), the consortium responsible for the $2.6 billion Valley Line – West. It is working alongside Standard General and its parent firm Colas Group to build the new LRT system. Francl Architecture, Fast & Epp and Stantec Inc. are also involved on the design side.

“In Edmonton, we are working right now on finalizing our base schedule, and when we finish finalizing our base schedule, that team will start working on ALICE on that project to see also how we can improve the schedule and the delivery,” Homsi says.

Construction is expected to get underway in the Alberta capital this year. Crews will be on-site building the western portion of the Valley Line until at least 2026. Once complete, the overall transit system will stretch 27 kilometres.

While Parsons will be using ALICE during the construction phase, it also played a role for the MIP team in procurement as the consortium estimated costs and prepared its bid.

Continued on page 28

on-sitemag.com / 25

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Rapid growth through the decades For two decades, World War I veterans William R. Black and William J. (W.J.) McDonald enjoyed success together as electrical contractors serving small businesses and households in the Toronto area. When Black passed away in 1946, W.J.

26 / AUGUST 2021

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1921

W.R. Black and W.J. McDonald form partnership in Toronto.

1946

W.J. McDonald acquires 100% ownership in Black & McDonald.

1950

Black & McDonald enters the ventilation and A/C markets.

1955

Corporate headquarters opens at 101 Parliament St. in Toronto.

1955

Quebec office opens.

1957

H.J. and W.L. McDonald assume leadership.

1958

Black & McDonald enters the plumbing and heating markets.

1971

Atlantic region business activity begins.

1973

B&M enters the utility market.

1973

Operations begin in Western Canada.

1977

Vancouver and Dartmouth offices open, establishing coast to coast presence.

1983

B&M secures its first Facilities Management contract at Commerce Court in Toronto.

1990

Offshore energy business begins operations in Atlantic Canada.

1997

Ian and Bruce McDonald assume leadership.

1997

B&M begins operations in Kansas City, U.S.

2008

B&M begins first public-private partnership project at the Kelowna Vernon Hospitals in B.C.

2013

Women’s College Hospital redevelopment begins; B&M awarded 30-year FMO contract.

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AI Continued from page 25

PHOTO: CITY OF EDMONTON

A rendering of the Alex Decoteau on Edmonton’s new Valley Line – West LRT project. The construction team responsible for the new line is employing ALICE.

With ALICE, you still need that experienced scheduler to do the planning, but once you do the iterations, you can run a million iterations and then you take those iterations and you analyze them.”

–Elie Homsi, Parsons Homsi notes that a detailed construction schedule is a normal requirement when bidding on major infrastructure projects, but ALICE “takes what was available to a new height.”

“It’s unusual to see the level of details ALICE can put on the table pre-bid,” he says.

Likening ALICE to a laboratory, which lets schedulers experiment to find the optimal construction roadmap, Morkos says the simulator takes anywhere from a week to a month to set up, depending on the complexity of the project.

“Instead of figuring out how to build it, I just tell the software what are the rules that are involved,” he says. “What are the tasks? What are the resources? What are the calendars? Set it up and then I press the simulate button.”

Creating the rules and having ALICE generate myriad sequences are the first two parts of the process. The third lets schedulers analyze and change the planning parameters as they see fit. On average, Morkos notes, relying on the AI tool translates to a 17 per cent reduction in total construction duration and drives a 13 per

28 / AUGUST 2021

cent decline in labour and equivalency.

At Parsons, Homsi says trimming costs is one component of using ALICE, but the company is still working on quantifying exactly how much it’s saving. For the moment, he’s watching the qualitative impacts closest, noting one clear benefit of the tool is its ability to make less experienced schedulers more accurate.

The Edmonton LRT project is also not the first job on which Parsons has used ALICE. It has been piloting the AI system on a handful of projects in North America and elsewhere for several years, including on an expansion project along Ontario’s Highway 401. Incrementally handing it more responsibility on each successive project, Homsi says if the software ultimately makes the cut, the company will roll it out for all of its work.

Meanwhile, the team at ALICE Technologies is not standing still. Having focussed on the bidding and pre-construction process first, the company launched what’s known as the Manage feature a few months back. As the name implies, it’s designed to keep projects on track as

they’re built and can troubleshoot the best way forward when issues do arise.

“It becomes really easy to update progress and schedule, and re-sequence,” Morkos says.

The feature has also broadened the market for what was originally conceived as a solution to a problem Morkos encountered early in his construction career. Tasked with finding the optimal way to sequence construction on a series of landing strips for fighter jets, he searched for the proper tool to tackle the issue, but came up emptyhanded. Running up against the same issue on project after project, he spent years looking for software capable of running the algorithms required.

“Long story short,” he says, skimming over both a masters degree and a PhD focused on artificial intelligence applications for construction, “I ended up building it.”

With its pre-construction tool, ALICE appealed mainly to schedulers. The Manage feature has prompted some of the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company’s first conversations with owners looking for added insight into their projects. It has made it more viable for use on smaller projects as well. While in the past, companies tended to turn to ALICE for projects worth at least $100 million, the Manage function and a plug-and-play template are pushing that threshold lower, Morkos says, pointing to new commercial jobs in the $20 million to $30 million range.

Homsi, meanwhile, says the decision to use ALICE should hinge more on the difficulty of the project rather than its price tag.

“If it’s a billion-dollar highway in the middle of the tundra, there might be some benefit, but even if it’s a smaller project with complex utility and phasing and all the stuff going on top of each other, that would be where we would be using it,” Homsi says. “It’s the complexity rather than the dollar value.”

CBAS

Weighing the

community benefits CBAs aim to help all groups share in infrastructure spending, but implementation a challenge

BY SAUL CHERNOS

PHOTO: © EDB3_16 / ADOBE STOCK

The replacement of the Pattullo Bridge will be delivered using a CBA.

S

ince time immemorial, people have built roads, bridges, fortifications and other public infrastructure in order to provide common benefits such as mobility, security and access to goods and services. While construction is generally a strong provider of local and regional employment, infrastructure proponents – typically governments – are increasingly turning to community benefits programs to counter longstanding employment equity imbalances and improve the everyday lives of people living near major projects.

British Columbia has been a strong proponent of formal community benefits

agreements (CBAs), thanks to provincial government policy established in 2018, mandating they be undertaken with select major B.C. infrastructure projects.

British Columbia Infrastructure Benefits (BCIB), a Crown corporation that reports to the Ministry of Finance, currently has eight projects on its CBA roster, including the Broadway Subway development in Vancouver and the Trans-Canada Highway widening project at Kicking Horse Pass near the Alberta border.

The catalyst for B.C.’s CBA has been the skilled trades shortage – workers reaching retirement age with an insufficient pool of young, skilled talent ready to

take their place. Furthermore, the province wanted to address the relative absence of entire groups of people on job sites. For instance, Building a Better BC, an independent report by the Community Savings Credit Union, a B.C. financial institution, determined women represent only six per cent of on-site employment and Indigenous people represent just eight per cent of total overall employment, including off-site, in the province.

Greg Johnson, BCIB director of stakeholder relations and project development, says its CBAs are meant to engage people from underrepresented groups. When the province decides a project is significant

on-sitemag.com / 29

In B.C., the province is using its CBA for a range of infrastructure work, including a major Trans-Canada Highway widening project.

enough in size and scope, a CBA comes into play where contractors can bring its usual crews but BCIB becomes the employer of record and fleshes out remaining numbers with workers attracted through outreach to local unions, community organizations and First Nations. BCIB maintains a database of candidates, assessing candidate qualifications and certifications in areas as far flung as fall arrest training and highway project experience, and applicants from underrepresented groups get priority.

“We make sure everyone is qualified so that contractors get qualified people, but wherever possible we’re giving underrepresented folks a chance to get onto job sites and have meaningful opportunities to build their career,” Johnson says.

BC’s CBA program offers tangible supports. Collaborating with its partners, BCIB provides mandatory foundational safety training in addition to anything a worker might receive from any particular contractor. Crews also participate in sessions designed to make them aware of and sensitive to Indigenous culture and appropriate workplace conduct involving race, gender, sexuality and harassment.

“There’s no shortage of women entering the construction trades or going into training to take on a trades career, but somewhere in the first couple years they’re

30 / AUGUST 2021

PHOTO: BANKSPHOTOS / E+ / GETTY IMAGES

CBAS

leaving,” Johnson says. “There’s a very high attrition rate and, from talking to participants in the industry, we’ve learned that job site culture is keeping a lot of women and Indigenous people — and LGBTQ2S+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and two-spirit) people as well — from continuing their careers.”

So far, the approach seems to be working. After the first full fiscal construction year with the provincial policy in place, women made up 12.5 per cent, and Indigenous people 15 per cent of BCIB employees. “Those are on our projects,” Johnson emphasizes. “Changing the industry is a long-term thing, but we contribute where we can. We’re hoping that, by helping some of these underrepresented people get their start in the construction industry, they’re going to be able to go forward, work for other companies and make it their career. They won’t always work for BCIB projects, but they will work on other projects for private employers.”

Still, not all infrastructure players are on board with all aspects of community benefits arrangements. A coalition of employer and employee groups challenged the B.C. CBA on grounds that mandatory membership in the BC Building Trades Unions (BTUs) violates freedom of association provisions under the Canadian Charter

of Rights and Freedoms. The requirement doesn’t preclude membership in other labour organizations, but does require those working on CBA projects to join the affiliated BTUs. Still, the B.C. Supreme Court refused to hear the Charter argument last year, directing the matter back to the provincial Labour Relations Board.

Paul de Jong, president of the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada, which participated as a plaintiff, calls the organized labour requirement restrictive and says it increases worksite complexities, drives up infrastructure costs and reduces the pool of contractors able or willing to participate. “Community benefit agreements are a relatively new public policy trend and they’re probably here to stay,” de Jong says. “If we do it right, a community benefit agreement framework that’s well consulted, well considered and well designed could become the new public policy instrument in Canada that will truly achieve changes for communities that are adjacent to public infrastructure projects.

The challenge is how to develop this policy as it emerges. Is it going to be taken over by special interest groups, or is it going to be a fair and balanced piece of public policy that develops through consultation?”

Other members of the coalition share the concerns over a lack of industry engagement. The Vancouver Regional Construction Association, for instance, says CBAs can be a useful policy tool, but the B.C. government did not adequately consult the industry on the current framework.

With the court dismissing the Charter challenge, de Jong says the coalition is evaluating its options, including taking its case to the labour board. “Another avenue is for the broader construction sector to request that the BC Auditor General conduct an audit of the BC CBA, not to assess its appropriateness, but rather its efficacy,” de Jong adds. For instance, he asks, is the cost of the CBA warranted by the outcomes? Are the outcomes being tracked and measured and if so, does the data indicate the CBA is worth the expense and intrusiveness it entails?

Likewise, a report from think tank Cardus released last month says the

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CBAs could become more common on projects across Canada in the years to come.

concept of CBAs are “promising” for Canada, but stresses the need for governments, and B.C. in particular, to reassess their implementation methods.

Other opponents have expressed concern over costs to the public purse. In a 2018 report, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) warned that unintended consequences could lead to British Columbians paying significantly more for provincial infrastructure projects.

Citing an estimate from a 1994 report analyzing what it described as a similar BC infrastructure contract policy, the CFIB warned labour costs for infrastructure projects could increase up to 37.6 per cent as a result of the CBA. Singling out the $1.4 billion Pattullo Bridge project, the CFIB said its use of a CBA could increase costs by $130 million to $259 million. “The BC government needs to ensure the new policy does not result in escalating costs for infrastructure projects and affirm the playing field is level to ensure cost-effective construction,” the CFIB said.

Building a Better BC, the CSCU report, notes that the province initially estimated the CBA program would increase tendered bid prices by four to seven per cent, and projections suggest net costs of a mature CBA program to the province could range from $50 million to $80 million annually.

“It’s undeniable that it costs money to administer the CBA,” says CSCU president

32 / AUGUST 2021

and CEO Mike Schilling. “However, that cost pales into insignificance when compared with the economic benefits of giving skilled jobs to people in British Columbia. If you employ local people and get them into skilled trades and good jobs, you’ve got lifelong earners generating money within your economy.” Still, the proof is in the pudding.

“We’re in early days,” Schilling says. “We’ve seen fantastic data in terms of women, Indigenous groups and local people, so a lot of things are working. But we haven’t seen enough work to assess whether the private sector is getting its fair share of these bids.

Opponents are asking some valid questions, and we’re interested in testing this further down the line.”

Though the approach is unique, B.C. is not alone in turning to CBAs. Many Canadian municipalities design their own community benefits programs, and it’s much the same with some provinces and the federal government. Infrastructure Canada introduced a Community Employment Benefits (CEB) initiative in 2018 under its Investing in Canada infrastructure program for projects that are bilaterally run and meet specified cost thresholds. Participating provinces and territories are expected to establish targets for at least three employee and contractor groups (the list includes apprentices, Indigenous peoples, women, people with disabilities, veterans, youth, recent immigrants, small-

PHOTO: © WICHAIWISH / ADOBE STOCK

CBAS and medium-sized enterprises, and social enterprises) and then report actual employment or procurement opportunity numbers.

“This approach helps to promote opportunities for populations experiencing vulnerability and (for) groups who are under-represented in the construction industry and related sectors so that a broader array of individuals in Canada can benefit from the investments made in infrastructure across the country,” says Infrastructure Canada spokesperson Jen Powroz.

Also key to the CEB is a project’s broader impact on surrounding communities, so there’s a drive to invest in local communities. The Gordie Howe International Bridge, currently under construction on the Detroit-Windsor corridor, is currently administering a Community Benefits Plan negotiated by affected governments that has already allocated more than $10 million on each side of the border to support community cultural and economic activities. Grants on the Canadian side include $25,000 for the Essex County Black Historical Research Society for a film project and $8,400 to the John McGivney Children’s Centre in Windsor for an accessible ramp. On the U.S. side, the First Latin American Baptist Church of Detroit received $25,000 to renovate its service centre and the Clark Park Coalition got $3,000 to host a winter carnival.

While the provision of community benefits might appear directed at maintaining public support throughout protracted noise and disruption. Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority vice-president of corporate affairs and external relations Heather Grondin says earlier community consultations and environmental assessments helped minimize impacts and achieve local buy-in, yet the weight of projects carries on for their entire duration.

“Having a big piece of infrastructure in your neighbourhood can be perceived as detrimental,” Grondin says. “It’s responsible infrastructure development to look at the communities where we’re building a significant piece of infrastructure, recognizing that there may be an impact, and developing a program that responds to direct community needs and input.”

MEWPS

SAFETY at height

New safety requirements have led to adjustments across the mobile elevated work platforms (MEWP) category.

New standards accelerate trend towards high-tech boom lift safety features

BY NATE HENDLEY

PHOTO: SNORKEL

N

ew regulations from the CSA Group and ANSI (American National Standards Institute) have accelerated the move towards high-tech safety features in boom lifts.

Last year, the new ANSI A92.20 design standard imposed stringent safety requirements on mobile elevated work platforms (MEWPs). Formally called aerial work platforms (AWPs), the MEWP category includes articulating and telescopic boom lifts.

“The revised ANSI/CSA standards in North America require that new boom lifts and scissor lifts are equipped with load sensing and tilt sensing technology to make sure operators remain within the

capacity limits of the machine,” says Jennifer Stiansen, director of marketing at JLG Industries.

Load sensors measure the combined weight of operators and equipment on a boom lift platform. When the platform weight exceeds a certain limit, an alarm is sounded. In some cases, machine operations are automatically shut down.

Load sensing systems on JLG boom lifts are so sensitive they can detect when an item is removed from the platform. If the platform weight returns to its rated load capacity, machine operations will resume “without the need to recalibrate the machine,” Stiansen says.

Revised ANSI/CSA standards... require that new boom lifts and scissor lifts are equipped with load sensing and tilt sensing technology to make sure operators remain within the capacity limits of the machine.”

Jennifer Stiansen, JLG on-sitemag.com / 33

MEWPS

PHOTO: GENIE

All new Genie booms will be outfitted with load sensors.

PHOTO: SKYJACK

Skyjack booms are equipped with a range of safety features, including a “stop” command for emergencies.

34 / AUGUST 2021

To meet the new requirements, Genie, a Terex brand, recently announced that all its forthcoming articulating and telescopic boom lifts will be fitted with platform load sensors.

“Equipment with a load sensing system will monitor the weight in the work platform and disable functionality if the boom’s rated capacity is exceeded,” Genie product manager Sean Larin highlights in the company blog.

The ANSI standards also impact tilt sensing systems.

“Machines that could previously only operate on level surfaces can now be used on slopes but are required to have a tilt sensor alarm and cutout. The system will disable boom and drive functions if the incline surpasses the slope limit,” JLG explains.

Ontario-based manufacturer Skyjack equips its boom lifts with an Electrical Secondary Guarding System (SGE) featuring tilt sensing capability and a “stop” command for emergency situations. SGE is standard on Skyjack articulating and telescopic booms.

“This feature aims to prevent involuntary operation,” says Ian McGregor, director of Engineering at Skyjack.

“When pushed, the sensor bar instantly stops all functions, initiating a siren and a flashing beacon. If pressure is applied to the bar for more than a second, the engine will stop and discontinue all regular functions until reset. The emergency lowering controls can still be operated to bring the platform safely to the ground.

If the machine exceeds its tilt limit for elevated operation, a switch is activated that prevents it from getting out of the stowed position.”

As a result of the new ANSI/CSA rules, Genie decided to tweak its existing terrain sensing system, which monitors tilt, other among factors.

“Genie booms will also now be equipped with a chassis angle sensor, which measures the angle or tilt of the machine’s chassis during operation… when the machine is working on a slope – if it reaches – or exceeds – the boom’s rated tilt angle, an alarm will sound to alert the operator. This audible alarm means that the machine has reached its

tilt sensor activation setting – or in other words, the boom has exceeded its tilt angle,” Larin writes.

JLG boom lifts also feature tilt sensing technology. When excessive tilt is detected, boom lift functionality is restricted beyond what is necessary to “return the machine to a work area within its allowable operating range,” Stiansen says.

Once operators reach safer ground, they are able to reposition the boom lift or grade the work site, to complete work within the rated load and slope tolerance of the machine Stiansen adds.

JLG makes self-levelling boom lifts, such as the JLG 670SJ, as well. Such booms boast technology designed to adjust the machine’s chassis to the ground conditions, rather than trying to adjust the ground conditions for the machine. “With self-levelling technology, the machine is engineered to continuously and automatically level itself on slopes up to 10-degrees, even when driving the unit at height,” Stiansen says.

The JLG 670SJ’s self-levelling function reduces the movement of the platform during travel, for added operator safety and comfort.

“Caught between” accidents, during which operators are pinned between two or more objects, represent another danger for boom lift operators, Stiansen notes.

JLG’s sensor-equipped SkyGuard system is intended to prevent such scenarios. When confronted with 23 kilograms (50 pounds) of force, SkyGuard “stops all machine functions that are in use… By stopping the platform and moving the operator away from the obstruction automatically, SkyGuard helps reduce caught between injuries while working at height,” Stiansen says.

JLG also offers SkySense, an optional sensor-based enhanced detection system that provides operators with an added level of awareness of their immediate surroundings. An alert is sounded if the system detects an object in the machine’s path. Should the operator fail to reduce speed, the boom lift will cease moving once it reaches a previously determined stop point. The operator

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Only let trained professionals use the boom lifts.

Keep your boom lift in good working order.

Wear protective personal equipment including a full body harness when operating or traveling in a boom lift.

Be aware of your surroundings – do a site inspection before starting work and know the location of power lines, buried cables and difficult terrain.

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PHOTO: SNORKEL

MEWPS

The Snorkel Guard prevents the boom lift from responding if the operator is jostled.

> JLG’s SkyGuard

PHOTO: JLG

system is designed to prevent “caught between” incidents on booms.

must manually override the system to regain maneuverability, Stiansen says.

The Snorkel Guard serves a similar role on Snorkel boom lifts – available in Canada through Ahern Canada. Designed

by Snorkel engineers, this product prevents the lift from moving if the operator is jostled.

Snorkel Guard “is a simple, mechanical secondary guarding system that has been fitted as standard on all factory-built Snorkel articulated and telescopic boom lifts since 2015, says Matthew Elvin, CEO of Xtreme Manu-

36 / AUGUST 2021

facturing and Snorkel. “It features a spring-loaded rail that sits above the upper control panel that cuts out machine operations when compressed, for example, in the case of the operator being involuntarily pushed against the controls.”

Once Snorkel Guard is activated, a horn is sounded and a blue light starts flashing on the platform indicating there’s a problem.

Snorkel’s new 2100SJ telescopic boom lift offers other safety elements, including a removable remote control panel that lets the operator stand a safe distance from the lift when loading and unloading from transport, Elvin adds.

The 2100SJ also boasts a patent-pending secondary control pendant that gives the operator more freedom to move about the platform while maneuvering into position. This feature allows for more precise positioning, which enhances both productivity and safety when working at height near “sensitive facades such as glass,” he adds.

All Snorkel boom lifts come standard with drive motion alarms and foam tires, except for 600S and 660SJ All Terrain telescopic boom lifts, which boast independent tracks instead of tires.

Into the future, expect telematics to become more commonplace on telescopic and articulating boom lifts.

Skyjack, for instance, offers a telematics system called ELEVATE which detects overloads and engine issues while providing the operator with data about “battery health, active fault codes and CAN bus information,” McGregor says As manufacturers rush to meet ANSI and CSA safety standards, basic safety rules still apply for boom lift operators.

Choosing the right boom lift for the job is one key component, Elvin says.

Only letting trained professionals use the equipment, outfitting them with the proper PPE, putting a priority on maintenance and ensuring site inspections are carried out to check the location of power lines, buried cables and difficult terrain, are several others.

Combining cutting-edge safety solutions with old-fashioned common sense is an excellent way to make boom lift operations as safe as possible.

AUGUST 2021

ZEROING IN

ON CONCRETE EMISSIONS 44

IN THIS ISSUE:

PHOTO: © PAVEL LOSEVSKY / ADOBE STOCK

www.on-sitemag.com 38 Concrete injection: continuous flight augering shaking up the piling process

PILING

Concrete injection Piling crews in Kelowna, B.C. drill to new depths for pair of downtown towers

BY DAVID KENNEDY

I

PHOTO: SB CANADA

n downtown Kelowna, a few blocks Okanagan Lake, construction crews are drilling deep beneath surface, building piles for a pair of new towers set to start rising shortly in one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities.

Employing a crane-mounted lead system, with a hollow stem auger capable of drilling and injecting concrete to depths of 52 metres (170 feet), this is not your typical drill rig. Custom parts were built and shipped both from across Canada and the U.K., making the complex piece of machinery the first of its kind in the Okanagan. The rig and the process it uses, known as continuous flight augering (CFA), reflects both the valley’s rapid urbanization and the focus the project’s builder is placing on minimizing noise and vibration in a busy part of Kelowna.

Compared to the more traditional driven steel piling method, the CFA process is far easier on the community, said Luke Turri, executive vice-president of Mission Group.

“Urban infill in Kelowna is, I would say, relatively new and so when you’re dealing with these tighter sites with existing buildings surrounding them, anything that we can do as a local builder to try and minimize the disturbances to surrounding businesses and homeowners is great,” he said.

Using a crane-mounted lead system, the hollow stem auger can drill and inject concrete to depths of 52 metres, or roughly 170 feet.

38 / AUGUST 2021

Based in Kelowna and founded 2004, Mission Group is a vertically integrated development firm that leads construction on own its projects, including the three-tower Bernard Block development.

Work is already nearing completion on the first stage of the mixeduse project, with a residential condo tower known as Brooklyn scheduled to be finished by the end of this year.

Work on the two other buildings is currently getting underway. For the Block, a 16-storey office building, and Bertam, a 34-storey residential tower, Mission Group has enlisted geotechnical specialist Soletanche Bachy Canada (SB Canada) to head the novel piling effort.

“Typically, you’re restricted to depths in the region of 25 to 35 metres with traditional equipment,” said Barry Evans, vice-president of Project Delivery, West, for SB Canada, adding that piecing together a system that would drill to 52 metres took some ingenuity. Specially-made parts from Bachy Soletanche in the U.K. and its sister company Berminghammer were also needed.

The depth the piling system can reach and its use of a crane as opposed to a conventional drill rig, is a first in Canada for the CFA application. The process itself is not new, however. Like many other construction techniques, the CFA method – also known as auger cast – is a European import, where it’s been in use for decades.

“We progress that auger by turning it into the ground to a proscribed design depth,” Evans said. “Once we reach that design depth, we lift the auger slightly and the discharge valves open on the bottom of the auger and then we start to pump the concrete in through the hollow stem of the auger. So, we actually build the pile from its toe upward under a head of pressure.”

“The auger holds spoil and then the head of concrete pushes up past the tip of the auger, so we always have positive pressure so that the pile wall is supported,” he adds.

Crews slowly withdraw the auger while pumping concrete, eventually leaving just a fluid column of concrete in the ground.

“Once the auger is fully retrieved and out of the hole, we move the machine onto the next pile position, we clean the top of the pile and we plunge the reinforcement into that fresh column of concrete,” Evans said, noting the company typically uses CFA-specific concrete with a slump north of 250 and a four-hour set delay

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PILING

in case there’s a mixer delayed on the road or any For its part, Mission Group sees the new issue with equipment that would delay getting type of piling as a great solution to the chalthe rebar cage into the concrete. lenges it faces putting up larger and larger Soil conditions and the goal of limiting buildings in the Okanagan. noise in downtown are a couple of the key “It’s the type of system that as we’re aspects of the Bernard Block project that turned moving ourselves into doing more concrete the team onto CFA, Turri said. high-rise construction, they’re putting a lot “The water table in Kelowna, particularly in more load on what are not great soils for the areas closer to the lake like the downtown, construction of towers in the market that we require a fair amount of soil enhancement, work in,” Turri said.

The continuous flight auger process is soil preparation, whether that be piling or Still, while CFA works well for Kelowna, it’s being used for two new towers that are other methods to support some of these taller not for all locales, Evans noted. Regions where part of the Bernard Block development towers that are now become commonplace in crews may encounter boulders or hard formain downtown Kelowna.

Kelowna,” he said. tions, for instance, are often not viable, and While driven steel piles are often quite loud, requiring vibratory compact job sites can lead to challenges. hammers to drive pile to depth, CFA limits the noise.

“If you’re on a tighter site, it can get very congested very “Whenever a pile driving rig shows up there are complaints, quick because you need a concrete pump, excavator, there’s a “Evans said, “and wherever you can drive a pile, you can do a CFA hole bunch of other moving parts. The reinforcement is delivered pile. The soil conditions are very, very similar.” With owners focus- to site and you have to store that somewhere,” he said. sing more on community and environmental impact, Evans said Having wrapped up the roughly eight-week piling process he is seeing growing momentum for the CFA process throughout June 6, Mission Group has begun moving into construction of the Western Canada, particularly in the Prairies, and now into B.C. parkade podium at the Block. To get to this point, Turri credits The eventful year in the commodity market also has owners the geotechnical and structural teams for the long hours spent looking to CFA for greater cost certainty. working on design and eventually, overseeing execution.

“We’re not at risk of a 16-week lead time,” Evans said. “We’re Evans, likewise, said the collaborative mindset Mission Group not at risk of steel prices increasing every day. We have plenty and the engineering team working on the project brought to the of ready-mix concrete suppliers here in B.C. and reinforcement table made the novel approach possible. for the steel cages seems to be readily available, so people are Construction on the pair of new towers is scheduled to run starting to see the benefits.” through 2024.

40 / AUGUST 2021

PHOTO: MISSION GROUP

PHOTO: SB CANADA

A rendering of the three-tower Bernard Block development.

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CONCRETE’S FUTURE, PART 1 With Re-Con Zero™ Evo, concrete becomes reusable and sustainable

by Giorgio Ferrari and Amilcare Collina of Mapei S.p.A.’s Research & Development division

Thirteen billion cubic meters of concrete are produced every year around the globe, the equivalent of around thirty billion tons or almost four tons per year for each inhabitant of the planet. This material owes its enormous success to its excellent characteristics and properties: Cost-effectiveness, the wide availability of raw materials, excellent mechanical properties and durability. Each and every day, in every corner of the planet, hundreds of thousands of trucks transport fresh concrete from mixing plants to building sites to be used in the construction of every possible type of building and infrastructure.

Not all the concrete that is produced, however, is actually used on site. A certain amount, from just a few hundred liters to several cubic meters, is returned to the mixing plant in its original state as what is known as “leftover” or returned concrete.

For various reasons, the production of returned concrete is unavoidable and, as such, has to be considered as an integral part of the production process.

According to estimates, returned concrete accounts for around 3% of the total amount produced, or around 900 million tons per year at a global level.

Only a fraction of all returned concrete may be reused as is in concrete works, while for the most part, due to the lack of a viable possibility of using it again and transforming it, it has to be disposed of.

For this reason, returned concrete is by far the most abundant waste product at the concrete batching plants. Disposing of returned concrete in landfill sites has a heavy impact on the environment, which may be expressed in terms of “equivalent” CO2, the gas responsible for global warming. In numerical terms, one cubic meter of returned concrete sent for landfill is the equivalent of 267 kg of CO2, which, if multiplied by the amount of returned concrete produced annually in the world, amounts to almost 105 million tons of CO2, the same amount produced in one year by around 47 million medium-sized cars, more than the cars currently in use in Germany.

From waste to resource Today, with Re-Con Zero Evo, MAPEI’s product for more sustainable concrete, it is possible to recover and transform returned concrete, thereby going from a “linear” economic model, based on the production of waste, to a more “circular” economic

2

42 / AUGUST 2021

model in which waste no longer exists but rather becomes a resource. A circular economy is a regenerative type of industrial system. It replaces the “end of life” concept with a concept of “restoration,” prevents the depletion and decline of natural resources, encourages the use of renewable energy, eliminates the use of toxic chemical substances that impede its reuse/return to the biosphere and aims at eliminating waste by improving the design of materials, products, systems and business models.

But how is it possible to transform concrete from waste material into a resource with Re-Con Zero Evo? When Re-Con Zero Evo is added to returned concrete in a mixer truck, or in any other suitable mixing system, in the space of just a few minutes the special additives contained in the product absorb any free water that is present, thereby “drying” the concrete.

This transforms it into aggregates with a grain size distribution and mechanical characteristics that are perfectly suitable to be reused to make new concrete without generating any new waste – liquid or solid.

The advantages of this innovative product are clear: The production of aggregates

3

SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY OF RETURNED CONCRETE

1ST STEP Component B 1.5 kg/m3 Mix for 3 minutes

1

from returned concrete enables the acquisition of natural aggregates to be reduced by a corresponding amount, which in turn limits the depletion of raw materials.

The process also completely eliminates the use of landfill sites, which in turn further reduces the impact on the environment.

With Re-Con Zero Evo, one cubic meter of returned concrete produces only 6.75 kg of CO2, almost 40 times less than when compared with disposing of it as landfill.

Apart from these environmental benefits, there are also corresponding advantages associated with its use for the entire industrial system: A significant reduction in costs for production, the acquisition of raw materials and the disposal of waste.

2ND STEP Component A 0.5 kg/m3

1: Approximately 400 million m3 of returned concrete requires treatment every year.

2 and 3: After being mixed for a few minutes with Re-Con Zero Evo, concrete is transformed into granular material that, once cured, may be used as aggregate in concrete.

4 and 5: After the material is discharged, the mixing drum is left clean. The cleaning water for the mixer drum may be completely recycled and used again for mixing.

Today, thanks to Re-Con Zero Evo, there is now the certainty that all returned concrete can be recovered and reused, by means of a process of industrial transformation based on the principles of a circular economy, to produce aggregates with all the technical and environmental requirements for its correct use in the production of concrete and in other civil engineering works.

Mix for 4 minutes

concrete

3RD STEP DISCHARGE

Complete kit to treat 1 cubic meter of returned concrete: RE-CON ZERØ EVO Comp. B:1x1.5 kg water-soluble bags RE-CON ZERØ EVO Comp. A:1x0.5 kg water-soluble bags

4

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on-sitemag.com / 43

Zeroing in on concrete emissions

Industry innovators are working to lower or eliminate concrete’s carbon footprint while maintaining its workability.

New technologies making headway, but carbon neutral a tall order

BY DAVID KENNEDY

C

rews pouring the concrete footings, columns and slabs at the end of the intricate cement and concrete supply chain will never know the difference. The new mixes will maintain the same workability, the same degree of early strength, the same level of air entrainment and the same feel as traditional concrete mixes, all while bringing the carbon dioxide emissions produced throughout the process to zero.

At least that’s the intention.

44 / AUGUST 2021

Last fall, the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) – made up of several dozen of the world’s largest cement firms – set 2050 as the target for delivering zero carbon concrete. Many multinational members, such as Cemex, HeidelbergCement and LafargeHolcim have also set 2030 targets as stepping stones on the way to carbon neutrality.

Hitting the intermediary targets and the “ambitious” mid-century goal is achievable, Apoorv Sinha, the CEO of

Carbon Upcycling Technologies says, but will require a confluence of factors.

“If you’re trying to make the World Series or the finals at the World Cup, a lot of different things have to fall in place,” he says. “Even if you prep exactly right and your strategy’s been great, and your coach is great, there are a lot of things outside your control that still need to happen.”

The situation is much the same for the cement and concrete industry’s CO2 goals, he says, adding that the onus is on

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start-ups working on commercializing or scaling up new technologies to ensure the industry’s slower-moving players have the tools to reach their net-zero targets.

With plenty of “runway” left before 2050, Andrew Fahim, senior manager of Research and Development at Giatec Scientific Inc. sees the goal as achievable as well, but only if new tools are implemented throughout the industry’s supply chain.

“It will come down to a lot of disruptive technology,” he says. “If we’re doing what we’re doing today, I don’t think we’ll get there.”

Rob Niven, the CEO and founder of CarbonCure, says he is seeing momentum pick up for clean technology across the cement and concrete industry, with pressure being heaped on by government regulations, media, and investors focussed on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG), among other players.

“It’s coming from all sides and it’s just getting bigger and bigger and bigger every month,” he says.

In respect to the 2050 goal, however, he says he would have liked to have seen a more detailed roadmap for achieving

46 / AUGUST 2021

carbon neutrality. Niven says there’s visibility into how the industry could cut emissions by about half, but less clarity on the second 50 per cent.

“It tends to fall into this category of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS),” he says. “Those technologies fortunately do exist today, but creating the right business models and economics I think will be a challenge.”

All parties acknowledge making cement and concrete carbon neutral will be a tall order, but with industry CO2 emissions accounting for seven or eight per cent of global emissions, depending on the study, the wider impact is also considerable.

Technologies from all three Canadian firms look likely to play a role in the shift.

GETTING TO ZERO Fresh off a grand prize win in the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE competition, and firmly established at roughly 400 plants on four continents, CarbonCure is working toward the lofty goal of cutting 500 megatonnes of CO2 from the concrete industry by 2030.

The Dartmouth, N.S.-based cleantech

firm is best known for its mixer technology, which injects captured CO2 into concrete at ready-mix facilities, both strengthening the mix and locking in CO2 from waste streams. But it’s picking up the pace on innovation in a number of other areas as well, Niven says.

For instance, it shared first place in the $20 million XPRIZE competition this April not for its original injection technology, but for a new process it has developed for reclaimed water at concrete plants. Designed to work with concrete producers’ existing water reclaimers, the technology uses slurry or wash water from mixer trucks and injects CO2 to produce a “nano-scale suspended solid” that can then be integrated into fresh concrete. The process cuts back on both the amount of cement and the amount of water required for the fresh concrete.

To hit its 500 MT target, Niven says the company’s focus is on deploying its existing technology and on delivering new, interconnected innovations that will work in tandem with its current tools.

“I do expect that we’ll be a full-suite solution on the CO2 supply side, on the

PHOTO: © KASIPAT / ADOBE STOCK

EMISSIONS

Though vital to construction, the cement and concrete industry are major contributors to global carbon emissions.

utilization side, but also all of the digital tools that allow for these technologies to be connected with the marketplace and create other efficiencies in the concrete plants,” Niven says.

CarbonCure has begun helping customers take part in the carbon credit market, which lets concrete producers earn offsets – and additional revenue – for using its technology. With a growing in-house software team and access to cuttingedge computing capabilities through its second-largest investor, Amazon.com Inc., Niven says the company is also advancing its digital offering.

“Now, where our mind is turning is how can we help concrete producers adopt artificial intelligence with the large sets of data that are involved in their business to help them reduce cost and sell more.”

In that arena, CarbonCure is likely to have plenty of competition.

Giatec, which is based in Ottawa and makes concrete sensors that contractors have put to work on thousands of projects

in at least 85 countries, has been expanding its software offering as well.

This June, it launched SmartMix, a web-based tool that helps contractors and concrete producers fine-tune their mixes to meet project specifics. It uses artificial intelligence to sift through 20 years of historical data and millions of data points to generate mix designs that meet project and environmental specifications.

“Cement contributes eight per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions, but it’s also the most expensive component of concrete mixtures, so [by] reducing cement content, we’re able to give them a better bottom line as well as a significantly lower carbon footprint,” Fahim says.

With a huge range of mitigating factors involved, designing concrete mixes has typically been a time-consuming process that relies on lab testing numerous options with different make-ups of cement and supplementary cementitious materials. SmartMix, meanwhile, can quickly run the numbers.

“It’s able to virtually run millions of

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Software assistance will help push certain aspects of the construction process out of the lab.

If the concrete industry and the construction materials industry in the U.S. is shifting very quickly to buy clean, we have to make sure as a Canadian industry that we’re harmonized.”

–Rob Niven, CarbonCure

PHOTO: © PINGPAO / ADOBE STOCK

EMISSIONS

significantly higher performing than many conventional SCMs, which in their original form can reduce concrete strength.

With Carbon Upcycling’s enhanced SCM, producers can cut the cement content in their concrete, saving on both emissions and cost. To date, the company has been putting its 20-tonne-per-day reactor to work with ready-mix producer Burnco, integrating SCM in some 3,000 truckloads of concrete.

It has shown it can reduce cement content in any mix by at least 10 per cent, and in some mix designs by up to 25 per cent. While the company’s process also has applications in industries such as plastics, its main focus has shifted to construction materials as the industry looks for ways to decarbonize.

With the promising results, it’s working toward building a 200-tonne, commercial scale version of its reactor to continue its scale-up. If all goes according to plan, the company could build hundreds of its reactors at ready-mix facilities around the world, and even higher capacity versions at cement plants.

GETTING GOVERNMENTS ON BOARD different candidate mixtures or mixtures that would meet the designer’s criteria in terms of performance and the owner’s criteria in terms of carbon footprint,” Fahim says, noting teams can then take their custom-designed favourite to the lab for confirmation.

The company’s sensors, which use the maturity method to determine concrete strength, also come into play, displaying any mix adjustments that may be needed in real-time.

Giatec anticipates SmartMix could reduce CO2 emissions in the industry by 400 megatonnes by helping contractors hit the same performance targets while eliminating as much cement from their mixes as possible. Giatec is aiming to hit that figure, which Fahim says would mean capturing about 30 per cent of the global market, by 2030.

Carbon Upcycling remains in the relatively early stages of its development, having made the shift out of the lab in the past year.

Still, its promising technology has attracted

48 / AUGUST 2021

numerous high-profile partners, including Cemex and Lafarge.

It has developed a low-energy process to mineralize carbon emissions into solid materials. Employing feedstocks heavy on alkali earth metal oxides, such as calcium oxide or magnesium oxide, it uses a single-unit catalytic reactor to force the powders to take on CO2. “We’re creating these optimal conditions where that reactor component can very quickly absorb CO2 to become calcium carbonate,” Sinha says.

For feedstocks, the company is turning to materials like fly ash, fuel slag, crushed glass, or even natural minerals with high enough levels of the two key oxides.

“The CO2 that we feed into our reactor gets absorbed into these SCMs, or supplementary cementitious materials, and create a direct sink for CO2,” Sinha says.

The reactor also changes the reactivity of the fly ash, crushed glass or other material in concrete, increasing its cementitious properties. Material that has been run through the Calgary-based firm’s process is

To complement the technical side of getting to zero, regulators will also need to force the issue, Niven says.

Proposed regulations in U.S. states such as New York and California will do just that by introducing procurement incentives and rewarding companies leading the way on cleaner concrete. Others in the U.S. and Canada are expected to follow suit.

“If the concrete industry and the construction materials industry in the U.S. is shifting very quickly to buy clean, we have to make sure as a Canadian industry that we’re harmonized,” Niven says.

In Ottawa, the federal government is making some early headway. This spring, the National Research Council (NRC), the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and the Cement Association of Canada (CAC) formed a working group designed to chart Canada’s course to a 15 MT reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 and net-zero concrete by 2050. The group is expected to have a roadmap in place to achieve both goals by this December.

AUGUST 2021

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SOFTWARE

By Jacob Stoller

New tools allowing estimators to reduce risks by pulling in added perspectives

I

t’s typical for an estimator to have a moment of trepidation after receiving notification of a successful bid. Such was the case in 2005 when Francis Beaujault, director of pre-construction at Quebec-based Pomerleau, submitted his first bid using B2W Estimate.

“We got the first job that we bid with it,” Beaujault says. “That was a bit scary because it was the first time we’d used the software, and you always wonder if you’ve left something out when you get a project. But it was fine, and we’ve used the software ever since.”

More contractors are turning to estimating software as jobs get more complex, and estimators collaborate more closely with other teams in the organization. However, given the interactive nature of estimating and the number of players involved, the change management component is considerable.

“To use software and to be happy to use it is never easy,” Beaujault says. “Everybody has some habits with previous software, and when you change it, it’s quite difficult. So you have to show people the way. We did lots of explaining and lots of training.”

Strong tech support in both French and English helped get over some of the hurdles. “The support from B2W was excellent,” Beaujault says. “They really listened to us, and you could always reach someone. And they have a lot of knowledge in the office – I never called them without getting the answer.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge is getting people to accept the software will change their work processes. “Do not think that new software is going to give you the same thing as you had before,” Beaujault says. “It will give you something maybe better, maybe worse, but it will be different. If you are just waiting for something with the same screen or columns or numbers on your screen, you will be disappointed. So look at what is good and what is bad and discuss this with your provider and try to solve this according to your needs.”

As the construction software industry has matured, many major products have been specifically designed for construction workflows.

“This isn’t accounting software with an offshoot for estimating or equipment maintenance or something else,” says Greg Norris, marketing communications director for B2W Software. “B2W is focused specifically on estimating and operational processes. So the software follows the logic and meets the specialized requirements of those workflows.”

TRUSTING THE DATA Estimating puts significant resources at risk, therefore, it’s essential to have trustworthy data. The key to ensuring this is having a single version of the truth based on consistent data sources.

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“The biggest thing that we’re seeing right now in the construction tech landscape is that people want integrated solutions,” says Lauren Lake, COO and co-founder of Kitchener, Ont.-based Bridgit. “If your tools aren’t talking to each other, it’s very difficult to make sure that you’re uploading and updating the same data in the same places, so you can’t really rely on the data.”

B2W provides the ONE (Operational Networked Elements) platform, which creates seamless connections between estimating, field tracking, resource management, and equipment maintenance. Bridgit commonly integrates its workforce planning product, Bridgit Bench, with Procore and Autodesk integrated suites, which have large installed bases. The company also works with best of breed providers through Application Programming Integration (APIs) and other tools.

“We’ve added more functionality to our workforce planning software so that the construction and estimating team are able to use our tools,” Lake says. “This helps them easily understand, when they’re putting those bids together, who on their team would be available from a reporting standpoint. And if they were to win that project, that allows them to commit team members to that job more accurately.”

FIRST STEPS For construction firms, the task of building an integrated data platform can be daunting. The IT resource requirements can be considerable, and making the right choices requires a clear picture of what the information needs of the company are.

“The best thing to do is think about the flow of information,” Lake says. “What’s happening? Who’s involved? At what time?

What are the decisions that are being made? And how is all that information being tracked? It’s pretty rare that you find everything you want in one tool. As long as you have an understanding of how all those pieces come together, then you can start to build simple integrations between products.”

Jacob Stoller is principal of StollerStrategies. Send comments to editor@on-sitemag.com

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CONTRACTORS & THE LAW

I

By Marin Leci and Arba Radaj

Learning from the Construction Act: Key takeaways for Alberta’s Construction Industry

t has been four years since Ontario introduced legislation to modernize the Construction Lien Act, ushering in prompt payment and expedited dispute resolution frameworks, among other changes. As Alberta moves toward modernizing its existing construction lien legislation, industry players should apprise themselves of the differences between Bill 37: Builders’ Lien (Prompt Payment) Amendment Act, 2020 (Bill 37), the proposed legislation that will amend the Alberta’s Builders’ Lien Act (BLA) and Ontario’s Construction Act (OCA). Understanding the differences between these two pieces of legislation may provide helpful guidance to construction industry players looking for a way to prepare for the upcoming legislative changes in Alberta. Moreover, if the Government of Alberta expects to bring Bill 37 into force in July 2021, it should take advantage of Ontario’s approach in implementing the OCA to streamline Alberta’s modernization of the BLA while minimizing its disruptive impact on Alberta’s construction industry.

Though there are many similarities between the Alberta and Ontario legislation, there are several key differences, some of which are outlined below:

HOLDBACK FOR FINISHING WORK/MINOR LIEN FUND: When a certificate of substantial performance is issued, Bill 37 requires an owner hold back 10 per cent of the value of work and materials for 60 days from the date of completion of either the contract or the subcontract. This period is extended to 90 days where improvements relate primarily to concrete or work done in respect to improvements to an oil or gas well or site. However, Ontario’s OCA extends the holdback period for finishing work until all liens that may be claimed against holdback have expired, been satisfied, discharged, or as otherwise provided in the OCA. There is no specific mention of improvements related to the furnishing of concrete in the OCA.

PROMPT PAYMENT: Most of the prompt payment provisions are similar between the two pieces of legislation. One exception is that the OCA provides that reasons for non-payment may include retention of amounts by set-off by a trustee or by lien set-off. No similar provision exists in Bill 37.

ADJUDICATION: The dispute resolution provisions of the Ontario and Alberta legislation are similar. However, Bill 37 states the nominating authority must arrange hearing by adjudicators, whereas the OCA contains no such requirement. Further, the OCA allows the adjudication authority to set and retain fees, costs and other charges for the administration of adjudication. The OCA contains the provisions that detail referrals of a dispute to adjudication in a dispute, which do not appear in Bill 37<. For example, Under the OCA:

52 / AUGUST 2021

• A party to a contract may refer a dispute to adjudication for matters such as: valuations of services/materials; payment under the contract including change order; disputes subject to notice of non-payment; amount retained as set-off by trustee or lien set-off; payment of holdback; non-payment of holdback; and any other matters.

• An adjudication may only address a single matter, unless agreed otherwise.

• A party may refer a dispute to adjudication even if the matter is subject to court action or arbitration under the Arbitration Act, unless the action or arbitration has been finally determined.

• An adjudication may only be conducted by an adjudicator listed in the registry. Parties may agree to a specific adjudicator – who may reject to this request – or request an appointment from the nominating authority. Where a provision in a contract/subcontract designates an adjudicator, they are of are of no force or effect.

• Parties may terminate the adjudication before the adjudicator’s determination is made.

• Generally, under the OCA, an adjudicator is to make determination no later than 30 days after receiving documents, but this period may be extended upon request by adjudicator or agreement between the parties.

The distinctions between the two pieces of legislation are significant.

Particularly when, pursuant to the terms of Bill 37, even if a court action is commenced on the same day as an adjudication, the adjudication must be discontinued. In developing associated regulations with Bill 37, Alberta should look to these distinctions for provisions that further its goal of modernizing construction legislation while streamlining the adjudication process.

MINIMUM AMOUNT TO REGISTER LIEN: Bill 37 states no lien shall be registered unless the claims or joined claims amount to or aggregate $700. There is no similar provision in the OCA.

TIME FOR REGISTRATION OF LIENS: Bill 37 and OCA contain similar provisions regarding deadlines to file liens. However, Bill 37 contains an extended lien period for the provision of concrete or work relating to concrete. The OCA does not contain any specific extended lien periods for concrete.

PHASED COMING INTO FORCE PROVISIONS: The most fundamental difference between the two pieces of legislation is that the OCA contained provisions that phased its changes, including the adjudication and prompt payment provisions into force over time. While the OCA became law in December 2017, the transformative changes it brought to the construction industry in Ontario did not take effect until October 2019. This phased approach allowed the construction industry

in Ontario to properly prepare, acclimatize, and understand the OCA. More importantly, the OCA’s phased approach reduced uncertainty and allowed the construction industry to adequately pivot to minimize the disruptive impact of the OCA’s changes.

Currently, there are no equivalent phase-in provisions in Bill 37.

The transitional provisions in Bill 37 state that any contract or subcontract enter into after Bill 37 comes into force is governed by Bill 37.

As a result, when Bill 37 is proclaimed to come into force and the BLA becomes the Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act, its adjudication and prompt payment provisions, including the new deadlines for liens become law immediately. This could have serious consequences for the construction industry and may lead to significant uncertainty and confusion as industry players scramble to get onside of the new deadlines and the unclear prompt payment and adjudication regimes imposed by Bill 37.

Alberta should consider phasing Bill 37’s changes in over time.

In addition to providing a greater degree of certainty, Alberta can take advantage of the body of case law being developed by Ontario courts as they assess and adjudicate disputes under the new OCA, and its transitionary provisions specifically. More importantly, phasing in Bill 37’s changes over time would provide Alberta’s construction industry some much needed breathing room in preparing for the significant disruption that the adjudication and prompt payment provisions will bring.

Full citations to all works cited are available in the online version of this column. Marin Leci is a senior associate and Arba Radaj is a summer law student at Borden Ladner Gervais. Although care has been taken to ensure accuracy, this article should not be relied upon as legal advice.

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2021-08-04 3:12 PM

RISK

By David Bowcott

Is carbon-adjusted procurement coming to construction?

I

t seems there are more and more headlines covering the devastating impacts of catastrophic weather events like flood and wildfire. It is also clear that governments worldwide are starting to seriously ramp up their efforts to act against climate change through a concerted push to achieve net zero economies.

As global governments look to find ways to reduce the carbon footprint of their economies, they are obviously focusing their efforts on the industries that are the largest emitters of carbon.

Building emissions and construction combine for close to 40 per cent of all carbon emissions, and with these two sectors clearly identified as prime emitters of carbon, governments are starting to find ways to reduce emissions in both sectors.

"To see what the future of procurement could look like we should take a closer look at the Netherlands and the ways it is changing its procurement models to reflect the impact of the designbuild, and even operations, on the environment.”

The construction sector supply chain produces significant amounts of carbon through the creation of raw materials and manufactured goods used in the construction process. Cement and concrete produce about 0.9 pounds (0.42 kilograms) of carbon dioxide for every pound of concrete, and the sector makes up approximately eight per cent of the world’s total carbon dioxide emissions. This is one of the largest carbon emitting sectors of the construction economy and there are several others, that when combined, represent a significant portion of overall global carbon emissions annually. As a result, governments across the globe are looking for ways to help the construction sector lower its CO2 emissions and are concluding the best place to start is at the start of construction – or procurement.

To see what the future of procurement could look like we should take a closer look at the Netherlands and the ways it is changing its procurement models to reflect the impact of the design-build, and even operations, on the environment. The Netherlands utilizes the Environmental Cost Indicator (ECI) measures when assessing the best bidder for some of their projects. The ECI

54 / AUGUST 2021

is an indicator that unites all relevant environmental impacts into a single score of environmental cost – which represents the environmental “shadow price” of a product or project. It is expressed in currency value. In order to arrive at accurate ECIs for all aspects of the construction supply chain, companies within the supply chain need to undergo Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) around the products they are creating. These LCAs create the foundation for the value of the ECI. Once the ECIs are mapped out for a majority, of the supply chain – the entirely of it under ideal conditions – the government can assess the total cost of the project inclusive of the “shadow costs” related to environmental impact, sometimes considered the societal costs. Such a procurement model considers the long-term impact of project inclusive of externality costs.

Could such procurement models, as those used in the Netherlands, start proliferating at a global level? Well, one would assume if the costs of climate change continue to rise and the coverage of the devastating impacts of these events continue to expand, we could see governments being forced by their citizens to take more action. In taking that action they, as mentioned, will focus on the industries that are most closely linked to the purported creation of climate change, and construction is one of those top industries.

There will be plenty of debate around this very contentious issue. For instance, why should certain governments procure their built environment assets with a greater cost than the rest of the world, when the other regions are not using such “total cost” procurement models? Why do these other areas get a “free ride” to a better environment? Others will counter this argument with the fact that some economies have to become leaders for the rest of the world, and will also cite that such procurement models will drive innovation and over time the economies with the most responsibly developed built environments will attract more investment and receive best terms from those investors, thus will have much more efficient economies.

The debates will be plentiful and significant, but as a stakeholder within the construction industry, you likely care less about the debate and more about what the future of procurement might look like – and how you can take advantage of that opportunity.

Thus, the primary purpose of this article is to bring forward the potential of growth in this “total cost” procurement model and help advance your knowledge around this trend in order for you to be ideally prepared to take advantage of the opportunity.

David Bowcott is Global Director – Growth, Innovation & Insight, Global Construction and Infrastructure Group at Aon Risk Solutions, as well as a member of the Canadian Construction Association’s (CCA) board of directors.

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