22 minute read
Top shots from top sites
FINALISTS
With hundreds of photos to choose from, from all parts of the country, this year’s crop of images was very difficult to narrow down to a list of finalists and a single winner. As you can see from the shots in these pages, there’s great work happening on jobsites right across Canada. Thankfully, cameras were rolling to capture these impressive images.
A crane being built at the 81 Bay St. CIBC towers with the iconic CN Tower in the background. The project involves the construction of a 49-storey office tower containing three levels of underground parking, a two-level GO Bus Terminal, and a terrace/walkway over the rail tracks.
Company: Pitt Meadows Plumbing & Mechanical Systems (2001) Ltd. Photographer: Ryan Broda Location: City of Lougheed in Burnaby, B.C. Company: EllisDon Construction Photographer: Ryk Stryland Location: Toronto
Pitt Meadows had more than 70 plumbers at work on the four residential towers in this project. This photo was taken in March 2021 for International Women’s Day. It highlights the company’s highest concentration of female employees who have ever been working on one project at the same time. The nine women in the photograph filled various roles on the project ranging from site coordinator to apprentice plumber, and Red Seal plumber. One of the women in the photograph, Kym Green, was recently promoted to foreperson.
Helping reconnect communities during the B.C. flooding in November, the Merrit Division of Emcon Services had several pieces of equipment mobilized to help rebuild access to a bridge on Patchett Road.
Company: Emcon Services Photographer: Simon Rizzardo/BigPowerFilms Location: Merritt, B.C.
In October, workers carry out the preparatory work for the delicate installation of 28 paralume beams for the rehabilitation project on the two-kilometre-long Louis-Hippolyte-Lafontaine Tunnel. The tunnel is the most used crossing between the South Shore and Montreal for the transportation of goods.
Company: Pomerleau Inc. Photographer: Pierre Seager Location: Montreal
A sunny, summer day building the Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre. This photo, taken this past July, shows some of the construction activity on a new outpatient facility on a 15-acre site in the Bayers Lake Business Park in Halifax. Once complete, the centre is expected to provide 28,000 clinic visits and 30,000 x-ray and blood collection visits per year.
Company: EllisDon Atlantic Photographer: Jeff Cooke/Cooked Photography Location: Halifax
Company: Clark Builders Photographer: Chris Ruiter/Site Partners Location: Edmonton
A meeting of the times. In August, Chris Ruiter caught a socially distanced early morning meeting with the trades ahead of a day of work on the Norwood Redevelopment Project in Edmonton. The $364 million, 40,000 m2 redevelopment project will help with the growing need for continuing care capacity in the region.
A bird’s eye view of the Edmonton LRT. Construction of Stage 1 of the Valley Line Light Rail Transit (LRT) will connect Mill Woods to downtown Edmonton with about 13.1 km of light rail transit. This stage includes 11 stops, an elevated station incorporating a transit centre, and a transfer point to existing LRT routes. On a cool morning in August, Tower Crane 7 operator Jonathan Bloomer caught the fog bank in the Peace River Valley as the sun rose behind him. Morning fog is a common occurrence at the Site C Dam site as the cool, moist air coming off the river is trapped underneath a stable, warmer air mass in a temperature inversion.
Company: AFDE Partnership Photographer: Johnny Bloomer Location: Fort St. John, B.C.
Company: EllisDon Photographer: Blake Sovdi/Sovdi Media Location: Edmonton
A tower crane at sunset. A drone was used to capture Clobracon’s crane on a nine-storey multi-residential build in La Prairie, Que, just outside of Montreal. The St. Lawrence River and Mount Royal can be seen in the background.
Company: Priestly Demolition Inc. Photographer: Derrick Van Der Kolk/PAVIC Location: Etobicoke, Ont.
A processor attachment breaks up large pieces of concrete at the demolition of the Campbells Soup Plant in Etobicoke, Ont. A rapid demolition project, PDI took down 12 buildings and a 200-foot-tall chimney within a 10-week period. Oakwood Station, part of the Metrolinx Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, undergoes some finishing work. The station has a unique cylindrical shape that’s a remnant of the mining excavation method used to dig out the cavern sideways under Eglinton Avenue.
Company: Metrolinx Photographer: Stephanie Lake Location: Toronto
Company: Clobracon Construction Photographer: Nicolas Prieur Location: La Prairie, Que.
IN THE WAKE OF THE FLOOD
Infrastructure rebuild gets climate-driven sustainability push.
BY SAUL CHERNOS
The images were vivid: motorboats traveling over-top highways; farmers using Jet Skis to rescue stranded cattle; bridges standing precariously alone, their abutments caved in and washed away; lengthy stretches of road replaced by torrents of streams and small lakes; rail corridors fractured by cascading mud and rock.
COVID-19 may have been Canada’s longest running news story in 2021, but severe weather at the end of the year left more than a few marks that will be felt for some time to come.
Even as British Columbia recovers from November’s record-setting rainfalls and embarks on what stands to be one of the most costly transportation infrastructure rebuilds ever seen in Canada, meteorologists warn that several climate change models suggest more of the same in the years ahead.
While the West Coast is known for its temperate, damp climate, four consecutive days of intense downpours exacerbated an already strong rainy season that had left the region drenched. The Fraser Valley was hit particularly hard, impacting routes west to Vancouver and east toward Alberta. In some cases, access was completely cut off.
Highways connecting the Lower Mainland with the rest of the province were also severely disrupted, as were major rail corri-
dors, energy pipelines and hydro services.
With the Fraser Valley home to much of the province’s agricultural production, and coastal ports unable to ship inland, already strained essential services and supply chains faced further havoc. Multiple closures, including to the Trans-Canada and Coquihalla Highways, forced the Canada Border Services Agency to modify pandemic restrictions so Washington State could serve as a go-between to connect Vancouver with the rest of Canada.
Against this backdrop, RKM Crane Services found itself close to the epicentre. Located in Langley, B.C., it was on high enough ground that things seemed normal enough, even while the floodwaters were rising with astonishing speed in adjacent communities.
“We saw little or no flooding whatsoever, but a few minutes away, in Chilliwack, they were slowly shutting down highways,” RKM general manager Matthew Blackwell told On-Site. “It wasn’t just damage to the side of the road, it literally wiped out entire roads and bridges. The water actually went around the abutments of some large bridges, taking out the road on either side and leaving the bridges standing in the middle of nowhere.”
RKM has nearly 30 all-terrain cranes and boom trucks well suited to hoisting bridge girders and all manner of heavy components and debris.
The only problem was that Langley was largely an island unto itself, so the company’s equipment had to stay put until
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When you look at a stretch of highway that’s been completely erased, with just a bridge sitting in the middle of a river, it really illuminates the severity of what we’ve gone through and how vulnerable we are.
a degree of access was restored.
“We were handcuffed and landlocked because you obviously needed to get to a bridge in order to repair it,” Blackwell explained.
Ian Pilkington, chief engineer with B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, said equipment suppliers and contractors from neighbouring locales literally repaired their way into the heart of the Coquihalla and Fraser Canyon.
At least one contractor working on the TransMountain pipeline already had heavy machines in some of the hardest hit areas, so they were able to switch gears to help restore highways and bridges.
When the floodwaters receded and very basic access was restored, RKM Crane Services was able to partake in a province- led effort to return some semblance of normal to its transportation network.
“Road building isn’t really where our market is, but helping to put in temporary bridges, girders, abutments and new decks is a big part of what we do,” Blackwell said. entire tracts of forest, which normally act as a buffer from melting mountain snowpacks, forecasters warn flooding could recur again this spring.
While the work underway to fully restore access is in itself substantial, Blackwell recognizes the severity of the fall rains and acknowledges the longer-term challenges that lie ahead given the probability of further intense weather.
“When you look at a stretch of highway that’s been completely erased, with just a bridge sitting in the middle of a river, it really illuminates the severity of what we’ve
gone through and how vulnerable we are,” Blackwell said, adding that it’s obvious to him that existing flood control measures need upgrading to meet needs that aren’t so far into the future.
“We need a really long look at the infrastructure: what bridges are going to be able to withstand as far as water; what needs to be done to improve the durability of highways; and the impact forest fires have on the landscape.”
Blackwell isn’t alone in anticipating what lies ahead. In December, the School of Engineering at the University of British Columbia convened a panel to discuss the flooding’s impacts on critical infrastructure and the need to effectively manage future challenges.
“The climate events that took place… and the resulting catastrophic failure of civil infrastructure and the loss of lives, homes and livelihoods, raise a series of questions that need to be answered,” said James Olson, professor of mechanical engineering and dean of applied science at UBC, in his introductory remarks. “It raises questions about climate change and the need to adapt our infrastructure for an uncertain future.”
LEANING ON TECHNOLOGY
Scott McDougall, an assistant professor of geological engineering at UBC, said aerial photographs have long helped identify and map areas prone to sliding mud and rock. Modern equipment, such as satellites and drones using technologies like LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), have introduced increasingly accurate high-resolution imaging capabilities to help estimate volumes and velocities of debris flow.
“The patterns we identify help us develop predictive models that can be used for site specific risk assessment and mitigation design,” McDougall explained. “The information can then be used in the design of mitigation, which can take forms ranging from avoidance to structural protection.”
Mitigation efforts aren’t new to the region. Structures were installed along the Sea to Sky Corridor in B.C. after debris flows caused extensive damage in the 1980s. However, McDougall was quick to note limitations.
“These types of structures are used around the world, but they tend to be expensive, so it’s not practical to build them everywhere.” He did say, however, that risk assessments based on strong data can help inform decision making, and new and forthcoming cost-benefit analysis and decision-making tools also stand to help.
One notable failure in November was in the dike system used to protect low-lying areas from flooding. Jonathan Fannin, a professor of geotechnical engineering at UBC, described some of the processes that can cause failure in dikes, such as what led to the catastrophic flooding at the Sumas Prairie landform in the Fraser Lowlands.
“There’s a combination of rehabilitation, reconstruction and a lot of assessment ongoing as we speak,” Fannin said, adding that France, Germany and the United Kingdom have also recently experienced dike failures. He explained that flooding may occur due to overflowing of a dike, or from flow through a local breach where a dike is eroded.
“Some of the confidence in decision making moving forward is going to be informed by work that is done in other jurisdictions so that we’re not taking and defending decisions solely based on our experience in British Columbia,” Fannin said. “The erosion processes that can lead to a breach are complex and involve long-term deterioration that programs of maintenance and inspection will be seeking to catch.”
The B.C. transportation and infrastructure ministry’s Ian Pilkington told On-Site he expects rebuilding will take a few years. He said his ministry has been gearing up for some time to adapt its climate change standards. The ministry is also participating with Engineers Canada and Natural Resources Canada in an international Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) that produces risk assessments and analyses, and working through forums such as the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium at the University of Victoria to develop anticipatory data.
“We’ve learned we can no longer rely on historical data,” Pilkington said. “We have to look at ‘future’ data our designers can use to help account for climate change.”
Saul Chernos is a freelance writer and regular contributor to On-Site.
EAST, WEST AND CENTRAL: FLOODING PRESENTS PROBLEMS
While the flooding in British Columbia captured international attention, Atlantic Canada also experienced infrastructure damage from heavy rains this past fall. And the Red River is a perennial challenge in Manitoba. Manitoba Infrastructure owns and maintains community ring dikes within much of the Red River Valley to protect against at least 100-year water levels, and pumping systems enable additional land drainage.
Manitoba has also undertaken a $16 million project to pave an alternate route to a section of Provincial Trunk Highway 75 that has been significantly prone to closures, along with the raising of a particularly vulnerable stretch to match flooding levels sustained in 2009.
“Highway 75 is a major north–south corridor that supports significant international trade,” then-Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler said when announcing the project in 2020. “Investing in our highways supports economic growth and will have a positive impact on Manitoba’s economy for years to come.”
Electric machines
ARE ON THE JOB
Zero emissions and noise provide entry point for growing segment of the equipment market.
BY ADAM FREILL
With consumer interest in electric vehicles and decarbonization at an all-time high, it should come as no surprise that electricity is making in-roads into the heavy construction sector as well.
What some might find suprising, however, is that electric-powered machinery is not a new development in the world of construction. There have been electric and hybrid machines available for a number of years.
For example, access equipment manufacturer JLG has been offering electrified lifts for more than two decades, and John Deere introduced its first electrified construction machines in 2012.
What is new, however, is the volume of manufacturers who have entered, and continue to enter, this growing segment of the machinery market, as well as the breadth of machines that have been released recently, or that are in varying stages of development.
“Today’s demand for more eco-friendly products is accelerating the adoption of electric products into more and more construction applications, driving the need for larger, heavier electrified equipment,” says Jennifer Stiansen, director of marketing at JLG. “While it’s still a relatively small portion of the construction equipment industry, it is growing,” adds Grant Van Tine, solutions marketing manager at John Deere.
“There’s no doubt that electric equipment will become an integral part of the industry in general,” predicts Henry Lawson, director of sales for Takeuchi-US. Takeuchi recently
The 944K hybrid wheel loader from John Deere.
PHOTO: TAKEUCHI-US
Takeuchi’s new TB20e electric compact excavator will soon be available at select United Rentals locations in North America.
PHOTO: CASE
The Case 580 EV electric backhoe during a test session.
introduced a battery-powered compact excavator to North America.
FIRST UP: COMPACT EQUIPMENT
While engineering research and development departments are working to bring battery power to all types and sizes of machinery, the starting point for many manufacturers has been the development of electric machines for the compact equipment category.
“Compact machines are where electrification will establish itself first because these machines are versatile and in high demand, and current low-voltage battery options work best on smaller machines,” explains Ray Gallant, vice-president, product management and productivity at Volvo Construction Equipment.
“You need less battery size to get an adequate working time before a recharge,” says Aaron Kleingartner, product and dealer marketing manager at Doosan Infracore North America. “I think that factors in.”
“The practical executions of electric equipment revolve around proximity to a suitable power source, and being able to establish a machine run time that makes it suitable for operating for a whole day, or most of a day, on site,” adds Brad Stemper, North American construction equipment product manager at CASE. “That’s why you’re seeing many of the initial waves of electrified construction equipment revolving around lighter equipment.”
Having access to local power for a quick re-charge over the lunch hour and at other idle times will help some present-generation machines put in a full day of work, as will being able to shut down the motor to conserve power between tasks. That is a big difference from traditional diesel-powered machines that generally have to idle, burning fuel.
States Gallant, “Electric motors have full torque available at any rpm for fast response, and they can shut off when not working and start instantly when needed.” That’s a power-saver that explains the wide variance in estimated run times for some equipment, as the task will heavily influence battery performance.
THE BENEFITS OF GOING ELECTRIC
The most apparent, and primary, appeal of battery-powered machinery is the reduction or elimination of machine emissions, but that’s not the only factor driving growth in this segment.
“Corporate sustainability goals, project specific emissions requirements, indoor or poor ventilation operation conditions, and the desire for low jobsite noise are some of the common reasons,” says Van Tine.
The 944K hybrid wheel loader from John Deere features a hybrid-electric drive that recaptures energy when the operator lets off the accelerator. Battery monitoring via smartphone.
“Cleaner, quieter solutions are a big plus for indoor and environmentally sensitive work,” adds Stiansen, who explains that the new technologies have made it possible to expand into additional applications, such as operation of lifts in clean room facilities.
“Electric machine owners might be able to expand their offerings. Indoor jobs, food production facilities, high-dust environments and other applications where combustion engines and diesel fumes are a problem may now be open to them with electric machines,” concurs Gallant.
With fewer fluids and filters on a battery-powered machine, engine-related maintenance is also simplified, which can make the lifetime cost of ownership appealing, he adds. “Essentially, the only supplies required for a technician working on Volvo electric excavators are grease and hydraulic oil.”
Meeting environmental goals without sacrificing performance or power is also a plus for reduced or zero-emission machinery but, he continues, “it’s about more than environmental sustainability. Fully electric machines are also much quieter than diesel equipment.”
For contracting firms operating in tight quarters, in areas with noise regulations, or in close proximity to populated areas, the low noise and vibration levels of electric machines can help keep peace in the neighbourhood, in more ways than one. And it’s not just the residents who can appreciate a quieter jobsite.
“It’s also easier for the operator to communicate with crew members working on the ground,” reports John Deere’s Van Tine.
The Volvo ECR25 electric compact excavator produces zero emissions.
DIESEL IS NOT DONE YET
“We say, regularly, that electrification in the construction market does not mean that diesel is going away,” says Case’s Stemper. “There will be applications, and market segments, and site locations where electrification is not yet practical and diesel-powered equipment will still be dominant.”
He says that contractors will need decide what mix of equipment assets will work best for their company, based on the kinds of project work they do, assessing such things as the overall cost of ownership of the machines, jobsite emissions regulations, costs of fuel and the ability to recharge electric equipment.
“We’re still in the infancy stage of electric machines becoming a bigger part of the industry,” says Takeuchi’s Lawson. “There certainly is a big demand for the machines, and that’s because they work well in so many applications.”
“Long term, our goal is to offer battery electric and diesel electric models across
Hyundai Construction Equipment and Hyundai Doosan Infracore presented the concept of unmanned and automation construction technologies at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
multiple machine forms,” says Van Tine. For now, he says that some machines will lend themselves more easily to electrification. “We’ve learned that some machine forms can achieve greater efficiencies than others with electrification. Wheel loaders, in particular, have demonstrated the benefits of hybrid diesel electric technology.”
“Battery technology continues to advance; however, we don’t anticipate a complete shift towards electrification,” says Stiansen. “Internal combustion engines will continue to have a place in the construction and industrial industries.”
THE CHARGING CHALLENGE
“One of the biggest challenges facing the industry today, as more and more equipment goes electric, is to think about how these machines will be charged on-site by users, particularly in the early stages of construction or in remote locations where power is not readily available,” says Stiansen of JLG.
“Two-twenty outlets aren’t available everywhere,” explains Doosan’s Kleingartner. “If you are looking at adding an electrical machine to your project, one of the big factors you’ll have to work into that project plan is access to the proper dedicated electrical power to charge machines.
“What the industry doesn’t want to do is get a diesel power generator on site so that you can plug in your electrical machine to power it.”
“In these early stages of use and development, charging infrastructure, charging time and battery life have room for improvement,” admits Gallant.
He says it might be possible to take advantage of the infrastructure changes happening in other industries, using AC and DC charging structures used by cars and other electric machinery.
“Plus,” he adds, “through third-party suppliers, we see the emergence of standalone, sometimes portable charging systems suitable for electric vehicles that can also be used to charge machines. One of the early adopters of Volvo electric machines is a property developer working in remote areas of the California desert who recharged his units using only the abundant solar energy available.”
“As the industry rises to make more equipment available, and charging more accessible, the volume of electric equipment will continue to grow,” predicts Stemper. “Additionally, national and statebased infrastructure investment for electric automobiles will carry benefit to electric construction equipment as the number of charging stations and spread of their locations increases.”
AIMING BIGGER
“We’re starting to see some companies do aftermarket adjustments or installations of electrified power plants and even larger excavators, larger wheel loaders, and so the need is growing into larger equipment,” says Kleingartner.
“Low-voltage battery solutions are a good fit for compact equipment, but other technologies will be necessary as we move into higher power requirements and duty cycles,” says Gallant.
“Promising technical solutions include, but are not limited to, high-voltage battery electric machines, hybrid drives, hydrogen fuel cell and internal combustion with a variety of low- or zero-emission alternate fuels.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
As machines turn to electric power, the ability to take advantage of additional onboard technology grows as well.
“We’ve got some autonomous prototypes running,” says Kleingartner. “On the horizon are remotely operated machines… Electrical-powered machines allow you to control them more easily remotely versus having actuators control hydraulic components. The electrification of machines has definitely benefited the remote operation of machines.”
And an AI enabled jobsite may not be that far into the future, advises Stiansen. “Hearing about the autonomous work sites, where machines communicate to each other and the people that manage them, can sound like some far-off concept that’s still years down the road but it’s actually closer than you think as technological advancements continue to redefine expectations and experiences in nearly every aspect of the construction industry.”
