Topic
Risk Management
Asset management comes to North America
April 19, 2019 David BowcottThe construction industry is moving towards a more integrated approach. Though this column primarily focuses on construction and its associated risks, I’ve been interweaving the concept of asset management into my articles over the past several years to highlight a…
Connecting the dots between technology and capital
March 12, 2019 David BowcottYou may have noticed that a number of articles I’ve penned in the last year have had a strong technology leaning. It isn’t a coincidence. There’s absolutely no doubt that over the last few years Silicon Valley has discovered the…
From the editor… Tech keeps trucking
December 5, 2018 by David KennedyIntegrating fully autonomous vehicles certainly won’t become standard on work sites for several years, but the prospect is no longer science fiction
Lean Construction: Getting past the silos
December 5, 2018 Jacob StollerToronto’s Humber River Hospital, completed in 2015, is an award-winning facility featuring fully integrated digital infrastructure, compliance with LEED, a natural people-friendly environment and floor layouts that support Lean workflows. What’s not immediately obvious is the project’s diverse input from…
Integrated Asset Delivery: Risk management for the entire lifecycle
December 5, 2018 David BowcottIn recent years there has been a resurgence of the Integrated Project Delivery model in the North American construction marketplace. This method traces its origins to the heyday of North Sea oil exploration, when owners, design firms and contractors created…
Managing risk through business development
October 2, 2018 David BowcottIt used to be that the construction business was relatively straightforward for contractors. You staffed your operations with estimators, project managers and superintendents, and then pursued business through a tendering process in which the low bid would win the job.…
Putting focus on job site technology, EllisDon to implement Fieldwire on all Canadian projects
August 27, 2018 by David KennedyThe traditional clipboard, and other rudimentary jobsite tools like it, are living on borrowed time
Managing risk: Getting your workforce on board
August 9, 2018 David BowcottTo be truly effective at managing risk, you must master the complex world of risk controls. Put in place before incidents occur, risk controls are the contractual agreements, the operational practices and the tools and technologies used to prevent or…
Project to build two 23-kilometre flood prevention channels gets $540M from feds, Manitoba
June 18, 2018 by David KennedyST. LAURENT, Man.—A major infrastructure project that will manage high water levels in Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin northwest of Winnipeg has been green-lit by the provincial and federal governments. The two tiers of government committed a combined $540…
The power of project monitoring in preventing and mitigating risk
June 11, 2018 David BowcottYour construction project is made up of several sources of capital that turn concepts dreamt up on paper into tangible structures. Without these sources of capital, and the people behind that capital who believe in your project’s success, your project…
Fundamentals of materials liens: Payment for materials in construction contracts
June 11, 2018 Alexander J. SpraggsIn a typical subcontract, a subcontractor will periodically, throughout the duration of their work on or supply for the project, apply for payments at a value proportionate to the amount of the subcontract work performed and/or the materials delivered to…
Panel looks for increased transparency in Canadian construction through new standards
May 21, 2018 Amie SilverwoodThe Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Canadian Institute Of Quantity Surveyors (CIQS) and The Canadian Association of Consulting Quantity Surveyors (CACQS) held a joint information session earlier this month about the International Construction Measurement Standards (ICMS), which included a…
Critical Coverage – Impact Covers in Project Specific Insurances
May 4, 2018 Peter Smith and Barrie NgehAmong the most often overlooked and misunderstood coverages when insuring a construction project are soft cost and delay in start up coverages, both of which are optional but prevalent exposures for both the owner and contractor alike. We need to…
On-Site contributor Jacob Stoller takes home prestigious business publication award
April 12, 2018 On-Site StaffOn-Site Magazine contributor Jacob Stoller has been honoured for one of his latest efforts to instil a new generation of business leaders with the skills to boost profitability and empower employees through lean practices. The U.S.-based Shingo Institute announced earlier…
When global construction catches a cold
March 12, 2018 David BowcottThere is no doubt about it, the construction industry has globalized quite significantly over the past 20 years and there are both advantages and disadvantages to the world’s biggest players creating a global service footprint. Not to be a downer,…
Take a step back for strategy
February 20, 2018 David BowcottLate last year I was asked to speak at a Cities conference that was put on by Builtworlds, a network and community that links key stakeholders of the construction and asset management industry, with those in the tech sector. Matt…
The value of disciplined project contingency development
December 15, 2017 David BowcottThe primary defense against margin erosion is the project contingency. Construction is not a predictable business, and the project contingency is that all encompassing pool of capital dedicated to each project, which provides much needed funding when the unexpected happens.…
BIM drives productivity gains in construction sector
September 7, 2017 David BowcottEveryone has seen the graphs that show construction on a downward productivity trend while other industries boast solid productivity gains. The following is a productivity graph that was produced by McKinsey & Co. that compares productivity in construction to that…
BIM drives productivity gains in construction sector
September 7, 2017 David BowcottEveryone has seen the graphs that show construction on a downward productivity trend while other industries boast solid productivity gains. The following is a productivity graph that was produced by McKinsey & Co. that compares productivity in construction to that…
Is the project finance industry digging deep enough?
June 20, 2017 David BowcottEvery project needs money to move forward. Those funds are made up of equity and debt. The equity is contributed by the owner (or the concessionaire of the project) as a first layer of defense against project failure. The remainder…