At the start of the year, a healthy percentage of Canadians had never heard of SNC-Lavalin. An even larger number couldn’t have told you what business the company was in, let alone share a single detail about its legal troubles.…
At Sika AG’s research facility in Widen, Switzerland, the nozzle of a 3D printer pumps out billowy concrete at one metre per second. The material cures almost instantly, just in time for the machine’s printing arm to deposit the next…
Drivers may be frustrated with traffic disruptions related to two ongoing highway interchange projects in Saskatoon, but at least they’re not in the dark. Thanks to a series of narrated drone-created videos on the city’s website, they can view an…
It’s a new reality that’s impossible to overlook. Skilled operators are becoming tougher and tougher to find. While equipment manufacturers can’t exactly help Canadian contractors fill seats, they are making the equipment easier to run and the cabs more appealing.…
Infrastructure rarely ages gracefully. When there isn’t much elegance to the original design, 20 or 30 years can be particularly cruel. The junction of a pair of provincial trunk highways northeast of Winnipeg was just such a case. For years,…
The steep cost of hauling off and disposing of rubble from job sites, only to purchase and truck in virgin aggregate from far-off quarries, has motivated the construction industry to turn its garbage into gold. Geoffrey Faber, territory manager West…
By replacing negotiation with competition, the tendering process in construction is intended to bring more certainty, fairness and efficiency to the allocation of contracts. Despite this, the tendering system is an idiosyncratic mechanism, giving rise to certain obligations that may…
The 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…
When waters start rising, prudent people shore up their levees. The Canadian construction industry faces more of a drought than a flood, but company leaders across the country need to start taking proactive steps to future-proof their businesses. 10 years…
A broader range of applications and advancing technology are forcing manufacturers in the mid- to large-size crawler excavator segment to unearth new solutions. Foremost among these evolving trends are reduced tail-swing machines that let excavators take on a more diverse…
The phrase “data security” has recently been replaced by “cyber security, ” but this isn’t just a matter of fashionable buzzwords. The newer term reflects the fact that staying secure involves a lot more than protecting a company’s data. Furthermore,…
Project wrap-up entails a variety of legal processes, including the release of contract and statutory holdback funds, shifting responsibility for insurance coverage, and commencing lien filing and statutory limitation periods. These processes often turn on a project achieving completion. The…
Sprawling construction sites, swarming with workers during the day, but abundant in valuable tools and unguarded equipment once crews clock out, are ripe for pilfering. Unlike picking a lock or breaking a window, prowling a vacant construction site after-hours hoping…
You 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…
Frequent blizzards and blistering cold. Unreliable access to basic materials. Cellphone service lost in seemingly endless tundra. Conditions like these might seem like a nightmare to roadbuilders in Canada’s more temperate climes, where the occasional blast of Arctic air can…
Sturdy, life-saving and ubiquitous, there’s nothing in construction quite like it
Canadian construction companies have at least one reason to thank U.S. President Donald Trump. He may have started the ongoing trade spat that’s caused havoc in the markets for construction steel and aluminum, but the recent American tax reforms he…
It may be time to rethink working at heights from the ground up. Though some provinces have welcomed a marginal decline in accidents, falls remain a leading cause of injury for tradespeople of all stripes across the country. The most…
In the 1959 sci-fi novel Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein introduced, perhaps for the first time, the concept of the powered exoskeleton — a motor-assisted armoured suit that gives its wearer superhuman strength. Since then, exoskeletons have shown up in countless…
The most important stakeholder within a construction project is the owner. Without their capital there would be no project to bid on. In addition, it’s the owner that makes the ultimate decisions on exactly how the project will be procured…
