765,917 kilometres – that’s the final tally of just how far Canada’s public road infrastructure stretches. Cobbling together highways, arterials, collectors, local roads and even urban laneways, the impressive measurement would take you to the Moon and then nearly get…
An ongoing trade spat, which has seen the U.S. slap tariffs on a list of imports, has shone a spotlight on the Canadian construction sector’s dependence on foreign steel. When U.S. President Donald Trump introduced the tariffs in March, he…
With their feet planted on an elevated work platform 40 metres (130 feet) above the Ottawa River, a pair of employees with marine construction contractor O.D.S. Marine set to work replacing a series of 10 high-voltage power lines on an…
Vocational vehicles aren’t sitting idle. The priorities of safety, performance and comfort may have stayed the same, but manufacturers have embraced new ways to bolster everything from air brake stopping times to headlight performance. With an emphasis on technology, improved…
Left high and dry, Canada’s construction industry is tackling recreational marijuana legalization with few proven tools at its disposal and the deadly threat of impairment lurking in the haze. “Cannabis changes nothing and cannabis changes everything,” says Andrew Pariser, vice…
Leapfrogging 14 of the busiest traffic lanes in the country, six railway tracks and a city street, the pedestrian bridge over Highway 401 in Pickering, Ont. is one of the longest enclosed footbridges in the world. After nearly eight protracted…
Construction, it is frequently observed, has not enjoyed the technology-driven productivity gains that have occurred in manufacturing over the past two decades. A partial explanation for this is that manufacturing equipment operates in a static environment, making it relatively easy…
Completion certificates play an important role in any construction contract or subcontract. This article sets out how certificates of completion influence projects, details how to issue a valid certificate and explores some common mistakes that can postpone the lien period.…
It 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.…
It may have been a little slow off the proverbial mark, but the federal government’s $180 billion infrastructure plan is now off and running. As of August 2018, the federal government has approved funding for thousands of projects across the…
Slagging slow-moving government projects and the lumbering Ottawa bureaucracy is a treasured Canadian pastime. I’m far from an exception, and enjoy heaping some well-deserved blame on Parliament Hill as often as it has it coming. Occasionally though, I’m willing to…
Calgary’s new ring road is well on its way to becoming a full-fledged loop. Northeast and northwest sections opened to motorists wanting to bypass the city in 2009, and a southeast section was added four years later. If all goes…
With a little resistance from an industry sometimes seen as being set in its ways, Giatec Scientific Inc. is working to bring the world’s second most consumed material into the 21st century. Its smart concrete testing products offer an alternative…
A new breed of compact equipment is starting to inch its way onto the job site. This April at Intermat, German manufacturer Wacker Neuson revealed the all-electric EZ17e mini-excavator. One of the first machines of its kind, the EZ17e performs…
Formwork has been a mainstay on construction sites for generations. The familiar timber, metal or plastic forms that support freshly-placed concrete as it sets aren’t about to go extinct, but they’re facing increased pressure from a method that can shave…
A bid team at EllisDon recently received a two-sentence RFP addendum pertaining to documentation requirements. “It stipulated that the as-built model we were to produce had to be at the level that would allow the owner to operate and…
To 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…
When an owner or contractor seeks to remove a claim of lien from title to land by securing the lien with money in place of the land, a debate sometimes arises as to whether the claim of lien has been…
The University of Toronto has unveiled plans to construct a 14-storey wood building on its St. George campus, located in the city’s downtown. Slated for construction at the end of 2019, the tower is expected to be the tallest mass…
Another tough year for the construction industry in 2017 showcased the dogged resilience and gritty determination Canada’s Top Contractors are already well known for. In many parts of the country, where federal infrastructure cash remained little more than a promise,…
