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Manitoba Floodway Authority’s Red River Floodway Expansion Project

Manitoba Floodway Authority’s Red Riv Floodway Expansio

Red River Floodway Expans Flood Protection While Delive

Manitoba Floodway Authority Chief Executive Officer, Ernie Manager, Ronuk Modha, discusse how the Red River Floo budget while delivering top results Written by: Sasha Orman

Produced by: Michael Magno

y ver on Project

sion Improves ering on Budget

e Gilroy, and Communications odway Expansion stayed under

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C O M PA N Y N A M E

Aprx. 21 million cubic metres of earth was excavated to more than double the floodw

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anitoba’s Red River Valley has always been a threat to the city of Winnipeg.

In 1997 a major flood, deemed “The Flood of the Century,” forced evacuations and threatened to breach the Red River Floodway.

In its wake, the Governments of Manitoba and Canada decided that the time had come to upgrade public infrastructure to enhance the floodway’s abilities and better protect Winnipeg.

The result of this was the $665 4

October 2014

million Red River Floodway Expansion Project, a complex flood protection project, jointly funded by the governments of Canada and Manitoba, to improve Winnipeg’s flood protection by increasing the capacity of floodway channel, construction and redesign of highway and railway bridges, improving the Inlet Control Structure, expanding the Outlet Structure, expanded the West Dike and various utility modification. With the project’s completion in March

SECTOR

way channel’s capacity

of 2014, Winnipeg is now more protected from floods and damage than ever before.

project under budget at $627 million, saving the Canadian and Manitoban governments a total of $38 million.

“We set three goals when we Meeting and Exceeding Budget were undertaking the project: Large-scale infrastructure projects bringing the project in on its $665 often go over budget, sometimes million budget, ensuring we would costing millions more than originally be able to increase the floodway’s intended. In this regard, the Red capacity from 1-in-90 to 1-in-700 River Floodway expansion is unique flood protection, and ensuring that – rather than going over its proposed the main transportation routes $665 million budget, the Manitoba that cross the floodway would be Floodway Authority was able to operational during a major flood,” meet its goals while delivering the says Ernie Gilroy, CEO of the w w w. f l o o d w a y a u t h o r i t y. m b . c a / h o m e . h t m l

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AS THE PROJECT LEAD CONSULTANTS, KGS GROUP IS PROUD TO HAVE PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING SERVICES FROM THE CONCEPTUAL TO CONSTRUCTION PHASES: IJC STUDIES (1999)

Concept study of alternatives and economic justification for additional flood protection for the City of Winnipeg

PROJECT DEFINITION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT 2 (PDEA 2 – 2004-2005)

Lead Consultant for the Second Phase Definition Studies

ST. AGATHE AND FLOODWAY EXPANSION STUDY (SAFE STUDY 2001)

FLOODWAY EXPANSION FINAL DESIGN

PROJECT DEFINITION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT 1 (PDEA 1 – 2003-2004)

FLOODWAY EXPANSION CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION

Assessment and optimization of costs, economics and environmental issues

Lead Consultant for the First Phase Definition Studies

Lead Consultant for the Channel, Outlet Structure, Inlet Structure and West Dyke

Lead Consultant for the Channel, Outlet Structure, Inlet Structure and West Dyke

CONGRATULATIONS TO MANITOBA FLOODWAY AUTHORITY FOR THE SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FLOODWAY EXPANSION PROJECT ON TIME AND ON BUDGET

ENGINEERING INDUSTRY LEADERS IN: Hydraulics • Structural • Geotechnical • Environmental • Hydrogeology • Municipal • Mechanical • Electrical • Geographic Information Systems

www.kgsgroup.com WINNIPEG

TORONTO

THUNDER BAY

REGINA

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Manitoba Floodway Authority . “As the project proceeded, we began to see signs that some of our costs were going up related to events such as Hurricane Katrina, the Alberta oilsands, and an overall booming construction industry that was resulting in a skilled labor shortage.

As a result, we revised our project and focused in on what components of our project actually had to be done in order to deliver the 1-in-700 year flood protection.”

By taking this focused approach, the Floodway Authority was able to find ways to stay under budget by increasing channel excavation

SUPPLIER PROFILE

work while reducing the number of bridges to be replaced from 12 down to 8, realizing significant savings throughout the project.

Achieving Budget Through Flexibility and Innovation The Manitoba Floodway Authority did not solely rely on cutting back components in order to create cost savings – the project also stayed on budget through strategies like flexible scheduling, tiered tendering plans that allowed contractors to fine-tune and adjust their bids for lower prices overall in response to subsequent tenders, and a project

KGS GROUP

Clients across Canada and internationally look to KGS Group for consulting, design, and project management services. KGS Group provides a full range of services including Industrial, water resources, hydroelectric, hydrogeological and geo-environmental, commercial and institutional, municipal infrastructure, geotechnical, and structural steel detailing. Our consistent delivery of quality engineering services has earned KGS Group a reputation as one of Western Canada’s leading consulting firms.

Website: www.kgsgroup.com

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The Outlet Structure was expanded to accommodate a 1-in-700 year flood

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management agreement to even out wages and benefits for workers across all contractors to avoid personnel-based delays. The project management agreement helped to ensure that there were no strikes and no lockouts during the project which helped to keep the project on time.

In order to meet the labor shortage head on, the Floodway Authority utilized creative hiring and people management practices.

Notably, the Manitoba Floodway Authority required contractors to have 20 percent employment equity on contract tenders – a requirement that both addressed the Alberta oilsands-related labor shortage and gave opportunities to workers in groups that were often underrepresented in the construction industry including women, first nations and aboriginals, and people with disabilities.

“We also employed an aboriginal set-aside initiative where aboriginal companies could actually bid on certain aspects of the work,” said Ronuk Modha, Communications Manager for the Manitoba Floodway Authority. “One component of

our project, the West Dike – only aboriginal-owned construction companies could actually bid on this work. What this did is it identified a whole segment of the construction industry that traditionally had not been involved in large-scale projects such as this, and gave them the opportunity to bid on work and all of these kinds of things benefitted our project.”

In particular, this initiative has had significant effects and benefits outside of the Floodway Expansion project itself. “Before we set up the set-aside program, we had some discussions with aboriginal contractors – one of the things they continually indicated to us was that they had a challenge getting contract bonding to work on largescale projects,” says Modha. “With our initiative, rather than having these companies go out and get bonding from a private bonding company, we took on the role of the bonding company and managed the work that they were doing. As a result they were able to get a lot of experience and, subsequent to their involvement with our project; they

w w w. f l o o d w a y a u t h o r i t y. m b . c a / h o m e . h t m l

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M A N I T O B A F L O O D WAY A U T H O R I T Y ’ S R E D R I V E R F L O

Outlet Control Structure

were able to demonstrate to private bonding companies that they were able to do the work successfully.

So since being involved with the Floodway project, many have 10

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been able to bid on other work. So there’s definitely been a long term benefit for these companies and for the construction industry in our province as well.”

O O D WAY E X PA N S I O N P R O J E C T A Safer and More Secure Winnipeg After years of work, the Red River Floodway reached 1-in-700 year flood protection levels in 2009. Since that time the Manitoba Floodway Authority has been putting the finishing touches on its work until full completion earlier this year.

“We’re very pleased that we were able to meet all of our objectives while delivering the project under budget,” says Modha. “By providing that the project was completed under budget, the governments of Canada and Manitoba were able to re-divert those funds to other flood protection projects throughout the province, and we were very pleased to be a part of that decision.”

Beyond the budget, the effects of the floodway expansion are already being felt throughout the city. “This past year there was not as much flooding on the Red River as in previous years, so the floodway was only operated for a short period of time,” notes Gilroy. . “However, over the years the floodway has prevented over $36 billion in damages and with the expansion completed, this number will continue to increase.

As Winnipeggers continue to rely more and more on the floodway, we are very proud of the work that we have done and our hats go out to all of the engineers, construction companies and workers that worked on the project.”

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Company Information INDUSTRY

Energy / Infrastructure / Flood Protection HEADQUARTERS

Manitoba, Canada FOUNDED

2003 EMPLOYEES

3,600

Photographs courtesy of the Manitoba Floodway Authority

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Manitoba Floodway Authority’s Red River Floodway Expansion Project 200-155 Carlton Street Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada , R3C 3H8 (204) 945-4900 www.floodwayauthority.mb.ca/home.html