Issuu

APRIL 2021

BENEATH THE FRASER

‘IT’S FORWARDS OR NOTHING’

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VOLUME 66, NO.3/APRIL 2021

IN THIS ISSUE Comment 5 Finding another gear

News The major developments

Construction stats The key figures

Staying on target Payload management systems and other wheel loader tech trends

Crews tunnel to new wastewater treatment standards

COVER STORY 17 ‘It’s forwards or nothing’

Keeping a lid on it Managing your communications

Putting the pieces in place Yukon’s Resource Gateway

How to be an ally A more collaborative approach

Smart buildings At the inflection point

Digitizing delivery Maximizing integration

COLUMNS 50 Software

The promise of digital permitting

Risk Applying new lessons to old products

53 Index of Advertisers

Contractors and the law Keeping the ‘good’ faith

CONCRETE ON-SITE 29

Self-compacting concrete finding expanded role on job sites

The latest products to watch in the concrete market

Consolidating the market

COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF METRO VANCOUVER

A different approach

on-sitemag.com / 3

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COMMENT

Finding another gear

Get the latest construction news! Follow us on Twitter @OnSiteMag

Caught in the COVID-19 doldrums a year ago, with many job sites shuttered in April or operating with skeleton crews, the uncertainty throughout construction was nearly palpable. 12 months, a few thousand thorough hand washes and a box of masks in every glove compartment later, the industry is seeing a bit clearer and forecasters are gaining more confidence about the Canadian market’s trajectory. BuildForce Canada, for instance, released its annual report in late March, anticipating a continued recovery in 2021. Considerable growth is also projected through to the middle of the decade, with high demand for transit and health care projects in particular forcing contractors to find another gear over the next few years. Along with civil work, commercial and industrial construction are expected to rebound this year after a tough 2020, BuildForce says. With strength across the segment, non-residential work will lead growth in the industry between 2021 and 2023. All told, by 2025, the research organization expects Canada’s non-residential workforce will expand by 40,000 workers to keep up with the burgeoning demand. Labour requirements will then largely level off, with the segment adding another 5,000 workers by 2030. On the residential side of the business, low lending rates and renewed immigration will drive a “moderate” up-cycle in new home construction through 2024, BuildForce says, while renovation work is projected to show steady growth throughout the 2020s. The residential construction workforce is forecast to grow by just over 20,000 workers by 2030. Combining both sectors, 64,900 new staff will be required on Canadian job sites by 2030, a six per cent increase from 2020 levels. While far from insurmountable, the ongoing skilled labour shortage and the impending retirement of hundreds of thousands of industry veterans – 259,100 by 2030, by the latest count – mean recruitment and retention

will remain key for contractors. “While we forecast growth to slow over the later years of our forecast period, we nonetheless expect that the industry will be challenged to recruit more than 309,000 new workers to replace retirees and keep pace with demand,” Bill Ferreira, BuildForce’s executive director, said in a release. At both the organization and company levels, construction has focused on improving its image in recent years to boost recruitment, particularly when it comes to women and underrepresented groups. Women, for instance, accounted for just 13.4 per cent of the construction workforce in 2020, and less than five per cent of on-site staff, BuildForce says. Continuing these initiatives and making further commitments to training and apprenticeship development will be necessary to fulfill the industry’s labour needs over the long term. Along with getting more Canadians to lace up steel toes, building a sustainable workforce also requires the industry attract more immigrants, BuildForce says. “Between 2021 and 2030, Canada is anticipated to welcome more than 3.2 million new Canadians, making the immigrant population a key source of labour force growth over the coming decade,” the latest national outlook report says. While in the past, immigrants to Canada came largely from Europe and elsewhere in the Americas, shifting migration patterns show 62 per cent immigrants to Canada now come from Asian countries. These newcomers may have a lower propensity to turn to construction, particularly for those with professional training outside the skilled trades. With this in mind, BuildForce says the industry must place more emphasis on ensuring construction keeps recruiting its share of immigrants to Canada.

David Kennedy / Editor dkennedy@on-sitemag.com on-sitemag.com / 5

CONTRIBUTORS

MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS FOR THIS ISSUE VOLUME 66, NO.3/APRIL 2021 www.on-sitemag.com

JOHN SINGLETON AND GRAHAM HENRY / Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP On managing your communication to preserve privilege: “In Canada, each party to a lawsuit is required to disclose to the opposing parties all documents relevant to the case. Many people and businesses are unaware that this obligation extends even to internal documents and correspondence that touch on the subject matter at issue. This includes internal emails, text messages, financial statements – all of it. In Quebec, this obligation is somewhat narrowed as parties are only required to disclose the relevant documents that have been requested by another party to the litigation.”

READER SERVICE Print and digital subscription inquires or changes, please contact Urszula Grzyb, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Email: ugrzyb@annexbusinessmedia.com Tel: (416) 510-5180 Fax: (416) -510-6875 Mail: 111 Gordon Baker Road, Suite 400, Toronto, ON M2H 3R1 PUBLISHER | Peter Leonard (416) 510-6847 pLeonard@on-sitemag.com EDITOR | David Kennedy (416) 510-6821 dkennedy@on-sitemag.com MEDIA DESIGNER | Lisa Zambri lzambri@annexbusinessmedia.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER | David Skene (416) 510-6884 dskene@on-sitemag.com

JEAN-PIERRE GAUTHIER / Senior Vice President, Kiewit On implementing an interactive approach in construction: “Moving from traditional contracting methods to a collaborative model will require a change in mindset, a commitment to listening and learning, and letting go of the belief that you have all the answers.”

ACCOUNT COORDINATOR | Kim Rossiter (416) 510-6794 krossiter@on-sitemag.com COO | Scott Jamieson sjamieson@annexbusinessmedia.com

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JACOB STOLLER / Principal, StollerStrategies On a new initiative to digitize the permitting process: “The initiative will take years, but the payoff could be significant for Canada. There’s evidence, for example, that solving this problem will not only help the industry, but could help alleviate housing shortages in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver.”

DAVID BOWCOTT / Global Director – Growth, Innovation & Insight, Global Construction and Infrastructure Group at Aon Risk Solutions On applying lessons learned from cyber insurance: “Insurers should be providing their insureds deeper insights into where construction insurance claims are coming from… and they should be doing this as part of the increased premium they are collecting.”

ERIN CUTTS / Borden Ladner Gervais LLP On the duty of honest performance and good faith: “Any hint of dishonesty or knowledge of the opposing party’s mistaken beliefs regarding its contractual security ought to be closely scrutinized in any contractual termination analysis prior to effecting a termination.”

6 / APRIL 2021

SUBSCRIPTION RATES Canada $49.50 per year, United States $113.00 per year, Other foreign $136.50, Single Copy Canada $13.50. On-Site is published 7 times per year except for occasional combined, expanded or premium issues, which count as two subscription issues. Occasionally, On-Site will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above. Annex Business Media Privacy Officer privacy@annexbusinessmedia.com Tel: 800-668-2374 Content copyright ©2021 by Annex Business Media may not be reprinted without permission. On-Site receives unsolicited materials (including letters to the editor, press releases, promotional items and images) from time to time. On-Site, its affiliates and assignees may use, reproduce, publish, re-publish, distribute, store and archive such unsolicited submissions in whole or in part in any form or medium whatsoever, without compensation of any sort. DISCLAIMER This publication is for informational purposes only The content and “expert” advice presented are not intended as a substitute for informed professional engineering advice. You should not act on information contained in this publication without seeking specific advice from qualified engineering professionals.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

INDUSTRY>NEWS Aecon, Strabag teams top bidders to build tunnels for two Toronto transit projects Infrastructure Ontario (IO) and Metrolinx have singled out two build teams as the First Negotiations Proponents (FNPs) for a pair of upcoming transit tunnel construction projects. From a shortlist of three bidders announced last August, the two agencies ranked the West End Connectors as the top bidder for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension project. The team consists of Aecon Infrastructure Management Inc., Dragados Canada Inc. and Ghella Canada Ltd. as project leads. A consortia headed by Strabag AG was named as the top bidder for the Scarborough Subway Extension, through a separate procurement process running on the same timeline. Each design, build and finance contract covers just tunnel construction for the respective project, with separate tenders for station construction, tunnel fit-out and commissioning of the transit

Underground work on Avenue Station, a stop on the original Eglinton Crosstown, in 2018. The extension will stretch the line 9.2 kilometres west

lines to come later. IO and Metrolinx said selecting the FNPs is the first step in its negotiations process for the projects. The Crown agencies will now move forward with finalizing the details with each consortia “to ensure that each team has a proposal that provides the best value for the province.” If the negotiations progress as planned, the province and the two build teams are expected to reach financial close on their contracts this spring. The final financial details for the projects are not yet available, but IO lists each project as worth more than $1 billion in its most

recent P3 Market Update. Tunnelling for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension will cover roughly six kilometres, while the Scarborough Subway Extension requires a 7.8 kilometre tunnel. The construction teams will be responsible for digging the tunnels, building launch and extraction shafts and constructing headwalls for emergency exit buildings and stations. They will also need to source tunnel boring machines and install segmental precast concrete tunnel liners. Early work on both projects will get underway shortly, with tunnel boring expected to start next year.

EllisDon, PCL teams shortlisted for major Thunder Bay jail replacement project Two construction consortia have been picked to prepare bids for a major project to replace the jail and corrections centre in Thunder Bay, Ont. On April 1, Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministry of the Solicitor General said the EllisDon Infrastructure Justice and the Fengate PCL Progress Partners build teams have been shortlisted for the Thunder Bay Correctional Complex project. The two pre-qualified teams will prepare bids in the coming months as part of the request for proposals process. Replacing an aging site in the Northern Ontario city, the new Thunder Bay Correctional Complex will include 325 beds, new automation and technology, while offering improved living conditions. It’s being built under a design, build, finance and main-

tain contract. Costs for the project have not been finalized, but Infrastructure Ontario estimated the work will run between $500 million and $1 billion in its latest P3 Market Update. The next step in procurement advances a process started in 2018. A separate, but related contract was handed down last month, with the province tapping Bird Construction to take on modular expansions at the Thunder Bay site, as well as at the Kenora, Ont. jail. That work will increase the capacity at both facilities to address overcrowding while the new prison complex is built over the next several years. Infrastructure Ontario expects to pick a winning bidder for the Thunder Bay Correctional Complex project by next spring. on-sitemag.com / 7

INDUSTRY NEWS

Priestly Demolition Inc. is expanding into Western Canada with the purchase of a Calgary-based demolition and environmental remediation company. The King, Ont.-based firm said March 2 it has acquired Dakota Reclamators in a move that will bring together two well-established contractors to better serve clients across Canada. “Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Priestly Demolition, one where we will be able to facilitate projects across the country, quickly and safely,” Ryan Priestly, the company’s president, said in a release. “We are thrilled to embark on this new journey that will, undoubtedly, transform our organizations.” Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Focused mainly on Ontario in the past,

PHOTO: PRIESTLY DEMOLITION/CONCRETE PICTURES

Priestly Demolition buys Calgary-based Dakota Reclamators, pushing into Western Canada

Priestly crews working on a demolition project in downtown Toronto last year.

Priestly has also worked on specialized projects in the U.S. and other Canadian provinces. Recently, it has been expanding its presence is Western Canada. In Alberta, for instance, the demolition contractor has taken on several projects on Calgary’s Stampede grounds, as well as an office

building job in Edmonton. Adding Dakota Reclamators to its banner will further advance Priestly’s push into new markets. The Calgarybased company was founded in 2005 and has worked on a wide range of projects throughout Western Canada.

Enviro-Ex to begin $37.7M project to rebuild West Fraser Road in B.C. this spring

PHOTO: GOVERNMENT OF B.C.

An aerial shot of one of the washed out potions of road in 2018.

A project to rebuild a section of the West Fraser Road south of Quesnel, B.C. is set to begin next month. The province’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure

8 / APRIL 2021

has awarded Prince George-based Enviro-Ex Contracting Ltd. a $37.7 million contract to rebuild the road on the west side of the Fraser River that was washed out by flooding three years ago. Work includes building a new bridge over Narcosli Creek and constructing 5.6 kilometres of new two-lane road on a new alignment that bypasses the active slide area. “Since flooding washed out West Fraser Road in spring 2018, we’ve been actively working on a long-term solution,” said Rob Fleming, B.C.’s minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, in a release. “Construction is anticipated to begin next month on a new alignment that will restore direct access to Quesnel and provide a reliable route for people who live and work in the area.” As part of the separate agreement with the province, the ?Esdilagh First Nation has already begun site preparation ahead of the major road work next month. First Nation community members are the main users of the road, which connects to homes, farms, ranches and logging areas. A detour has been in place since the washout, but adds significant time. Construction on the realigned road is scheduled to take about 2 1/2 years, running from April 2021 until fall 2023.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

10 months after Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs walked away from early plans to develop a 12-acre plot of land known as Quayside, Waterfront Toronto has begun the search for a new partner. The joint federal-provincial-municipal organization said March 10 it has issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) to identify a new development partner for the site on Toronto’s increasingly crowded eastern waterfront. “The people of Toronto have told us that they want to see a bold vision realized on the waterfront that reflects the confident, welcoming, and imaginative civic spirit of our city,” Stephen Diamond, chair of Waterfront Toronto’s board, said in a release. “We are looking for leaders in the development field that will share our ambition to create a place that fuses Quayside

PHOTO: WEST 8 + DTAH/WATERFRONT TORONTO

Departure of Sidewalk Labs prompts search for new developer on Toronto waterfront

A rendering of one vision for the 12-acre site on the increasingly crowded Toronto waterfront.

to the water, and provides more beauty, utility, and originality than previously imagined. We want Quayside to be timeless, adaptive, and to propel us into our rightful place among the great waterfronts of the world,” Diamond added. To evaluate potential partners, Waterfront Toronto said it will be looking for companies or teams with proven experience, a thorough design portfolio and the financial resources to create a mixed-use community in Quayside. Before stepping aside last year, Sidewalk Labs had been working on

development plans for the site since 2017. Its smart city blueprints included a wide range of futuristic components, but it faced criticism from the outset, most vocally from privacy advocates. It cited the “unprecedented economic uncertainty” created by the pandemic for pulling out of the project. The deadline for teams to enter the new RFQ process is May 12, at which point Waterfront Toronto plans to shortlist several proponents and issue of a request for proposals. The organization aims to pick a winning bidder by the end of 2021.

EllisDon forms new construction group focused on civil work in Alberta and B.C.

EllisDon is unbundling its business unit focused on civil construction projects in Alberta and British Columbia. The contractor said March 10 its Western Canada Civil Group, which previously fell under its Buildings Group, will begin operating as a separate entity, effective immediately. The team will focus

10 / APRIL 2021

on transit, infrastructure, environmental and small civil projects throughout the two provinces that are dedicating considerable funding to infrastructure. Colin Hill, a 20-year veteran of civil work, will head the group as vice-president. EllisDon noted Hill has spent the past five years actively developing the new

team under the Calgary Buildings Group while preparing to break it off into a separate entity. “I am incredibly excited to lead our deeply talented Civil team as we take on our own area of responsibility in Western Canada,” Hill said in a release. “I am very proud of the Civil team we have built over the years, and our achievements as a group in a short period of time are an indication of even greater things to come.” The Mississauga, Ont.-headquartered contractor said the Western Civil unit will lean on their self-performing concrete form, place and finish capabilities to stay competitive when taking on work in the two provinces.

Early foundation works on the new Pattullo Bridge have started in-river and on both banks of the Fraser in New Westminster and Surrey, B.C. Roughly 14 months after the major Vancouver area bridge contract was awarded, however, the province’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure says challenges tied to COVID-19 and unanticipated project complexities will push the completion date for the replacement span back into 2024, from late 2023. The province pointed to drawn out investigative work and a slow permitting processes for the delay. It did not disclose a specific date in 2024, though it noted the project’s $1.377 billion budget remains intact. “The project team is reviewing options to mitigate the delay and have the bridge open as early as possible,” the province said in a release April 1. The new Pattullo Bridge will replace a more than 80-year-old structure of the same name. It will have a cable-stayed design, with a main span of 330 meters over the Fraser River. While it will be built with four lanes, the design will allow for it to be expanded to six lanes at a later date. To date, the Fraser Crossing Partners – the Acciona and Aecon Group Inc. consortium responsible for the Pattullo project – said it has carried out geotechnical studies, a test pile and awarded major project contracts. Demolition, archaeological investigations as well as structural and hydraulic design are currently underway, the team added. Preliminary in-river work on the bridge’s sole tower began this February. To stay in line with Fisheries and Oceans Canada regulations, and to protect fish, that work has been paused for the spring and is expected to resume later this summer. Meanwhile, bridge foundations on both banks of the river are scheduled to start shortly. Over the next four years, the project is expected to create approximately 7,000 jobs, both on-site and indirectly. Like other

PHOTO: ACCIONA

First piles installed in Fraser River, but $1.4B Pattullo Bridge delayed into 2024

Preliminary work in the Fraser River. Crews will shift their focus to bridge foundations on land over the next several months.

recent infrastructure projects in B.C., the bridge is being delivered using the province’s Community Benefits Agreement

framework, which prioritizes hiring local workers, as well as those from under-represented parts of the population.

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CONSTRUCTION STATS A selection of data reflecting trends in the Canadian construction industry

Workers Employed in Construction by Month 2020

January February March April May June July August September October November December

1,497.6 1,489.7 1,487.5 1,173.9 1,247.6 1,330.8 1,364.3 1,368.8 1,369.4 1,377.8 1,404.1 1,401.2

2021

January February March

1,435.6 1,442.4 1,468.1

CONSTRUCTION JOBS MARKET GAINS AGAIN IN MARCH, CLOSING IN ON PRE-PANDEMIC LEVEL Employment in the Canadian construction industry is back within a couple percentage points of its high water mark set before the global pandemic struck last year. Statistics Canada, in its latest Labour Force Survey, said the industry gained 25,700 jobs in March, boosting its workforce by 1.8 per cent. The seasonally-adjusted figure brings construction employment to 1.468 million, 1.6 per cent short of where it was in March of last year, when Canadian governments began responding to the COVID-19 pandemic The country’s wider labour market also posted a strong performance in March, with 1.6 per cent more Canadians employed than in February. The unemployment rate fell to 7.5 per cent.

In thousands of workers, seasonally adjusted SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA

CONSTRUCTION GROWTH FORECAST THROUGH 2020S, BUT LABOUR CHALLENGES PERSIST As the recovery from the pandemic takes root, Canada’s construction industry is expected to continue rebounding this year, according to the latest annual report from BuildForce Canada. Looking further ahead, growth is forecast throughout the 2020s, though the recalcitrant labour shortage will threaten productivity. BuildForce anticipates labour demand in the non-residential sector ballooning by nearly 40,000 workers between now and 2025, before largely levelling off and adding another 5,000 workers by 2030. On the residential side, meanwhile, the construction workforce is expected to grow by just over 20,000 workers by 2030.

RESIDENTIAL

+4.0%

+0.2%

-0.4%

WORKERS EXPECTED TO RETIRE BY 2030

LABOUR GAP COULD REACH

81,000

WORKERS BY 2030

INDUSTRY DEMAND TO GROW BY

64,900

WORKERS IN NEXT DECADE

12 / APRIL 2021

+3.7% COMMERCIAL

INDUSTRIAL

259,100

MULTI-UNIT

INSTITUTIONAL

+0.6%

INVESTMENT IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION HITS RECORD ON RESIDENTIAL STRENGTH Spending on building construction topped $16 billion in January, a new record, driven by months of strength in the residential market. Investments on the residential side were up 3.9 per cent, with spending on single-unit construction rising an even four per cent and multi-unit projects climbing 3.7 per cent. On the non-residential side, performance was more muted, marking a flat performance for the fourth straight month. The latest data from Statistics Canada shows small gains in the institutional and commercial components, offset by a small decline in spending in the industrial market.

WHEEL LOADERS

STAYING ON TARGET Payload management systems and other tech trends in wheel loaders BY NATE HENDLEY

nboard payload management systems, remote operability and hybrid/electric engines are some of the prominent high-tech trends in the wheel loader sector. Displaying load data and other details on cab monitors, payload management systems make it less likely an operator will overload or underload a haul truck. Knowing the exact weight of a load is hugely helpful in aggregate work and other applications requiring precise loads. They also help keep operators efficient and allow contractors to gauge the utilization and productivity of their loaders. Wheel loader telematics systems, meanwhile, are becoming ubiquitous as datadriven companies seek constant updates about performance metrics, machine location and fuel consumption. “People are always looking for more productivity,” says Aaron Kleingartner, product and dealer marketing manager for Doosan Infracore North America, in a nod to the fundamental driver of wheel loader trends. The end-result, he says, has been increased bucket capacity and more powerful engines. Meanwhile, though autonomous wheel loaders remain a bit out of reach, OEMs are increasingly interested in hybrid/electric models and remote operability. Breaking it down by OEM, here’s what’s new and/or noteworthy in wheel loaders:

Doosan

Doosan’s DL580-5 wheel loader is built for aggregate work. “It’s designed to be able to load a [24 ton] over-the-road truck in two passes,” Kleingartner says. Introduced in 2020, the DL580-5 features heavy-duty axles, a reinforced Z-bar, electric steering, enhanced braking capability and Air Ride seats for operator comfort. An optional LOADRITE L3180 SmartScale from Trimble can “calculate the mass of material that is on the end of the lift arm” for each lift cycle, Kleingartner adds. In a smaller size class, Doosan exhibited a prototype electric/ diesel hybrid wheel loader at last year’s CONEXPO-CON/AGG that should be available in 2022 or 2023. The machine will deliver the same performance as diesel without the local emissions. on-sitemag.com / 13

WHEEL LOADERS

Hyundai Hyundai launched the HL930A and HL975A CVT wheel loaders at Conexpo last year. The HL930A has a bucket capacity of 1.9 cubic meters and works well for “smaller aggregate customers where they don’t need quite as big a machine,” says Juston Thompson, Wheel Loader product manager with Hyundai Construction Equipment Americas. The HL975A CVT features a continuously variable transmission for improved fuel consumption. Both machines have Cummins Performance Series diesel engines and an Engine-Connected Diagnostics (ECD) system for remote monitoring and service. Wheel loaders in the A Series come with quieter cabs, multi-camera All-Around View Monitoring and Intelligent Moving-Object Detection (AAVM/ IMOD) systems and an onboard weighing function that offers load tallies on a monitor, the company says. Hyundai wheel loaders are also fitted with the Hi-Mate remote management solution. Hyundai hosted a demonstration Conexpo in which an operator in Las Vegas remotely controlled the actions of a Hyundai HL960A wheel loader wheel loader in Georgia. Remote operability is an option “for some of those more hazardous situations” where it may not be the safest thing to put an operator in the cab, Thompson says.

14 / APRIL 2021

John Deere John Deere has several wheel loaders that are suitable for aggregate applications including the 644 X-Tier and 844L Aggregate Handler, says Luke Gribble, the solutions marketing manager for Deere. The mid-sized 644 X-Tier wheel loader features a 231 horsepower engine, electrohydraulic (EH) controls and a 3.1 to 3.6 cubic meter bucket capacity. An E-Drive hybrid/electric transmission system enhances performance, maneuverability and efficiency. The 844L Aggregate Handler has a 429 hp engine, heavy-duty axles, EH controls and a 7.1 to 7.5 cubic meter bucket capacity. A fuel efficient engine, and features such as lockup torque converters and a dedicated steering pump, let operators do more with less fuel. “[It’s] what we consider a true two pass loader – loading an average over-the-road truck in two full bucket passes,” Gribble says. A factory-installed Payload Weighing System is available for John Deere wheel loaders. Fully integrated with the company’s JDLink machine-monitoring system, it allows contractors to track and visualize payload data. Deere’s wheel loaders also come with object detection and tire pressure monitoring and JDLink telematics. Deere’s latest wheel loader, the 644 G-Tier, has EH controls, E-drive and enhanced linkage and bucket design. “It’s a more economical machine that can still perform at a high level,” Gribble says.

Komatsu Komatsu unveiled the WA475-10 and WA800-8 wheel loaders in Las Vegas last year. The WA475-10 offers enhanced productivity, fuel efficiency and operability, and works well in quarries, says Adam Braun, product marketing manager at Komatsu. It has a 290 hp engine, Komatsu Hydraulic Mechanical Transmission (KHMT) and the company’s patented Independent Work Equipment Control. The latter features let operators speed up boom and bucket operations without hitting the accelerator, reducing fuel consumption and wear and tear on the machine. The WA475-10 is also fitted with a payload management system which “allows us to monitor what’s left in the bucket as the machine is dumping either into a truck or onto a pile,” Braun says. “We can also recalibrate the bucket through an Empty Bucket Calibration Switch, so the system can be kept as accurate as possible throughout the workday.” The WA800-8 wheel loader, a complete white paper redesign, has an 856 gross hp engine and improved rear and front frame and loader linkages. “We’ve also added a modulation clutch for smoother approaches, and a throttle lock with auto deceleration to keep work equipment speeds up,” says Sebastian Witkowski, product marketing manager for Komatsu Mining Support Equipment. An optional six-camera KomVision radar system provides obstacle detection and gives WA800-8 operators a bird’s eye view of their working area, via a monitor. There is an automated digging, approach, and semi-auto approach functions, as well as a payload management system with two modes. In “addition” mode, weight is tallied on a monitor every time the bucket takes a new scoop, while in “subtraction” mode, a pre-set target weight decreases when a bucket is dumped. In both modes, five different target materials can be selected, enabling operators to track productivity in different work areas, or help operators achieve more accurate material blending ratios. The KOMTRAX Plus telematics system monitors machine health and performance metrics and comes standard on Komatsu equipment.

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2021-04-08 1:24 PM

WHEEL LOADERS

Liebherr Liebherr’s L566 to L586 XPower wheel loaders are a good choice for aggregate applications, says David Reid, sales manager for Ontario and Western Regions with Liebherr. These loaders feature the company’s fuel-saving XPower driveline, which integrates the hydrostatic drive for short loading cycles, and the mechanical drive designed for longer routes or when the loader is moving on an incline. Monitoring systems can track tire pressure and machine performance while an active personnel detection solution automatically applies the brakes if anyone gets too close to the rear of the machine. A Truck Payload Assist program offers “dynamic weighing information on the go,” Reid says. “You can set target weights and optimize the loading cycle, so you don’t get truck overloads. You’re getting information all the time. That [information] is reported in our telematics system [called] LiDAT.” XPower wheel loaders can also feature sensorbased adaptive working lighting. When the lift arm is raised at night, LED headlights automatically dim so operators aren’t subjected to blinding glare. An extra light at the front of the loader turns on at such moments for full illumination.

Volvo

Nate Hendley in a freelance writer and author.

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Volvo Construction Equipment’s pioneering L25 electric wheel loader is powered by lithium-ion batteries that can run eight hours without a recharge. If all goes to plan, the ground-breaking wheel loader will be delivered to customers by year’s end. The L25 is ideal for nighttime operations and/or worksites in crowded urban locales or near hospitals, schools or parks. Basically, any environment where low-noise and zero-emissions are appreciated. Elsewhere in its lineup, Volvo has made further updates to nearly a dozen wheel loaders, from the L60H model to the 350H. “One of the things we did is make a rimpull control system standard on all those models. This feature helps operators reduce wheel spin in soft/slippery applications and reduce unnecessary tire wear,” says Eric Yeomans, product manager for Wheel Loaders at Volvo CE. Volvo has also updated and expanded its Road Assist applications for wheel loaders. These include an On-Board Weighing App which measures bucket loads and a Tire Pressure Monitoring System App that alerts operators when tire pressure and temperature parameters are exceeded. A Map App, meanwhile, uses GPS to pinpoint the location of other machines on a worksite.

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE An overview of the Annacis Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, where a multi-stage expansion project is underway to keep up with the area’s growing population.

‘IT’S FORWARDS OR

NOTHING’ Crews tunnel beneath Fraser River to new wastewater treatment standards BY SAUL CHERNOS

PHOTOS: METRO VANCOUVER

urrowing through thick sand underwater, ensuring the safety of workers, and planning for earthquake resiliency are all in a day’s work for proponents of a new tunnel and diffuser system being built as part of a massive program to rebuild and upgrade several Metro Vancouver wastewater treatment plants. The regional government, which includes 21 municipalities, one treaty First Nation and one electoral area, manages water and wastewater systems for more than 2.7 million people, and substantial growth is projected over the next few decades. Factor in increasingly stringent environmental regulations and never-ending worries about a significant

earthquake – something not taken lightly on the West Coast – and you have one of Canada’s most ambitious programs to usher local wastewater treatment infrastructure into a new era. While these projects fall into the same overall program, they’re each at different stages and have their own criteria and timelines, with individual management, contractors and budgets. A brand new North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant in North Vancouver, slated to open in 2024, will replace the 50-year-old Lions Gate plant and upgrade the level of treatment from primary to secondary by adding clarifiers, digesters and other technology. Metro Vancouver has also approved a similar plan

to upgrade the 57-year-old Iona Island treatment plant at the mouth of the Fraser River, near Vancouver International Airport, with an expected 2030 launch date. And, the region is designing an expansion so the Northwest Langley plant, which currently serves 30,000 people, can handle sewage for a geographically broader population of 230,000. However, it’s work already underway to reconfigure the Annacis Island plant 20 kilometres inland on the Fraser that offers a window on the intensity of the overall effort and the complexity of modernizing sewage infrastructure. The plant, in the City of Delta, is already one of the region’s largest wastewater treatment facilities, on-sitemag.com / 17

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE Crews used cranes working from barges to install the temporary steel cofferdam. The cofferdam will protect workers from strong currents and act as a form for concrete.

“Structures built at wastewater treatment plant sites [must] be post-disaster operational.” – Kenneth Hui, Metro Vancouver Supplied by Bessac, the standard slurry pressure balance tunnel boring machine includes hydraulic propulsion rams, a precast concrete lining erector, and even an air conditioned, soundproof cabin.

18 / APRIL 2021

processing effluent from 14 municipalities across the Lower Mainland for eventual safe release into the river. Annacis Island treats roughly 175 billion litres of waste-

water annually, serving more than a million residents, and Metro Vancouver’s lead senior engineer for the project, Kenneth Hui, says the goals are to ensure the plant has sufficient capacity for a growing population, meets ever-tightening federal sewage standards and can withstand a major earthquake. “The newest building code has started to require new structures built at wastewater treatment plant sites be post-disaster operational,” Hui says. What makes the project challenging in this regard, he explains, is that Annacis Island lies within a largely sedimentary river delta, terrain that can potentially shift significantly during seismic activity. On the plus side, the Annacis plant is already a strong environmental performer. Its discharged effluent is generally well within allowable limits for biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids and the facility already uses anaerobic digesters to break down organic materials

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE

Certain parts of the boring machine too bulky to remove will be encased in concrete under the riverbed.

There’s no way of reversing the machine. It’s forwards or nothing.” – Tim Langmaid, Hatch to produce biosolids and methane gas. The methane is even reused on-site to generate all the heat and half the electricity the plant requires, reducing greenhouse gas

20 / APRIL 2021

emissions by 660 tonnes annually. Hui says a major portion of the Annacis upgrade is scheduled for full commissioning by the third quarter of 2021.

Crews are putting the finishing touches on five new primary sedimentation tanks and six new clarifiers to bring the total to 18 each. Two new aeration tanks will complement four already in place. But work has involved more than simply installing the equipment. In order to provide future protection from seismic activity, crews first had to densify the underlying sandy, wet terrain using vibro replacement, a technique involving the construction of dense stone columns with a down-hole vibrator suspended from a crane. A preliminary risk assessment helped determine appropriate procedures and vibration levels during ground densification in order to reduce the risk of excessive differential settlement of existing structures. “It’s a balancing act,” Hui says, describing impacts similar to what a minor earthquake could potentially cause. “If you pound too hard, you’re going to have detrimental effects to the existing structure next to you.” With the plant upgrade largely completed, a separate team is working on a particularly big-ticket item – a $184 million high-capacity outfall and diffuser. Crews are building a 750-metre-long, 4.2-metre-diameter tunnel, to be buried up to 40 metres below ground level, that will effectively serve as a pipeline to a system designed to disperse treated effluent safely into the river through two dozen risers 150 metres from shore. The new pipe and diffuser replace the existing outfall, which is under-sized to match the plant’s added capacity. Burying the pipe underground is key to seismic resiliency, says Ken Massé, Metro Vancouver’s project manager. “One of the reasons we’re tunnelling at that depth is to get below the liquefaction zone. The system might be damaged by an earthquake, but it will remain operational.” Some of the existing system’s vertically placed steel diffusers have also been damaged over the years, so the new ones will be covered by precast concrete in order to protect them from underwater hazards such as ship keels and tow cables. Building a 750-metre tunnel through heavy, thick, wet sand has in itself proven an adventure. With Mississauga, Ont.-based engineering firm Hatch acting as construc-

tion manager, the work has been contracted to a general partnerBut some parts will be concreted into the structure and be left ship between Pomerleau and Bessac, a tunnel specialist whose behind for the next 100 years while this structure performs its ultimate parent firm is France’s Vinci. For this project, Bessac duties.” acquired a standard slurry pressure balance tunnel boring machine Saul Chernos is a freelance writer. manufactured by Herrenknecht in Germany, increased its size and added features such as hydraulic propulsion rams and a precast concrete lining erector to protect The new diffusers will be covered by precast the machine and workers from the pressure concrete in order to protect them from underwater underground. The machine operator even works hazards. from an air-conditioned, soundproof cabin. Tim Langmaid, construction manager with Hatch, says the machine, fronted by a large cutter-head, will burrow through the thick sand and pump the waste slurry to the surface for separation and disposal. As the machine proceeds, it’s designed to temporarily support the freshly dug tunnel while workers inside the machine install a precast concrete liner on the inside to ensure the tunnel remains intact. “The tunnel boring machine is the method by which we will support the ground, keep the workers safe, and be able to build a concrete lining as the tunnelling proceeds.” Langmaid says. Crews will install the risers and diffuser system, working from inside a steel cofferdam installed in the river, and with help from large crawler cranes positioned on anchored barges. The whole idea is to create a safe environment where divers are protected from strong currents, inland tides and impacts from drifting obstructions such as logs, Langmaid says. While the cofferdam is essential to work in the river, its construction wasn’t easy. Work was set back several months last year when a late snow melt substantially increased the river’s already strong currents, stirring up the sandy bottom, undermining the integrity of the partially built structure, and forcing crews to restart work already completed. Crews have also had to restrict activity in the river to avoid seasons for migrating salmon. For an endeavour that’s had its share of challenges, it’s perhaps appropriate that one in particular will prove enduring as a kind of symbolic time capsule marking the project’s completion. When a tunnel crosses a river, the boring machine usually emerges at the other end and is dispatched to its next job. However, the journey at Annacis Island literally ends in mid-stream, at the diffuser. Because these machines cannot do a u-turn and head back from whence they came, crews will disasBKT provides you tires that are sturdy and WHEREVER YOU ARE, BKT IS WITH YOU semble it when its work is done. resistant, reliable and safe, able to combine BKT provides you tires that are sturdy and resistant, reliable and safe,and able to combine comfort and high performance. comfort high performance. “There’s no way of reversing the machine,” Langmaid says. WHEREVER YOU ARE, BKT IS WITH YOU BKT is with you, even when work gets tough. “It’s forwards or nothing.” Some components, including the BKT provides you tires that even are sturdy and resistant, BKT is with you, when workreliable gets tough. and safe, able to combine comfort and high performance. machine shell and cutter-head, are simply too large and bulky to be retrieved so they will be left encased in concrete underneath For info: the riverbed. “We’re leaving behind as little as possible,” LangWestern Canada 604-701-9098 Eastern Canada 514-792-9220 maid says. “Bessac has designed a machine where they will be able to rescue as much of the valuable technology as possible.

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COMMUNICATION

KEEPING

A LID ON IT Managing your communication to effectively preserve privilege

ar before a construction project results in a dispute, prudent parties need to carefully consider the nature of their communications and the issue of “discoverability” in any potential litigation that may result. In Canada, each party to a lawsuit is required to disclose to the opposing parties all documents relevant to the case. Many people and businesses are unaware that this obligation extends even to internal documents and correspondence that touch on the subject matter at issue. This includes internal emails, text messages, financial statements – all of it. In Quebec, this obligation is somewhat narrowed as parties are only required to disclose the relevant documents that have been requested by another party to the litigation. But there are exceptions to these rules. Understanding these exceptions and acting proactively to manage their applicability may allow parties to keep particularly damaging evidence shielded from production and/or out of court.

SOLICITOR-CLIENT PRIVILEGE Communication between a lawyer and their client is protected from disclosure in litigation so long as that communication was transmitted for the purpose of giving or receiving legal advice. As a general rule, for communication to be captured under this category of privilege, it must be: • An oral or written communication • Of a confidential character • Between a client (or their agent) and a legal advisor, and • Directly related to the seeking, formulating, or giving of legal advice The last of these items is particularly significant, as lawyers, and in particular in-house counsel, can serve various roles in an organization, such that their presence in a meeting or on an email chain is not enough, on its own, to ensure privilege attaches to

22 / APRIL 2021

that communication. Solicitor-client privilege is the most staunchly protected category of privilege in Canadian law. If sensitive internal discussions are taking place, including a lawyer in this correspondence and seeking their legal advice on the matter will likely insulate this correspondence from disclosure in litigation.

LITIGATION PRIVILEGE Once litigation is reasonably contemplated, all communications and documents prepared for the purpose of preparing the case are also protected from disclosure for the duration of the dispute. This is done to allow for a “zone of privacy” to permit parties to prepare their positions in private without fear of the other side learning about this preparation and strategy. This privilege applies where the communications and/or documents are prepared in contemplation of litigation which is “in reasonable prospect,” and for the “dominant purpose” of use in the litigation. To ensure this type of privilege attaches to internal communications and documents, litigation must be reasonably contemplated. The precise date on which this occurs is often a matter of dispute in challenges to claims of privilege. As a result, clearly identifying when litigation is being contemplated or considered will assist in confidently pinpointing the day from which this privilege attaches.

”WITHOUT PREJUDICE” Perhaps the most misunderstood legal term in the industry, “without prejudice” often finds its way to the headers of letters and the subject lines of emails when parties are engaging in any type of conversation that they wish to be “off the record.” However, simply labeling correspondence “without prejudice” – or “privileged” – does not necessarily mean it is shielded from disclosure or use in court. Also termed settlement privilege, this type of correspondence

DUSANPETKOVIC / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS / GETTY IMAGES

BY JOHN SINGLETON AND GRAHAM HENRY

will be protected from disclosure and not accepted as evidence where: • A litigious dispute is in existence or within contemplation • The communication was made with the express or implied intention it would not be disclosed in a legal proceeding in the event negotiations failed, and • The purpose of the communication was to attempt to effect a settlement The purpose of this protection is to allow parties to a dispute to negotiate freely and reach a settlement out of court without worrying that this correspondence might be exposed in a future proceeding or bind them to the positions taken during negotiations. For example, in attempting to negotiate a settlement, a party may agree to pay a certain part of a claim or acknowledge an error in their workmanship. This open communication and compromise is only possible if the parties are confident that this admission or statement in the course of the negotiations cannot be used against them should the negotiations fail. The courts have held that there are a few instances in which they are willing to override this privilege including where the party claiming privilege engaged in misrepresentation or fraud, to prevent a plaintiff from being overcompensated, or to prove the nature of a settlement at issue in the dispute. Care should be given in all negotiations to ensure that any sensitive correspondence is identified as being “without prejudice” but also that this correspondence meets the above legal test to be kept out of court.

KEEPING THE LID ON Every construction project generates a massive amount of documents – emails, letters, memos, contracts, change orders and technical drawings, to name a few. It is critical to remember the following when managing this mountain of information: 1.

In the event of litigation, you will be legally obligated to provide the other side with all documents relevant to the dispute – or, if in Quebec, all relevant documents requested by the other party. There are a few key exceptions. This includes documents or correspondence created for the purpose of obtaining legal advice, preparing for litigation, or attempting to settle a dispute. Before sending that candid email, or preparing that “lessons learned” memo, carefully considering these exceptions may allow that document to be protected from disclosure in litigation and winding up in court. It is not uncommon for large construction litigation matters to be determined on the basis of this sort of document so careful management up-front can save a great deal of trouble for both your lawyers and your pocketbook.

John Singleton is the founder and chair Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP. Graham Henry is an associate in the Construction and Insurance Practice Groups at Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP.

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2021-04-06 1:54 PM

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CONSULTATIONS

Putting the pieces in place Yukon Resource Gateway construction set to start after years of planning

onstruction on at least one component of Yukon’s far-reaching Resource Gateway Project is poised to start in earnest this summer, following several years on the drawing board. Ranj Pillai, Yukon’s minister of Energy, Mines and Resources says after roughly three years of planning, consulting with First Nations communities and negotiating with Ottawa for greater flexibility, the government will start work this summer on the Carmacks Bypass in the central part of the territory. “To build a trusting and respectful relationship with First Nations governments, you have to have the patience and the respect to get it right,” Pillai says. “We see roadbuilding as a major bone of contention and [it] can be a spark for tough conversations across the country when you don’t do these negotiations right.” Though it’s taken some time – the Yukon Resource Gateway Project was first announced in 2017 and originally scheduled to be complete by 2025 – the Yukon government has now secured six project agreements with local First Nations and is driving forward with an amended plan and an extended timeline for the series of roadbuilding and upgrade projects worth $468.8 million. The goal is to spur private mining investments by providing better access to regions of the territory with high mineral potential, while also giving local communities access to better roads. “We’ve been lucky to have a team that’s been able to pivot when needed,” Pillai says. “Now we’re pretty happy to be moving lots of dirt and building roads.” Early works, such as right of way clearing, were underway last year on the Carmacks Bypass, on a segment of the Robert Campbell Highway and on the Nahanni Range Road in southeast Yukon, in preparation for major construction to begin on the three pieces of the wider initiative. The government is still working through the planning process on several other components of Resource Gateway that have First Nations project agreements in place. The most recent deal signed March 3, for instance, will kick-start an environmental assessment and design process for an upgrade to 110 kilometres of road worth $63 million. That agreement reached with the First Nation

26 / APRIL 2021

of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, the largest struck so far, covers work on the Silver Trail from the Klondike Highway to Mayo and Keno City. Planning is also underway for a final pair of Resource Gateway projects. Pillai says Yukon is aiming to firm up two other major agreements with First Nations to cap the infrastructure build out expected to total some 650 kilometres of new or upgraded roads. Outside Carmacks, the bypass project consists of a new road that will allow mining traffic to access Freegold Road without needing to drive through town. Construction of Nordenskiold River bridge is among the project’s major components. For each piece of Resource Gateway, agreements between Yukon and the affected First Nation is required. The consultations share common threads, Pillai says, noting that much of the focus has come down to responsible development. “It’s really about impact,” he says. “Folks in those communities really embrace traditional ways of living. It’s extremely important to them and their culture.” Wildlife protection is one area the territory has focused its efforts. “We have really embraced the concepts of modern road ecology values so that we can understand that set of tools when we’re at the table negotiating,” Pillai says. “It’s really important for us to make sure that the new roads that we build, we do it in a way that mitigates to the greatest impacts to wildlife in those areas.” While the slower than expected timeline for getting shovels in the ground has led to some criticism, Pillai says the rejigged schedule has helped the territory avoid costly missteps, particularly when it comes to a couple of the proposed mining projects it had initially pointed to as anchoring the development effort. “Some of the areas that were originally contemplated have become pretty quiet for development,” Pillai says. He pointed to the Selwyn Chihong mine on the Nahanni Road as an example of a proposed project that’s stalled since Resource Gateway was first conceived. While upgrades along a shorter portion of the road are still moving ahead, Yukon has redirected funding planned for the wider Nahanni road project, in part, to work on the Robert Campbell Highway, a move that will support the emerging Kudz Ze Kayah, or KZK, mining project.

BY DAVID KENNEDY

ALBERT_KARIMOV/I STOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS / GETTY IMAGES

APRIL 2021

SELF-FINISHING THE JOB SIMPLIFYING YOUR POUR IN THIS ISSUE: 33 World of Concrete returns to Las Vegas amid vaccination push

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CONCRETE CONSOLIDATION

Consolidating the

market

Self-compacting concrete finding expanded role on job sites BY DAVID KENNEDY

ermeating to the far corners of formwork, through dense networks of rebar, all with little or no vibration, self-consolidating concrete has carved out a considerable niche on job sites over the past two decades. With origins in the ‘80s, it was firmly established in the Canadian market by the early 2000s. But like the highly fluid product, it has not

stopped expanding beyond its traditional place in the industry. Easy to use, flowable, nearly self-finishing and often requiring a smaller crew to pour than general use concrete, self-consolidating concrete (SCC), also known as self-compacting concrete, is expected to see strong growth on a broad range of projects in the years ahead.

It is all about streamlining the process, says Pierre Courchesne, product line manager for Concrete Restoration Systems in Canada at Mapei. “Anything you can make simpler for the contractor is usually well accepted by the industry,” he says. “You need to vibrate regular concrete with a vibrator, whereas you could vibrate the self-compacting concrete, but outside

Self-consolidating concrete is particularly popular for columns or other rebar-heavy elements.

on-sitemag.com / 29

Mapei’s SCC is often put to use on repair projects in parking structures.

of the form,” Courchesne says. “You just vibrate the form to ensure you’re getting rid of air, rather than placing it.” In many cases, no mechanical vibration is required at all, he notes. To put growth in the market in perspective, Courchesne says Mapei saw a double-digit increase in SCC last year, and is expecting a similarly strong performance in 2021. On the ready-mix side, Lehigh Hanson is also seeing an uptick in demand, particularly in the residential segment. “The market has been more mature on the commercial side in high-rise construction for columns, core and shear walls, architectural finished applications, and slabs,” says Lori Tiefenthaler, senior director of marketing for the ready-mix firm. “In more populated areas, there is often more demand as a result of developers focused on maximizing floor space in high rise construction which means more structural concrete and dense reinforced elements.” This growing demand for smaller, densely-reinforced columns translates to the need for more highly flowable SCC. Architectural finishes, where concrete is exposed, is another part of the market seeing growth. “When natural concrete surfaces are exposed, they take CO2 from the air and

30 / APRIL 2021

contribute to the sustainability of a project over its lifetime,” Tiefenthaler says. “As sustainability measurement becomes advanced, it’s easier to account for these types of benefits to our environment, thus these surfaces are becoming increasingly more popular.” Lehigh, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, offers the SSC under the High Flow and EZ Floor brands across six provinces. The pandemic, which has limited the number of workers on-site, has also added to demand. “With the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing increased use in the residential market on slabs since the product finishes better, requires fewer labors, shortens concrete truck time and finishing crews can complete more slabs per day,” Tiefenthaler says. Even when job sites put the pandemic behind them, Courchesne says, high labour costs, as well as a shortage of experienced workers in many parts of the country, make SCC attractive for contractors, despite the higher cost than the general use product. “If you don’t have to finish the concrete, well obviously, you’re cutting down on labour that’s $60 to $65 an hour,” he says. While finishing becomes less of a concern with SCC, formwork often requires

extra attention. SCC’s high flowability means testing for leaks needs to be more of a priority, though crews can be confident when they remove the form, the concrete will have spread entirely throughout it. For Mapei, which offers its Planitop 11 SCC in bags, structural repairs on jobs with congested reinforcing steel are the main focus. “You would have a column, for example, that has been damaged by deicing salts and fluorides and so on and it’s degrading,” Courchesne says. “You’ll take away all of the unsound concrete, expose the steel, clean the steel, do your surface prep as prescribed by the International Concrete Restoration Institute (ICRI) and then form it up and basically pour your self-consolidating concrete into the form.” To prolong the life of the concrete and rebar next time around, Mapei’s product includes a corrosion inhibitor. Contractors taking on rehab projects on parking structures are likely top users of the product. Still, Courchesne says the applications run the gamut, with both interior and exterior uses ranging from small to larger projects, such as underground work on the Montreal subway. Being bagged, the product is most often used on sites where space is limited and simply pulling in a ready-mix truck is not an option.

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WOC

DIFFERENT KIND OF SHOW

Waiting for the doors to open at World of Concrete 2021 will likely look a little different than at the 2020 event. The annual show will go on this June in Las Vegas, having been postponed a handful of months due to the pandemic. With borders closed and the construction season starting in full swing, however, Canadian attendance this year is likely to be sparser. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of new equipment to watch in the concrete market. We’ve rounded up some of the key products to watch WORLD OF CONCRETE 2021 Where: Las Vegas, Nevada Venue: Las Vegas Convention Center Exhibits: June 8-10 Seminars: June 7-10

AQUAJET Exerting an impressive 1,000 newtons of reaction force – four times the power of a hand lance – Aquajet’s Ergo System gives contractors a powerful new hydrodemolition tool. Designed for work on floors, walls and ceilings, it incorporates four main components: the Controller, the Ergo Power Head that manipulates the high pressure lance, and either the Spine or the Climber take on vertical concrete removal and repair.

BROKK Electric-powered with a 10-foot reach, the Brokk 110 remote-controlled demolition machine is small enough to fit through standard doors and inside passenger elevators. It weighs in at 2,183 pounds and has a low floor load, meaning it can maneuver in otherwise inaccessible areas, such as stairwells or elevators. Designed for top-down demolition to interior strip-outs and selective concrete removal, a wide range of attachments are available, including breakers, crushers, grapples, rock drills and shears.

CURB ROLLER MANUFACTURING For curb and gutter work ranging from 50 to 5,000 linear feet, the Curb Roller CM4000 helps eliminate back-breaking work and dramatically speed jobs compared to manual methods or face forming. A single-operator machine, the product lets contractors take on a broader scope of work without having to invest in larger, more expensive equipment. More than 25 pre-designed drum profiles are available, or customers can fit the unit with a custom drum made to their project’s specifications. on-sitemag.com / 33

WOC

GOMACO The new Xtreme GT-3600 curb and gutter machine will be on display once again at World of Concrete 2021. The Gomaco machine was the first three-track to slipform a 24-inch radius, and now, with the Xtreme package on board, tight radius paving is easier and more efficient than ever. Along with a broad range of added features, the Xtreme package adds G+ radius software with slew drives, smart-sensored hydraulics and intelligence to the Gomaco GT-3600.

MINNICH MANUFACTURING Lightweight, durable and available in a 15-amp (115-volt) version, the Stinger from Minnich Manufacturing offers a more compatible speed range for placement challenges on the job site. The versatile flex shaft concrete vibrator has a standard 14.5-pound double-insulated universal motor that drives a full line of Minnich shafts and heads. It also comes with a quick disconnect that adapts to the vibrators of many manufacturers.

LIGCHINE Putting new features at the fingertips of concrete placing contractors, the Screedsaver Elite is the newest laser-guided screed machine from Ligchine. Features on the machine, launched last year, include a side-shift screed head for screeding around tough obstacles, a new chassis design, a larger fuel tank and a lower profile design for greater operator visibility. The heavy-duty boom sections that extend 18 feet to support the 12-foot-wide screed head also allow for more finished square footage per pass.

MILLER FORMLESS

MAX The patented and safety-equipped Twin-Tier platform of Max rebar tying tools, is the safest and fastest solutions for tying a huge range of rebar sizes and combinations. The company’s TwinTier tools replace the repetitive motion used in the process of manually tying rebar, replacing it with a mechanical solution that simplifies the process and prevents injuries.

34 / APRIL 2021

Designed for curb and gutter work, sidewalks, V-ditches and a range of other applications, Miller Formless manufactures the most compact, four-track curb and gutter machine. The M-1000 can be ordered as a left- or right-hand pour and can pour areas as tight as a 24-inch radius. The M-1000’s compact design and four-track steering allows for easy and quick turnarounds and maneuvering. It offers best-in-class operator visibility for monitoring all aspects of the pour process.

PETTIBONE Featuring an extendable, traversing boom that moves loads by traveling horizontally, the Traverse T944X Telehandler allows users to precisely and safely place loads at full lift height through tight openings without having to coordinate multiple boom functions. The new telehandler from Pettibone has a specified lift height of 44 feet, six inches, nearly identical to its landing height of 44 feet. It’s powered by a 74 hp Cummins QSF 3.8 Tier 4 Final diesel engine.

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COLLABORATION PHOTO: AEROSNAPPER KINGSTON

Collaborative contracting: How To Be An Ally BY JEAN-PIERRE GAUTHIER

Construction on the Third Crossing project in Kingston, Ont. The new bridge is being delivered using the IPD model.

ow many times have you read about construction projects that are delayed, over budget, have quality issues, or involve complicated claims? Historically, these are common occurrences in construction that primarily derive from a misalignment of incentives between project owners, engineers and contractors. Traditional contract models, which often position owners and contractors on different sides, are typically the root of the problem, yet they are still in widespread use, creating the risk of project overruns and performance shortcomings. Fortunately, strong, value-added options are out there for owners, engineers and contractors to use. Collaborative contracting models on major construction projects have resulted in a significantly higher level of price, project and schedule certainty. These models continue to gain momentum and popularity in North America and include alliance contracting, integrated project delivery (IPD), construction manager/general contractor (CMGC), open-book target price, and progressive design-build. In a collaborative contract, owners, contractors and engineers, are integrated into a single contract, so there is one shared goal achieved through collaboration, not confrontation. It reflects a philosophy, a culture and a mode of behaviour that shares risk and reward. It embraces the vision that if we all work together, we all benefit. To fully leverage the benefits of collaborative contracting, project owners, engineers, and contractors will need to adopt a new mindset. Key elements include:

team member is empowered to represent and bind their organization on any matter relating to the agreement. All decisions are made on a “best-for-project” basis rather than a best for individual company basis.

CULTURE It is crucial project owners, engineers and contractors embrace the philosophy behind collaborative contracting, from the very top of the organization to front-line workers. It requires a concerted effort in building long-term, collaborative relationships within the market, and creating sustainable business models for suppliers and vendors. It also requires that we ask our people to do things differently for the greater good of the project. All partners need to embrace a “no fault, no blame” attitude in all aspects of the work, including potential disputes, errors, defects and poor performance. In collaborative contracting, all project partners are engaged in the prompt and mutual resolution of these types of issues. Additionally, all partners need to instill a high level of trust, agree to always act in good faith and be willing to get out of their comfort zone.

THE DEVELOPMENT PHASE The development phase is key to establishing the rigorous and robust basis that governs how the project partners will deliver the project. It may also be referred to as the validation phase, or FEED phase. The primary purpose of the development phase is to progress the project design and planning to a stage that significantly de-risks the project in order to provide more certain project outcomes. Generally, targets are set for project cost, schedule and other key performance areas such as safety and quality performance, and the entire project team shares incentives/disincentives for performance. The owner can then choose to approve or reject the project proposal to proceed to the execution phase.

EARLY ENGAGEMENT A major advantage of collaborative contracting is early engagement of the whole team. By working together early in the project lifecycle, each participant can better influence project outcomes. Early engagement can optimize the return on investment and reduce costs in executing the overall project. Cost and schedule certainty can be assessed more effectively early in the process, and compared to traditional fixed-price contracts, the ability to finish on time and on budget increases dramatically. We can achieve this by working together on constructability/schedule optimizations, rather than having teams bid on a set of rigid specifications. Furthermore, adopting a “best-for-project” mindset, which is the golden rule for everyone on the project team, fosters a strong team environment.

EMBRACING CHANGE

ESTABLISH THE RIGHT TEAM

Moving from traditional contracting methods to a collaborative model will require a change in mindset, a commitment to listening and learning, and letting go of the belief that you have all the answers. However, as a result, collaborative contracting can have a very positive impact on project cost, risk, speed of delivery, quality and innovation. It has proven itself as a more efficient, profitable and enjoyable way to manage large infrastructure projects. It is the way of the future and certainly good news for project owners, engineers, contractors, and the construction industry.

Solidifying the “right” team, including leadership, starts with selecting people who are collaborative, respectful and work well in a trust-based environment. It is a core principle that each project

Jean-Pierre Gauthier is a senior vice-president and oversees all of Kiewit’s construction operations in Eastern Canada.

36 / APRIL 2021

AT THE INFLECTION POINT Page 38 DIGITIZING HOSPITAL DELIVERY Page 44

Smart

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BUILDING SMART

Smart buildings: at the

INFLECTION POINT Market segment offers GCs and subs opportunities for growth and a new, collaborative approach BY DAVID KENNEDY

t is still relatively early days for Canada’s smart building market. Most projects continue to take the conventional route, employing HVAC, electrical, lighting, security and other such systems in their separate silos. But early adopters have begun to look at buildings not as a jumble of interdependent systems, but as the system as a whole, capable of integrating subsystems to improve energy use, guide automation and optimize the wide array of connected components.

38 / APRIL 2021

Smart building discussions have been ongoing in the construction industry for at least 20 years, according to Sam Boyajian, vice-president of Integrated Building Technology at Modern Niagara. For 15 of those 20, however, it was little more than talk, with owners not typically ready to take the plunge, he said during a panel discussion with three industry experts hosted by On-Site, HPAC and Electrical Business magazines this March. “Now,” he says, “I would argue that

the owners and the developers have sort of leapfrogged the engineering community, and now they’re starting to pull the rest of us along because now they’re demanding it.” “We’re at a bit of an inflection point,” Boyajian adds. In Canada, governments building hospitals have been among the first movers, partly because smart building systems offer the most discernible benefits to larger facilities.

people might want assurances that the air changes per hour in their space have been achieved.” The opportunities for contractors are considerable, though they will need to be comfortable with quickly evolving technology and a moving set of goal posts.

MONSITJ / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS / GETTY IMAGES

ON-SITE ADJUSTMENTS

Certain forward-looking private owners are also beginning to embrace smart buildings, Colin Flock, vice-president of operations for EllisDon’s Facilities Services division, says. More are expected to follow as early adopters quantify the energy savings and other benefits offered by their smart buildings. “In the next 10 years, it’ll just be a different landscape, Flock says. Erica Brabon, the director of Energy and Sustainability for the Facility Services

division at Black & McDonald also expects adoption in the building market to move quickly, though what will be considered “smart” a decade from now will be a moving target, she says. “Smart building initially was the connectivity, the energy efficiency and being able to trend and capture all this data,” Brabon says. “But now, over the past year, expectations have changed. We might want to track occupancy patterns, we might want to track indoor air quality,

Technology adoption in construction, particularly of cloud-based software, has gone through step change between 2020 and 2021, largely due to the pandemic. While many GCs and subs are already using sophisticated tools for overseeing their projects, those behind the curve will likely need to catch up to enter the smart building market. “If you’re not using them already, I would say that that could create a lag in the types of projects that you’re working on,” Brabon says, adding that B&M gets a major boost from employing technologies that bridge the construction and operations phases. “It’s a huge benefit to us playing both of those roles… to be able to take advantage of some of the technologies or cloud-based tools that are used during construction, to make for a very easy handoff into operations, to better understand what the facility use requirements are, how we can change that and update that over time,” she says. Among other examples, Brabon points to photo tagging, which takes much of the manual work out of progress updates, as a key piece of technology that is streamlining work on-site and simplifying integration when subsystems of smart buildings are forced together. Boyajian does not see the technology curve as being overly steep for contractors, but says the slow-to-change mentality of some in construction can put up barriers. “The software’s out there, and the partnerships are out there, and the folks that do this for a living are out there,” he says. “I think it’s more of a cultural thing in the contracting community. My only piece of advice is don’t double down on

on-sitemag.com / 39

BUILDING SMART

The software’s out there, and the partnerships are out there... It’s more of a cultural thing in the contracting community. My only piece of advice is don’t double down on the status quo. This is happening, and that’s just the way it’s going to be.” – Sam Boyajian, Modern Niagara 40 / APRIL 2021

the status quo. This is happening, and that’s just the way it’s going to be.” To tackle smart buildings projects, all three panellists also stress the need for a collaborative approach. From a GC perspective, Flock says putting together the partners and trade groups that understand the technology, as well as the end goal, is vital. “You’re no longer mechanical and electrical, you’re like one team building a system,” he says.

BUILDING TOWARD INTEGRATION Flock oversaw the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital’s transition from the construction phase to the operations phase. Now, roughly six years into operations under EllisDon, the relatively early smart hospital, has provided the contractor with a range of takeaways for improvements during both phases. During commissioning in particular, Flock says, better information

will help the company find efficiencies in the future. “Although the commissioning is slightly more complicated with a smart building because you do have that integration piece, and you’re treating the building as a system, you do have a lot more data,” he says. “So from a GC perspective, or if you’re managing a sub, you don’t just rely on these tick box exercises of ‘Yes the system works,’ you actually have proof and you have data and you can collect that data over a longer period of time.” Greater scheduling and budget certainty is another area smart buildings are leading the way. “You can look at certain indicators along the way to predict even things like project schedule, project budget that normally would be maybe guesswork in the past,” Brabon says. “Now you can look at updated progress reports that are

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BUILDING SMART

Smart building initially was the connectivity, the energy efficiency and being able to trend and capture all this data. But now, over the past year, expectations have changed. We might want to track occupancy patterns, we might want to track indoor air quality.” – Erica Brabon, Black & McDonald 42 / APRIL 2021

happening in real-time, versus material insight, versus progress made to date, to predict how the project will progress along the way.” Meanwhile, for Boyajian, the ultimate cost-saving, is delivering a smart building that comes close to running itself – something that means going back fewer times to smooth out problems and performing less maintenance. To get to this stage, he says, contractors need to focus on integration. “A lot of the times where a smart building ends up disappointing the people that are moving into it, it’s not because the technology can’t do it, it’s not because it wasn’t designed properly, it’s because there’s that extra step that never existed before,” he says. “Now we need to actually sit down and say, when this happens in this system, that happens in that system. That last step of integration, if you skip that, basically what you have is a really fancy building that does nothing any different than it would have if you built it

the other way.” Flock agrees, noting the integration of building systems is “critical.” Coupled with integrating the systems at the end of the construction process, he adds, is handing off the prodigious amount of data to the operations team, which is waiting to pick up the baton and begin running the smart systems the way they were designed to be used.

MAKING USE OF THE DATA Generating actionable data from the host of connected components and sensors is one aspect of smart buildings that continues to evolve. “It’s an unbelievable amount of data,” Flock says, adding that owners are continually trying to figure out which heaps of data they actually need and what they are able to do with it. “In the case of the Oakville hospital, the building’s coming on six years since substantial completion and we’re still find-

and you only really needed one of those pictures,” he says. “So, I think we need to figure out having the mountains of data is great, you’ve got to do something with it, you’ve got to figure out what’s useful, and sometimes sifting through the mountain of data is harder than sifting through 10 data points.” Quantifying the scale of the data pileup, Brabon says some clients get excited about interval data, wanting updates as frequently as every 15 seconds. “Well, a system doesn’t change that much in 15 seconds,” she says. “So do we really need that and then again what are we going to do with it? Their excitement about data is there, but I think that we have to decide now what we’re going to do with it and make sure that we’re getting the value out of it and not just keeping and storing it.” In time, the panellists anticipate machine learning picking up the slack by filtering out unnecessary information, but currently, as in the rest of the developing market, there is more work to be done.

You’re treating the building as a system [and] you do have a lot more data. So, from a GC perspective... you don’t just rely on these tick box exercises of ‘Yes the system works,’ you actually have proof and you have data and you can collect that data over a longer period of time.” – Colin Flock, EllisDon

ing information that we’re collecting that we can use for something else for future use,” he says. Platforms that use data for predictive maintenance, fault detection and remote diagnostics, among other areas, are maturing quickly. And in many ways, building systems are simply catching up with advances elsewhere. “You can order a pizza and you know exactly where the guy is on your street before he gets there,” Boyajian says, “and yet you call your HVAC contractor and they probably will show up and you have no idea who’s coming, or when they’re coming.” With smart buildings and a “hard push” toward making use of the data they can provide, Boyajian anticipates this uncertainty becoming a thing of the past sooner rather than later. But he acknowledges the industry still has considerable ground to make up. “As an industry right now, we’re the kid with the cell phone that takes 700 pictures and doesn’t delete any of them,

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BUILDING SMART

DIGITIZING HEALTHCARE DELIVERY

New Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital a case study in collaboration and smart construction BY DOUG PICKLYK

owhere has the trend towards optimizing digital integration within a building been more realized than in the healthcare sector, where large public-private-partnerships provide the scope and resources to combine leading-edge clinical technology with intelligent mechanical and electrical services to provide the ultimate in patient-centred care. At the same time, these billion-dollar projects enable general contractors and their trade partners to flex new muscles and incorporate the best of new building techniques to provide workflow and scheduling efficiencies. The new Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital is the first hospital built in the City of Vaughan – located just north of Toronto –

and is the first all-new hospital constructed in Ontario in more than 30 years. In late October, 2016, Infrastructure Ontario and Mackenzie Health awarded the Plenary Health team a contract valued at approximately $1.3 billion to design, build, finance and maintain the 1.2 million sq. ft. hospital on a 40-acre greenfield site, with a completion target of 2020. The construction team for the project was led by PCL Construction, a group very familiar with P3 healthcare projects in the province. Their primary construction partners included Modern Niagara on the mechanical side and the Plan Group on the electrical.

their Smart Vision for the hospital early on. “Smart devices, or smart technology and applications, are integrated into our everyday lives with smart phones for example, so we asked “How can we bring this technology into the hospital environment and give that kind of experience to our patients and also to our physicians and clinicians,” says Felix Zhang, chief technology officer with Mackenzie Health. To achieve that smart hospital vision required a high level of integration, converging the hospital IT network with the building systems. Together with PCL and teams with expertise in information, communication, and automation technology (ICAT), the client was able to design and develop the necessary converged network backbone that props up the completed smart hospital.

SMART VISION The client, Mackenzie Health, identified

PHOTO: TOM ARBAN

DESIGN COLLABORATION

The Cortellucci Hospital opened Feb. 7 and is temporarily providing COVID-19 critical and acute care support.

44 / APRIL 2021

“The P3 model requires a lot of collaboration on the front end,” says Andre Bohren, the construction manager with PCL who oversaw the Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital (CVH) project. “We really do have to build our partnership with our mechanical and electrical contractors, and in this case an additional third-party on the IT side (Compugen).” Because connectivity and intelligence is integrated with so many of the different

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PHOTO: TOM ARBAN

BUILDING SMART

Inside the hospital’s prefabricated modular data center.

COLLABORATION TOOLS Today a smart build requires digital technology at all stages, and PCL has built a lot of capability around Autodesk’s building information modeling (BIM) technology for collaboration on design documentation.

CENTRAL UTILITIES PLANT

PHOTO: PCL

devices and systems in a hospital setting, a high level of team work early on in the design was required to ensure the physical infrastructure would be in place to connect all the pieces together. “The level of collaboration was very high on this project due to the fact that the smart hospital vision touched all of the major systems,” says Steve George, construction director (ICAT) with Plan Group. Focus group meetings with were held weekly during the design phase and all stakeholders including the hospital, PCL and the trades were included to understand all the inputs and outputs involved in the converged network. “In terms of the base infrastructure of this building, it’s not that different from other P3s in concept, but then we do have

The trade partners can access the 3D BIM model, and then they can pull out and add pieces where required. According to Mark Sayers, construction manager for Modern Niagara and another industry veteran who has worked on P3 hospitals with these partners in the past, this was the first major project incorporating 3D modeling early on. The construction team took the design-level 3D drawings from the architect and consulting engineers and added the construction level of detail. “That whole process, especially with it being done using the same software model, was unique. It’s now becoming more standard in the industry, but definitely at the start of 2017, it was the first job I was involved with that did that,” Sayers says. PCL also uses the Autodesk BIM 360 field system for communicating progress. “And we’ve layered on PCL’s own services with a [Microsoft] SharePoint backbone and it gives us a seamless window into those things. I’ve got to say, the collaboration piece in these tools, quality checking, progress photographs, is all shared in real time,” Bohren says. PCL also has an online delivery tool used to communicate with the client in terms of scheduling deliveries on-site to optimize time, and they use a cloud-based PDF system for collaboration on document review so everyone can do their shop drawing reviews in real time together.

all this integrated mechanical that’s also speaking more to the client’s front-end system, which make this a bit smarter than other builds,” Bohren notes. “There’s more user interfaces, like through patient iPads that can control lighting, the blinds, room temperature and more, and that’s more ‘smart’ than I’ve seen on past projects.” Peter Cole, district building systems manager with PCL, has been working on hospital P3 projects for over 10 years, and he’s witnessed the evolution of digital integration leading to today’s ICAT sophistication. “Ten years ago we were just touching a little bit on network design. We put a network in a hospital and we called it IT, and then it grew into ICT [information and communication technology], and then all of the sudden they added the automation.” Bohren recalls the first major hospital project he worked on and installing copper lines for fax machines. “And that was supposed to be one of the more advanced hospitals trending towards paperless. Fast forward three or four hospitals later, and this is the most I’ve ever seen in terms of a hospital venturing into paperless and a user-facing system to this degree. That’s what’s unique at CVH compared to other hospital projects I’ve been involved with in Ontario.”

Completed washroom pods were shipped and installed on-site.

46 / APRIL 2021

Sequentially, one of the first elements completed on-site was the Central Utilities Plant (CUP), a structure that houses the mechanical room along with power distribution and back-up generator. Typically utility plants are positioned in the penthouse or midway up a building, the CUP was constructed on ground level outside of the main building, providing multiple smart benefits. “We were able to start building the CUP in advance and in parallel, and start adding in critical systems such as generators, boilers and the major electrical distribution, all while we were still putting up the building,” Bohren says. Commissioning on the CUP was also started well ahead of the main building.

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BUILDING SMART

The exterior of the Central Utility Plant (CUP) at the new hospital.

“It was a real advantage for us,” Sayers adds. “We usually have to wait for the entire building to be built before we can start working on the plant, and then it becomes a critical path item at the back end of the schedule. “And with it being in its own building it became a unique feature. The architect incorporated glass into the chiller room, so you can look from the hospital and see right into the chiller room, and I haven’t seen a project where a mechanical facility has been featured like that. Usually it’s a back of house item that only mechanical contractors get excited over.” From the client’s perspective, building the CUP outside of the main building saved on valuable real estate inside the hospital allowing more room for patient care, and it also isolated any noise or heat generated at the plant.

PREFABRICATED MODULAR DATA CENTRE Another element placed outside the main building is the hospital’s data centre. The brains of the hospital information systems and an essential piece of the building’s operations, the data centre was positioned close to the CUP, convenient for connecting with power and cooling sources. Mackenzie Health elected to go with a prefabricated solution that consists of two identical container-like enclosures that were built and completely outfitted inside at a factory in Southwestern Ontario and then transported to the site. “We were involved in the planning of the data centre with the supplier based

48 / APRIL 2021

on a specific set of specifications from the client, and we did regular inspections in the factory as it was being built,” says Steve George with Plan Group. Once on-site the team performed some finishing work from an electrical and IT standpoint, including connections to all of the main electrical feeders. The enclosures have their own self-contained uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and backup cooling systems. The enclosures are twinned, and for additional redundancy they are connected by a fibre network to a data center located within another Mackenzie Health hospital in nearby Richmond Hill. Smart benefits of positioning the modular data centre outside of the building, aside from space savings inside, include flexibility for future expansion or even downsizing. “Right now everyone’s talking about cloud services, and who knows 10 or 20 years down the road we may leverage more cloud services and may not require a huge outside data centre anymore,” Zhang, from Mackenzie Health, says. “It’s much more cost-effective to do that if it’s outside of the building.”

MODULAR CONSTRUCTION For construction efficiencies, contractors like PCL seek opportunities to incorporate modular elements into buildings. This project included some 290 prefabricated patient washroom pods, each around 100 sq. ft. and weighing 5,000 pounds. “There was an early collaboration with the design team and our trade partners to figure out how to streamline the washroom designs, reducing the number of variations

required,” Bohren says. Once the pods were designed, the trades worked in PCL’s controlled factory environment. There are obvious scheduling benefits, working in parallel to the main build and not having to wait for slabs to be poured and the building enclosed. Once delivered, the trades also performed the final connections on-site. Another example of an off-site modular project included the pre-assembly of all the large chilled water, heating water and condenser water pipes onto structural steel pipe racks. This was performed in Modern Niagara’s fabrication facility. The pipe racks were then shipped on trucks and lowered into a tunnel connecting services from the CUP to the hospital.

COMPLETION DURING COVID PCL and its partners hit important milestones along the construction path and achieved substantial completion of the project in August 2020, amidst the COVID19 pandemic. The high level of collaboration among all partners that began at the onset of the project proved critical when the pandemic was first announced. Safety precautions were implemented on-site, and there were no COVID outbreaks. And after close to 4 million worker hours completed throughout the project there was not a single loss time incident. “That speaks a lot to the professionalism of the skilled people we had working on the project, and the safety culture on the project,” Bohren says. Officially opened on Feb. 7 of this year, the hospital is currently supporting Ontario’s fight against COVID by providing critical and acute care support. Once the pandemic is over, the hospital will serve as a full-service community hospital with the capacity to operate 350 beds with shell space to add more floors of additional capacity. According to Zhang, the greatest reward so far has been the positive feedback from patients, the ultimate goal of their smart vision.

Doug Picklyk is the editor of HPAC magazine.

APRIL 2021

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SOFTWARE

By Jacob Stoller

Canada is a laggard on construction permitting. An Ontario initiative aims to change that

ver the past year, curbside pickup has proven to be one of the keys to keeping the economy moving, and some building departments have adopted it for drawings and other approval documents. While helpful, the practice is a reminder of how far behind Canada is in digitizing its permitting processes. “While some may consider curbside pickup innovative, the reality is those drawings could be digital and tracked through the internet,” says Arash Shahi, CEO of AECO Innovation Lab. According to a World Bank survey, Canada ranks 64th out of 190 nations in ease of obtaining construction permits, reflecting a lack of e-permitting sophistication. “Canada is the only G7 country with out a national BIM mandate,” Shahi says. AECO is spearheading One Ontario, an initiative to establish a common data platform for all construction project approvals in the province, which many hope will set the stage for standardization across Canada. The initiative would streamline permitting processes and eliminate the need to make separate submissions to environmental, transportation, and other authorities. “There would be a single and consistent method of application for development approvals,” Shahi says. “So you’d go to one portal, regardless of what municipality you’re building in.” Co-sponsors include the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) and the Ontario Building Officials Association (OBOA). The twenty-plus Ontario organizations that have signed on as supporters include the Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA) and other industry associations, while other provinces are showing an interest.

A GROWING SENSE OF URGENCY Canada’s permitting crisis is particularly problematic for home builders, who often have to tie up capital for years as they await various approvals, often completely in the dark about what the objections are, or when approval will be granted. “There are, in our estimation, 45 different government bodies that are involved in that approval process at one stage or another,” says RESCON President Richard Lyall. “So if you have areas where standards aren’t enforced or there are no standards at all, then in terms of accountability, transparency and predictability, you’ve got a problem.” While the impact of e-permitting on OGCA members who engage primarily in institutional, commercial, and industrial (ICI) projects is not as dramatic – GCs tend to enter the picture after the permitting process – the organization is keeping a close eye on One Ontario’s progress. “We are watching the implementation of One Ontario closely to see the impact on project approvals and working

50 / APRIL 2021

with our colleagues at RESCON and other design-build organizations,” says Erich Schmidt, Government and Stakeholder Relations Associate at the OGCA. A key interest at the OGCA is that any push for standardization maintains a level playing field for all GCs. “Once some form of e-permitting is established and there are proven test cases, the industry might push to adopt a BIM standard,” Schmidt says. “The OGCA is standard agnostic – our big concern is ensuring our small and medium-sized members can competitively bid in all of Ontario’s municipalities.”

MOVING FORWARD While stakeholder organizations have pledged sweat equity, the initiative is currently unfunded. The approximately $2 million needed to get the project rolling, however, is relatively small, Shahi notes, because much of the technical work has already been done in other countries, notably Singapore and the U.K. “The good news is that everybody else has done this, and we can learn from them and adapt that according to what we want to do,” Shahi says. “So there’s not a lot of risk.” The bulk of the work, consequently, will be about getting approvals entities on the same page. “It’s more about research than the technical piece,” says Ralph Kaminski, director and chief building official for the Town of Oakville and member of AECO’s board of experts. “It’s ‘who has this information, where do they store it, and would they be willing to store it in a common location so that everyone can access the information?’ If we can agree to do that, can it also be agreed to use a standard terminology in order to find a simple solution to access all relevant data?” The initiative will take years, but the payoff could be significant for Canada. There’s evidence, for example, that solving this problem will not only help the industry, but could help alleviate housing shortages in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver. “We know that in other jurisdictions like Finland where they’ve introduced systems like this, it’s actually caused more projects to come forward.” Lyall says, “because the fact is, when you can predict your return on investment and when you will be able to actually get a project approved and build something, that encourages more projects to come forward.” “The critical mass has been created,” Shahi says, “but we need the voice of the industry. We need people to stand up to the microphone and say ‘yes’ to this.”

Jacob Stoller is principal of StollerStrategies. Send comments to editor@on-sitemag.com

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RISK

By David Bowcott

Applying lessons learned from cyber insurance to traditional lines of coverage

he insurance sector is currently in a hard market, which means insurance pricing is going up and coverage capacity is going down. These hard market conditions shouldn’t be a surprise as they have been visible for several years. For instance, in the past three years, we have seen the terms offered by insurers begin to fall well short of those previously offered in the soft insurance market. The hard market is impacting almost every line of insurance and the construction sector is being hit severely by these hard conditions. It is simple math – the dollars paid out by insurers for insured losses, and/or associated legal fees from claims, have far exceeded the dollars collected by insurers. So, what are insurers doing to help return normalcy to the insurance market given these conditions? It would seem most of them are simply taking the path of reducing capacity and increasing rates. That is a very simplistic way to reverse the financial impact caused by these market conditions. Perhaps it is time for insurers to take more of an active role in helping their clients better understand the root causes of their claims and, further help their insureds find better ways to manage these risks. When it comes to a new risk on the scene, cyber risk, several of the insurers offering very little in the way of insured support under their traditional lines, are offering several valuable risk education and risk control services on their relatively new cyber insurance lines of cover. Almost all of the top global insurers have spent significant amounts of money on services associated with the cyber insurance coverages. The following are a sampling of some of the services offered in conjunction with cyber insurance covers: • Enterprise risk management consulting and solutions for cyber risks • Cyber education and training services for insureds • Very detailed claims data on cyber claims • Blacklist IP blocking • Infrastructure vulnerability scans • Cyber security audits and scoring services • Cyber security software solutions • Mobile apps that help clients educate, train, monitor and manage their cyber risks

brokers. They are paying their underwriting costs, and they are, of course, paying losses. They have realized, as it respects this new cover, that losses are happening – cyber lines of cover have also been hit very hard. However, they are also realizing they need to help their clients navigate these claims by offering them a better way of managing this new and emerging risk. This is great as it is a very real risk and this combination of risk control solutions and risk finance solutions is a highly valuable combination that not only helps their clients, but will lead to improved loss results with their clients becoming better positioned to manage the risk of a cyber attack. My question to insurers that are offering this great combination of risk management solutions is: why not do the same for your more traditional lines of cover and why not market these offerings with as much vigor as you are marketing the cyber solutions offering? Within the construction insurance space, the main lines of insurance cover, though not as sexy as cyber insurance, are property, casualty, professional liability, environmental liability, sub default insurance and surety. Almost all of these lines are experience very hard market conditions, as is cyber insurance, however it seems a majority of insurers that offer these covers are not offering their clients the same level of risk education and risk controls solutions. They are simply increasing rates and/or reducing capacity/coverage. Insurers should be providing their insureds deeper insights into where construction insurance claims are coming from, they should be hiring top experts in the field of construction risk to help clients deal with these risks, they should be paying for technologies that can prevent and mitigate these claims from happening, and they should be doing this as part of the increased premium they are collecting. These same insurers have charted a path to profitability within their cyber insurance line of cover that could easily be replicated in their more traditional offerings. As mentioned, such a path would offer their clients a value beyond just the insurances and, further and perhaps more importantly, would offer the insurer greater profitability. Rate increase is good, but rate with risk controls is much better – and better for long-term branding for insurers.

What is most interesting here is that many of the above services sold in conjunction with the cyber insurance policies are free of charge. This means they are including the cost of these solutions in their premium from which they may be paying

David Bowcott is Global Director – Growth, Innovation & Insight, Global Construction and Infrastructure Group at Aon Risk Solutions, as well as a member of the Canadian Construction Association’s (CCA) board of directors.

52 / APRIL 2021

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2019-03-05 11:19 AM

CONTRACTORS & THE LAW

By Erin Cutts

Keeping the ‘good’ faith: Contract termination not as simple as complying with terms

he Supreme Court of Canada confirmed in 2014 that all contracting parties owe one another a duty of honesty and good faith. This duty has been described as contracting parties’ obligation not to actively mislead or deceive one

another. Since that time, a number of court decisions have considered this duty of honesty and good faith in the context of a number of different contractual terms and conditions. Most recently, the SCC in C.M. Callow Inc. v. Zollinger considered it in the context of a contract termination provision and confirmed that even if the provisions permitting termination of a contract are strictly followed, the termination cannot be properly and legally exercised if it is exercised dishonestly, or even with knowledge that the party being terminated was under a mistaken apprehension about its contractual security.

"The relationship with the other contracting party and the representations that have been made to that other contracting party must now be considered in a factual matrix prior to effecting a termination." The facts of this case were an important consideration in the Court’s conclusion. Christopher Callow was the owner and operator of a property maintenance company that entered into a 2-year contract with several condominium corporations for clearing snow, among other things. The maintenance contract contained a provision allowing the condominiums to terminate the contract on ten days’ notice for any reason. In the first winter, there were complaints levied by several tenants about the services being provided by Callow under the maintenance contract. A meeting was held and it appeared Callow was able to assuage the condominium corporations’ concerns about his company’s services. Shortly after the meeting to discuss the condominium corporations’ concerns, the condominium buildings’ property manager advised the committee that was responsible for the maintenance contract that they should terminate it prior to the following winter. The committee agreed to terminate the contract but Callow was not advised at that time of the decision to terminate. Instead, the condominiums advised Callow his company was likely to be retained to maintain the properties in the future. Callow relied upon those representations and did not take on additional work for the following winter. He also performed extra work for free at the properties in order to ensure that he was offered future work.

54 / APRIL 2021

In the fall, the condominiums gave Callow the requisite 10 days’ notice that they were terminating the winter contract. Callow filed a court action against the condominium corporations, arguing the termination was unfair and the condominium corporations has breached their duty of honest performance in their dealings with his maintenance company. The trial judge agreed with Callow finding the condominium corporations knew they were going to be terminating the maintenance contract, but actively misled Callow into believing his contract would be renewed. The Court of Appeal, however, disagreed, finding that if the condominiums had actively mislead Callow, the representations were made in respect of future contracts and not the contract that had been terminated. The Court of Appeal concluded there was no duty of honesty and good faith in the performance of a contract that had not yet been entered into. In the latest decision last December, the SCC agreed with the trial judge, holding that due to their dishonesty, the condominium corporations breached their duty of good faith and honesty in the performance of the maintenance contract when they terminated the maintenance company’s services. Importantly, the SCC did clarify that there is no duty to divulge a decision to terminate a contract prior to the termination; however, depending on the circumstances, it may be a breach of the duty of good faith and honest contractual performance to allow a party to misapprehend the reality of its contractual security, which is what happened in this case. This is an important case, as the decision to terminate a contract is often fraught with concerns about the implications of improper termination. The damages suffered by the party being terminated as a result of an improper termination can be significant. This case adds an additional layer of uncertainty and complexity surrounding what is often already a difficult decision. Ultimately, this case confirms parties who terminate contracts are not only entitled to strictly rely upon the termination provisions of those contracts in effecting a termination. The relationship with the other contracting party and the representations that have been made to that other contracting party must now be considered in a factual matrix prior to effecting a termination. As a result, any hint of dishonesty or knowledge of the opposing party’s mistaken beliefs regarding its contractual security ought to be closely scrutinized in any contractual termination analysis prior to effecting a termination.

Erin Cutts practices Construction Law at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. Although care has been taken to ensure accuracy, this article should not be relied upon as legal advice. Full citations to all works cited are available in the online version of this column.

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