🎃 Spooky recession season

Together with

Good morning! Welcome to our inaugural newsletter. Happy first issue to us 🎂. Each week our team will deliver the most informative, interesting and inspiring construction news from across the country to your inbox. In just a few minutes you will be more knowledgeable about the construction sector. It's that simple.

🎃 With the scent of pumpkin spice wafting through the air, we thought we would kick things off by touring buildings with histories of spooky activity. Haunted or not? That’s for you to decide…

- Russell Hixson, editor

MARKETS

*Stock data as of last market close; currency, oil and crypto data as of 9:45PM ET

Markets: Up, up and away. Experts say Bank of Canada could issue another interest rate hike this week. It would be the sixth consecutive hike this year as the bank attempts to cool historic inflation. Royal Bank of Canada says the hike is likely to be a percentage point or three-quarters of a percentage point.

THE BIG STORY

Digging In: Where Canada's labour crunch stands

Canada has been experiencing a labour crunch for years. While the construction workforce sits at more than 1.65 million and has been growing, BuildForce Canada still anticipates the industry will be 29,000 workers short by 2027. SiteNews reached out to industry experts to see how the crunch is impacting job sites and what can be done to close the labour gap.

Here's the deal: This isn't just a supply side issue. The demand for construction is growing at a pace that can't be kept up with, said Bill Ferreira, executive director of BuildForce. Leaders like Chandos CEO Tim Coldwell say it's only going to get bigger as the country needs to increase the population, massively boost housing, transition to green technology and upgrade infrastructure.

Need to know:

• Recruiters like Michael Scott at Impact Recruitment have been urging companies to expand their search beyond their own province and have created now online tools that connect them with workers.

• Economist Mikal Skuterud believes the crunch could ultimately improve conditions for workers and push companies to innovate.

• Provinces have already been petitioning the federal government to ease immigration restrictions so new workers can be brought in to fill the gaps.

But that's not the whole story...

Check out the full article which includes all our interviews and research.

NEED TO KNOW

The week's headlines

• 📚 May I have the attention of the class? New report released on using wood for school projects in B.C.

• 🎵 Listen up! Canadian construction leaders shared their favourite tunes with us. So we made a custom Spotify playlist. Enjoy 😁

• 📉 The recession blues are starting to grip financial experts as the economy slumps.

• ❗️ Coastal GasLink pipeline in hot water over environmental violations.

• 💰 This First Nations group is turning a legal victory into an engine for growth.

SPONSORED BY WALES MCLELLAND

How to vet your construction partner

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Choosing your construction partner might just be the biggest business decision you make.

Wales McLelland believes that a strong partnership is built on a foundation of trust—something that’s earned rather than awarded.

The B.C.-based company, which has been in operation for 50 years, offered its advice for evaluating trust before the work begins. Wales spoke with partners from major projects like Boundary Bay Business Park, The George, Delta iPort, OpenRoad Auto Group Toyota Dealership to get their thoughts on what makes for a good partner:

• Close collaboration with architectural and engineering firms early in the pre-construction phase to make sure building design aligns with the functional needs of the client and the practical needs of construction.

• The ability to perform with consistency.

• A builder that can be trusted to perform and de-risk a project.

• Builders that emphasize communication when collaborating with other project consultants helps to make sure that all viewpoints are served.

Read more here.

PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

Vancouver Island University student housing

Putting down roots: A nine-storey hybrid mass-timber building is coming to Vancouver Island University. The $87.8-million housing project will increase on-campus student accommodations with 266 new student beds. Plans include a common area for students to study and gather and a new dining hall for students living in campus housing. Construction is expected to start in spring 2023 and be complete in summer 2025, with the first students moving in by fall 2025.

PROJECT UPDATES

Gensler will design a major expansion of the Marine Terminal Studio Hub in Toronto

Green Line project in Calgary releases phase 1 request for proposal  

Bird Construction soars with with $95M Alberta health centre contract win

The province of B.C. pushes the Vancouver Art Gallery project forward with major funding announcement

Siksika First Nation breaks ground on continuing care centre in Alberta

WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT

• Read: House styles of the rich and the famous. Luxury builders embrace prefab.

• Read: Buzz buzz. Wasp-inspired 3D printing construction drones take to the skies 🐝.

• Watch: Robot dogs... on the construction site?

• Tweet: This AI powered app helps you count things really fast.

• See: Awwwww. Child's sensory bin stocked with construction toys.

• List: These are the biggest projects under construction in 🇨🇦 right now.

BY THE NUMBERS 

Road facts you didn't know you needed 🚗

Canada has more than a million kilometres of two-lane equivalent roads.

This includes 38,021 km of highways.

B.C. boasts the most highway, with 7,032 km of highway.

The crown jewel of Canda’s highway network is the Trans-Canada Highway which stretches through each of Canada’s 10 provinces for 7,821 km.

According to the latest data from Canada’s Core Infrastructure Survey, construction was completed for 43,316 kilometres of two-lane equivalent roads in 2019 and 2020.

This work represented 4 per cent of 🇨🇦's entire road network.

🙏🏻 Thanks for reading!

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