Category: Technology

When one of the three Brierley brothers was laid off from his job at a drywall and prefabrication contractor in Calgary, it got them all thinking about making a major career move together. 

“Things slowed down and I ended up getting laid off,” said Gaius. “Did a bit of work here and there to make ends meet. I started off doing a few days selling floor protection and it wasn’t too long before we decided to do it properly full time.”

Gaius and his brothers, Sam and Shane, had moved to Canada from the UK as kids in 2003. All had found work in various parts of the construction sector. But with Gaius looking for new work, they all decided to take a stab at starting their own business.

“We knew the industry and that there was a demand for protecting surfaces,” said Sam. “When Gaius went out he just would drop in on sites in Calgary and just started talking to people, asking what they needed. When we got our first order we had to fill out the forms in Excel to invoice.”  

They celebrated by going out to lunch and rushed to officially set up their company. Each had their specialty. Sam would focus on sales and marketing, Gaius would handle operations and Shane would be in charge of administration and finance.

Their background in the UK also came in handy. The brothers’ travels had exposed them to a wider range of products that were common overseas, but hardly known in Canada. Their goal was to provide the industry with new solutions. 

“It was hard work,” said Sam. “We didn’t know if it would get big and or if it would be a hard slog.”

The traditional surface protection product used for most jobsites was a paper-based product called Ram Board. While the Brierleys explained that this product was perfect for some situations, it struggled in others. 

For longer jobs with high traffic, the paper-based boards would break down. It also doesn’t perform well if it gets wet and tends to curl up. Axiom introduced thick fluted plastic sheets that were more suitable for these jobs. They lay flatter, absorb impact and can easily be cleaned. Rather than the one size fits all approach, Axiom has sought to provide builders with the right tool for the job. 

“Instead of just floor protection, we have a complete range of options,” said Sam. “If you come to us with your needs, how long the job is, what you are protecting, what you are protecting it from, we can almost value engineer a solution.” 

Their approach from the beginning was this: Save construction professionals time and money, and make them look good. 

They initially tracked sales and customers in large binders full of tabs but soon they would have to get more sophisticated. In 2017 they grew by 250 per cent. The year after their size more than doubled again. It was then that they decided it was time to start making their own products. 

“We figured we needed to show we could create our specs with manufacturers of products, hold that quality and create a brand people could trust,” said Gaius. 

They started with their Armour Surface Protect brand and the first product was polyethylene backed and UV stabilized Armour Tape. 

“From there we kept exploring different products and branding,” said Gaius. “It was a big learning curve over the years, especially dealing with manufacturers overseas. We had a lot of challenges over the years with quality assurance. You think you got something nailed and then a container comes in with stuff you didn’t expect. Everytime that has happened, we have owned it and gone on to perfect the process.”

Their specifications have become more exact and their product orders are pre-inspected before they leave the factory. This process was a major challenge initially when they had to invest a lot up front in a large product order when the sales weren’t there yet. Now their products have been used on massive projects, including the Calgary Cancer Centre, CIBC Square, Roger Centre renovations, Royal Inland Hospital and The Residences at TELUS Sky.

When it comes to working as brothers, the trio says they have been quick to find out what their individual strengths are and stay in those lanes. They also attribute their success to their team.

“We take pride in building a good team that enjoys working here everyday, and they build the company as well,” said Sam.

The past few years have seen major expansion. So far they have four distribution centres across the country and are currently eying a fifth one in Quebec. They already have a bilingual account manager on their team that is working to grow the business in that region. 

And while they produce their own version of paper-based floor protection similar to Ram Board in addition to many other products, the team is continually innovating new ones. 

“We have a product roadmap of innovations that comes directly from the challenges we get from clients on their sites,” said Gaius. “We flag those and if there is enough of a need, we try to figure out a solution.”

The team is even planning expansion beyond Canada. 

“Looking to the future, we are eyeing up the U.S.,” said Sam. “We sell a small amount there but the focus has been on Canada. The intent in the future is to take it across North America.”

Editors Note: SiteNews has partnered with Axiom to giveaway two free graphite hard hats to our readers. Click on the image below to learn how to enter and get multiple entries.

Ontario, start your engines. 

Volkswagen, Europe’s largest automaker, announced that its subsidiary PowerCo will establish an electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing facility in St. Thomas.

Volkswagen Group is one of the world’s largest automakers, $406 billion in revenue 2022. It manages a portfolio of ten companies.

Following this announcement,  François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and industry, Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of economic development, job creation and trade, called the move a major vote of confidence in Canada and Ontario.

“This historic investment is a testament to Canada’s strong and growing battery ecosystem and Ontario’s competitive business environment. With a highly skilled workforce, clean energy, an abundance of critical minerals, access to markets, and a flourishing automotive and battery sector, we are an attractive investment destination with everything companies need to grow,” they said. “In addition, Canada and Ontario offer stability and predictability to their business partners.”

The ministers added that the investment is a significant step towards building a clean transportation sector to meet global and North American demand for zero-emission vehicles.

Designing a universal washroom is a common task for architects. 

They are required for most buildings, codes often lay out complex requirements and working them into a project can eat up hours or more.

“That simple little room could have our staff busy for a day trying to lay it all out and there’s a good chance they don’t get it right every time,” explained Zenon Radewych, a principal at Toronto-based WZMH Architects in Ontario. 

That’s why the firm developed the Universal Washroom APP, a design assist tool which automatically generates layouts for the Ontario Building Code Universal Washroom. The AI-powered app provides a quick solution instead of hours and hours of tinkering and sketching.

“Students that join us can now use these tools to solve problems within seconds. The next step with this app is integrating it into a drawing program so a drawing can be generated,” said Radewych. “I see the future of building design being like that – inputting numbers into spreadsheets.” 

He believes this could free up far more time for architects to design the look and feel of buildings rather than spending time on technical documents.  

“If AI tools generate the technical layout details, we can focus more on design quality,” he said. “The more accurate we are, the better the documents are. That means less conflicts and less errors.”

Sparkbird is born

The app is just one of the many projects hatched by the firm’s unique innovation lab Sparkbird. The lab was founded by Radewych in 2017 to spur innovation in the construction sector.

“I’ve been around a long time and spent a lot of time on sites,” he said. “What bothers me is that I haven’t seen a lot of change. We have built the same way for 75 years. Productivity is down. It’s taking a lot more effort to produce these buildings with labour shortages and quality control is not there.” 

He began to look at the different layers of a project to see if things could be combined for more efficiency. The result was Sparkbird’s first project, the intelligent structural panel (ISP). 

The ISP can be used in place of traditional structural elements such as reinforced concrete and steel decking. The prefabricated steel plate sandwich panel, contains an “intelligent layer” with plug-in ports for everything from HVAC and lighting to security systems and elevators which respond via sensors to changes in movement, touch, sound, sunlight, temperature and even occupant flow.

“The whole thinking process led us to combining materials,” said Radewych. “We are basically reducing the materials and steps needed. Instead of just concrete and steel, we embed an intelligent layer highway to run wiring for lights and other things. It looks like a circuit board.”

Changing how things are built

As the ISP development progressed, a portion of the office became an active research and development lab space and Sparkbird was hatched. Now the team uses the lab to develop and test new ideas and software applications in collaboration with industry partners.

“This whole idea of innovation evolved from the idea that we need to change how we build things,” said Radewych. “There are too many layers and steps. We looked at how to combine things. That’s kind of the process behind what we do in the lab. It’s about reducing, combining and integrating.” 

Another product from the lab is the Digital Client Standards APP, a user-friendly, interactive and digitally connected version of traditional building design standards. These replace thick hardcopy binders that require manual updates. The app interacts with furniture and equipment suppliers to track the supply chain, and issue bulletins to BIM software to ensure design projects’ latest standards are reflected in real time.

“The time period to train staff is hugely reduced by having this digital document,” said before had to give them big binder, now it’s simple.”

Earlier this year, the firm developed a prefabricated modular precast solution, Speedstac, for mid- to high-rise residential buildings to address housing shortages. But the team soon realized the approach could be used to help rebuild wartorn Ukraine or earthquake damaged buildings in Turkey.

Made of “boxes” that are stacked together, side by side or on top of each other, these prefabricated modular units slide into the existing building and replace damaged sections with new residential units. To facilitate the installation of the Speedstac modules, the firm and UA IT Hub have developed a software and AI tool doton, which provides efficient and safer means of installing components by crane, and utilizes drones or stationary Lidar cameras to measure the distance between building components and the final resting or installation point. The firm says the future of doton is a software platform that will automate the process of installing building components by “autonomous” cranes.

The firm is also harnessing the power of robotics and has presented a robotic solution to install the nuts and complete the required torque for the connection points for prefabricated / modular building components such as Speedstac. Dubbed Torqbot, the robot is flown into position by a drone, and all procedures are streamed to a mobile device such as a tablet.

“While we believe in the whole prefabrication and modular industry and that it will take off at some point, there are still some challenges,” said Radewych. “It’s not cheaper yet and there isn’t enough competition. I don’t think it’s going to move fast but there are definitely benefits to that industry and I think it will eventually prove itself.”

He believes more specialization needs to take place in the prefabrication and modular sector for it to be a more commonly accepted option.

Trying new things

“The idea of the lab and what we do is playing and having fun,” he said. “A lot of these are things that we aren’t in the business of doing. But we are doing them to have fun, show people and think about the future. It’s also great retaining talent as lots of people want to join our firm because of the lab and it shows our clients that we like to think outside of the box.”

He also sees cracks forming in the standar construction project formula as labour shortages, climate targets and other pressures have increased. He believes this will necessitate change in the coming years. 

“I think lots has happened in the past ten years, and the  industry has realized it has to change or there will be serious problems,” said Radewych.

The Site Visit podcast took their show out of the studio and onto the road last month.

Instead of just bringing their content to listeners’ digital devices, the Site Visit team brought their recording setup to the trade 162,000-square-foot show floor of Buildex Vancouver.

During the two-day trade show event, hosts James Faulkner and Christian Hamm embarked on a marathon of recording, producing 10 episodes with scheduled and drop-in guests.

It was a deliberate departure from the usual methods they use to promote their construction management software company, SiteMax. The company offers field management software for construction designed to meet the needs of a general contractor or subcontractor on a commercial, multi-family residential, hi-rise or light industrial project. The complete jobsite management platform has generated millions of daily logs, safety reports, photo records, time entries and more worldwide.

“We had this idea to switch up the trade show strategy from a typical presentation to a more interactive engagement that can build momentum and create something that’s unforgettable to exhibitors and guests,” said Hamm. “The typical trade show experience is sending a few sales guys with the latest product and you just try to engage whoever will talk to you. But it’s a lot of time and capital to get a booth at a show so we felt that we might as well create something engaging enough to make every dollar worthwhile.”

The setup included a full mixing board, microphones, headphones, a table, couches and even a ping pong table. Speakers even broadcast the podcast live to passersby on the trade show floor.

“For the first five minutes you think about your words being broadcast to exhibitors but after that you sort of lose yourself in the conversation,” said Hamm. “It actually kind of got fun having a live audience as opposed to waiting to see the downloads.”

Hamm said he enjoyed hearing stories from builders and entrepreneurs who have created something from nothing. But he noted the podcast also branched out into discussing topics and trends.

“The things we learned from the live show experience will heavily influence even how we do things in the studio,” he said. “We want to do more topics and trend segments, maybe even segments of tips and tricks. We would also like to have regular guest contributors and host live events. We want to invite a live podcast audience, even online, so questions can be fielded.”

The team is also considering deploying the mobile podcasting concept at other events.
“Can we replicate it in another market for another trade show? There are so many great ones in other markets,” said Hamm.

Check out all the Buildex Vancouver podcasts below:

Olivia Olczak Day from Day Media Consulting

Daniel Loney from Excelsior Measuring

Marlo van den Brink from Aerotek

Jason Carton from Hyland Landscapes

Enoque Panzo from Kiese Technologies

Carrie Hunter from Sensera Systems

Jordan Bateman from the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association

Dave Bouwman, from Midland Appliance

Russell Hixson from SiteNews

Sanjeev Dhillon from the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association

Vancouver-based BuildCentrix has acquired a Californian technology company that provides material procurement software for the construction industry. 

BuildCentrix stated that by uniting teams and leveraging data, the acquisition will expand BuildCentrix’s footprint and help the construction industry build more efficiently.

The acquisition is San Francisco-based SiteTrace which aims to streamline construction workflows, prevent schedule delays, and improve project profitability.

“We’re excited to acquire an agile company such as SiteTrace to bring our best of breed applications to the industry,” said James Beveridge, BuildCentrix CEO. “With a strong focus on customer success, we help our clients reduce waste and save time in material procurement and management.”

SiteTrace primarily services contractors in the mechanical trade. Officials noted that that over time, SiteTrace and its customer base will become integrated with BuildCentrix.

“We founded SiteTrace as a fanatically customer-focused company dedicated to improving the way contractors procure materials,” said Mehul Kulkarni, SiteTrace CEO and co-founder. “We are excited to bring contractors to a comprehensive solution by joining with BuildCentrix and dramatically improve the way they do business.”

According to BuildCentrix’s website, its team developed a one-of-a-kind algorithm to create original 3D build-ready mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) content and a dynamic workflow platform to address contractor needs in the $200 billion MEP sector.

The company says it also provides the only web-based 3D assembly builder for HVAC and piping/plumbing trades. The platform is also fully integrated with Autodesk building environments including Revit, CAD, and CAM software.

Key Takeaways

• Gravity Climate is stacking up partnerships to enhance its carbon footprint tracking tools.
• They recently announced partnerships with Procore and Xometry.
• Gravity officials believe there will be more and more demand for empirical data in construction, particularly on the materials side.

The Whole Story

Gravity Climate, a company helping industrial businesses and their supply chain partners manage their carbon footprint, is lining up partnerships to enhance its services. 

Last fall they announced a technology integration with construction management software giant Procore. Procore users can leverage Gravity’s sustainability insights in project planning and bids via an embedded app with one click.

“The timing of this partnership is crucial,” said Kris Lengieza, vice president of global partnerships and alliances at Procore. “Technologies like Gravity make it possible for Procore’s customers to incorporate emissions data into their business planning and project management. We’re excited to work with Gravity to solve this problem for the industry.” 

This month, Gravity Climate also announced a partnership with Xometry, a global online marketplace connecting enterprise buyers with suppliers of manufacturing services. The new integration, powered by the Gravity API, instantly calculates carbon emissions estimates for Xometry order requests in real-time. Gravity Climate purpose-built the database for Xometry, incorporating the latest climate science and data related to product material, manufacturing processes, mass, and geography.

Gravity Climate launched last year with $5 million in seed funding from Eclipse Ventures and several new customer engagements with mid-sized manufacturers and industrial-focused private equity firms. 

The motivating factor for building Gravity was the opportunity to apply new technology to industrial supply chains, which are responsible for over 40% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Founder Saleh ElHattab explained that he started Gravity after spending years working for companies like Salesforce and Samsara. 

“I ended up expanding to cover physical operations with hardware and software and I fell in love with the physical industry and the data,” he said. “We help some of the most carbon intensive industries through the entirety of the building’s lifecycle. This is choosing materials, construction and then the actual building management.”

He believes that working with existing software providers makes it easier for the industry to access decarbonization tools. 

“There are major benefits to working with a large company like Procore or any organization that has a significant consumer base and data that aligns with our mission,” said ElHattab It lowers the barrier of entry for organizations who don’t have the time or budget surplus on consultants or internal hires. We want to make it easy if you are already familiar with these systems.”

ElHattab believes there will be an increasing demand to measure the emissions impact of materials beyond measuring utilities or fuel. 

“I think there is going to be a massive trend towards empirical data. Even just a few years back, early adopters who reached out to supply chains couldn’t get the info needed to get high quality estimates,” said ElHattab. “The trend we are seeing is that more and more of these construction and industrial companies are starting to be market compelled to find and elevate empirical data about their emissions, consumption of fuel and raw materials.” 

SALUS CEO and founder Gabe Guetta never had any grand plans to start a digital health and safety platform for builders. It was born out of necessity. 

Right out of high school he worked in construction as a labourer and rose up in the business. At 25 he was running a Metro Vancouver subcontracting business specializing in high rise window installation that employed more than 100 people.

Guetta saw a shift happen around seven years ago when a major shift in compliance happened. 

“The companies we were working for were being forced to track a deeper level of compliance,” he said. “They had to prove they were following rules and requirements and prove it by filling out forms. They also were forced to ensure their subs were doing this.”

Overnight Guetta and his team were having to produce and create a safety program as well as daily, weekly and monthly forms proving compliance. This put the company in a reactive state as the entire workforce had to change on a dime. 

“The legal ramifications were huge and I always had this anxiety around liability,” said Guetta. “We continued in that reactive state for a few years.”

His fears were realized when a 14-foot piece of steel was dropped from the 14th floor of a build onto a pedestrian parking lot. Nobody was hurt, but after an investigation revealed some forms were not properly filled out, Guetta was personally written up. 

Better than paper

“We wanted to take that experience, that failure, and elevate the business,” said Guetta. “But I couldn’t find a way to progress in this reactive paper state. That’s where the journey began as we started to look for software.” 

The search left Guetta unsatisfied. While site documents and e-compliance existed, he felt that there wasn’t something that was built specifically for construction. 

“If you understand the industry, you have to replicate the physical workflows of an individual,” he explained. “If technology can’t do that, paper is more powerful. Can a worker start that form on a laptop then go into the field, share it with other people and work on it together digitally, even out of cell service, finish it, auto-share it with the GC, share so others can sign? If it can’t do that, it is just a roadblock in the physical workflow. It has to be better than paper.”

Guetta worked with SALUS co-founder and full-stack developer Rob Clifford to build a program that digitally replicates the existing hierarchies and workflows of the industry. 

“It’s a single source of truth,” he said. “As companies work in the system together and share it allows the natural flow of the industry to happen.”

The team was new to the software as a service industry and it was a momentous task to get started. 

“We didn’t know what software as a service (SaaS) meant,” said Guetta. “We didn’t know truly how complex and how much work it was. We just started to climb that mountain. I knew exactly what the industry needed for success and Robbie knew how to build it.” 

The first priority was field adoption from workers so the team started with a mobile app and got it into the hands of crews. This meant making it as easy as possible to access through a web page or even just scanning a QR code. 

“A worker’s job is to go from point ‘a’ and ‘b’ to build something,” said Guetta. “If we stop them and don’t adapt to their natural flow or make it more efficient, we are losing. You have to get into the trenches and build a product from the eyes of the industry from their side of the fence.”

Collaboration gone digital

Projects are a team effort and Guetta explained that while building SALUS, the team knew that it would have to be able to function in a collaborative environment. 

“You can’t just run one thing, you have to pull it all together in a cohesive way,” he said. “First we built an architecture that maps out the workflows and hierarchies. It allows us to replicate the physical workflow so well that adoption is elevated. Then you pull all feature sets into one platform for health and safety and from that point you can connect companies together.”

This means that if a general contractors has subs and thos subs have subs, you can connect them. 

“In our platform it’s all interconnected,” he said. “It connects to existing profiles, maps out the hierarchy, creating almost a metaverse. We aren’t revolutionizing anything. We are just putting this all into a digital space.” 

Guetta believes that digitizing this creates the opportunity for the entire construction community to be more collaborative when it comes to keeping workers and the public safe. 

He imagines a scenario where all of Vancouver is connected to SALUS. The community could know that a truck driver is carrying a hazardous load. The entire metaverse knows it’s happening and the safest route can be determined. Nearby sites can be notified. 

“Imagine what can happen if there is more collaboration, if we know where high risk activities are on a dashboard,” he said. “Now you aren’t being reactive. You are proactive.” 

Guetta also believes that the data generated from SALUS could be used to identify trends and emerging risks that could be dealt with before a serious incident occurs. However he stressed that it would be done in such a way that personal information regarding workers and companies is hidden. 

Guetta said SALUS has worked with more than 1,800 companies across North America and Australia and in the coming year intends to focus on Canada and the U.S.

“We have so much more room to innovate and as we are doing that we are listening,” said Guetta. “The future is SALUS is truly allowing an industry to come together and solve health and safety problems in a collaborative environment and not a competitive one.”

After decades in the Manitoba and Ontario construction industry, an injury sidelined David Peters. He used it as an opportunity to create ConstructionClock, a new app that automatically tracks labour hours.

The app shows exactly how many hours are being spent on each job and how many hours to pay each person. At the end of each pay period ConstructionClock generates employee work logs. These reports will list the projects they worked on, notes of what they did each day and total hours they worked in that period for payroll processing.

SiteNews: How did you get involved in the construction industry?

David Peters: I spent the first 20 years of my career in the construction industry. First through the trades program in my small community high school which led to a variety of construction jobs from roofing to concrete before starting my own construction company that mainly served remote developments in Northern Manitoba and Ontario.

How has that experience informed ConstructionClock?

Through a deep understanding of the construction industry, and an injury that left me unable to physically do construction work, ConstructionClock was born. 

What convinced you that there was a need for labour tracking in construction? 

Based on personal experience of running my own construction company, and after talking with dozens of small to medium sized companies about the idea, I realized that there was a huge need for smart labour tracking specific to the construction industry. And after launching in the summer, it’s become even more clear that the demand exists based on the uptake of the app.

What was the process like to build this app?

Building an app has been an amazing learning experience. It’s one thing to have an idea, but another thing to bring it to life. We’re fortunate to have built a talented team from around the world that all share the same passion and are incredible dedicated to making ConstructionClock the best it can be for our customers. We’re also fortunate to have a team of investors that believe in this idea as well. In November we won the Startup TNT Summit in Manitoba which not only helps us grow but also validates that our business is disruptive and that we’re equipped for growth. We’ve also received a lot of support from other incubators, accelerators, advisors, and government associations to help us grow the right way. It has truly taken a village to get to this point and we’re so grateful to have that type of support.

Tell me about the ‘hands free’ aspect of this tool and why that’s important.

The owner can set up multiple projects on a map so when a crew member enters the zone, the clock starts ticking automatically. The app leverages technology that every crew member already has in their pocket. It literally couldn’t be easier as your phone is the one tool that you never leave on a job site. The app is basically forgettable to the crew. And at the end of the pay period, the owner or foreman can simply send the summary to the bookkeeper for payroll where the hours are organized by crew, project and employee. Most crews are currently using paper timesheets or a shared spreadsheet of some sort which relies on each person to enter their hours based on how they tracked them. Our app eliminates that and provides hours that are 100% accurate with no user input required.

What sort of considerations have to be made when building apps for construction as opposed to other industries?

We’ve been building ConstructionClock entirely based on user feedback. We just launched version 3.0 which had updates like the ability to organize your team into crews, to add progress site photos to your notes, and to view your team and projects on a map, all of which were features that our customers were asking for. We’re also currently working on the ability to use the app offline for remote projects or spotty connections, the ability to refine the project size on the map, and integrations with accounting software like Quickbooks. Everything that we’ve built is with the construction crew in mind, especially with it’s ease of use. It’s built by construction workers, for construction workers.

What kind of businesses will benefit from this app the most? 

We’ve built ConstructionClock for small to medium sized companies that primarily work on projects. but we’ve been pleasantly surprised by the amount of interest we get from larger companies, including those who do service type calls. As we’re finding out, there are more and more companies out there who can benefit from having their hours accurately tracked by location. For example, we have a lot of renovation companies who charge their customers based on a cost+ model so it takes the guesswork out of the labour component of that formula. Our app is also the most affordable option out there. Alternative options offer a one-stop-shop app that gives companies a bunch of features that they may not be interested in, whereas ConstructionClock eliminates one major pain point very well at a very reasonable cost.

What has been the response from the industry to this new tool?

It’s been amazing. We have a 4.9 star rating in the app store which speaks for itself. We are getting to the point where we need to put better internal processes in place to handle the demand which is a problem we’re lucky to have to solve. Our Instagram account is a true testament to the feedback we get from our customers so if you want to hear what our users think, make sure to check it out. We’ve been incredibly humbled by the positive feedback, and it has only forced us to make it better every day. We’re growing quick and more new features are getting added on a regular basis and it’s all thanks to our customers. We hear on a regular basis how our app gives construction company owners more time to spend with their families and that’s a powerful reason that gets us up every morning. 

How would you like to see ConstructionClock grow and develop in the coming years?

We think we have the best time tracking app in the construction industry and our goal is to keep it that way. We’re hyper focused on eliminating the challenge of tracking labour for construction crews so our app will continue to add features that help solve that problem. We can proudly say that we are making construction sites better every day and that’s what it’s all about.

Key Takeaways:

• Plantd creates carbon-negative building products out of fast-growing grass.
• Plantd plans to establish their agriculture supply chain and build a modular automated continuous press for engineered building materials.
• They are currently working with U.S. builders and architects to integrate their materials into projects.

The Whole Story:

There’s a new player in the sustainable building materials market.

Plantd out of North Carolina has announced its $10 million Series A funding round. Led by American Family Ventures, the funding supports Plantd’s work on carbon-negative building materials.

“We are thrilled to back this exceptional and visionary team,” said Kyle Beatty, managing director at American Family Ventures. “Plantd is creating fundamentally better construction materials that are cost-effective and truly carbon negative. We have been impressed by how they have reinvented every step of the production process from first principles, all the way from input material to logistics.”

Plantd’s production team is led by co-founders and engineers Huade Tan and Nathan Silvernail, who worked together for years at SpaceX designing and building key systems and components of the Dragon cargo and crew spacecraft. Together with co-founder and CEO Josh Dorfman, Plantd is is looking to redefine the value chain for engineered building materials.

Plantd’s proprietary low carbon-emissions production technology uses fast-growing perennial grass to create durable, carbon-negative building materials. The company says its products can outperform competitive products on key attributes, including strength and moisture resistance. 

Starting with structural panel products for walls and roofs, Plantd will fabricate building materials that are a direct substitute for traditional home construction products and require no alternative installation techniques. 

The company explained that by cultivating fast-growing perennial grass instead of cutting down trees and pioneering novel production technology to minimize carbon emissions, Plantd’s structural panels retain 80 per cent of the atmospheric carbon dioxide captured in the field, which is then locked away inside the walls and roofs of new homes. 

“We can’t move quickly enough to solve climate change unless we develop profitable methods to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere,” said Dorfman. “We’re going to change an industry by offering builders a better product at the same price and, in the process, scale a business that can help save the planet.”

Plantd plans to use this round of funding to establish their agriculture supply chain and build the first-of-its-kind, modular automated continuous press for engineered building materials. The company says it is currently working with the nation’s largest builders and architects to integrate these materials into their projects and quickly make them a standard in the industry.

Plantd officials stated that their ultimate vision is to build the factory of the future, ensuring that new homes and buildings contribute to reversing the effects of climate change.

Key Takeaways:

• German construction tech company KEWAZO has raised roughly $20 million total in funding.
• KEWAZO’s vision is to automate and digitize the entire on-site logistics — from the arrival of materials at the construction site to their utilization.
• A dozen of the company’s initial product, LIFTBOT, have been working on European sites since 2021. 
• LIFTBOT’s tasks initially focused on scaffolding assembly, but the team believes it could be used for insulation, painting and other on-site material transport. 
• The company noted that this technology not only helps ease labour crunch pressure, it reduces the risk of accidents. 

The Whole Story:

Construction robotics firm KEWAZO announced the closing of its $10 million Series A funding round, bringing the total funds raised to-date to approximately $20 million. The round was led by Fifth Wall, with notable participation from Cybernetix Ventures, Unorthodox Ventures as well as the construction software company Nemetschek. 

Existing investors True Ventures and MIG Capital AG also participated in the round. This round comes on the heels of Kewazo’s $5 million Pre-Series A that closed in September 2021.   

“We have an excellent group of partners coming together that will enable us to keep building a leading company in construction robotics,” stated Artem Kuchukov, CEO and co-founder of KEWAZO. “This influx of capital will propel us to expand our sophisticated robotic fleet across Europe and North America, in tandem with enabling us to build out our additional digital services.”

KEWAZO both automates and digitizes the on-site material flow via state-of-the-art robotics and data analytics. The company’s initial product LIFTBOT, an intelligent robotic hoist for construction and industrial sites, is empowered by data analytics platform ONSITE. Since 2021, a dozen LIFTBOTs have been active on European construction sites and leading industrial plants in the oil, gas, energy and chemical industries, including with key industry names like Bilfinger and Altrad. 

“Labor shortage continues to be the most acute challenge facing the construction industry today,” said Miguel Nigorra Esteban, partner at Fifth Wall. “Artem and his entire team at Kewazo are laser-focused on solving this head-on, bringing much needed automation and robotics to the trillion dollar construction industry. We’re thrilled to be a part of their category-defining growth.”

Upon inception, KEWAZO initially honed in on scaffolding assembly, a $50 billion industry in which more than 80 per cent of projects are still undertaken completely manually. 

According to KEWAZO, their robotics can save 70 per cent of man hours for these tasks. Their team believes this approach not only addresses construction’s critical labor-shortage, but reduces the risk of accidents and improves overall working conditions on-site.

By being involved in critical on-site activities, LIFTBOT collects key operational data. This data is then processed and provided to customers as actionable insights via the data analytics platform. This enhances transparency of what happens on-site at construction sites and industrial plants, leading to a multitude of advantages, including data-driven and proactive project management.

With minor adjustments, the technology may be applied to allied activities such as insulation, painting and other on-site material transport. KEWAZO’s vision is to automate and digitize the entire on-site logistics — from the arrival of materials at the construction site to their utilization.

“I think it is very useful that companies like KEWAZO are disrupting our business. We will have problems in finding and keeping good personnel – this will be our main focus in the coming years and decades. These innovations are very helpful in attracting and motivating our coworkers and help us to provide our customers with cost-effective and safe services, ” said Bart Gyssels, chief innovation officer at Altrad Services Benelux.

Digital tools are helping the industry not only save time and money – they are enabling teams to come up with even better building solutions. 

Duanne Render, a senior associate and design manager at global design and architecture firm Gensler, has been using data crunching tools to great success. He was part of a team that developed a tool capable of identifying vacant office buildings that have a high likelihood of being successfully converted into housing. What normally takes weeks can be done in minutes. 

While it started as an effort to identify suitable buildings in Calgary, where office vacancy rates have reached as high as 32 per cent, the tool has since expanded and Gensler’s team continues to make improvements. 

“We’ve made various advancements in terms of accuracy and fine tuning based on the data we’ve got from locations in North America,” said Render. “ We have analyzed around 500 properties in different cities from the west coast, east coast and central areas. We are even looking at European and UK properties.”

Failing fast

Render said the tool’s  success in Calgary has spurred a lot of interest in cities who want to do something similar to address office vacancies.

“Because of all the work we have been doing with cities and developers to look at properties and portfolios and assist them, we have all this data and information that has assisted us in fine-tuning how the tool works and it is getting more accurate over time,” he said.  

Render noted that Gensler tells its clients that the tool is not a silver bullet, it just gives a good indication of whether or not something is worth looking into further and if there is a high likelihood of a building succeeding as a conversion.

Render explained the typical process for identifying suitable projects often takes months. It involves a developer working with an architect on a feasibility study that investigates the floor plan, layouts, essentially conducts a conceptual design phase that would then go to a cost consultant. Then it would be determined if it’s financially viable and a decision is made to proceed or not. 

“What this process does is it helps us fail fast. If we get raw data we can give you a good indication of if it is likely to succeed or not. Let’s say you are looking at ten properties and want to get it down to the two best ones for development, this gives an opportunity to put a better product out there because energy can be focused into the right places.”

Duanne Render

Addressing the housing crisis

Digital tools like this can be particularly useful when applied to problems like housing. 

“If you look at the housing crisis you can break it down into a couple of different challenges,” said Render. “One is the amount of housing we need to provide in a period. To build ground-up residential condos or rental is going to take significantly longer than converting an existing office building. The second thing is, if you convert in downtown areas, you’re also looking at improving the quality of cities by adding vibrancy, activity and creating that 24-hour space. By converting, you assist in doing that.” 

He added that not only can you get to market fast, you can utilize office building characteristics that are less common in the residential sector. 

“Floor heights are generally higher in offices, which gives you the opportunity to get natural light deeper and in some cases provide larger, better quality units,” he said.

Encouraging development 

Render notes that despite the benefits, many cities have room for improvement when it comes to incentivizing this type of work. Gensler offered examples of how some progressive cities are tackling it: 

• The city of Calgary has made $100 million available to assist property owners to convert offices to residential through a grant funding mechanism that made $75/sf available to eligible projects. This scheme is set to increase the downtown population by 23 per cent, increasing the tax base and injecting new life into the city, improving activity, vibrancy, and safety.
• The city of Chicago is focusing its efforts on the LaSalle Street corridor making state and federal tax credits and Cook County Tax incentives available to the selected properties. Further financial assistance may be available through Tax Increment Finance for projects that meet specific criteria such as a minimum of 30 per cent affordable housing.
• The city of Portland has also started looking into this concept and are considering a broad incentive package which may include, among others, exemption of system development charges (SDC’s) within a centralized geographic boundary, property tax exemption for seismic upgrade costs, fast-tracking tenant improvement permitting, and expanding a floor area ratio (FAR) density bonus for certain projects where it would be of value.
• Following a task force report, New York mayor Eric Adams announced his plans to make it easier to convert offices to residential use. The report focuses on relaxing planning and zoning regulations making it easier for conversions to take place.

Reducing friction for better solutions

The conversion tool isn’t the only one Gensler has developed. They have found the method is applicable in a variety of situations. 

“It’s about removing friction to make processes easier in order to allow it to happen faster and with more accuracy,” said Render. “It’s so we can cut out a lot of the back and forth and the uncertainty.”

Gensler developed gblox and gfloorz to carry out test fits with real-time participation and feedback from clients. This is done in a simulated, data-rich environment where teams can envision, implement, and evaluate the implications of design decisions instantly.

“You understand what the developable area is – the area you can fit on a site within the zoning parameters,” said Render. “That generally needs to go to clients and get comments and go through cost consultants and more. What we did with gblox is automate that process to a large degree. You enter your parameters and then there is another level of customization.”

For example, if a client needs to hit a certain metric to achieve a project’s financial goals, that can be put into the toll and a dashboard will show how close or far certain approaches are from it. 

“That gave us the opportunity to get to a solution in a few days with some live sessions,” said Render. “I also believe it gave us the opportunity to come up with a much better product. You can get there so much faster and give a much better quality design, not just for the client but for the urban environment and the users.”

Needing answers quickly

Render believes data crunching tools like these are just one part of how construction is changing to an accelerating world. 

“If you look at society generally, people are needing answers quickly,” he said. “That in itself almost is a driver to develop tools like this. Everything is moving faster and faster and everybody needs to keep up with the pace at which things are happening. In some ways, construction is being forced to advance and I think it’s going to accelerate due to external factors like sustainability”

Render added that various levels of government are implementing more stringent sustainability requirements and have carbon-neutral commitments. 

“I think those external factors will force the industry to advance,” he said. “If you look at conventional construction, does this mean we need to do more modular construction, mass timber construction and other things in order to deal with sustainability? Does that become more commonplace? From my perspective, yes, it has to.” 

Canada is facing a housing crisis. The construction industry is struggling to find enough materials and labour to get projects done. Remote or harsh environments, like the Arctic, make traditional construction far more challenging.

What’s the solution for these challenges? Many believe it lies in modular construction.

According to the Modular Building Institute, modular construction is a process the involves constructing a building off-site under controlled plant conditions. Projects use the same materials and are designed to the same codes and standards as conventionally built facilities – but in about half the time. Buildings are produced in “modules” that when put together on site, reflect the identical design intent and specifications of the most sophisticated site-built facility – without compromise.

Here are some of the most innovative companies in Canada leveraging the advantages of modular construction:

15. NRB Modular Solutions 

Affordable housing in Hawaii, seniors housing in Kamloops, large homes for Montana – NRB is building communities all over North America. NRB Modular Solutions says it’s the largest modular builder in Canada with over 45 years of modular construction experience. Their work is turning heads. Just last year, the Modular Building Institute recognized three NRB projects during its annual awards.

14. CHOU Consulting and Development

Extreme conditions are where modular techniques can really shine. The company was formed after Amanda Doiron and Stuart Rostant found the supply of homes in the Arctic to be lacking. The harsh winter conditions, lack of local skilled labour and extremely short construction season made modular a smart choice for rapid home building. Everything – the size of the furniture, the foam/steel panels used and the weight of the units – is carefully designed and chosen for Nunavut. 

13. ATCO Structures

ATCO Structures has been in business for 75 years and the experience shows. They have manufacturing facilities in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Chile and Australia where they build housing, hotels, medical facilities, schools, multi-family housing and more. Recently, they acquired Triple M Modular Housing, the largest modular housing provider in Western Canada as part of its North American business strategy. ATCO has big plans to rapidly build homes in Canada and will certainly be a company to watch in the coming years.

12. 720 Solutions

The 720 team have used their experiences living in subsidized provincial housing, sleeping in tents while tree planting in Canada’s North and providing emergency shelter for First Nations to build a successful company. Late last year they put up a 28-unit building for the Canadian Mental Health Association in Charlottetown, P.E.I. It took them 13 months, catching the attention of government officials who believe it could be a model for addressing the the island’s housing supply.

11. ED Modular

The largest general contractors in the country also see the potential of modular construction and are working to create their own solutions. ED Modular is a vertically integrated division of EllisDon. Here’s how ED Modular’s senior vice president, Tom Howell put it: “Modular construction is not just a trend, it’s always been a part of the process, but it’s currently happening on a whole new scale. With the skills to provide guidance and leadership on modular/prefabrication projects of any size, ED Modular is determined to make prefabrication and volumetric modular construction in the factory and off-site assembly of building components mainstream.”

10. Due North Housing

Due North is harnessing modular technology to help solve the unique housing challenges faced by Indigenous people, particularly students and elders. The company is currently collaborating with Iroquois Falls in Northern Ontario to build a modular home facility. Its first phase could produce 300 units each year, said Alexander Bimman, Due North’s president and CEO.

9. SRI Homes

The first SRI factory (Shelter Home Systems), located in Estevan, Sask. began building homes in back in 1978.  In 1985, the second SRI factory (SRI Regent), in Lethbridge, Alberta was acquired.  Rounding out the Western Canadian factories (SRI Kelowna), the Kelowna factory began producing homes in 1992. To date, over 45,000 homes have been built between the three factories. SRI also has a sister company called Gibraltar Building Systems which handles larger, multi-unit projects like hotels, worker accommodations and facilities for seniors.

8. Nomodic Modular

Nomodic noted that its value lies in establishing a synergy between partners, suppliers, contractors and other stakeholders to maximize productivity and efficiency.  Their work includes affordable and Indigenous housing, resorts and hotels, seniors and student accommodations, commercial and industrial buildings, and more. The company was launched in 2012 by Kevin Read who was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in Canadian Construction in 2018.

7. RCM Group

Founded and managed by construction specialists, RCM Group designs and manufactures every type of modular building with three objectives in mind: comfort, durability, and superior quality. They also stepped up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. To address a bed shortages in Quebec, RCM and Pomerleau Construction built a 96-bed facility only five months after landing the contract.

6. Kent Homes

The Kent story goes back to 1881 with a sawmill in Bouctouche, New Brunswick. In the mid-1900s K.C. Irving visited his logging camps was unhappy with the workers’ living conditions. He had the idea to prebuild better homes offsite, and transport them to the logging camps. He found this increased the morale and productivity of the workers. Many decades later, the company has evolved into a homebuilder that has embraced the modular method.

5. ANC Modular

ANC Modular is the brainchild of construction pioneer and 2022 Top 40 Under 40 in Canadian Construction winner Andrew Neill. He made the move to modular homes after a newspaper article inspired him to begin work on a prototype. After achieving CSA A277 certification for the modular units, ANC Modular Inc. has gone on to manufacture design-build projects for municipalities and government-funded affordable housing projects, mostly as part of Canada’s Rapid Housing Initiative. Most recently, Neill has developed an international patent pending design incorporating a modular volumetric and concrete superstructure. The Modular Building Institute called Neill’s innovation an “ingenious” system that can build multi-unit housing in mere weeks.

4. Prestige Homes

From mini-homes to multi-unit, Prestige does it all. The New Brunswick company has been manufacturing modular homes since 1973 from its manufacturing facility in Sussex. Its reputation brought it into the Shaw Group of companies in 1999. They don’t even offer ready-to-buy models as they are confident in their ability to customize designs to customer needs.

3. Fort Modular

Fort is doing it big out West. They boast the largest manufacturing capacity in Southern B.C. with operations in Metro Vancouver and the Okanagan. They are the province’s largest, locally and privately-owned supplier of new, used, and renovated site office trailers, affordable housing, steel office containers, camp accommodations, portable classrooms, and other temporary or permanent modular buildings. They also are harnessing the business to help others. Last year the unveiled Movember-themed units to help raise money for men’s health issues.

2. Supreme Homes

Modular building is nothing new for Supreme Homes. Established in 1983, the family owned business has 160 dedicated employees in Tracadie, New Brunswick and around twenty independent retailers across the Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario. Over the years, they have worked on more than 5,000 projects at their 80,000 square-foot factory.

1. Stack Modular/Bird Construction

In 2017, Bird Construction acquired a 50 per cent ownership of Stack. The partnership provides structural steel modular systems for multi-family residential, hospitality, senior and student housing, and resource clients. According to Bird, Stack Modular is the only North American-owned company with a wholly-owned China-based modular facility certified to build for North America. The modular systems are local code-compliant while still offering international manufacturing and supply chain economies of scale.

Key Takeaways:

• An international team of researchers has been investigating why Roman concrete is so durable.
• They discovered that lime clasts and hot mixing methods gave the material super durable properties.
• They are using their research to create more durable concrete formulations.

The Whole Story:

Ancient Roman construction techniques could help create more resilient concrete for modern builders. 

An international team of researchers has spent decades working to unravel the secrets that made ancient Roman concrete structures so durable that many remain standing. 

The Pantheon, which has the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome and was dedicated in A.D. 128, is still intact. Some ancient Roman aqueducts still deliver water to Rome today. Meanwhile, many modern concrete structures have crumbled after a few decades.

The investigation focused on structures that endured harsh conditions, such as docks, sewers, and seawalls, or those constructed in seismically active locations.

A team of investigators from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, and laboratories in Italy and Switzerland, announced it has discovered ancient concrete-manufacturing strategies that incorporated several key self-healing functionalities. The findings were published in the journal Science Advances.

For many years, researchers assumed that the key to the ancient concrete’s durability was based on one ingredient: pozzolanic material such as volcanic ash from the area of Pozzuoli, on the Bay of Naples. This specific kind of ash was even shipped all across the vast Roman empire to be used in construction, and was described as a key ingredient for concrete in accounts by architects and historians at the time.

Concrete with a hint of lime

Under closer examination, researchers found that ancient samples also contain small, distinctive, millimeter-scale bright white mineral features, which have been long recognized as a ubiquitous component of Roman concretes. These white chunks, often referred to as “lime clasts,” originate from lime, another key component of the ancient concrete mix. 

“Ever since I first began working with ancient Roman concrete, I’ve always been fascinated by these features,” says Admir Masic, an MIT professor and one of the authors of the research paper. “These are not found in modern concrete formulations, so why are they present in these ancient materials?”

Previously disregarded as merely evidence of sloppy mixing practices, or poor-quality raw materials, the new study suggests that these tiny lime clasts gave the concrete a previously unrecognized self-healing capability. 

“The idea that the presence of these lime clasts was simply attributed to low quality control always bothered me,” said Masic. “If the Romans put so much effort into making an outstanding construction material, following all of the detailed recipes that had been optimized over the course of many centuries, why would they put so little effort into ensuring the production of a well-mixed final product? There has to be more to this story.”

Evidence of self-healing

Upon further characterization of these lime clasts, using high-resolution multiscale imaging and chemical mapping techniques pioneered in Masic’s research lab, the researchers gained new insights into the potential functionality of these lime clasts.

Historically, it had been assumed that when lime was incorporated into Roman concrete, it was first combined with water to form a highly reactive paste-like material, in a process known as slaking. 

But this process alone could not account for the presence of the lime clasts. Masic wondered if it possible that the Romans might have actually directly used lime in its more reactive form, known as quicklime.

Studying samples of this ancient concrete, he and his team determined that the white inclusions were, indeed, made out of various forms of calcium carbonate. And spectroscopic examination provided clues that these had been formed at extreme temperatures, as would be expected from the exothermic reaction produced by using quicklime instead of, or in addition to, the slaked lime in the mixture. Hot mixing, the team has now concluded, was actually the key to the super-durable nature.

“The benefits of hot mixing are twofold,” Masic says. “First, when the overall concrete is heated to high temperatures, it allows chemistries that are not possible if you only used slaked lime, producing high-temperature-associated compounds that would not otherwise form. Second, this increased temperature significantly reduces curing and setting times since all the reactions are accelerated, allowing for much faster construction.”

During the hot mixing process, the lime clasts develop a characteristically brittle nanoparticulate architecture, creating an easily fractured and reactive calcium source, which, as the team proposed, could provide a critical self-healing functionality. As soon as tiny cracks start to form within the concrete, they can preferentially travel through the high-surface-area lime clasts.

This material can then react with water, creating a calcium-saturated solution, which can recrystallize as calcium carbonate and quickly fill the crack, or react with pozzolanic materials to further strengthen the composite material. These reactions take place spontaneously and therefore automatically heal the cracks before they spread. Previous support for this hypothesis was found through the examination of other Roman concrete samples that exhibited calcite-filled cracks.

Modern applications possible 

To prove that this was indeed the mechanism responsible for the durability of the Roman concrete, the team produced samples of hot-mixed concrete that incorporated both ancient and modern formulations, deliberately cracked them, and then ran water through the cracks. 

Within two weeks the cracks had completely healed and the water could no longer flow. An identical chunk of concrete made without quicklime never healed, and the water just kept flowing through the sample. As a result of these successful tests, the team is working to commercialize this modified cement material.

“It’s exciting to think about how these more durable concrete formulations could expand not only the service life of these materials, but also how it could improve the durability of 3D-printed concrete formulations,” said Masic.

Through the extended functional lifespan and the development of lighter-weight concrete forms, he hopes that these efforts could help reduce the environmental impact of cement production, which currently accounts for about 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Along with other new formulations, such as concrete that can actually absorb carbon dioxide from the air, another current research focus of the Masic lab, these improvements could help to reduce concrete’s global climate impact.

The research team included Janille Maragh at MIT, Paolo Sabatini at DMAT in Italy, Michel Di Tommaso at the Instituto Meccanica dei Materiali in Switzerland, and James Weaver at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. The work was carried out with the assistance of the Archeological Museum of Priverno in Italy.

Key Takeaways:

• hyperTunnel conducted a large-scale demonstration of their swarm robot technique.
• The technology is being investigated for use repairing old rail infrastructure.
• The startup has received investment from VINCI and the European Innovation Council.

The Whole Story:

A tech startup wants to put robot swarms to work digging the tunnels of tomorrow. 

UK company hyperTunnel revealed this fall the world’s first underground structure built entirely by robots

The Peak XV tunnel was entirely robot-constructed at a research and development facility in the North Hampshire Downs.

hyperTunnel stated that its automated construction method is designed to build tunnels more than 10 times faster and at half the cost of conventional methods. Their team added that approach is significantly friendlier to the environment and will use sustainable materials such as low-carbon concrete. It also limits the potential for injuries to humans. 

Using swarm construction methods according to a digital twin of the tunnel, a fleet of hyperBot robots enter the ground via an arch of HDPE pipes. Once inside, the robots 3D-print the tunnel shell by deploying construction material directly into the ground. 

The 6 metre-long, 2 metre-high and 2 metre-wide Peak XV pedestrian-scale tunnel has been delivered as part of a project for Network Rail and revealed at the British Tunnelling Society Conference & Exhibition in London.

The Network Rail project has been demonstrating the hyperTunnel process, investigating the technologies that are key to low-disruption tunnel repairs for the UK’s regional railway infrastructure, which includes approximately 650 Victorian age tunnels.

“Our large portfolio of Victorian tunnels requires increasing levels of work to meet the needs of the railway network,” said David Castlo, Network Rail’s network technical head. ”However, we want to reduce the level of disruption to our passengers so we are constantly searching for new approaches to enlarging or repairing tunnels that reduce the length of time a tunnel will be closed to trains. Peak XV moves us a step closer to that goal and, crucially, with a method that reduces workforce safety risk.”

Steve Jordan, co-CEO and co-Founder of hyperTunnel, said the  large scale demonstration tunnel is a big step, not only for hyperTunnel, but for the tunnelling and construction industries. “While using robots exclusively to build underground structures is dramatically different, the contributing technologies, such as digital twins, robotics, 3D printing and digital underground surveying, supported by AI and VR, are all well-proven in other industries,” said Jordan. “In fact, the hyperTunnel in-situ method is all about de-risking construction projects.”

Earlier this year, hyperTunnel received funding of 1.88 million Euros from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator scheme, Europe’s flagship innovation program. The company also received a financial investment from VINCI, a global leader in concessions, energy and construction businesses.

Video: See how the tunnelling process works

https://youtu.be/a4WL4eLPkic

Key Takeaways:

• The Cat MineStart Command for Hauling system will be implemented on 77G trucks at the Bull Run Plant in Virginia.
• It is Caterpillar’s first deployment of the technology in the aggregate sector.
• The company said data collected from the site will help it better tune its technology for future aggregate applications.

The Whole Story:

Caterpillar Inc. is looking to push vehicle automation forward with a new collaboration in the aggregate sector. 

The heavy equipment supplier is working with Luck Stone, America’s largest family-owned and operated producer of crushed stone, sand and gravel, to deploy its autonomous solution to the Bull Run Plant in Chantilly, Virginia. It will be Caterpillar’s first autonomous deployment in the aggregates industry and will expand the company’s autonomous truck fleet to include the 100-ton-class (90-tonne-class) Cat 777 .

Looking to accelerate autonomous solutions beyond mining, Caterpillar will implement its existing Cat MineStar Command for Hauling system at the Bull Run quarry, on a fleet of 777G trucks. Caterpillar officials say this will help it gain greater insights on quarry operations in order to tailor the next generation of autonomous solutions specific to quarry and aggregate applications.

The company added that the project will support the acceleration of autonomous technology for operations with fewer mobile assets, making projects safer and more productive. 

“Luck Stone and Caterpillar’s partnership has been grounded in shared values for many years,” said Charlie Luck, president and CEO of Luck Companies. “Together we believe that safety, innovation and a commitment to people are critical, not only to propelling important projects like this, but to ensuring our focus on the future and all of the exciting possibilities technology affords our industry. Our collaboration will provide opportunities for associates to learn and grow, improve safety and result in production efficiencies. We are thrilled to partner with Caterpillar to achieve this ‘first’ for our industry.”

The current autonomy solutions will be implemented in 2024. Caterpillar currently boasts the world’s largest fleet of autonomous haul trucks, now numbering more than 560 trucks. These trucks have traveled more than 187 million kilometers and autonomously moved more than 5.1 billion tonnes without a single zero lost-time injury.

“Caterpillar has a long-standing relationship with Luck Stone, and we look forward to working together to bring the demonstrated benefits of increased safety and productivity to the quarry industry. We’re excited to get in the dirt and work alongside Luck Stone’s innovative team, so we can learn how to scale our already proven mining solution for another industry,” said Denise Johnson, Caterpillar Group president of resource Industries.

One hundred and ninety three.

According to the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada, that’s how many construction workers died on the job in 2020.

Everybody should go to work and come home safe. It’s that simple.

As construction projects and sites have grown more vast and complex, companies and organizations have sought to keep up by creating new ways to ensure workers are kept safe. Below are some of their stories.

1. Kenzen

What if you could know when your workers are overheating or need to take a break? Kenzen is making this data a reality. It provides heat and safety monitoring of key physiological indicators for each worker, such as core body temperature, heart rate, and exertion levels. The Kansas City-based company’s approach has caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which recently awarded them $161,000 in funding.  

2. Ramtech

Ramtech Electronics has been supplying wireless solutions since 1990 from its Nottingham headquarters. They soon saw that their technology could apply to the jobsite and began developing wireless temporary fire alarms for construction. They also created the REACT system which gives construction teams a simple and secure means of communicating fire, medical and other site emergencies to affected personnel, both on and off site. Their team recently published a white paper exploring the modern fire and life safety solutions for construction in North America.

3. Hexoskin

It’s not quite Ironman’s suit, but it still could help keep you safe. Hexoskin Smart Garments include textile sensors embedded into garments for precise and continuous cardiac, respiratory, and activity monitoring. The Montreal company’s users can visualize, report, and analyze their data with the Hexoskin Connected Health Platform. In Australia, the technology is being used to monitor the health and vitals of truck drivers to study the impacts of driver fatigue. 

4. Blackline Safety

It’s all about the internet of things (IoT) with Blackline Safety. The Calgary company says its connected safety devices and predictive analytics helps companies drive towards zero safety incidents and improved operational performance. Blackline provides wearable devices, personal and area gas monitoring, cloud-connected software and data analytics for companies in more than 100 countries. Blackline Safety recently closed its largest contract to date in the Middle East with a three-year value of almost $500,000 with OQ Oman, a global integrated energy company operating in 17 countries.

5. SmartCap

You have to give a tip of the hat to this team. An active job site or the highway is no place for a nap. SmartCap’s wearable hat technology was developed using electroencephalography as it is unaffected by glare, humidity, head turns, eye disease, or behaviour. SmartCap’s tech is predictive and does not require post processing or live monitoring of data to provide real-time operator alerts. The Australian company has caught the attention of the mining sector. In 2021, SmartCap was acquired by Wenco International Mining Systems, a subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery. This video demonstrates how the product can be used. 

6. Boston Dynamics 

In addition to progress monitoring, BIM model comparison and digital twin creation, Boston Dynamics’ robots are advancing construction safety. Builders can use the Massachusetts-based company’s Spot robot to survey confined spaces and keep workers out of hazardous environments. They can also feed image data on programmed routes into specialized downstream software to detect health and safety issues. General contractor Pomerleau currently uses Spot to track project progress with HoloBuilder site documentation software.

7. SolePower

These boots have a brain. SolePower has developed a proprietary sensor platform that can be installed in standard construction work boots to measure the worker’s indoor and outdoor position, step count, speed, time spent in work areas and more. The data is delivered to a front-end visualization for managers to gain awareness of the workflow and status of their workforce anywhere in the world. The Pennsylvania-based company was founded out of Carnegie Mellon University Engineering and boasts a team of former NASA and manufacturing engineers. They have already successfully delivered test units to the US Army under two consecutive contracts.

8. BC Construction Safety Alliance (BCCSA)

To help builders in B.C. keep workers safe from silica dust exposure, the BCCSA developed the Silica Control Tool. The tool assists employers in conducting appropriate risk assessments and implementing effective controls and safe work practices where respirable crystalline silica dust may be an occupational hazard. The tool relies on scientific studies and data collected from a team of medical researchers. With this it can predict the expected exposures to workers under similar conditions. 

9. North American Traffic 

Flagging is one of the most dangerous jobs in the industry and every year flaggers are killed by vehicles. But what if a flagger didn’t have to be on the road at all? North American Traffic’s automatic flagging solution has been around for many years but it’s still worth noting. Peter Vieveen, the company’s founder and president developed the device while working in the construction sector and witnessing the dangers flaggers face firsthand. 

10. myComply

Founded in 2015, Saskatoon and Brooklyn-based myComply is a technology platform that ensures construction site compliance and provides worker analytics. myComply is looking to transform how training certifications are managed and verified on construction sites. The platform combines intelligent hardware with easy-to-use software used to verify safety training. Just last year, the New York City Department of Buildings hired myComply to build and administer the software behind an innovative construction safety database for more than 150,000 workers.

11. Construction Ontario

Construction safety training is beginning to go virtual thanks to training providers like Construction Ontario. Construction Ontario provides ready-to-go, out-of-the-box virtual reality (VR) and interactive e-learning training that uses Microsoft’s Holo Lens 2. Each course is designed with experts in training, and all training modules include active user instruction, reinforcement of OSHA principles, and corrections/tallies of incorrect actions. Construction Ontario noted that studies show VR students learn faster, are more focused and feel more confident than traditional students. 

Biolift

Not all construction injuries are sudden and severe. Many creep up on you over time. Montreal-based Biolift wants to give your body a break with its exoskeleton tech. Using compressed air springs, the system stores the mechanical energy of the body when you bend your back and redistributes it when you stand up. By supporting up to 20 kg, the exoskeleton relieves the back to prevent injury and fatigue. Since 2019, the Biolift team has been working with the workers from Eurovia Québec and multiple construction companies to refine the technology.

It started off as another job for brand strategist James Faulkner, but it soon turned into a project to help transform construction. Before he was the CEO and founder of construction management software company SiteMax, Faulkner was running a successful agency rebranding blue-chip companies across Canada. Everything changed while on a project for a general contractor in the construction sector. 

Branching off

“I was contracted to rebrand them and also build a web application for them. It started off with daily reports – laptop to laptop,” said Faulkner. “I suggested we put large TVs around the concourse of their office to show some project consciousness of what’s going on out in the field. And it sort of evolved from there. One of their subtrades walked in, saw the images on the TV screen and said, ‘hey, what is that? I would like that.’”

Faulkner saw the potential in digitally connecting the construction industry and applied his workflow and technology approach. In 2017, seed financing was raised after several years of incubation, and SiteMax was unleashed on the broader construction world. 

The company offers a software product designed for the field-to-office communication needs of a commercial general contractor. The essential construction management software solution has generated millions of daily logs, safety reports, photo records, time entries and more worldwide.

But construction isn’t your average industry, and its software can’t just be like any other software. SiteMax knew it had to be built by builders, for builders.

Built for the construction sector

“Knowing how the mind of a construction professional works is essential to any successful software built for the industry,” said Christian Hamm, SiteMax COO. “Use the wrong wording, size text wrong or put buttons in weird spots, you’ll lose their engagement. Builders want to build, not manage software.”

Hamm has construction experience in spades. Before SiteMax, he spent a decade as a construction project manager on commercial, light industrial, hospitality and multi-family residential projects. When he heard about what SiteMax was doing to digitize the construction process, he knew he wanted to be a part of it. 

“I started out of high school swinging a hammer doing formwork and framing,” said Hamm. He adds, “My mother had a cut-out from a Vancouver Sun article featuring SiteMax and what they were doing for the construction site. I read through, and it made a ton of sense, and I believed there was a real need for this.”

Keeping it simple

Simplicity and ease of use for builders have guided the system’s development. Hamm explained that while customers will always want new features – and SiteMax has ensured that the essentials are there – the software’s daily use drives the product.

“Simple is easy to say, but simple is hard,” said Hamm. “The construction industry is full of complex challenges. If anything creates wasted time, including the use of software, people will move on to that which provides a more expedient resolution to the matters at hand.”

Schedule, budget and compliance drive all construction work. Hamm explained that the most significant benefits of digitizing construction documentation and process are found in those key areas. Reducing paper and improving communication can save time, money and the headaches of not having your ducks in a row regarding compliance. 

In the case of Fusion Projects, a design-build tenant improvement firm in the Lower Mainland that specializes in creating customized work environments, SiteMax helped boost their health and safety efforts and achieve COR Compliance. 

“The greatest success we have achieved to date with SiteMax is our COR certification,” said Fusion. “Being able to develop, implement, manage and track the success of our health and Safety documentation digitally has had a profound impact on our ability to achieve COR certification. Through our use of SiteMax, we have also been able to improve our results year-over-year.”

And they aren’t stopping there. Next, Fusion says it plans to integrate its vendors/subcontractors into its SiteMax platform so they can drive information directly between them and the Fusion team.

The next phase of innovation

While cloud-based construction tech solutions have existed for nearly two decades, SiteMax believes significant greenfield space still exists. 

“Anything that will bring further ease to collaboration and communication to achieve desired timelines and project outcomes will have a shot at mass adoption,” said Hamm. 

And SiteMax wants to be that solution. They currently work with hundreds of general contracting businesses and their subcontractors, or tens of thousands of construction professionals, daily, providing them with their essential app for daily construction operations. 

In their effort to create even more community and connection in the construction sector, SiteMax also launched the Site Visit Podcast, which focuses on construction leaders and their day-to-day experiences in the industry.

Looking ahead, the SiteMax development team is focused on the general contractor and subcontractor relationship.

“Our strategy for the year ahead lies in creating more meaningful ways to streamline interactions between the two, broadening our reach within the industry,” said Hamm. “We believe that workflows, automation and predictability are critical to the success of this interaction moving forward.” 

As work to refine SiteMax’s digital tools continues, Faulkner is optimistic about the road ahead. 

“In the early days of SiteMax we were pioneers, with many firsts in the digital transformation of construction,” he said. “Today, we have grown significantly and are excited about our next phase of innovation. It is who we are and how we are built.”

To keep up with SiteMax’s journey, follow them here.

Key Takeaways:

• General Motors of Canada converted its CAMI manufacturing facility in Ontario.
• The car company is spending $2 billion converting its CAMI and Oshawa plants.
• The plant has begun producing BrightDrop Zevo 600s, a light commercial vehicle that runs on a lithium ion battery.

The Whole Story:

General Motors of Canada is opening its first full-scale electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant in Ingersoll, Ont. With support from the province, GM Canada has transformed its CAMI manufacturing plant into an all-EV manufacturing facility, the first of its kind in Canada. Officials say the project could help secure Ontario’s position as a global automotive hub with the vehicles of the future being built by local workers, from start to finish.

“Today’s exciting, made-in-Ontario milestone is more proof that there is no better place to build the cars of the future from start to finish than right here in Ontario,” said Premier Doug Ford. “From the critical minerals in the north to our manufacturing excellence in the south, Ontario has every advantage and will continue to build on our legacy as a global automotive leader for decades to come.”

The CAMI plant will be GM Canada’s designated EV hub for its new all-electric commercial vehicle brand BrightDrop. As part of this month’s grand opening, the first BrightDrop Zevo 600s also rolled off the CAMI EV line.

In April, GM Canada announced an investment of more than $2 billion to transform its CAMI and Oshawa manufacturing plants and improve operations across all of its manufacturing and R&D facilities in Ontario. This investment was supported with $259 million in funding from the province.

“This is truly an exciting day for Ontario as we celebrate the grand opening of GM Canada’s transformed CAMI manufacturing plant and the first all-electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Canada,” said Vic Fedeli, minister of economic development, job Creation and trade. “Watching the first BrightDrop vehicles roll off the assembly line, it is clear that Ontario will build the cars of the future. Our government continues to attract transformative investments by creating the right economic conditions and reducing red tape.”

Going digital is getting easier for the construction sector thanks to an influx of federal funds. 

Digital marketing agency SitePartners, which specializes in construction clients, is one of the latest companies to be recognized as a digital advisor by the federal government as part of the Canadian Digital Adoption Program (CDAP). 

Andrew Hansen, founder and CEO of SitePartners, explained that the industrial sector is in a period of change and digital must play a role in how companies operate. He added that he believes the CDAP program is a great option for industrial companies wanting to get the process started. 

“I know first hand how hard everyone in our industry works. It can be hard to find the time to think on the business rather than in the business,” said Hansen. “The CDAP program is a great resource to help start the digital journey for any industrial company. The $15,000 grant can really help begin the journey of what digital can look like in an industrial business. Our team at SitePartners lives and breathes the industrial sector and can really help be a trusted advisor to drive results.”

CDAP grants cover up to 90 percent of the eligible cost of retaining the services of a digital advisor up to a maximum grant value of $15,000 to develop a digital adoption plan. Eligible businesses must meet the following criteria:

• Be incorporated federally or provincially or a be Canadian resident sole proprietor.
• Be a for-profit, privately-owned business. 
• Have between 1- 499 full-time equivalent employees.
• Have at least $500K of annual revenues in one of the three previous three tax years.

Part of the application process involves a digital needs assessment which leads to the selection of a digital needs advisor who can do an even deeper evaluation and make recommendations for a digital adoption plan. Once the plan has been completed, the business submits it to the grant program for payment processing. 

The CDAP program was launched in March and it will provide $4 billion over four years to help busineses leverage e-commerce opportunities, upgrade or adopt digital technologies, and digitize their operations. 

“Small businesses have shown incredible resilience over the last two years as they faced unprecedented challenges from the pandemic,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “Supporting them has been – and will continue to be – a top priority for our government. That’s why we’re launching the Canada Digital Adoption Program to empower small businesses with the digital tools they need, while helping them create good jobs, particularly for young Canadians.”

Hansen urged any company interested in accessing the program to contact the firm at hello@sitepartners.ca.

More information about the program can be found here. Those interested in applying can get started here.

*Editor’s Note: Andrew Hansen is a co-founder of SiteNews.