Category: Technology

EllisDon wants to push construction forward.

The company announced the launch of the EllisDon Construction Technology Accelerator Program. The initiative, in partnership with Impulse Partners, aims to discover and accelerate the growth of pioneering construction technology start-ups. 

“Our industry is at a crossroads, and we need to embrace collaboration if we want to continue to expand our technology solutions,” said Brandon Milner, senior vice president, digital & data engineering, EllisDon. “We are proud to launch an accelerator program in partnership with Impulse Partners and hope it can act as a conduit to increase the development of cutting-edge innovation while driving growth and opportunities for promising start-ups.”

The accelerator program will provide a unique platform for selected start-ups, granting them access to pilot projects, industry experts, networking opportunities, and essential resources to cultivate and scale their businesses in Canada.

“Impulse Partners is thrilled to collaborate with EllisDon to accelerate the transformation of the construction industry. We believe that the program will create opportunities for startups from around the world to showcase their innovative solutions and work alongside industry leaders to bring them to market,” said Thomas Le Diouron, managing partner, Impulse Partners. 

The program will focus on three primary phases:

• Identification of technology-driven solutions with high potential
• Execution of pilot projects to evaluate new solutions on construction sites across Canada
• Integration of the most promising start-ups into EllisDon’s various business units

EllisDon officials explained that as the construction sector confronts escalating challenges, including rising costs, labour shortages, and environmental concerns, embracing innovation is crucial for maintaining competitiveness and promoting growth. 

Key Takeaways:

• Avison Young looked at 14 major North American cities for office buildings that might be suitable for conversion.
• Two major factors were if the office was built before 1990 and if it had floor plates below 15,000 square feet.
• In total, the firm found 8,996 offices that have potential.

The Whole Story:

More than 2,600 office buildings in key Canadian markets could be candidates for adaptive reuse, new research shows. 

Data from global commercial real estate advisor, Avison Young, found that up to 34% of office buildings in 14 major North American markets have the potential to be transformed into housing. The global real estate company’s research looked at more than 26,000 buildings and identified 8,996 candidates for adaptive reuse. 

The markets include four Canadian cities: Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver.

“Adaptive reuse is an important conversation we are having around the art of the possible, to demonstrate how this potential solution contributes to placemaking and to the revitalization and vibrancy of our neighbourhoods – particularly our downtown cores,” said Sheila Botting, principal and president, professional services, Americas at Avison Young. “We must reimagine how we want to live, work and play. Adaptive reuse is one of the key components of how we do that as a community.”

The company explained identifying adaptive reuse projects is something Avison Young has been exploring. Using a combination of its proprietary AVANT by Avison Young analytics and third-party analytics, the firm identified buildings built before 1990 and those with floor plates below 15,000 square feet – two anchoring criteria that tend to help isolate buildings that offer long-term potential for conversion. Avison Young applied this search to 10 U.S. markets and four Canadian markets, including those that have witnessed heightened interest in the possible solutions provided by office conversions, like Calgary, Manhattan, and San Francisco.

“Beyond age and floor plate, other criteria must be considered – such as specific building feasibility, costs, location, and surrounding amenities – to determine prime candidacy,” said Stephen Silverstein, principal and managing director, U.S. studio project and construction management at Avison Young. “That’s where conversations with our consultants, project & construction managers, asset managers and brokerage teams come into play, although this initial data set provides a clear snapshot as a starting point of what could be possible for these markets.”

Avison Young stated that across North America, office vacancies have highlighted a flight to quality, with tenants shifting up in the marketplace to choose higher-quality, highly-amenitized offerings with increasing vacancy in class B and C buildings. They believe this presents an opportunity for owners of older buildings to rethink their asset strategy and explore options, whether that is to stay as is, renovate/upgrade, repurpose or redevelop altogether.

“People are rethinking how they use office buildings and how they view the entire downtown,” added Botting. “Whereas most downtowns have mainly office buildings, a mix of uses provides much needed energy and vibrancy – and that’s where adaptive reuse provides a tremendous opportunity to reimagine great spaces for people to connect.”

Calgary-based industrialized construction company DIRTT has announced an American wall and ceiling manufacturer will co-own its ICE software platform.  

DIRTT has entered into a joint arrangement with Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (AWI) for co-ownership of certain intellectual property interest in DIRTT’s ICE software and enhanced commercial partnership opportunities for consideration of approximately USD$11 million.

DIRTT officials stated that the ICE software platform has been integral to its success from inception. They explained that the tool supports the construction process through its integration of the design, sale, pricing, and manufacturing process.

AWI stated that it recognizes the value of DIRTT’s ICE software as a critical enabler for their ProjectWorks design and pre-construction service, including continuing expansion of AWI’s product portfolio with the software.

“We believe AWI’s investment in ICE software is a strong validation of the software’s unique value in digital transformations for organizations creating built environments,” said Benjamin Urban, DIRTT CEO. “DIRTT is excited for this partnership as it will provide additional resources and investment to move ICE software forward, while leveraging the partnership to identify and capitalize on new commercial opportunities and possible revenue growth capabilities.”

Jill Crager, AWI senior vice president, sales operations, said she believes the software can help accelerate the design capabilities of ProjectWorks and significantly increase the speed with which Armstrong can integrate products from across its portfolio into ProjectWorks. 

“We believe this investment supports our digital strategy to serve customers efficiently and effectively with industry-leading design support and will continue to differentiate AWI in the commercial construction industry,” she said.

The joint arrangement will enable further investment in the ICE software platform for the shared interests of both DIRTT and AWI, as well as the potential for additional collaborative activities. DIRTT will also continue to advance the ICE software platform for use in its own business and corporate objectives.

Under the new arrangement, AWI will receive a 50% interest in certain intellectual property underlying DIRTT’s ICE software related to AWI’s product offering. In addition, AWI has also prepaid for certain development services to be provided by DIRTT. 

Tony Brock doesn’t back down from a challenge. 

He embraces it.

As a principal at Centre Group Electrical & Communications, he is always on the hunt for the hardest, most complex jobs in B.C’s Lower Mainland. 

Opportunities in life sciences 

The company started as a two-person operation that exclusively serviced Vancouver’s iconic Harbour Centre building. But it has since grown into a much larger design-build, end-to-end electrical contractor. In addition to designing, building and maintaining electrical systems, Centre works on data/communications systems and security/alarm systems. 

Recently, the company has been tackling healthcare, science and laboratory space opportunities that are on the rise in the region. 

“What makes those projects so complex is the fact that there are so many different systems that run through tight spaces,” said Brock. “It’s a significant amount of various building systems that all have to use the same space.”

One recent example is a 75,000 square foot buildout with office and laboratory rooms Centre worked on for biotechnology company Zymeworks. Brock explained that Centre’s team used BIM technology, Bluebeam software, prefabrication and lots of pre-planning to make the challenging build go smoothly.

“We were heavily involved in pre-construction,” said Brock. “We designed the system before we even had boots on the ground, pre-purchased a majority of our system materials and prefabbed a lot of the assemblies that went to site.”

He explained that the power of combining BIM and prefabrication means racking, conduit raceways and common assemblies can all be designed ahead of time, shared with other trades and then prefabricated before being assembled on site. 

“That’s why Zymeworks went so well,” he said. “We are able to design our jobs so we coordinate with the mechanical people so we can avoid any clashes. Where we putting boxes or pipes is exactly where they went. We installed it once. The construction industry is horrible for letting issues be handled at site level which creates a lot of down time. You want to be able to be productive every step of the way, push the construction schedule and deliver the project as promised. This is important to our customers.” 

A new direction 

He had a vision to transform the company into an elite contractor that specializes in highly complex jobs that scare off others. 

“I wanted to do the cool and unique projects, not the run-of-the-mill stuff, the interesting jobs that our people can really get behind,” said Brock. “They are fairly sophisticated jobs, the design is usually intense and that really plays to our strong suit. We feel better delivering those projects at a fair price. We don’t like to compete for the bottom and that’s where a lot of those average jobs usually go.”

The strategy is working. Since Brock took the reins, the company has more than doubled its revenue and its workforce has grown to more than 95. He believes that one of the reasons the company has been able to attract workers in an extremely tight labour market is its approach to building, as it takes away much of the stress of being on site. 

“Nobody likes to redo their work,” said Brock. “People are happy when they can be efficient and have all the materials they need. They aren’t frustrated on a day-to-day basis.”

Doing what you say

One of the biggest values Brock has tried to instill in the company is transparency with customers. 

“If we say we are going to do something, we do it to the best of our abilities. I’ve always been against over-promising and under-delivering,” said Brock.

This means properly forecasting labour, not taking on too much work and having the right team that can deliver projects. Because of the variety of work out there, it’s important that the right team is allocated to the right project for it to be successful. 

“We get a lot of requests for our foreman from our customers to work on their project which is very rewarding and speaks to the talent of our field team,” said Brock. 

There is also a family aspect to the company that keeps the team motivated to do their best. 

“We are a team with young families and would love to see our children move into the business. I have two boys and seeing them as electricians and involved in Centre would be really rewarding. So it’s important to me that we don’t fail.” 

Brock added that his vision is to grow and develop the company’s skills to become the province’s premier electrical, data/communications and security systems partner while pushing forward the team’s commitment to efficiency and delivery.

There’s no substitute for experience.

Years of renting and selling equipment gave Axiom Equipment Group a huge leg up when it decided to manufacture its own brand of equipment. 

Randy Gay, general manager for Axiom, got his start at a small, family-owned contracting company that had equipment. Around 2010 they decided to start Axiom Lift Equipment to rent and sell scissor and boom lifts. That continued until late 2017 when they merged with Saskarc Equipment Group to form Axiom Equipment Group. 

Randy explained that Saskarc, a steel fabrication company, ended up getting into equipment as it was needed on the sites they were fabricating for. They started Saskarc equipment in 2012 which retained light towers, generators, air compressors and more. 

Randy explained that the acquisition strategy was to add different types of equipment to the fleet and diversify the product range.

One of the initial major projects Axiom helped out with was the Keeyask Hydro Dam in Manitoba. The team rented lots of equipment to projects near Kitimat in B.C. and elsewhere in the west.

“We are based in Oxbow, Saskatchewan, basically in the middle of nowhere, so those remote, Western Canadian projects were kind of the speciality,” said Randy.  

The company took a major turn when they began to investigate the possibility of manufacturing their own line of equipment to sell. In 2019, Axiom’s team went to the Bauma equipment show in Germany to take the next step.

“We connected with some manufacturers in Europe that were building products and we partnered with those companies to build a generator and light tower based on our specs,” said Randy. “We started developing the products and building relationships with manufacturers.”

He explained that Axiom’s years of dealing with rental customers was invaluable in the manufacturing process. 

“Being a rental company, we kind of knew what all the competitors were building, what was good, what was bad. We took all the good ideas, put it into a prototype,” he said. “We towed those units around Western Canada and visited all of our customers.”

The team asked them for their thoughts, incorporated those changes and then in 2021 they started sending production models out into the field. 

“Having that knowledge probably saved us years of time,” said Randy. “We are still improving and changing and that’s even with knowing what we know from ten years of rental experience. If we didn’t have that we would be years behind.” 

One major factor that Axiom didn’t count on was the COVID-19 pandemic. Shipments of product experienced some delays so the team pivoted. 

“We recognized that this was a problem and we tried to be proactive,” said Randy. “We stuck our necks out a little bit and in 2021 we ordered all the product for 2022. It was a risk but it definitely has paid off and we are pretty much continuing to do that every year now.”

The company has since quadrupled in size and continues to refine its equipment. Randy believes that in addition to the company’s previous rental experience, another major factor in Axiom’s success is customer service.  

“Customer service has been something we have done since day one,” said Randy. “When you are in the rental business you have to react pretty fast to customer issues and concerns. The second thing is we have taken all that experience to understand what goes wrong, what the biggest pain points are for customers in the field, and we have tried to solve those and put that into our machines.”

The company is also part of the industry shift towards more sustainable practices. They have developed an electric light tower, a hybrid light tower (diesel engine but also has solar/battery), and also have some technology on their generators that lets customers store power. 

Randy noted that Axiom is also looking at expanding. 

“From a territory point of view, we are trying to solidify our market share in Canada,” he said. “I think we have done a pretty good job of that these past few years. Then we will be looking at going down south.”

Key Takeaways:

• The mass timber pedestrian bridge was prefabricated off-site and then installed 65 feet above street level in Toronto.
• After four days of assembly, the bridge pieces were lifted and installed in one day.
• Limberlost Place is expected to be completed next fall.

The Whole Story:

A two-story mass timber pedestrian bridge has been installed at Limberlost Place, marking a major milestone for the Toronto project.

PCL announced that the bridge was erected 65 feet above street level, connecting level five of Limberlost Place to level six of the college’s Daphne Cockwell Centre for Health Sciences at George Brown College (GBC).

“It was incredibly exciting to witness the installation of the mass timber pedestrian bridge at Limberlost Place,” says Nerys Rau, GBC’s Project Director for Limberlost Place. “It was really impressive to see the placement done with such methodical precision.”

Installation of the bridge included prefabricating individual cross-laminated timber pieces at an off-site location before being shipped and built on site. After four days of assembly, the team executed a complex and intricate one-day lift to install the structure. 

“Thank you to all of our partners, consultants, and extraordinary tradespeople who have been integral in achieving this significant milestone. This accomplishment truly showcases the exemplary level of skill, and patience it takes to ensure everything goes according to plan,” said Myke Badry, PCL Toronto’s district manager. “Congratulations to the entire project team as we move one step closer to the completion of this revolutionary project that is setting a precedent in mass timber construction.”

Designed by Acton Ostry Architects and Moriyama Teshima Architects, Limberlost Place is a tall wood, net zero carbon emissions building and PCL’s largest mass timber project to date. Home to George Brown College’s School of Architectural Studies, the School of Computer Technology and the Brookfield Sustainability Institute, students will learn in and from this innovative and future-proof facility. The 10-storey building is expected to be completed by the fall of 2024 and will open for classes in January 2025.

Tony Yang, a civil engineering professor in University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Applied Science, is on a mission to usher in the next generation of construction technology. 

He is leading a multi-university research project to reset national building standards for mass timber construction. Yang believes his latest research into carbon neutral, disaster-resilient timber construction may be the answer to addressing Canada’s urgent housing needs and climate change commitments by 2030. 

The “Next Generation Wood Construction” project – a collaboration between 13 universities and 12 government and industry partners – has received $6.25 million in funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC), the largest NSERC Alliance grant in history. 

Yang’s focus is to ensure that new materials, technology and guidelines for mass timber construction of up to 20 storeys are viable, economical and robust by 2028. 

“Traditional construction has a lot of significant issues. There is a lack of skilled workers, there are long construction times, lots of waste with materials, poor quality assurance, and it’s affected by weather,” said Yang.  “This next generation of mass timber construction will mark a turning point for how we build in this country – and potentially the world.” 

Multiple challenges 

Yang explained that Canada, like many other countries, is facing multiple challenges: build more housing and replace deteriorating infrastructure while reducing carbon emissions. 

“The truth is, we are at the core of it, we are producing it and we must address it. If we don’t, many coast areas will be underwater,” said Yang. 

He explained that the United Nations is projecting a rise in global population to 9.7 billion by 2050, more than 195,000 square kilometres will be needed to house this new population worldwide – equivalent to building the city of Vancouver five times every month for the next 30 years. 

Yang believes that given the building industry is Canada’s third largest carbon emitter – and with Canada expected to spend $11 trillion by 2067 on new infrastructure, as well as to replace deteriorating infrastructure – there is more need than ever for smart, sustainable building innovation. 

According to Yang, wood could be the answer to multiple problems. 

He explained that with a much lower environmental footprint than concrete, or even recycled concrete, mass timber constructions holds enormous potential in helping Canada meet its climate goals of a 30 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. 

Currently, mass timber construction goes up to only 12 storeys under Canada’s national building code. The project will deal with four key themes to enable safe, energy-efficient and sustainable mass timber construction of up to 20 storeys: 

• Structural and serviceability performance 
• Fire safety 
• Building envelope and energy performance 
• Sustainable construction technologies and practices

Other new technologies

In addition to leading the work on structural and serviceability performance, Yang is heavily involved in the research to develop sustainable construction technologies, such as quake-resilient modular construction, robotics and AI.   

Yang explained that while modular construction is already used Singapore, the U.K., U.S. and Canada, these methods are not applied in quake-prone regions. Yang’s team aims to develop new modular construction that will excel at withstanding earthquakes in high seismic zones, while reducing the carbon footprint of such construction. 

Yang and his collaborators are months deep into the research, and his team has already developed a prototype for a high-performance timber modular building. 

When it comes to AI and robotics, Yang and his team are already working on prototypes. 

“In the old days, that technology was not ready, but now it is. In the next few years we can develop design guides and codes. The whole goal is to replace the need for skilled workers on sites. Using robots is quick and efficient.”

They plan to begin testing a large-scale prototype construction robots soon. 

“The next generation of construction technology is here,” said Yang. “We are going to reshape the way we do business to make infrastructure more economical, more resilient, faster to build and be a leading edge industry.” 

He expects that the construction industry will be able to use these technologies in the field as early as 2028.

RAM Consulting is setting up an innovation hub in Alberta

The B.C.-based project delivery firm announced the new office and innovation hub in Calgary marks the company’s first interprovincial expansion and is expected to bring up to 200 jobs to the region over the next four years.

The Calgary office will develop, test and implement ideas intended to benefit infrastructure development. The centre in Bow Valley Square is already operating with more than 20 employees and will be supported by the expertise of Encepta Corp., which the company acquired in 2021.

In a press release RAM said it chose Alberta for its expansion in part due to the province’s “can do” attitude, which aligns with the company’s corporate culture. RAM added that the city’s affordability and availability of strong technical talent to support its diverse clients solidified the company’s decision. Invest Alberta supported RAM along the way by providing market and funding information and facilitating partner connections.

“Our mission to create vibrant communities through safe and sustainable infrastructure extends to supporting those communities through local partnerships, such as with the Women in Consulting Engineering Calgary Chapter and Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids,” said Joe DiPlacito, president of RAM. “In moving to Alberta, we are expanding our business and investing in the community.”

RAM specializes in project and construction management, multi-discipline engineering services, and quality and safety management in the transportation, telecommunications, utilities and energy sectors. 

A B.C. contractor is on a mission to revolutionize construction. 

Pitt Meadows Plumbing and Mechanical Systems (PMP) has been on a path for over a decade to transform its own techniques and processes using BIM, robotics, prefabrication and more. Now, they are looking to share what they have learned to help the entire industry progress. 

Jumping in with both feet

Sam Revel, PMP’s Senior Prefabrication Manager, explained that the company’s journey to the cutting edge began from the top. 

“It really started with Steve Robinson, our president,” said Revel. “He was looking at the marketplace we operate in and looked to Europe for inspiration. We were trying to see where the industry was headed.” 

One of the initial changes the company responded to was Revit becoming more common with architects and consultants. 

“We jumped in with both feet, also starting a prefabrication shop. It was one BIM modeler and 7,000 square feet of space and we have kind of built it out from there. We ran down that path and followed where it was going, just looking at what the next thing is for the industry.” 

PMP has stayed up to date on the cutting edge by attending international fabrication and manufacturing conferences where they were able to learn about modeling, offsite construction, automation and robotics. 

“Everyone is talking about the same things: the transition to modelling and offsite construction and the leap into manufacturing and robotics,” said Revel. “There is no official term for this shift, but many are calling it ‘Industrialized Construction’. We are using that as a guiding light going forward. The next step is changing all the components we make into standardized products rather than individual snowflakes.” 

Looking to the ‘Future of Work’

To spur on the Industrialized Construction revolution and to generate interest in modern construction PMP is partnering with Viega to host an event about the Future of Work. 

The April 22 Future of Work Event will be at PMP’s shop, located at 20142 113B Avenue in Maple Ridge. It will feature a morning session for parents and students to learn about how construction careers and how work is changing.

There will be an evening session for the industry to network and learn more about Industrialized Construction and what cutting edge companies are doing. 

The event will feature a keynote address from Autodesk’s VP of Industrialized Construction Strategy and Evangelism, and YouTube’s Queen of Prefab, Amy Marks. She will discuss what the next 25 years in construction will look like, highlighting innovative solutions and the endless opportunities available to people seeking a career in the trades, engineering, manufacturing and construction. Marks will also discuss how these changes will lead to a more sustainable and efficient industry.  

There will also be vendor booths and opportunities to get hands on with some of the latest manufacturing and construction technology. 

“How does this transition impact the industry?” said Revel. “The afternoon is really about bringing that info to our industry partners. We are trying to share this impact with the B.C. marketplace. A rising tide raises all ships.”

An Industrialized Construction revolution

Revel said PMP is wanting to connect with others in the B.C. industry and encourage them to join the Industrialized Construction revolution.

“We need to change our expected experience of construction,” said Revel. “Right now it is crazy. Everything is bespoke and custom. Everyone is trying their best to collaborate, but we end up with trade stacking and inefficient work. We need a cohesive approach” 

Revel noted that if B.C. is going to address the skilled trades gap, the housing crisis and hit climate goals, the overall process of construction has to change.

“The ultimate goal is to close the gap between the typical 75 per cent efficiency in construction to the 95 per cent efficiency of manufacturing,” said Revel. “Construction has been stagnant with efficiency and I think an Industrialized Construction revolution is the only way we can increase it from where we are.”

Attend the Future of Work event April 22

Sign up here and use promo code “SITENEWS20” by April 11 to get 20% off tickets to the afternoon industry networking event. This event is geared towards general contractors, suppliers, trade workers, developers, owners and others in the construction sector. 

FREE Tickets for students and their parents to attend the morning event are also available. This session is geared towards those interested in learning more about careers in the trades, engineering, manufacturing and construction. 

The days of flipping through a phonebook to find a contractor, architect or engineer are over. Most likely, someone’s first impression of your company will be from an internet search.

Is your website communicating your brand and your values?

We sniffed around cyberspace and rounded up some websites that we believe tell their company story particularly well through images, design and text. Here they are in no particular order.

Low Tide Properties

Sleek, clean and modern, the site features slick animations. Nope, they aren’t a tech company, but at first glance you might think so. Their copy puts it this way “Technically, we’re people who work in real estate. But we’re not real estate people”. 

DIRTT

Beautiful photography is the star of DIRTT’s website. It has a seemingly endless supply of it. One of their brand plays is that images have one single rounded corner, sometimes this happens on hover, leading to a truly unique website. It also features some orange accent colours but it never overstays its welcome.

Pomerleau

With headers like “Your talent will shape our history”, and the sheer amount of careers related pages, this is a company with a strong website-based talent recruitment strategy. And with their flashy blues and quick animations, you can’t help but feel this is an energetic, exciting place to work. With its mostly inverted colour scheme – dark backgrounds and white text – this is a website that really pops.

Ingenuity

This site main header cleverly flips between words like “happiness”, “detail”, “productivity”, “creativity” and more to tell the brand’s story. The perfectly curated yellow pops over darker colours. The stamp logo, combined with black and white photography, communicates a classic feel that suggests experience.

Zeidler

The headers in Zeidler’s site half float over imagery and backgrounds, pulling different sections together. The attractive red branding is used strategically as an accent colour throughout the site. You can definitely see the influence of Apple design with the clean Helvetica fonts over white backgrounds. Everything feels intentional and curated – the highlighted projects, photography and the copy.  

Chandos

It’s big, it’s bold and not shy about sharing. Chandos immediately shows off its B Corp certification and commitment to be net zero by 2040. While red and blue colours are old hat for many companies, they make it feel new with modern flourishes. The navigation is clean, focused and simple, despite the site actually being much larger than it seems.

Scott Construction Group

Scott’s tagline says it all: “The construction company with a human touch.” The animated pen markings make it feel like someone carefully went over all the content, guiding and pulling the viewer’s eye. The company’s diamond logo shape is utilized creatively in buttons and to punctuate messages. The company’s focus on people went a step further recently, when it achieved B Corp certification.

EllisDon

3D interactive graphics set this one apart from others in the sector. The whole site employs a diverse set of well selected, vibrant palettes of blue that avoid being another bland blue corporate brand. The massive site also features gorgeous page transitions and isn’t afraid to tastefully use smaller text when needed. This creates an elegant feel and stands out from others.

Skender

Skender expertly uses impactful text over top of imagery and their focus on SkenderLean® immediately gives the impression that it is cutting edge. The designer also cleverly used gradients to soften sharp red colours so as to not overwhelm the viewer.

Wales McLelland

Clean, clear and concise – this site works hard to make everything easy on the eyes. The messaging and font strikes a balance between being friendly and engaging, but also still technical. The strong use of video helps tell the brand’s story throughout the site. Stats are blown up over high-quality images so visitors come away with all sorts of unexpected information nuggets.

Marcon

With its beautiful graphics that expand while scrolling, this site tells a visual story. The thoughtful patterned backgrounds and headers translate well and orange is used to emphasize important words. The overall quality of cutting tool videos was also high. There is something so satisfying about watching a lathe carve through a piece of metal.

PCL

It’s no surprise that the largest builder in Canada would have a sophisticated website. Yellow and green brand artifact animations are sprinkled throughout, adding layers of branding beyond just a logo. The text is clean and concise, making good use of subheads. While the site is massive, layouts are kept simple, making it seem less daunting to navigate. While it has some flashy elements, PCL resisted the urge to go overboard.

RAM Consulting

Blocky, structural, precise – RAM’s font, which sits over images, clearly communicates engineering. The design shows restraint with limited use of headers. This draws the reader into learning more rather than just quickly glancing and scrolling through. Ram also has a striking logo that they aren’t afraid to show off on a large scale.

Rize

Sometimes less is more. Rize lets the viewer’s imagination fill the void by use of white space. The impactful bold use of orange permeates the whole site. And while some companies have a “blog” section, Rize blazes its own path, calling theirs “Thinking”. It’s filled with engaging articles that position the brand as a thought leader. Even the project descriptions show personality, with one reading “Hello, our first rental”.

Magil

Magil went with a crisp, clean look and nice image wipe reveals. Their icon animates behind text to give them a larger than life brand presence as you’re scrolling through. The design achieves a larger than life brand presence while scrolling as the icon animates behind text.

Anthem Properties

You have to admit, “Growing Places” is a killer tagline for a developer. The site features seamless scroll animations on the homepage and large, clean menus for easy navigation. Black and white branding could have been dull or overly serious. Anthem made it their own with hip curated photography of team members wearing the colours and having fun.

*Bonus websites:

Aryze

How many websites turn your mouse into a spotlight? It also features beautiful textures, super clean layouts, good use of white space and sophisticated font selections. There was a great deal of thought and intention put into this site to make the navigation pleasing and the visual hierarchy clear.

Key Takeaways:

• Level Bot Technology is developing an app that can use voice transcription technology to capture and communicate data on jobsites.
• The technology will be able to integrate into existing solutions, like Procore.
• Level Bot believes the app could also be used to help translate information for workers who speak different languages and to identify those who are struggling with mental health issues.

The Whole Story:

Brey Tucker wants to talk about talking. 

For years, he’s been pondering how workers communicate information on jobsites and how it can be assisted by voice technology.  

“I’ve been thinking about voice technology for a while now,” said Tucker. “I used to be a skyscraper architect. One of the things we looked at was using voice in virtual reality. What struck me was how powerful voice is when you can create a transcript and add info to plans. That was sitting in my mind for ten years.” 

While working as director of innovation for ETRO Construction he found that despite being given digital solutions, workers still shared some information with their voices. 

“One of the biggest problems in site capture was just getting data into the site platform,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what solution is used, site workers hate data entry – but they talk a lot on site. They talk through walkie-talkies and between people. That is where the data is. It’s in their minds.” 

While working for Autodesk on how to integrate with BIM he suggested using voice AI but was told it was too big a risk. Instead, he was allowed to leave and pursue it on his own with Ventana Construction.

“They had been building their own management solutions for 20 years and had been talking about taking what they had to market,” said Tucker. “I told them about this voice idea and how simple it was to gather evidence and capture communications. They were into it and that was how it came together.”

The result was Level Bot Technologies, and they plan to release their communication and site documentation app this fall. Tucker explained that the app will be able to message others, gather data and fill out forms by just using one’s voice and chat bot technology. The app is flexible and can integrate with existing platforms many companies use, like Procore. 

He believes this could be especially useful for sites that have multiple languages being spoken. 

“What is awesome about natural language processing is that it can do translation on the fly in real time,” said Tucker. “If you have a form in English, any of the languages we support can distribute that information to the worker in their preferred language.”

Tucker said this could be used to ensure that critical safety information is relayed, understood and documented. The first two languages that the app will support are English and Spanish. Tucker says the app will see real beta testing on a site in a few months, but right now the team has only been testing singular features.

“The main thing about the app is that it is really simple, so messaging, answering forms and capturing evidence can all be done on any smartphone,” he said. 

Level Bot also wants to address one of the industry’s biggest issues: mental health.

“One of the biggest things we see happening is construction that is concerning is the mental health crisis,” said Tucker. “There’s lots of depression, high suicide rates. As of last year, it was more likely for you to commit suicide than to die from a work-related incident.” 

They are looking at partnering with health technology companies to develop a free questionnaire to assist in identifying workers who are struggling. Tucker noted that there is also promising research into how voice technology could be used to detect fatigue, depression and even some forms of cancer. 

“We want to keep the industry as healthy as we can and want to support unions and trades who are looking to do something about the mental health crisis,” said Tucker. “We won’t ever be a health provider but will enable this for builders with health provider partners.”

After serving four years as Kingston and the Islands MPP, Ian Arthur announced he would not be seeking re-election. 

Ontario NDP leadership praised him for leading the battle to get more family doctors in Kingston, and by being an outspoken and purpose-driven advocate for action to address the climate crisis.

While he was proud of his political career, he wanted to do something bold in the private sector to solve some of the country’s biggest issues. 

“Serving as MPP was a huge honour and I am happy I did it but I wanted something else,” said Arthur. “I was interested in getting back into the private sector and working in an area with room for innovation where I could be disrupted.” 

When he saw the progress being made in robotics technology, he decided to tackle the issue of affordable housing and construction timelines. 

“I’d been watching the technology for years and found it interesting and saw it reaching a tipping point where it was in a viable place to get into the sector and start building,” he said. “I think the link started while I was a politician. We did a lot of work on housing to increase availability of affordable housing. But we were faced with the reality that while there are some provincial policy levers we can pull that do have an effect, the breadth of problems facing construction were not going to be addressed by policy alone.”

Finding a robot 

The same year he left politics he founded Nidus3D with Hugh Roberts. Roberts has worked in construction and development spaces for over a decade and has expertise in operations, R&D, sales, and strategy.

Their first step was building out a relationship with Denmark-based COBOD, the only company that manufactures a printer with the capability to match Nidus3D’s vision

The BOD2 printer’s modular truss structure presents several advantages for construction printing. The printer can be configured exactly to each project. It can also be upscaled and downscaled to suit larger and smaller projects that you may have in your pipeline. Nidus went to Demark to tour COBOD’s facility and watch the printers in action. The Nidus team then spoke with other COBOD customers about their experiences.

A ‘let’s get building’ approach 

After that, Nidus3D scraped together some capital through a small pre-seed round to buy its first printer. It arrived last February for commissioning and the team started building. Since then, they have been making Canadian history: 

• In partnership with Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex, and the University of Windsor, Nidus3D delivered North America’s first residentially permitted multi-unit 3D printed building. The build included four self-contained 560 square foot homes and was partially funded through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Innovation Fund. 
• Near Kingston, Ont., Nidus3D constructed the first-ever 3D-printed, multi-storey, mixed-use concrete building in North America. The 2,300-square-foot, two-storey building has a workshop on the ground floor and a residence on top.

Arthur explained that they are pushing the young, 3D-printed building industry forward not just because they want to, but because they have to. 

“Hugh and I have driven a practical, ‘let’s get building’ approach’ while a lot of other groups in the sector bought the tech on a more experimental basis to play around a bit,” he said. “That is partially out of necessity. We did secure some small, pre-seed money, but we have to secure projects to secure revenue so it is a necessity for us to get out and deliver projects and that is a big factor pushing us forward.” 

While these small, one-off projects are proving the viability of the technology, Arthur noted that 3D printing is far better applied on a larger scale. 

“When we run our forward-looking numbers that’s where it really becomes cost competitive,” he said. “Our build costs on probably ten units and above per site is, I think, universally competitive with any technology in Canada and it’s only the beginning of this technology.” 

This year the company plans to demonstrate the true benefits of 3D printing by spending roughly three months building a small, eight-building sub-division of about 24 units. 

Addressing housing and labour issues

Arthur hopes that in the coming years, the technology can be used to address housing affordability and labour shortages. 

“We make buildings with hundreds of different materials, thousands of components, tens of thousands of different process steps,” he said. “While we have had incredible material advances over the years, none of it has solved the process problem. I think this is one of the first things I have seen that addresses that process problem.”

Arthur noted that while Nidus3D’s projects get larger and more complex, the number of people required doesn’t increase. 

“The best case scenario for training workers still won’t meet demand. This technology still has challenges, it still needs to improve and be optimized for efficiency, but it does begin to address that process problem,” he said. “When we do deploy a larger printer than we have now, it still only needs three people and as you scale that you begin to see what it could have a profound impact on the building sector and housing supply in Canada.”  

Arthur doesn’t want to stop at 3D printing. While the goal is to scale the 3D business, he wants to look at ways to optimize the rest of the construction process, including mechanical systems, lighting systems, door and window installations, flooring and more.  “How can we use technology to make these things faster to deploy? Maybe we rethink how we deliver those systems?” said Arthur. “We have to start thinking about building in new ways. The industry is scaling in inefficient, slow, complex and unpredictable ways. We can’t scale that, we will just fall further and further behind. If we don’t find groups and technology that break that down and rebuild from ground up will never solve these problems.”  

Video shows tour of Canada’s first 3D-printed home:

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.”