Alberta Province
Calgary Stampede gets keys to expanded BMO Centre, key milestone in $500M project
City News, City News Staff, Services- March 13, 2024
The keys to Calgary’s new BMO Centre were given to the Calgary Stampede Wednesday after four years of construction.
Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) and the Stampede say the project has now moved into its final stages, preparing to begin operating following a June grand opening. The $500 million expansion pushes the building to more than one million square feet, which will allow for the hosting of up to 33,000 people at once.
Calgary’s convention centre is now the largest in western Canada. To prepare for those crowds, Stampede employees will soon start loading in furniture, dishes, cutlery and catering equipment, including 6,500 stacking chairs, 600 round banquet tables, 500 rectangular tables, 7,680 forks and knives, and 6,200 dinner plates.
Alberta budget pleases some but not all construction stakeholders
Calgary Construction Association, Lena Hogarth, March 6, 2024
Some Alberta construction stakeholders are reacting positively to the province’s latest budget announced Feb. 29, but others have a dimmer view.
Calgary Construction Association president Bill Black said the budget recognized the need to deal with an ongoing labour shortage, something his organization and others have lobbied for.“The $5,000 incentive added to the ‘Alberta is Calling’ campaign, funding for collegiate schools, funding for the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s technical training centre, these are all good to see because the government is recognizing that they have a role to play in our long-term workforce challenge,” Black said. He added housing as an issue that is “inextricably linked.” “We need people to move here, they need homes, we need people to move here to build homes,” Black said.
Alberta Budget 2024: 18 new schools to be built in Calgary and area
Calgary Herald, Scott Strasser, March 01, 2024
Alberta's education minister said the 2024 budget will support the construction of 28 new schools, 10 replacement schools and five modernization projects.
Eighteen new schools will be built in the Calgary region in the coming years, Alberta government officials announced Friday. Premier Danielle Smith and Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides provided additional details Friday on new K-12 school projects that will receive funding in this year’s budget, including 18 new schools for Calgary and area and 14 in the Capital Region. The construction timeline for most of the projects was not revealed, and only two Calgary schools will receive full construction funding this year. Most of the shovel-ready projects will benefit the surrounding communities of Airdrie, Cochrane and Chestermere. The provincial budget tabled Thursday promised $2.1 billion in capital funding over three years to build, expand or modernize 43 schools across the province.
Edmonton looks to spur energy-efficient construction after Alberta revokes city green building powers
Calgary Herald, Lauren Boothby, Feb 28, 2024
The City of Edmonton is looking for different ways to encourage more energy-efficient construction after the Alberta government announced its intention to revoke Edmonton’s and Calgary’s ability to demand greener building practices in December.
With nearly 40 per cent of Edmonton’s greenhouse gas emissions coming from residential and commercial buildings, the city wants to increase the stock of new emissions-neutral buildings and prepare existing ones for the impacts of climate change in the future. But soon Edmonton won’t be able to require new buildings to be more efficient than the province requires through the building code, putting a wrench in one option the city was exploring through Edmonton’s community energy transition plan approved by city council in 2021.
New Safety Codes to Come into Force on May 1, 2024
Discipline, Safety Codes Officers, admin, Jan 29, 2024
The National Building Code – 2023 Alberta Edition and National Fire Code – 2023 Alberta Edition have been published. These codes and the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings 2020 will come into force in Alberta on May 1, 2024.
The National Building Code – 2023 Alberta Edition and the National Fire Code – 2023 Alberta Edition are now available online. Paper copies will soon be available at the National Research Council’s Virtual Store. The National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings 2020 is now available for free online.
Prompt Payment Legislation
Alberta Construction Association, ACAadmin, Jan 17, 2024
Over the past several years, the Alberta Construction Association has worked closely with the Government of Alberta in developing the Prompt Pay Construction Lien Act (PPCLA). This legislation was developed within the construction industry in response to chronic problems due to increasing delays in payment for work properly performed and invoiced. GC’s, Trades, and suppliers often wait 70 to 90 days or more to get paid – well past expiry of current lien rights. Such payment delays on public & private projects are detrimental to the financial health of firms by restricting cash flow and effectively adding financing costs to projects. ACA and its partners were supportive of the changes made by the Alberta government as a step in the right direction.
Vancouver Province
Dylan Kruger: Cities are being asked to do more with less — an impossible task
Dylan Kruger, Vancouver Sun, March 12, 2024
The federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund showed promise, but seven cities in Metro Vancouver have had their applications denied.
Canada needs more homes. That point is now painfully obvious and, thankfully, supported by all major political parties. Supply is the answer, and lots of it. In fact, according to expert studies, Canada must build 3.5 million additional homes by the year 2030. Unsurprisingly, we are nowhere close to hitting this target.
While a plethora of other policies aimed at addressing the housing crisis have failed over the last decade, the federal government’s housing accelerator fund initially showed promise. Unlike previous ideas that attempted to suppress demand for new home ownership, the fund aims to incentivize local governments to do more to approve desperately needed new homes.
City of Vancouver lawsuit claims faulty Granville Bridge work poses ‘substantial danger’
Elizabeth McSheffrey, Global News, Feb 20, 2024
The City of Vancouver is suing three companies it hired to do major rehabilitation work to the Granville Bridge, alleging the final product includes “defects” or deficiencies” that “pose a real and substantial danger” to users. A civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court this month names Associated Engineering (B.C.) Ltd., Graham Infrastructure LP and Ross Rex Industrial Painters Ltd. as defendants.
Global News has reached out to each comment on this story, with Associated Engineering stating it’s “investigating” the issues raised. According to the civil claim, work on the Granville Bridge between 2019 and 2021 included the replacement of select expansion joints connecting segments of the bridge, the installation of rubber troughs and the recoating of structure steel members underneath certain expansion joints.
BC Builds will deliver more lower-cost, middle-income rental homes faster
Jimmy Smith, BC Gov News, Feb 13, 2024
The Province has launched BC Builds to lower construction costs, speed up timelines, and deliver more homes that middle-income people who live and work in B.C. can afford.
BC Builds is a new initiative that leverages government, community and non-profit owned and underused land with $2 billion in low-cost financing and a commitment of $950 million for the overall program. “Anyone looking for a place to live knows how hard it is – even if you make a decent salary there are not enough rental homes people can afford,” said Premier David Eby. “The private sector alone has not been able to deliver the homes middle-class people in B.C. need. That’s why we’re taking action through BC Builds to deliver lower-cost middle-income homes, faster, so the people who keep our communities working – like teachers, nurses, and construction workers – can find homes they can afford in the communities they love.”
New downtown Vancouver office tower having difficulty keeping tenants
Joanne Lee-Young, Vancouver Sun, Feb 13, 2024
Comparable new buildings in the neighbourhood are mostly occupied except for a few of the lower floors.
The Vancouver Centre II office tower officially opened a year ago, but it has been one step forward, one step back in terms of filling its floors, according to local commercial real estate agents.They say it is surprising that GWL Realty Advisors’ 33-storey AAA office building at 733 Seymour St. in downtown Vancouver isn’t finding success with tenants. “If you look at other new builds, it’s fair to say they’ve been more successful,” says Vancouver-based Ross Moore, a managing broker at real estate company Cresa, which advises companies on leases. He hasn’t done a deal in the building at 733 Seymour, but says that comparable new buildings such as Oxford Properties’ The Stack, a 37-storey tower on Melville Street, are occupied except for a few of the lower floors.
B.C. construction industry predicted to be ‘surprisingly robust’ in 2024
Claire Wilson, North Shore News, Jan 9, 2024
Industry association signals 2024 will be a busier year than the last despite headwinds such as labour shortages and supply chain issues.
Attitudes about the year ahead for B.C.’s construction industry are looking rosier than expected. Despite economic uncertainties, 87 per cent of B.C. contractors expect 2024 to be as busy – or even busier – compared with last year, according to an annual survey from the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA).
“This seems counterintuitive given that we have rolled from one crisis to another in recent years – from the COVID-19 pandemic, to supply chain disruptions, to inflation and then historic increases in interest rates,” said ICBA president Chris Gardner in a Jan. 8 survey report. While forward-looking attitudes for construction are positive, two-thirds of B.C. contractors cite the shortage of people as the biggest challenge in 2024.
9 major projects in Metro Vancouver starting construction in 2024
Kenneth Chan, Daily Hive, Jan 5, 2024
Although there is currently a slowdown of residential and commercial projects in Metro Vancouver due to market conditions, the same cannot be said for the coming wave of shovels that will hit the ground for major and unique civic and transportation infrastructure, and cultural and tourism attractions.
And of course, this is already on top of everything that is under construction, with 2024 also expected to see a major wave of completions.
Everything from a major outdoor concert venue to a significant SkyTrain extension, in no particular order of importance, here are nine notable developments and infrastructure projects that will begin major construction work in 2024