February 10, 2010
Ontario Road Builders’ Association convention
Government should be more flexible with stimulus project deadline, outgoing ORBA president says
Stimulus infrastructure spending would have a greater impact if government were more flexible with its March 2011 deadline for projects to be completed, says the past-president of the Ontario Road Builders’ Association.
“The one thing we can’t forget about is the seasonality some of the works, and some of the works can’t be done possibly (on time),” Tom O’Callaghan said in an interview with Reed Construction Data during the association’s annual convention in Toronto Feb. 1.
“That’s what he big concern is – that the March 2011 date will be sort of a guillotine shut.
“It would just be nice if there was a little more flexibility on that date – I think you’d see probably a whole bunch of benefits – some even better pricing and also the opportunity for people to plan their works out better over the next two years and get the true benefit from the infrastructure stimulus spending.”
Check back here in the coming days for more video from the ORBA convention.
VIDEO: B.C. Construction Association welcomes standardized contract forms
Standardized construction documents are long overdue, says the president of the B.C. Construction Association.
Port Mann Bridge under construction
Time-lapse footage shows the progress of construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Metro Vancouver.
VIDEO: How effective has stimulus spending been?
If you want a good indication of how effective government stimulus spending has been in Canada, look at the “remarkable” institutional starts statistics for the first half of 2010, CanaData chief economist Alex Carrick says.
VIDEO: Owners must lead charge toward BIM adoption
The greatest challenge in getting the architecture, engineering and construction industries to embrace building information modeling is convincing individual players they’d be better off working collaboratively, says the chair of the Canada BIM Council.
VIDEO: Canada’s economy is slowing down
As fall approaches, the Canadian economy is slowing down, but this lower growth is due to factors that beyond the nation’s control, says CanaData Chief Economist Alex Carrick.
VIDEO: Canada should embrace rainscreen cladding systems
Canada has been too slow to embrace rainscreen cladding systems, despite the advantages they offer in terms of better performance, low-cost maintenance and longer-lasting structures, says a distributor of architectural building products.
VIDEO: Ontario General Contractors Association shows support for Gold Seal
All the directors on the board of the Ontario General Contractors Association have become Gold Seal Champions, part of an effort to help promote the national construction certification program.
VIDEO: Green building critical in triple bottom line accounting
Building design and construction standards will undergo significant changes as “triple bottom line” accounting becomes more commonplace in the industry, says a Saskatchewan-based economist.
VIDEO: Boom truck tips over at Vancouver condo project
A boom truck tipped over while delivering lumber to a low-rise condominium construction project in Vancouver’s trendy Kitsilano neighbourhood, near Vine Street and First Avenue.
