Researchers at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom have developed a new method of creating concrete building components. Inspired by small scale 3d printers, the team has created a computer guided printer that builds the components layer by layer using concrete. This results in greater control of the shape, less materials used, and the ability to have solid components with precisely controlled cavities inside.
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Read the full article at Eureka Magazine
ACA has been actively advocating for changes to federal and provincial immigration programs to better meet the needs of members. The Alberta Government has been responsive to our concerns.
Alberta Human Services Minister Dave Hancock recently provided ACA an update. ACA looks forward to continuing to work with our federal and provincial partners to successfully implement improvements.
The Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Green Building Council are once again hosting a Sustainable Building Symposium. The 2012 Symposium will take place on May 3 in Calgary, and will have 20 speakers and 30 presentations on many aspects of green building.
Alberta’s leadership was evident at the recent meetings of the Canadian Construction Association. Alberta associations, member companies, and government partners played leadership roles in industry responses to major issues confronting the industry, including:
ACA congratulates the following award winners:
As part of ACA’s partnership with Occupational Health and Safety, in an effort to raise industry awareness of current issues, ACA will be reporting on safety incidents. The majority of construction – related serious incidents for January and February involved falls.
As recently reported, ACA continues to build a relationship with Alberta Health Services to promote best practice in contracting and tendering procedures. AHS agreed to provide its standard contracts for ACA to circulate to members for comments:
ACA is requesting the members provide comments by April 2 as follows (please specify which AHS contract(s) you are referring to):
ACA will keep individual member comments confidential and develop an industry response to AHS based on the comments received.
ACA has been spearheading a broad coalition of industry associations to speak as one voice on changes needed to the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program, and on permanent immigration. The membership of ACALS (Alberta Coalition for Action on Labour Shortages) prefers to source domestic workers first and is undertaking many initiatives to improve sourcing and productivity from Canadians, but industry and government forecasts indicate insufficient numbers of Canadians will be available to meet demand.
ACALS went public with its recommendations in a March 1 news conference. Read the news release and ACALS recommendations here. The Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, and Journal of Commerce provided immediate coverage, highlighting the importance of the issue.
The lobbying activities have already borne fruit, with Federal Immigration Minister Kenney announcing a number of changes that the Coalition has been recommending (see the Minister’s news release here). Key changes, to be phased in over the next few months, include:
ACA, along with the British Columbia and Saskatchewan Construction Associations, initiated a fact finding mission to Ireland to improve access for ACA members to skilled Irish construction personnel with three main goals:
The Alberta government has identified Ireland as the top priority for foreign worker recruitment for the following reasons:
The western Canadian delegation met with training and apprenticeship authorities, the Dublin Institute of Technology, construction employers association, the major union, Engineers Ireland, the Canadian embassy and private firms.
ACA has concluded that the qualifications for many Irish trades and for engineers are a very good fit for Canadian needs. Next steps include: