4D (scheduling) and 5D (estimating) modeling are revolutionizing how buildings are designed and built. However, misconceptions are prevalent about the use of this technology. The top five misconceptions are:
1. It is easy
2. It is too expensive
3. That you need to 4D the whole project
4. It requires a highly skilled technician
5. It is a cure all for projects
The Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence at Okanagan College in British Columbia provides classroom space, study areas, workshops and laboratories to teach sustainable building design and construction. The Centre also includes a technology incubator to help entrepreneurs develop and test new green innovations.
The 8000m2 Centre is the largest building yet to apply for the rigorous Living Building Challenge. Like all Living Buildings, the Centre produces its electricity and (through a partnership with the local municipality) treats its wastewater. The Centre is designed for adaptability to changing technology. In addition to maximizing natural light and ventilation, a new sun-tracking light tube technology is being piloted. This technology magnifies natural light and redirects in 18m into the building.
ACA has written Minister Hancock expressing industry’s opposition to administrative penalties. See the letter here.
Dr. Chris Pyke, Vice President of Research of the U.S. Green Building Council, gives a presentation on using data from certified green buildings to improve the process and drive market transformation.
Smart Planet recently interviewed Sam Hagerman, president of the Passive House Alliance U.S.
Passive House is a green building standard, originally from Europe, that is growing quickly in North America. See our previous post here for more details.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Green Globes are two popular green building standards. While both are used in Canada, they have five major differences.
1. Process
Unlike LEED’s document based process, Green Globes uses an online questionnaire supplemented by a third-party verifier. This is less time intensive than the LEED process.
2. Popularity
LEED is considerably more popular than Green Globes, being used in 22 countries. Green Globes has certified approximately 1,500 projects, compared to LEED’s 11,095.
3. Transparency
Green Globes doesn’t have prerequisites, threshold limits, or minimum performance requirements. LEED has a less subjective and more transparent process.
4. Cost Effectiveness
Green Globes has free associate membership, no appeal costs, and fewer registration costs. It also reduces the soft costs of billable hours of LEED consultants on documentation. Therefore, it is possible to certify under Green Globes for low cost in comparison to LEED.
5. Criteria for Evaluation
LEED and Green Globes places emphasis on different aspects of construction; Green Globes gives more weighting to energy efficiency, while LEED places more emphasis on materials.
The Canada-Alberta pilot project has been expanded to include six additional occupations. The pilot project allows Alberta employers to recruit temporary foreign workers in the designated occupations without a LMO. Originally restricted to just steamfitter/pipefitter, the pilot project now includes the following occupations:
The ACALS coalition, of which ACA is a founder, met July 9th with Federal Immigration Minister Kenney to praise the new policy directions, identify several gaps, and focus on successful implementation moving forward. See the attached letter.
Additional resumes received this week by ACA. While ACA has not verified or screened the individuals and makes no claim on their behalf, contact ken.gibson@albertaconstruction.net if you would like to receive the CV for this individual.
Over 15 years experience within a broad spectrum of the construction industry including 10 years in management of various projects and clients. I have recently been awarded a permit to live and work in Canada. My experiences in construction includes working at all stages of projects from one-off houses, high rise concrete office/residential structures to €500m+ industrial projects such as Intel Ireland and Pfizer Plants at both general contractor and sub-contractor levels. I have been involved in site excavation, civil work, substructure, main structure, fit-out stages to finishing/handover phases and a wide range of management.
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. We hope that more information assists employers as they strive for zero incidents.
