The University of Alberta is hosting Innovation in Construction FORUM and have just announced their keynote speaker, Guy Boston, Manager of LRT Delivery at the City of Edmonton, who will be presenting on the planning, engagement, design, and procurement processes of the entire LRT network and providing construction updates on the Valley Line Southeast project.

Detailed Program Information is now available online. This is an opportunity to learn about and apply emerging research trends and technologies from internationally-recognized experts and REGISTER today.

If your organization is a Research Partner of the Hole School of Construction Engineering, please contact Brenda Penner – FORUM Program Coordinator brenda.penner@ualberta.ca for a discount code.

This article originally appeared in the June 2018 edition of the Ottawa Construction Association’s Construction Comment magazine

Each year, JB Knowledge, a Texas-based construction technology consultancy issues its Construction Technology Report, a scan of the top technology trends in our industry.

The 2017 edition is the company’s sixth, and it surveyed the habits and opinions of 2,690 builders from across the United States, Canada and the world.

This year, the survey asked builders about their technology workflows, solutions and budgets. One of the principal findings of this year’s report is that technology continues to be a difficult sell for many builders. Construction continues to budget the least of any industry towards IT. Managers are hesitant to adopt, and are largely unaware of, the right technology solutions.

“The Construction Technology Report provides our members with a snapshot of where the industry is, what tools are being used and where they should allocate more resources towards improvement,” said Sean McGuire, Director of Construction Technology for the Mechanical Contractors Association of America.

So, where is the industry at? According to this survey, it’s showing gradual improvement. In 2017, IT budgets slightly increased. Employees reported greater comfort with BIM technology. More companies expanded their research and development budgets, and, for the first time in this survey’s history, builders decreased manual-data entry.

The upcoming digital construction landscape promises existing and immersive technical solutions to construction challenges.

Hopefully, this year’s positive technical trends will continue, and our industry can take full advantage of the technological sophistication available to it.

Click here to read the full article.
Click here for the report.

Alberta Construction Association (ACA) received funding from Alberta Economic Development for an initiative to support small to medium sized contractors by improving their understanding of risks in construction contracts.

As a first step, a committee of contractors led by Mike Nicolson, Vice President, EllisDon identified onerous clauses frequently present in commercial contracts issued by public owners in Alberta.  This report formed the basis for the second step: to gather information on what these clauses mean and to determine the impact these clauses have on tender pricing.

ACA is hosting in partnership with the Edmonton Construction Association (ECA) the second step Workshop following the successful Calgary June 20^th session. Mixed sector participant groups (General Contractors, Subcontractors, Insurance Specialists and Lawyers) will review and present their discussions on six common non-standard clauses.  To determine financial implications of these and other clauses, the groups will be given a mock project that is typical of some of the projects being tendered.  All groups will be tasked to submit bids based on the information provided and present their rational for pricing.

Workshop limited to 36 participants – maximum three per company.

Date:  Oct 4, 2018

Time:  7:45 – 3:45

Where:  Edmonton Construction Association, 10215 176 Street Northwest, Edmonton, AB, T5S 1M1

Register Here