Interlocking pipe pile cofferdam construction being performed
by Fraser River Pile & Dredge in 2015 at the John Hart Generating
Station Replacement Project in Campbell River, B.C.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Vancouver, B.C. Through this, I
started working on bids for public-private partnership projects,
which ultimately led to working at Partnerships British
Columbia Inc. (Partnerships BC), a provincial Crown agency
responsible for major infrastructure procurement in both
Vancouver and Victoria.
At Partnerships BC, I had the opportunity to work on
many of the largest projects in the province, including as
procurement manager for the Port Mann Bridge/Highway 1
Improvement Project, which was a $2.5-billion-dollar highway
upgrade that included the replacement of the Port Mann
Bridge over the Fraser River.
I have been fortunate to work on the public and private
side of the business. From my perspective, until you actually
work for each side you can never fully understand the day-today
drivers in both sectors. I missed working in the private
sector, so when the opportunity to work at Fraser River
Pile & Dredge was presented, I took it. FRPD has become
increasingly more involved in larger projects as the general
contractor and my background fit in with the company’s
goals in this area.
You’ve been president and CEO of Fraser River Pile &
Dredge since August 2017, and before that you were the
company’s COO for three years. Talk about your time
at FRPD and the transition to the piling industry.
SC: Joining FRPD as COO was my first role in the piling industry.
As a civil engineer and project manager, I had worked on
the design and construction of roads and transit projects
where I was exposed to foundation design, but had not specialized
in FRPD’s primary areas.
When I joined the company, I was immediately impressed
by the talent and knowledge within the organization. FRPD
has benefited from the loyalty and hard work of our team of
employees and contractors, many of whom have spent their
entire career with the company. There has been a commitment
to hiring and training young people in the office and in
the field that has yielded great dividends.
I enjoy working with the people of FRPD and learning
from the vast knowledge that is within the organization. It is
a 107-year-old company with much tradition but also with an
eye to the future and it is continually evolving.
What do you love about your line of work?
SC: Every day is a new challenge and we have the right people
to figure out how to address those challenges as a team and
be successful. FRPD is involved in so many different sizes and
types of projects – it makes the work very interesting and a
place of continuous improvement and opportunity.
What are some memorable projects that you have
been a part of? What makes them stand out?
SC: Each project brings learnings that are valuable to your
next project. With Bombardier Transportation, I was given
the opportunity to travel and work in many locations. Just
like every project, every new location has challenges with
logistics and culture in addition to the basic day-to-day project
management issues at play.
For me, two projects that stand out are Bombardier’s Light
Rail Transit 2 Project in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, where we had
to meet a deadline of opening for the Commonwealth Games
under circumstances that many of us never experienced, and
more recently the Fairview Container Terminal Expansion in
Prince Rupert, B.C.
This was a large job for FRPD and the biggest one we’ve
taken on as a general contractor in a joint venture. Through
the dedication of our people and teamwork with our JV partner,
Bel Contracting, it was successfully completed.
PERSONNEL
66 Q4 2018 www.pilingcanada.ca
/www.pilingcanada.ca
