New Master Dealer Agreement for BAUER-Pileco and ECA
Bauer Maschinen, BAUER-Pileco and Equipment Corporation of America (ECA) are pleased to announce the signing of a new Master Dealer Agreement between the parties, effective December 2014.
ECA will continue to be an exclusive BAUER-authorized distributor, covering the northeastern U.S. and Eastern Canada. The distribution agreement changes the territories slightly to improve coverage, by adding Florida and Georgia to the ECA territory. BAUER-Pileco will now service and support Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.
A new study released by the Independent Contractors and Businesses Associations (ICBA) reveals that 59 per cent of young adults are unaware of how to get into the trades because of their inaccurate perceptions of construction.
“There are misconceptions about working in the construction industry and we all have a role to play to change them,” said Philip Hochstein, president of the ICBA. “The reality is once you pick up a trade, there is a pathway to a long-term, rewarding career in construction with room for advancement.”
With one million job openings by 2022 and 44 per cent requiring skilled and technical training, the ICBA commissioned NRG Research Group to conduct a poll to understand the current perceptions of skilled trades among British Columbians aged 18 to 29 years old.
CAWIC Calls on Construction Industry to Promote Women’s Advancement
The Canadian Association of Women in Construction (CAWIC) recently launched its Women's Advancement Project in St. John's, Newfoundland. CAWIC is calling on industry employers, unions and educational partners to collaborate with CAWIC to address the shortage of skilled trades in Canada by promoting the entry and advancement of women into leadership roles within the construction industry.
Earlier this year, CAWIC was awarded a grant from the Government of Canada for $249,900 through Status of Women Canada. The grant will fund a three-year project to conduct research and develop, with collaboration from industry employers and female participants, an action plan to open doors for women's entry, retention and advancement into leadership roles within the construction industry.
CAWIC is actively seeking employer partners who share its vision to promote change and break down barriers for women in the industry, to create an action plan that makes economic sense, is realistic and attainable. Industry employers with operations in Alberta, Ontario and Newfoundland/Labrador have the opportunity to get directly involved in this important initiative.
Two weeklong seminars were recently held in Edmonton, Alta. to give operators a unique opportunity to increase their skills using Soilmec hydraulic drill rigs.
Soilmec certified instructors came from Italy's Foundations Technology Academy to teach the participants state-of-the-art drilling techniques and to help them grow professionally to reach their full potential. Having skilled operators helps the participating contractors get the most from their Soilmec equipment by increasing jobsite productivity, efficiency and safety.
The special training was organized by a collaboration of the Foundation Technology Academy (part of the Trevi Group), Champion Equipment Sales, LLC and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local #955. A total of 40 students participated from three Alberta-based foundation contractors: AGRA Foundations, Keller Canada and Pacer Foundations Corporation. The seminars were held at the union's facilities.
BAUER-Pileco Inc. Announces Changes to Executive Management Team
BAUER-Pileco Inc., a leader in the sales and support of the foundation drilling industry, recently announced changes to its executive management team:
Jochen Rohr, the current CEO of BAUER Manufacturing in Conroe, Texas, will also assume the CEO position of BAUER-Pileco Inc., which is in the process of moving its operations from the Berry Road facility in Houston to the Conroe, Texas facility.
Dan Dragone is now the new chief sales officer. Dragone will focus directly on the day-to-day operations of the sales department at BAUER-Pileco Inc. and continue to help grow annual sales.
Thomas Seifert joined the Bauer team in April 2014 and is the new controller for BAUER-Pileco Inc. as well as the BAUER Manufacturing facility in Conroe, Texas.
Carlos Lopez was recently hired as the parts and service manager at the Livermore, Calif. location of BAUER-Pileco Inc.
We are confident these changes will progress the company forward in sales, service and manufacturing and continue to be an industry leader. Jochen Rohr brings over 25 years of experience in the industry and is looking forward to making BAUER-Pileco Inc. and BAUER Manufacturing a stronger company under one roof as BAUER-Pileco moves to Conroe, Texas.
Exceptional Use of Liebherr LRB 255 Piling and Drilling Rig in Quebec
In Montreal, a Liebherr LRB 255 piling and drilling rig is currently being used with a double rotary drive DBA 300 for the construction of an entry shaft for tunnel excavation. This application is relatively new in North America and is being executed for the first time in Quebec.
On the island of Montreal, near the intersection of Rue Notre-Dame Est and Rue Alphonse D Roy, a tunnel with a length of four kilometres and an internal diameter of 3.6 metres is planned. After completion, it will be used as a water main reaching from Montreal to the Rosemont Reservoir on Île de Montreal. The Rosemont Reservoir was shut down in 1978 and is now being put back into service in order to ensure the supply of sufficient drinking water to the city.
Secant pile wall constructionThe entry shaft for the excavation of the tunnel has an interior diameter of 11 metres and is currently being constructed with the help of an LRB 255 piling and drilling rig, owned by Centurion Fondation Inc. The entry shaft is built using a compression secant pile wall made up of 74 intersecting piles, each with a diameter of 750 mm and a length of 22 metres.
The primary piles, used as filler, are installed first. Upon drilling of the secondary piles, the rebar cage is vibrated into the pile using an electric vibrator. The piles are drilled into a previously constructed template, ensuring their exact position. The soil consists of sandy clays and sandy tills with boulders and the piles are drilled approximately half a metre into the shale bedrock.
By Barb Feldman
GEMTEC was formed in 1986 in New Brunswick as a geotechnical engineering, materials testing and hydrogeology firm by three geotechnical engineers. Today, the Canadian-owned-and-operated consulting company has a combined team of more than 120 engineers, scientists, technical personnel and support staff, including one of its original founders, Daryl DeMerchant, who continues to work as a specialist consultant.
“GEMTEC stands for 'Ground Engineering and Materials TEChnology,'” said engineer Dave Purdue, GEMTEC's manager of geotechnical engineering. “We have particular expertise in driveability assessments and Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) testing related to driven foundations.”
The company has offices and laboratories in Fredericton, Moncton, Bathurst, Grand Falls and Saint John, New Brunswick. They specialize in site investigations, foundation design, pile driving analysis and inspection, slope stability assessments, excavation and earthworks, dams and retaining structures and have evaluated foundation conditions for commercial and industrial buildings, dams, pipelines, highway bridges, railways, power plants, industrial plants, mines and waste facilities. GEMTEC subsidiary Houle Chevrier Engineering Ltd., with offices in Montreal and Ottawa, provides specialist services in geotechnical engineering, materials testing and inspection, hydrogeology and environmental engineering.
GEMTEC has been involved in projects in the U.S., the Caribbean and the EU, but the majority of its work has been for the design of deep foundations throughout Atlantic Canada and from Newfoundland to NWT, says Purdue, who notes that most piling in Canada is driven, particularly in Eastern Canada.
{fastsocialshare}
By Miriam Itzeck, Agra Foundations Limited
As Agra Foundations Limited approaches its 60-year anniversary, the company looks back on its history of being one of the top foundation contractors in Western Canada, and charts its future as part of one of the largest and most diversified construction companies in the world.
Four years ago, when Agra was acquired by Soletanche Bachy, a world leader in geotechnical engineering and construction, it ultimately became part of the VINCI construction group. While Agra continues to operate as an autonomous company providing geotechnical and deep foundation solutions to its clients throughout Western Canada, it can now rely on international partners to combine resources and provide the highest value solutions to local markets.
“Building on Agra's history and access to diverse technical strength is what really enables us to provide superior service to our clients,” said Jonathan Hazenberg, P.Eng, who was promoted to the role of Agra's president in July 2014. Hazenberg joined Agra in early 2014 and brings a strong background in foundations, construction management, business development and leadership. With a refreshed management team, Agra is further leveraging the benefit of the relationship with Soletanche Bachy to bring global expertise to its local market.
{fastsocialshare}
Strategies for addressing and alleviating employee anxiety
By Barbara J. Bowes, Legacy Bowes Group
Although Canadians appear to be fairly far away from any potential of encountering the Ebola virus, after reading and hearing the daily news, I can easily envision the heightened fear that's beginning to occur amongst workers, especially those that travel to foreign countries. Not only are general citizens in the targeted countries becoming ill, doctors, nurses and other health care workers are also becoming patients.
Then, as fear spreads, we are seeing some health care workers refusing to work, causing a shortage of staff to help curb the disease. Similarly, cabin cleaners at New York's LaGuardia Airport recently walked off the job to protest what they perceived as insufficient protection from potential exposure to the Ebola virus. They raised concerns about the lack of proper protective equipment, as well as the quality. The one-day strike forced airline crews to clean planes themselves, which in turn creates additional health hazards. And in countries such as West Africa, there are already tremendous economic impacts as schools and businesses are closed.
We are also experiencing challenges within our own workforces. On one hand, we are hearing announcements of new job growth opportunities while on the other we are learning of significant budget cuts and employee layoffs. As well, provincial and federal governments appear to be in a belt-tightening mode. Regardless of whether these efforts are legitimate or not, these types of incidents and/or issues cause significant anxiety amongst employee groups.
{fastsocialshare}
By Richard ArmstrongThis article was originally published by Pile Buck magazine.The Panama Canal was first opened in 1914 as a bridge between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. By allowing ships to skip the long, treacherous trip rounding Cape Horn, it cut shipping times down exponentially. But a century later, much has changed in both shipping and canal construction. As it was originally built, the canal isn't big enough to take many of today's vessels. To stay viable amid tight competition from quicker and cheaper alternative routes, the canal has been undergoing a major upgrade since 2007. The Panama Canal Expansion project will take eight years and cost over $5 billion before it is completed in 2015. As of April 2014, the project is 79 per cent complete, though due to delays there are concerns it won't be finished until 2016.
The project aims to improve the canal in a number of ways. The navigation channels will be dredged on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides, as will the channels in Culebra Cut and Gatun Lake. This will enable the canal to accommodate vessels with deeper drafts than it can presently take. New, larger Post-Panamax locks will be built on both entrances to the canal. These are the so-called “Third Set of Locks.” A completely new channel will be excavated on the Pacific side, north of the Third Set of Locks, which will connect the new locks to Culebra Cut and Gatun Lake. And finally, the canal's water supply and draft dependability is going to be increased.
{fastsocialshare}
By Judy Penz Sheluk
Finding efficient ways of training and up-skilling machine operators - while keeping safety at a maximum and time and costs at a minimum - are key demands in today's highly competitive construction industry. Liebherr, a company known for its heavy-duty construction equipment, including crawler cranes, maritime cranes, piling rigs and drilling rigs, has developed
By Judy Penz Sheluk
Finding efficient ways of training and up-skilling machine operators - while keeping safety at a maximum and time and costs at a minimum - are key demands in today's highly competitive construction industry. Liebherr, a company known for its heavy-duty construction equipment, including crawler cranes, maritime cranes, piling rigs and drilling rigs, has developed
By Dean G. Giles, Fillmore Riley LLP
Contracts used in the construction and engineering fields often contain so-called “exclusion of liability” or “limitation of liability” clauses that purport to reduce a party's exposure to certain claims that may arise in connection with a project. Clauses of this sort are a means by which parties to the contract seek to minimize risk and protect themselves from what might otherwise be a ruinous damages
By Dean G. Giles, Fillmore Riley LLP
Contracts used in the construction and engineering fields often contain so-called “exclusion of liability” or “limitation of liability” clauses that purport to reduce a party's exposure to certain claims that may arise in connection with a project. Clauses of this sort are a means by which parties to the contract seek to minimize risk and protect themselves from what might otherwise be a ruinous damages award should something go wrong and litigation ensue.
In some instances, the clause in question may operate to cap a party's exposure at a specific monetary amount, while others seek to exempt a party from liability for certaintypes of losses. A common example, often found in construction contracts, is a provision stating that the contractor “shall not be liable loss of earnings or other consequential damages howsoever caused,” or containing words to that effect.Consequential damages are those that arise from the nature of the innocent party's business and include such things as lost profits, lost customers and loss of reputation. This is in contrast to so-called “direct damages,” which are those that, without taking into account the particular circumstances of the party suffering the loss, one would reasonably expect to flow from a breach of contract. Still other clauses may limit a party's exposure to damages caused by negligent acts.
{fastsocialshare}
By Brian M. Fraley, Fraley AEC Solutions, LLC
The streets on the barrier island of Mantoloking, N.J. are alive with construction activity on an unseasonably warm day in November 2014. Heavy equipment is rolling and crawling. Hammers are pounding on lumber. Hard hats and safety vests dot the landscape. Progress is underway, but it came at a price.
The Borough of Mantoloking was among the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. The powerful imagery was witnessed around the world as this post-tropical cyclone pounded the New Jersey coastline, leaving in its wake fatalities, stranded residents, mangled homes, crumbling infrastructure and felled telephone poles. The ocean met the bay in up to five breach areas, forcing first responders to navigate the town in boats.
To protect critical infrastructure As the 2014 hurricane season rolled in, a crew of workers from Springfield, N.J.-based EIC Associates was working feverishly to reduce, if not completely eliminate, the possibility that future superstorms would repeat history by installing just over 3.5 miles of steel sheet pile wall along the beach for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's (NJDEP) Bureau of Coastal Engineering. The keystone of the project was a pair of German-manufactured RTG Rammtechnik GmbH pile drivers rented from the Aldan, Pa. office of Equipment Corporation of America (ECA). The scope of this $23.5-million project - part of a much larger beachfill project by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) - entails driving the sheet piles, and installing bent plate caps and geotextile anti-scour aprons. Project manager Derek Serpe and project engineer John Caya are leading the team.
By Brian M. Fraley, Fraley AEC Solutions, LLC
The streets on the barrier island of Mantoloking, N.J. are alive with construction activity on an unseasonably warm day in November 2014. Heavy equipment is rolling and crawling. Hammers are pounding on lumber. Hard hats and safety vests dot the landscape. Progress is underway, but it came at a price.
The Borough of Mantoloking was among the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. The powerful imagery was witnessed around the world as this post-tropical cyclone pounded the New Jersey coastline, leaving in its wake fatalities, stranded residents, mangled homes, crumbling infrastructure and felled telephone poles. The ocean met the bay in up to five breach areas, forcing first responders to navigate the town in boats.
To protect critical infrastructure As the 2014 hurricane season rolled in, a crew of workers from Springfield, N.J.-based EIC Associates was working feverishly to reduce, if not completely eliminate, the possibility that future superstorms would repeat history by installing just over 3.5 miles of steel sheet pile wall along the beach for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's (NJDEP) Bureau of Coastal Engineering. The keystone of the project was a pair of German-manufactured RTG Rammtechnik GmbH pile drivers rented from the Aldan, Pa. office of Equipment Corporation of America (ECA). The scope of this $23.5-million project - part of a much larger beachfill project by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) - entails driving the sheet piles, and installing bent plate caps and geotextile anti-scour aprons. Project manager Derek Serpe and project engineer John Caya are leading the team.
About Us
Piling Canada is the premier national voice for the Canadian deep foundation construction industry. Each issue is dedicated to providing readers with current and informative editorial, including project updates, company profiles, technological advancements, safety news, environmental information, HR advice, pertinent legal issues and more.
