Northern British Columbia Manufacturing: Gaps, New Technologies and Solutions - 2022
The purpose of this project is to ensure that manufacturers in northern British Columbia can compete for service, supply, and construction contracts on major projects. The region is subject to investments by a number of industries, principally from oil and gas proponents, who have committed to engage local services for their projects. Other industries with interests in the north include: mining, hydroelectric, construction, among others. Manufacturers typically consist of steel fabricators, welding services, electronic engineering, and construction companies.
BC Construction Cleantech - Industry Whitepaper July 2021
Stringent zero-emission and net-zero building targets established by municipal and provincial governments are currently challenging BC’s construction industry. Policies like the BC Energy Step Code and the Zero Emissions Building Plan are demanding high-performance, low-carbon building products and technologies for new construction. Additionally, further efforts are being made to retrofit existing buildings to meet the energy efficiency goals and climate change drivers. To satisfy the increased demand and develop local supply chain resilience, BC needs to strengthen its capacity to produce sustainable, green building products and technologies.
The purpose of this report is to define and map the BC-based low/no carbon clean/green-tech construction ecosystem to inform industry and stakeholders on the current state of BC’s cleantech construction sector. Along with the inventory of companies attached, the report presents a preliminary overview of the active companies, and their revenue and employees.
Key Performance Indicators for BC's Construction Industry
This study explores the question, “Would it be useful if the performance of BC’s construction industry as a whole was tracked and reported?” Construction KPIs paint a picture of the health of the industry as a whole. They also provide a set of tools that can be used by companies across the sector to evaluate their performance and raise their game against their peers, bringing lasting benefits to the whole industry.
BC Construction Innovation Accelerator
This study demonstrates the feasibility of a construction innovation centre sufficient for an industry advocacy organization (individually or in partnership) to gather the support and funds necessary to host and launch the programs and services that industry stakeholders need to foster a culture of innovation.
By fostering a culture of innovation, BCs construction industry will advance in the following 5 ways:
- Leadership – A cohesive industry that embraces and celebrates innovation.
- Performance — A responsible industry that continually improves projects’ economic, environmental and social performance.
- People – A talented industry that attracts a skilled, technologically-savvy workforce
- Growth and resilience – An efficient, competitive and profitable industry that drives economic growth.
- R&D – An advanced industry that develops and implements innovative new products, processes and business strategies.
Social Procurement - Vancouver Island Pilot
This study is being run in partnership with the Vancouver Island Construction Association and two Island municipalities. The objective of the study is to demonstrate innovative CRS leadership by designing, and building support, for an industry supported, standardised approach to a Community Benefit Tender; an approach that could then be templated and scaled provincially/nationally to showcase and contribute to the shaping of public policy. Key learnings from the pilot will inform a recommended standard of practice for Community Benefit Infrastructure and provide three 'real world,' industry supported, examples.
RESEARCH IN PROGRESS
Supporting Syrian Refugee Integration in the Construction Sector
The purpose of this project was to support refugees to identify employment opportunities in the construction sector. The main contacts were primarily the recently arrived group from Syria on Vancouver Island. This was ten‐week project lead by a summer student on behalf of the Construction Foundation of BC and it focussed on providing information about construction jobs, trades training and apprenticeship while gathering information about previous work experience and general interest in construction based employment.