Ken Melax, a Calgary-based engineer, said the ‘big room’ has the power to break down silos across a project. Cathy Hopkins, a continuous improvement specialist with NOvaTel Inc., said every implementation of a big room has its own unique characteristics, but there are certain consistencies. Read more
Paul Blaser, the principal architect of RBM Architecture, began by explaining how he was tasked to help revamp the entire Saskatchewan health care system using lean construction principles. He said while touring hospitals he spotted building inefficiencies that slowed doctors down as they did their rounds, which drove design decisions for his firm when renovating health facilities. Read more
Craig Webber, the principal of Group2 Architecture, elaborated on some of the tools used to enhance collaboration and communication between teams. He said that partner sessions commonly happen at the beginning of projects, but there is generally little follow up, which results in sliding back into traditional behaviours. Read more
There are three steps in selection in a lean project delivery model, said Kathleen Lausman, co-chair of LCI-C. The first step is to define project needs and goals, or in other words, establishing the conditions of satisfaction for all parties. Read more
Construction, said Bill Black, the president and CEO of Brxton, comes with a long heritage, but added that with that comes habits. “There’s an incredible room for improvement, on multiple levels,” Black said. But he cautioned that there is a danger in looking at the situation as “glass half empty” rather than looking at ways to improve the industry. Read more
Lean Construction (LC), a management philosophy, is known in the industry to enable organizations to achieve major improvement in terms of productivity and levels of innovation through more collaborative approaches. However, implementing LC is not an easy task for organizations and often requires fundamental changes at both – the strategic and operational level. Read more
In 2015 CCA embarked on a series of “Quality of Documents” workshops across Canada to explore and discuss the issue of poor quality documentation, its potential causes, and, perhaps most importantly, potential solutions to address the issue. With the workshops now complete, CCA is pleased to publish a summary report of both the workshops and the surveys conducted. In the report, readers will find the top five identified causes with the greatest impact on document quality, as identified from more than 400 survey results. Download executive summary and report
The Minister of Science announced last week that the Government of Canada will launch the application process for a $2-billion fund that will improve research and innovation infrastructure at universities and colleges across the country. Read more
Strong activity in British Columbia’s construction industry is drawing skilled workers to the province from Alberta, according to the 2016 Construction Industry Survey, released Feb. 23 by the British Columbia Construction Association (BCCA). Read more
The construction industry has been in the threat of a worker shortage for years now as many baby boomers are retiring, the Great Recession forced many construction laborers out of the industry, and fewer and fewer young adults are interested in joining the construction industry. Read more