construction group Highway€¦ · Life is a Highway SECTOR pROfIlE: TRaNSpORTaTION FAIRVIEW OVERPASS Strescon Limited and OSCO Concrete contribute to the refurbishment of the Fairview

T h e b i a n n u a l n e w s m a g a z i n e o f t h e O S C O C o n s t r u c t i o n G r o u p

Picadilly Potash Mine • Bayers Road Parking Garage • P3 Schools • Irving Refinery • Engineering Spotlight • 2010 OSCOR Nominees

spring & summer 2010

OSCOconstructiong r o u pLife is a

Highway:Profile on Transportation Projects

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2

Inside...What’s spring & summer 2010

on the cover...

who we are

how we do it

what we do

CONNECTIONS is the biannual magazine of the OSCO Construction Group, published every Spring and Fall to share news and information with our valued customers & employees

Comments and submissions are greatly appreciated and may be sent to the editor: Tammy Legacy, c/o OSCO Construction Group • 400 Chesley Drive, Saint John, NB • Canada • E2K 5L6 • email: [email protected]

OSCO Concrete’s Nova Scotia plants pump ready-mix for the Fairview Overpass project in Bedford, NS.

pg.8 pg.16 pg.21

OSCOconstructiong r o u p

3 Message from the President

4 Life is a Highway - Transportation Profile Fairview Overpass; Larry Uteck Boulevard Interchange; One Mile Inter-

change; Princess Margaret Bridge

8 Picadilly Potash Ocean Steel calls on all three plants for Sussex, NB project

10 135 North Street FCC Civil; Strescon Precast; Ocean Steel; and FCC Electrical team up on

Bridgewater, NS office building

12 East Saint John Terminal Dock OSCO Group team effort helps bring together Canaport project

13 Garden Stone Place Strescon provides architectural precast for mixed-use development

14 Bayers Road Parking Garage Strescon precast helps Halifax developer solve parking issues

16 Projects in the Precast Pipeline Strescon Pipe offers complete package to Twin Brooks subdivision;

Strescon Pipe provides stormwater solution to new Costco

18 Customer Profile: Bird Construction

19 Two Green P3 Schools for NB Strescon precast helps Rexton and Moncton schools achieve LEED

certification

20 All Wired Up: FCC Electrical & Com Cabling Updates Acadia Broadcasting; MSD Sand & Gravel Plant; Canada Post

20 Marque Industrial Project Updates: East Saint John Marine Terminal; Irving Oil Refinery; Irving Pulp & Pa-

per; Irving Paper; Lake Utipia Paper; Potash Mine

21 Martins Point Strescon design-builds garage underneath Portland, ME health center

22 Rebar Update Eastern Wastewater Treatment Facility; NBCC Allied Health Center; CFB

Gagetown tunnels; misc projects

24 Pouring it On: Ready-Mix Update Summerside Seawall Repair; Summerside Waste Treatment; Crandall

University

25 Irving Oil Refinery Dehexanizer Marque Industrial performs Electrical and Instrumentation installation

26 York Miscellaneous Metals Division Updates

27 Group Safety News

28 Engineering Spotlight Steel Division Engineers; UNB Engineering Tour; Stantec Tour

30 25 Year Club Dinner OSCO Group inducts largest group ever to long-service club

31 OSCORS: OSCO Group celebrates its employees with recognition dinner

32 Helping Hands: OSCO Group community contributions

32 Haiti Relief: $9883.50 in combined employee/corporate donations

32 The Give

33 Throwing a Lifeline: Ocean Steel employee saves coworker’s life

33 Take Our Kids to Work Day

34 Curling Bonspiel

34 Coming Events

34 Irving Hockey League: FCC Chiefs take championship

35 Strescon Ski Night

35 Fresh Faces

35 Congratulations

36 Our Locations

3www.oscoconstructiongroup.com CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010

Today’s reality is that our customers expect us to perform to a higher standard than ever before. This is not unique to our construction group; nor to our industry. As individual consumers we expect this same high standard no matter what we buy. Just ask Toyota if they would like to have a “do-over” on how they handled their recent vehicle problems! Like our customers, we all have expecta-tions with respect to pricing, use of our time and quality. Given that one of our CORE VALUES is to FOCUS ON OUR CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS, we un-derstand the importance of maintaining loyal and repeat customers. At the same time, we have to respect the hazardous environment in which we work relative to most other industries. Construction projects by their nature involve assembling a large workforce of individuals, who in many cases have never worked together before. These trades people perform sev-eral simultaneous tasks using products which can cause severe personal injury or property damage if mishandled or improperly installed. For this reason, it’s important that we all clearly understand what choices to make in dealing with the overlapping requests of the Group and our cus-tomers.Usually there are four competing areas that em-ployees are often asked to prioritize: safety, quality, schedule and cost. Although it can be difficult to have to pick one over the other, the wrong choice can lead to unintended consequences; both for the Group and our customer. To ensure that we always follow the right path, I want to make it clear that in all circumstances we should prioritize our work as follows:

1st – HEalTH & SafETy: Never endanger yourself, any other employee nor any other parties under any circumstance

2nd – QualITy: Do the work as designed and/or

specified so that quality is never compromised! We take great pride in doing a quality job.

3rd – Schedule: We work very hard keep our promised delivery dates; but never at the expense of taking safety shortcuts or doing a poor-quality job.

4th – coStS: We all have cost budgets to meet; but our budgets are meant to allow for our employees to perform their work in a safe manner, in a 1st class fashion and within the scheduled time frame as agreed to.

The above priorities are extremely important to remember when performing any activities for the Group. Sometimes we may lose our focus while try-ing to save some money or to speed up our perfor-mance. This thinking if at the expense of safety and/or quality is not in keeping with how we want to run our businesses. We must never compromise on this principle no matter who is demanding that you do so. You can quote me personally on that one!! Eastern Canada continues to be an active and relatively healthy market whereas the east coast of the USA is still experiencing severe difficulty. Jobs are few and far between, mostly in the public sector using stimulus funding, with contractors fiercely chasing market share by underbidding each other. We remain fortunate that our reliance on the United States has diminished to the point that we can with-stand this upheaval for some period of time. We’re looking forward to better days in late-2011 to re-enter the American market. In the meantime, we’ll stay focused on the work we have and look forward to more opportunities in the future.

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Message from the President

Hans O. KlohnPresident, OSCO Construction Group

Sometimes we

may lose our

focus while

trying to save

some money or

to speed up our

performance.

This thinking, if

at the expense

of safety and/

or quality, is not

in keeping with

how we want

to run our

businesses.

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4 CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010 www.oscoconstructiongroup.com

with contributions from: ANDREW LEVATTETRACY DOBSONDAVE DUNNETT& GRANT MAXWELL

Life is a Highway

SECTOR pROfIlE: TRaNSpORTaTION

FAIRVIEW OVERPASSStrescon Limited and OSCO Concrete contribute to the refurbishment of the Fairview Overpass in Halifax, NS

The Fairview overpass is part of the busy Bedford, Nova Scotia Highway on which thousands of people travel to and from work daily. Soon after the much publicized 2006 collapse

of a Montreal bridge, the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation (NSDOT) did a survey of all their bridg-

es in Nova Scotia to see if any were similar in design (cantilevered abutment). It was determined that the older section of the Fairview overpass was indeed similar, so NSDOT quickly came up with a plan to replace the bridge and YMCL Engineering was hired

to come up with a design for the new structure. There were many issues for Tom Mosher and

his team at YMCL to deal with during the design phase. Height restrictions became one of the main issues, so they had to use a precast section that would meet all their needs. The new overpass design consisted of three spans arching over Joseph Howe Drive and railway tracks.

OSCO CONCRETE - COLUMNS The Fairview Overpass project required 1500m3 of High Performance Concrete Mix (HPC) and needed to be completed between January 5, 2010 and April 1, 2010. The HPC requires

the use of non-reactive stone (approximately 1600T) which was supplied by OSCO Aggregates and Tercem3000 cement. The first stage of the project required OSCO Concrete to supply ready-mix concrete to footings in -15C temperatures. Drivers and batchers were challenged to keep the temperature of the concrete within the correct range to ensure proper set times, strength gain and code compliance. The largest single pour was 208m3 for the columns that would support the girders.

STRESCON PRECAST - BOX GIRDERS Strescon’s Bedford plant supplied the thirty-six prestressed box girders with post tensioning ducts that were required to support the deck structure of the Fairview Overpass. The box girders were 33” high by 48” wide with lengths of 68’, 78’ and 84’ long and used 45 MPa HPC mix; which is standard for all new bridges being designed for NSDOT. Girder production began on December 8, 2009 and was completed on February 5, 2010. Due to traffic restrictions, de-livery could only be done between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm during the weekdays and anytime during the weekends. The first round of deliveries started on March 1st, 2010 and by 3 pm on March 2nd, twenty-one girders were loaded, shipped and placed. As Joseph Howe Drive had to be closed down in order for the cranes to place the center span and the remaining part of the first span, the remaining fifteen girders were loaded, shipped and placed in less than eight hours on Saturday March 6, 2010.

Strescon Precast & OSCO Concrete Take on Transportation Projects

www.oscoconstructiongroup.com

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CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010 5


OSCO CONCRETE - BRIDGE DECK The bridge deck was scheduled to be poured early on the morning of March 24, however due to high winds and a bright sunny day the pour had to be delayed until 3:00 pm and was not completed until 10:30 pm. This helped to prevent shrink-age cracking in the surface of the fresh concrete, due to the sun exposure and high winds. The deck required 181m3 of HPC concrete and was placed using OSCO’s concrete pumps, the 52 meter long boom pump at one end of the bridge and the 36 meter long boom pump at the other. The bridge is expected to open mid April.

LARRY UTECK BOULEVARD INTERCHANGE Bedford, Nova Scotia has experienced spectacular growth over the past few years. Between the continued growth of Hemlock Ravine Sub division and development of The Parks of West Bedford - a the new residential/business district, the Bedford highway has to accommodate an ever-increasing traf-fic flow. To help relieve some of the congestion it was decided

that a new overpass was needed to reduce the traffic on the existing infrastructure and divert it to Route 102 - the Bicen-tennial Highway. CBCL Limited along with Harbourside Engineering was hired by NSDOT to design the solution - 102 Exit 2B - Larry Uteck Boulevard Interchange, located between Kearney Lake Road and Hammonds Plains Road, Halifax County, NS. The new interchange connects Larry Uteck Boulevard with High-way 102. The plan also includes a multi-use trail to pro-vide pedestrians and cyclists a safe and convenient crossing of the Bicentennial Highway.

PRECAST CONCRETE Strescon’s Bedford plant supplied sixteen prestressed, New England Bulb Tee girders (NEBT) girders for the two spans over Highway 102. The 90’ long, 1400mm deep girders were produced with a 55 MPa High Performance Concrete Mix for Dexter Construc-tion and the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal. Strescon started production on December 1st, 2009 and finished on January 18th, 2010. Delivery started on February 4th,

Strescon Precast & OSCO Concrete Take on Transportation Projects

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Photos this page: Fairview Overpass



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6 CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010

2010 with twelve girders being loaded, shipped and placed in less than eight hours. Due to lack of daylight hours, the remaining four girders were placed on the following day.

READY-MIX CONCRETE OSCO Concrete was contracted to pour concrete for the Larry Uteck Overpass, which required a total of 1500 meters of ready-mix. Pouring began October 2009. All the concrete supplied was High Performance Concrete (HPC). The speciality cement powder - TERCEM3000, was a blend of Type 10 cement, Slag, and Silica Fume, which was sup-plied by Lafarge Canada. The entire project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2010.

ONE MILE INTERCHANGE The sight of cranes on the Saint John, NB skyline has become a common sight, as work continues on the One Mile House Interchange. Construction of the One Mile House Interchange represents an estimated total investment of $65 million, including related costs - a joint effort of the governments of Canada and New Brunswick who are work-ing together to improve transportation infrastructure across the province. Phase 1 of the project was completed in the spring of 2009, consisting of grading road work and soil stabilization valued at more than $3.7 million. Phase 2 began in the fall of 2009, and includes a 600-metre structure and associated ramps and roadways that will connect Route 1 to Bayside Drive, and cross the CN rail yard, Marsh Creek and Rothe-say Avenue. Fundy Contractors Ltd. of St. George was the selected bidder to build the viaduct substructure for the project, with the work valued at more than $31.5 million. The entire project is expected to be complete by the fall of 2012.

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One Mile Interchange

Larry Uteck InterchangeLarry Uteck Interchange

Larry Uteck Interchange

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7CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010www.oscoconstructiongroup.com

READY-MIX CONCRETE

Strescon Ready-Mix’s Saint John Plant has been supplying Fundy Contractors with a special mix for the One Mile Inter-change, alongside Valley Concrete (owned by Fundy Contrac-tors). The pours have been extremely large, so 2 plants are needed to keep a continuous round the clock flow. The first

pour was completed on March 10 - 11th and ran for about 30 hours. The pour consisted of about 1800 cubic metres, with Strescon supplying 700 metres. The challenge was to keep other customers sup-plied, as well as keeping drivers fresh. The drivers

worked 12 hour shifts until the job was done. A second pour took place the following week,

consisting of approximately 1200 cubic metres over a 21 hour period. A third pour is expected to happen sometime in April or May, which will be in the 2800 cubic metre size.

PRECAST PIPE PRODUCTS

Subsurface work is also needed on a job of this size, espe-cially since it is being constructed basically inside the city with all the normal underground infrastructure that entails. Before work could be started on the abutments and building the ramps, the underground piping had to be moved and modi-fied. Galbraith construction undertook this work in 2008 with supply from Strescon Concrete Pipe Division of 76 pieces of 18” (450mm) concrete pipe and 20 manhole structures in sizes of 42” (1050mm) to 48” (1200mm) for both sanitary and storm. When the current phase of the work started, Strescon sup-plied storm catch basins and manholes to pick up the storm drainage, to Fundy contractor on the Rothesay Avenue end of the project, as well as storm pipe and manhole T-bases to Debly on the route 1 end of the work. Safety is always a major issue on any size piece of work but on something this large with the quantity of vehicles and speeds traveled, concrete barriers were needed to keep the workers safe. Fundy Contractors purchased over 100 M-6 median barriers from Strescon’s Concrete Pipe Division to en-close the site from passing traffic. Debly Enterprises have also

purchased 30 concrete barriers to delineate traffic.

PRINCESS MARGARET BRIDGE The Princess Margaret Bridge is a 2-lane highway bridge crossing the St. John River at Fredericton, New Brunswick, named after HM Queen Elizabeth II’s sister. Opened in 1959 as part of a Route 2 Trans-Canada Highway bypass project around Fredericton, the bridge now carries Route 8, the prima-

ry Fredericton-Miramichi highway. The steel truss structured bridge measures 1075 m (0.7 mile) in length, with a clearance of 25.6 m (85 ft) in the center. There has been a lot of public concern in recent years as to the safety of the bridge. Due to its age and condition, its weight limits had to be reduced from 62,500 kg to 43,500 kg in November 2009. This past February, the NB Government announced that SNC Lavalin had been awarded a $77.3 million contract to refurbish the bridge. SNC-Lavalin Construction’s mandate will include removal and replacement of the bridge deck and floor beams, replacement of the bridge guardrail, concrete removal, capping of the bridge piers and abutments, painting, and up-grading and refurbishment of the structural steel work. With the deck deteriorating rapidly and weight restrictions in place, the schedule is of great importance. SNC Lavalin began work this spring and will be phasing the project over two con-struction seasons, with an expected completion date of Decem-ber 2011. During the 2010 season, the bridge will be closed to traffic beginning June 19th and reopening on August 8th.

PRECAST CONCRETE Lavalin has chosen Strescon to produce and deliver ap-proximately 250 pieces of full-width deck sections, with a contract value of almost $5 million. Strescon has ordered three new steel forms to produce the required shapes and meet the schedule. Typical units weigh approximately 57,000 lbs, with some special units hitting 100,00 lbs. The units will be poured inside Strescon’s Saint John, NB shop to ensure quality control and curing time lines are met. The units will then be shipped to the site, where they will be erected and post-tensioned in longitudinal sections along the bridge spans to produce a new high-performance concrete deck which will extend the life of the bridge for many years to come.

Lavalin has chosen Strescon to produce and deliver approximately 250 pieces of full-width deck sections, with a contract value of almost $5 million.


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contributed by BERNIE BLAKELY,JEFF KEITH & JASON PRESLEY

Ocean Steel calls on all three plants for Sussex, NB projectPicadilly Potash


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As with most multi-thousand ton, heavy industrial projects, circum-stances can sometimes change

fairly quickly. Ocean Steel has shown its strengths in adapting to these changes by working closely with AMEC to consis-tently provide an on-time, quality prod-uct. All three of our fabrication plants, as well as our in-house Engineering, and Detailing Departments have contributed greatly to the success of this project. Our Paint Shops have also done a great job in keeping up with the three-coat paint system required.

Wet Mill Building Erection of Phase 1 of the Wet Mill Building began on November 30th, 2009. This portion of the building will be a Storage Area for tailings (materials left over after the raw ore is processed). This phase of the Wet Mill Building required 2250 tons of structural steel & 83,000 square feet of roof decking. In this structure there are 42 shop welded trusses made from WF shapes. Fourteen of the trusses are 110’ long weighing 16 tons each. These trusses were shipped in 2 pieces and assembled on site. The 66’ long trusses at 8 tons each and the 88’ long trusses at 14 tons each were shipped to the site as

one piece. This project was detailed in-house, fabricated in all three plants (Saint John, NB; Fredericton, NB; and Conklin, NY) and is being erected by Ocean Steel’s Erection division. Phase 2 of the Wet Mill Building is expected to begin in the summer of 2010. This Phase will consist of a 3000 ton Grinding, Flotation and Regrinding Area and a 705 ton Reagent and Electri-cal Area.

Headframes Ocean has supplied over 2,400 tons of structural steel, 37,000 lbs of metal decking, and 1,400 FRP stair treads for the Service and Production head frame complexes. Each head frame complex is made up of several buildings outside of the concrete head frame tower, as well as structural steel and miscellaneous items (chutes, gates, sheaves supports, etc) within the tower. Structural steel for these structures was designed by multiple structural en-gineering groups. The interface between

these groups was just one of the many challenges faced by Ocean Steel in bring-ing these two head frames to comple-tion. Both of the head frames towers not only had to be supplied with structural steel that was required for the future permanent mining operation, but the structural frame also had to incorporate steel items which would be used during the two year long shaft sinking phase. Some of the permanent steel which has been designed and detailed cannot even be installed until after the sinking phase is complete and the mine shafts are ready to be set up for their permanent daily processes. It has been a real team effort with steel fabrication being provided by all three of our fabrication shops. The fabrication of this steel, espe-cially the steel items required for the shaft sinking phase, has been challenging. Taking on this work meant the fabrication and supply of many miscellaneous items such as fully assembled dump doors, backsplashes, machined lifting plates and lugs, rubber isolators, chutes, bins, hinged stairs, etc. All of this specialized work required a lot of coordination, not only from a fabrication point of view, but also in coordination of details for shop drawings and material procurement. Erection of these projects has been shared between the Ocean Steel and MQM erection crews. Ocean Steel’s iron-workers installed steel for the Collar and Sub Collar levels, while MQM’s ironwork-ers erected the exterior buildings and steel within the head frame towers. The

erection of steel within the two towers has been especially complex, as the crane operator has had to operate blindly while flying steel down into the 300 ft high concrete towers. The toughest erection is yet to come as both towers are fit with a steel framed enclosure which sits upon the top of the head frame concrete wall. Detailing services for these projects has been completed by various com-panies including our own Ocean Steel detailing office, ProDraft, Trusquin and MQM. Design and detailing of the leave out steel is still ongoing.

The Picadilly Potash Mine Project has continued to be the driving force in the Steel Sector. This project has fed all three of our steel plants throughout the end of 2009, and will continue to do so well into the foreseeable future of 2010.

Salt Storage on the left & Wet Mill Phase 1 on the right

The erection of steel within the two towers has been especially complex, as the crane operator has had to operate blindly while flying steel down into the 300 ft high concrete towers.

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135 North Street

contributed by BRIAN MATTHEWS & ANDREW LEVATTE

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FCC Construction is currently working with Tom Johnson

Architects, assisted by Fundy Engineer-ing and MCW Maricor to design and construct a new 20,000 square feet, two storey office building for Commercial Properties Limited. Located at 135 North Street, Bridgewater, NS,

Construction Management FCC’s Project Manager for the

building is Brian Matthews, while on-site work has been overseen by FCC Superintendent Dan Griffin. The base building consists of a steel frame, clad with architectural

precast concrete panels. The con-crete panels will be complimented by

glazed aluminum curtain walling, pro-viding the overall finished appearance. The project scope also includes: new entrance roads; parking lots; retaining walls; and new landscaping to match the existing surroundings. Building construction and fit-out projects are currently ongoing and FCC is looking to complete the project by June 2010.

Architectural Precast Strescon’s Bedford, NS plant sup-plied unique Architectural Precast wall cladding on this project. The devel-oper wanted the new office building to blend into local surroundings, which is mainly traditional brick construction, so Strescon used rubberized brick formliners to create a base master-mold. From this mold, 12 foot wide precast wall panels were produced with the impression of brick. The 57 panels (approximately 13,000 square feet) will be stained on site, making the panels virtually indistinguishable from real brick. This project is a prime illustration of the diverse architectural effects that precast concrete can provide. Rich aggregates, decorative shapes, reveals, attractive stone, masonry veneers and now formliner treatments can all be employed to express a wealth of architectural detail in virtually any finish or texture. Precast concrete is not only compatible with all structural systems, it can be designed to harmonize with and complement all other materials. Designs can range from historical to contemporary and project a strong,

distinctive image. The use of architectural precast con-crete also offers years of maintenance free operation. Quality precast concrete, produced and erected under strin-gent quality controls, effectively resists corrosion and damage and retains its good looks for years with no significant staining, discolouration or surface decay. Required maintenance is low - saving the owners significant money and inconve-nience over the life of the structure.

Structural Steel Ocean Steel fabricated and erected the steel on this project under steel Project Manager, Theresa leblanc. In total, OSCO supplied 86 tons of Struc-tural Steel; 225 squares of metal deck; and 20 tons of joists. Erection was com-pleted in the Fall of 2009.

Electrical FCC Electrical is currently working on the base building electrical contract for the Bridgewater office. This electri-cal project involved the installation of a new 600amp, 600volt main power service entrance, four separate tenant utility metering units, exterior parking lot lighting, new interior power distribution system, base building interior lighting, exit lighting, and power for all mechani-

cal systems. FCC supervisor Rick Heth-erington, site foreman Delbert Noble and their team of electricians have been working diligently towards the sched-uled completion date.

The ground floor (10,000 square feet) will be occupied by Canada Post and used as the main sorting office for the South Shore of Nova Scotia. The space will also include a retail outlet which will serve as the main Post Office for the town of Bridgewater. The first floor of the building (5000 square feet) is to be occupied by Acadia Broadcasting, known locally as CKBW radio serving the South Shore. The re-mainder of the space is to be let to a yet unidentified tenant.

135 North Street

CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010

This project is a prime illustration of the diverse architectural effects that precast concrete can provide.

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East Saint John Terminal Dock

The landscape has changed drastically in recent months at the Canaport East Saint John Terminal Dock in Saint John,

NB, where new substation and pumphouse buildings have been erected on the prop-erty owned by Irving Oil. The buildings were completed under the manage-ment and supervision of FCC Construc-

tion, who began work on the structures in October of 2009. Other OSCO Group

team members participated in the project as well, including: Strescon, who provided the precast

concrete panels; Ocean Steel, who fabricated and erected the structural steel; OSCO Re-bar; and OSCO Concrete, whose Strescon-SJ plant provided the ready-mix.

Substantial Comple-tion of the project was on Feb 26th, 2010. FCC’s Project Man-ager for the project was luke

Johnson, while Dick Babcock served as Site Superintendent. These structures have

been built as part of a larger modernization project on the

East Saint John Terminal. The modernization includes construction of a new ter-minal building, installation of a new vapour reduction system and expansion of fire fighting capabilities.

BUILDING DESIGN Both the substation and pumphouse are of similar construction. The buildings are mounted on concrete foundations and consist of structural steel frames supporting con-crete precast panels on the bottom two thirds of the building exterior. The upper

portion of the building exterior consists of alumi-num louvers and insulated sheet metal liner panels. The roof consists of a steel deck and a modified bituminous roofing assembly with stucco covering the roof curbs and soffits. These buildings are not only architectural unique but will prove to be highly functional and durable additions to the Canaport East Saint John Terminal Dock.

SUBSTATION The Electrical Substation was built to house the switch gear , motor control center, variable frequency drives and other electrical equipment for a new Vapour Recovery Unit (VRU) adjacent to the building. The VRU will connect directly to the gas tanks on docked tanker ships and draw gas fumes out of the tank to prevent them from entering the surrounding air. The fumes will then be filtered and the filtered material will be added to the refinery process.

PUMPHOUSE The second building is a Fire Water Pumphouse to supplement the existing fire fighting capabilities on the East Saint John Terminal Dock. The pum-phouse will house pumps and other equipment. It will also link to an adjacent product tank that has been remediated to provide fire water storage.

PRECAST Strescon Precast’s Saint John plant supplied 23 insulated precast panels for the projects, includ-ing 12 panels (1,320 sq.ft.) for the pump-house and 11 panels (1,320 sq.ft.) for the substation. Due to excessively busy schedules for Strescon’s erectors, weekend erection was required for this project, which took place on Saturday Nov 21st, 2009. The precast Project Manager was Brendan Clancy.

STRUCTURAL STEEL Ocean Steel’s Saint John plant provided 34 tons of Structural Steel and 34 squares of deck, which was erected in November, 2009. Steel Proj-ect Manager was Jill layton.

REBAR OSCO Rebar supplied & installed of 7.1 Tons of rebar for the structures.

contributed by LUKE JOHNSON

OSCO Group Team Effort Helps Bring Together Canaport Project

www.oscoconstructiongroup.com 13CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010

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Garden Stone Place is a seven-storey, mixed-use, commer-cial/retail/residential development located in the Hydros-tone District; a Canadian National Historic Site. The project

is located on the Southwest corner of Kaye and Isleville Streets, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The building will include 9000 sqft of retail space on the ground floor and 10,000 sqft of commercial on the second floor. The five level 30-unit residential apartment complex is located above the retail and commercial floors, set back approximately 15 feet, to provide a landscaped open space and leisure areas for the residents. The new development also houses two levels of under-ground parking, accommodating approximately 50 vehicles. Michael Napier, Architect for the project, noted the articulation of the narrow shop fronts with protection from the elements. The large areas of glass and frequent entries at grade, all form the basis of a pedestrian oriented commercial environment. The zero lot-line setback on Kaye Street corresponds to the traditional retail street found at the Hydrostone Market. The exterior building material for the two-storey commercial base is masonry, while the residential tower is clad with Architec-tural Precast concrete, combined with metal panels and fibre ce-ment siding encompassing the balconies. The Architectural Precast concrete adds class and dignity to the residential tower. The addition of a cornice feature, combined with a horizontal band at the seventh floor, adds interest to the building, while providing style and grace to the overall complex. Each apartment unit will have either a full balcony, a french balco-ny, or a terrace, with metal rails articulating the residential façade. Strescon Limited’s Bedford, NS plant supplied approximately 100 architectural precast concrete panels which were installed in less than six days - WOW that is equal to a floor a day! What other building material can enclose a building that quick?

Precast Project Manager: Steve MacDonald

Garden Stone Placecontributed by ANDREW LEVATTE

CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 201014 www.oscoconstructiongroup.com

contributed by ANDREW LEVATTE

Bayers Road Parking Garage

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CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010www.oscoconstructiongroup.com

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15

The Background: One of the main shopping districts in Halifax in the 1980’s, the Bayers Road Shopping Center once held 91 stores, along with a cast-in place parking garage. By the 1990’s however, a shift occurred in the way people shopped, when a newly developed big-box store area became the hot spot. The Bayers Road Shopping Center declined rapidly and soon changed ownership. The new owners tried modernizing. They gave the complex a European flavor and renamed it “The Village at Bayers Road” but the changes were not enough to prevent tenants from relocating. To add to the problems, the cast-in-place parking garage had to be torn down, because the concrete structure was quickly deteriorating and became a haz-ard for the general public. This spiraling demise continued until the early 2000’s when the complex was sold to the Ramia family.

Turning it Around: Everyone who knew the Ramia’s told them they were crazy for buying the shopping center, but the Ramias had a vision. Joe, George and family quickly converted the complex to what it was named - a village. Offices were in-troduced where stores were once located and the empty spaces quickly filled up. To keep up with demand, they added a 5-storey office building in the parking lot. Once the mall’s last anchor store moved out, the Ramias capitalized on growing demand and built a modern, 5-storey glass office tower with approxi-mately 275,000 square feet, where Zeller’s once stood.

Design & Planning: Knowing they would soon need more parking, George Ramia contacted Strescon about building a total precast parking garage. After looking at numerous locations for the garage it was finally agreed to put it near the high-tension power lines between Petro Canada and the new glass tower. When the Ramia’s construct a new building they do not take it lightly. They research every option to make sure they are building exactly what is required for their needs, with the best quality materials. Many layouts were looked at for the garage before a three level, single-helix, two-way traffic design was picked. The resulting 500 x 117 foot garage would add just over 700 parking stalls - giving them more than 2000 stalls on the entire site, while allowing for future expansion. To make sure the design would fit in with their new com-plex, a 3D model of the site was constructed including the parking garage, so the whole family could review the proposal. Architect Noel Fowler went through numerous spandrel designs before the optimum design was found. With the design finalized, construction could finally start. In September 2009, Eisener Contracting broke ground. The foundation work started soon after, with formwork contractor Lead Structural Formwork Limited at the helm. Strescon started construction on the precast components at the same time site work started. In less than two months, production on the 316 precast components (200 - 10ft double tees; 24 columns; 40 loadbearing spandrels; 9 non-loadbearing spandrels; 4 inverted

tee beams; 6 shearwalls; 16 litewalls; 3 stair panels; and 16 stairs with landings) was completed as the site work wrapped up.

Erection Challenges: By mid November, Strescon’s erection crew was mobilizing on site to start installation of the new parking garage. The garage’s proximity to the high tension power lines presented a big challenge. Garages are typically installed with large conventional crawler cranes, but this loca-tion required the crane to swing very close to the power lines to install loadbearing precast components directly underneath. Chris Greer, Strescon’s Erection Manager, devised a plan to erect this precast first, with two smaller 66-ton RT hydraulic cranes, but it would require the power to be shut down for a week. Numerous meetings between Nova Scotia Power, Rank Inc and Strescon were required to coordinate. When Project Manager, J.p lachance; Bedford Plant Manager, John fraser; and Chris Greer; all of Strescon, met one final time with NS Power to hash out the details, November 12th was finally agreed as the first day of erection. The first piece of precast was installed that morning, and two and a half days later, all the loadbearing precast components under the power lines were installed so the large 400 ton crawler crane could be moved into place to erect the main portion of the garage. All 316 pieces of precast were installed in less than four weeks - that’s an average of more than twenty pieces a day!

The Needs - Why Precast?: The Ramia’s decided on precast due to a number of factors. They wanted a high quality garage with little maintenance which could stand up to the coastal Halifax climate. They also wanted an open garage with few obstructions, so tenants could feel secure when coming to, and leaving work. As with all projects, cost was also a factor.

How did PRECAST meet those needs?Qu ality & Maintenance: Special high-strength concrete mixes

were used to prevent chloride attack. Pretopped double-tees drastically reduce the maintenance required with site topped tees or cast-in place garages.

Sec urity: Strescon’s specially designed litewalls and shearwalls provides many openings through the concrete walls so there are no blind spots where people can hide.

Cos t: The design allowed the spandrel panel height to be increased, which removed the need for perimeter railings. Stairwells were also designed inboard of the structure to reduce the number of pieces.

Everything considered, this garage will have many genera-tions of service life. Strescon has built numerous total precast parking garages throughout the Maritimes and Eastern U.S., and even with the Atlantic freeze-thaw cycling, they are still stand-ing tall. A number of them now have over 30 years of service in, with many years of life left. Why would anyone choose any other material?

Bayers Road Parking Garage Turning a derelict shopping center into a high-end office complex takes a lot of vision - something the Ramia family (Rank Inc) has plenty of. Over the past few years, they’ve done just that to the former Bayers

Road Shopping Center in Halifax, NS. This past fall, they took the next step when they hired Strescon’s Halifax plant to build a new three level Total Precast parking garage to compliment the complex.


Projects in the Precast Pipeline

• Wo rk in g With Cl i e nt s to Pr ov i d e N ew a n d Cu s to m ize d S o lut i o n sP I P E D I V I S I O N U P D AT E

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Strescon Pipe Offers Complete Packagecontributed by DAVID WEBB

In October 2009, Strescon’s Nova Scotia Pipe division received an order from ACL Construction Limited, to supply material on Twin Brooks Subdivision Phase 3. The project is a fourteen hectare addition to an existing development located off Jackladder Drive in Middle Sackville, N.S.. The order consisted of supplying precast concrete pipe, manholes, headwalls and ReCon retaining wall system. Strescon was selected as supplier, in part, due to our ability to provide both the concrete pipe infrastructure, as well as the precast seg-mental retaining walls for the customer. The site development plans by KVM Con-sultants Limited called for thirty-six new pre-cast manhole structures as well as reinforced concrete pipe, the site conditions also required four retaining walls be installed. The largest of the walls was bordering the back edge of four lots on a cul-de-sac and was planned at approx 4.5m height. This wall was required to push the back edge of the lots as close as possible to the property line in order

to maximize the developable space - a com-mon requirement for clients, to economize their site development. By planning a wall that was a combination of straight gravity wall and MSE wall, Strescon was able to offer an eco-nomical solution that met the requirements of this particular site. Strescon collaborated with Strum Envi-ronmental to prepare the design and detailed construction drawings for the largest of the four walls. Shipments began to the site in November of 2009. ACL Construction crews worked steadily on construction into Decem-ber and before Christmas the wall had been completed. The other three walls, designed in-house as gravity walls, are slated for instal-lation in Spring 2010 along with the balance of pipe and manholes. In total, Strescon will be supplying over 1200 ReCon Blocks - approxi-mately 6500 SF of wall, along with 36 man-holes, catch basins and pipe. By offering a complete package of infrastructure and drainage products to our customers, along with innovative designs and the functionality of a big-block segmental re-taining wall system like ReCon, Strescon Pipe Division was the supplier of choice on this and future projects.

GRAVITY WALL: Precast segmental retain-ing wall components are stacked to form a facing on the compacted soil behind the wall; making them stable enough to resist any lateral soil forces due to their mass and the force of gravity.

MSE WALL: Precast segmental retaining wall components are stacked to form a facing on the compacted soil, but also incorporate a geo-grid anchoring system to de-velop the soil mass behind the wall and resist the soil forces, rather than relying on gravity alone.

WHICH TO USE? The height and construc-tion of any wall is influ-enced by the nature of the existing foundation soil; the soil being retained; and the topography of the site. When the practical limits of height for a gravity wall de-sign are reached, it can be converted to an MSE style wall. By offering larger pre-cast concrete blocks, higher walls can be constructed as gravity style walls without requiring geo-grid. In some cases, this assists in push-ing the wall closer to the property limits without the need to excavate further for geo-grid installation.

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www.oscoconstructiongroup.com 17CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010

Projects in the Precast Pipeline

• Wo rk in g With Cl i e nt s to Pr ov i d e N ew a n d Cu s to m ize d S o lut i o n s

With limited infrastructure in the ground; flooding from more frequent and heavier storms; land infill programs in mu-nicipal areas; higher liability costs of ponds; and more expen-sive land; the need to take storm water underground is be-coming more apparent and prevalent. Once a rare occurence, underground water storage is now becoming common. An example of such a system was recently implemented for the new Costco store In Saint John, NB. The large bulding and parking lot replaced a formerly grassed and treed area. Natural surfaces, trees and grass allow water to soak into the ground and hold it from running off, so their removal result in poten-tial drainage problems. In the city of Saint John, the municipal “Storm Drainage Design Criteria Manual”, stipulates a zero-net change in storm water runoff. This means the quantity of the storm runoff from the site cannot be any worse after develop-ment than it was prior to development. There was therefore a need at the Costco site to store the water and release it slowly. Stormwater ponds, once the norm for this kind of develop-ment, are rapidly falling out of favour. In addition to the obvi-ous loss of land, there is the liability of having open water, the poor aesthetics of both the fencing and the garbage that gets trapped; and the eventual maintenance requirements.

On the Costco site, there was a need to store almost 1000 cubic meters of water. The designers, wanting a proven product and long term life cycle, chose concrete pipe. The site services contractor, Debly Enterprises of Saint John, contracted Strescon to supply: nearly 400 pieces of 1200mm diameter pipe; six concrete T’s; and four 2100mm di-ameter manholes. Installation started in mid October and lasted approximately two weeks. Once the initial sections were installed and properly aligned, installation went very quickly and easily. Installing pipe in this configuration was the same as any other pipe installa-tion - by placing the gasket on the pipe then homing the pipe together. Line and grade were constantly checked at each joint by the use of a laser level. The structures were all pre-benched, ensuring a smooth flow through the system. Once backfilled and paved, visitors to Costco will have no idea they are driving on top of a large pool of water (equivalent to ½ an Olympic size swimming pool). The balance of the job included: fourteen storm manholes ranging in size from 1050 to 1500 mm diameter; twelve 1050 mm sanitary manholes; a Stormceptor STC-4000; and numer-ous catch basins.

Storm Water Storage? Call Strescon! contributed by STEWART TOTTEN

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About Bird Construction A highly respected company operating throughout Canada, Bird Construction Company is recognized for its strong commitment to the growth and prosperity of both its clients and its people. They offer a number of contract delivery methods to their clients, including: design-build; construction management; pre-construction services; and public/private partnerships.

Company History Bird Construction was founded in 1920 by H.J. Bird as a small partnership in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Over the past ninety years, Bird has expanded to include locations in: Calgary & Edmonton, Alberta; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Saint John, New Brunswick; Toronto, Ontario; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Winnipeg, Manitoba. The company recently exceeded annual billings of one billion dollars. Long a Western Canadian phenomenon, Bird Construction entered the Atlantic Canadian market in 2008 with the acquisi-tion of Rideau Construction. Rideau Construction had been a major player in the construction industry since 1993, when John Furneaux and Jim Brennan set up shop in Bedford, Nova Scotia. From day one, Rideau was successful with steady growth and profitability. In 2003 Rideau Construction of Nova Scotia and Cardinal Construction of New Brunswick came together as one of the largest contracting companies in Atlantic Canada. The new enterprise operated under the Rideau brand until their acquisition by Bird Construction. Rideau now provides Bird with strong operations from coast to coast. Operations in Atlantic Canada currently operate as Bird/Rideau Construction.

Building Relationships Over the years, members of the OSCO Construction Group have had the pleasure to work on Bird/Rideau, Rideau and Cardinal projects both directly as well as indirectly through subcontractors.

Str escon pipe: Strescon’s Pipe Division nor-mally works with subcon-tractors to the general contractor and as such, over the years have supplied product over most of the territory Rideau services. A few New Brunswick projects include: the St Stephen Border Crossing; the new Kent Store in Grand Falls; the Walmart in Bathurst; the Miramichi Pow-er Center; the Shoppers Drug Mart in Sussex; St Joseph’s Hospital in Saint John; and the Home Depot in Fredericton. Strescon Pipe has also supplied numerous projects in the Nova Scotia market including: Honda Canada’s regional of-fice and the O’Regans Auto Mall.

OS CO Rebar: OSCO’s Rebar Division has worked on numer-ous Rideau projects over the years, but a few of the major projects since the Bird/Rideau partnership include: the St-Stephen N.B. Border Crossing; Sobey’s Fairville Blvd in Saint-John; several projects at PCS Picadilly and Penob-squis sites; and the Saint John Law Courts.

Str escon precast: Strescon’s Precast Division has provided products to both Rideau and Cardinal over the years, including: Irving Pulp in Saint John, NB; Springhill Sewage Treat-ment Plant in Springhill, NS; UNBSJ’s KC Irving Hall in Saint John, NB; Woodstock NB Canadian Tire; and Fredericton Home Depot. Most recently, Strescon’s Precast division was contracted by Bird Con-struction to provide exterior panels for two new P3 schools located in Moncton and Rexton, New Brunswick.

Bird Construction

CuSTOMER pROfIlE: BIRD CONSTRuCTION

contributed by ANDREW LEVATTE, STEWART TOTTEN & RENÉ BÉLANGER


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19

The Province of New Brunswick recently entered into a Public-Private Partnership (P3) to design, build, oper-ate and maintain two new schools, located in Rexton and Moncton North. The estimated combined capital cost of both projects is $40 million. Design and construction is being managed by Bird Design-Build Ltd. of Saint John, NB. The agreement required the sale of school properties on Ryan Road in Moncton and Albany Road in Rexton, to the developer for $1.3 million. Bruns-wick Learning Centres Inc. will lease the facilities back to the province for $7 million per year. The lease fee includes all costs associated with the two facili-ties, including taxes, energy costs and maintenance. It is estimated that the agreement will result in savings to gov-ernment of about $12 million over the 30-year lease term.

REXTON SCHOOL The Eleanor W. Graham Middle School in Rexton will be about 5,574

sq. metres (60,000 sq. feet) in size, and will accommodate 300 students. It will include: 13 classrooms; three resource teaching rooms; a resource centre; a music room; a technol-ogy education room; a science room; a visual arts room; a computer

room; a cafeteria and kitchen; and a native cultural centre. The community has made a contribution of $100,000 toward construction of a larger gymna-sium. The new school is scheduled to be open for the fall term of the 2010-11 school year.

MONCTON SCHOOL The new school in Moncton North will be about 10,219 sq. metres (110,000 sq. feet) in size, and will accommo-date 650 students from kindergarten to Grade 8. The school will include: 27 classrooms; a literacy support room; a resource centre; a technology educa-tion room; a cafeteria and kitchen; a science room; two gymnasiums; two music rooms; two visual arts rooms; two resource teaching rooms; and three team teaching rooms. The school is expected to be complete for the sec-ond term of the 2010-11 academic year.

STRESCON PRECAST In the summer of 2009 Durck deW-inter of Bird Construction approached Strescon Limited to see if we were interested in bidding the exterior panels for the P3 school proposal. Working very closely with their design team, FBM Architects and BMR Structural Engineer-ing, a winning design was created. The panels for Moncton North School were insulated sandwich panels with 4” of rigid insulation. 75 panels were precast non-loadbearing around the classrooms and 58 precast loadbear-ing panels around the gymnasiums with a total square footage of 35,270 sq ft.

Eleanor Graham Middle School also utilized insulated sandwich panels but with 5” of rigid insulation. In all, 89 pre-cast non-loadbearing panels were used around the classrooms while 27 precast loadbearing panels were used around the gymnasiums, for a total square foot-age of 21,540 sqft. Both schools were erected at the start of the harsh New Brunswick winter season. Rexton was erected in an as-tounding eight days, while Moncton took only slightly longer, at eleven days, allow-ing Bird Construction to concentrate on the interior. Strescon’s Project Manager on the project was Brendan Clancy.

LEED CERTIFICATION As part of the government’s Green Buildings Program, both schools have been designed to achieve a silver rating under the principles of Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED), a rating system used to measure green building performance in Canada. The LEED system rates and scores projects based on everything from site selection; to building systems; to material selec-tions; to construction practices and energy efficiency.

PRECAST & LEED With more and more builder inter-est in LEED certification, precast has become the clear choice for many. Pre-cast components provide a number of “green” advantages when seeking LEED certification, such as: plant proxim-ity; energy efficiency; recyclability; and minimal waste.

Both schools were erected at the start of the harsh New Brunswick winter season. Rexton was erected in an astounding eight days, while Moncton took only slightly longer, at eleven days,

CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010www.oscoconstructiongroup.com

Two Green P3 Schools for NB Strescon Precast Panels to Help in Achieving LEED Certification


Electrical & Communications Cabling

Acadia Broadcasting Fit-Up Location: Saint John, NBGeneral Contractor: FCC Civil

In December 2009, FCC began renovat-ing the 4000 sq ft interior office space of Acadia Broadcasting’s existing facility located on King Street in one of Saint John’s historic buildings. Anytime reno-vations take place in one of these types of buildings, many interesting challenges are encountered.

The FCC Electrical & Communications team led by Ron Rathje and Nick Kil-patrick worked with the owner’s techni-cal broadcasting team to insure proper placement of wiring and equipment was accomplished for the new broadcast booths, news and recording studios. Along with these areas, new washrooms, café/lunch area, and office spaces were renovated with all areas getting new

custom indirect lighting and decorative pendent fixtures, as well as custom track lighting. The team has been working towards an April 2010 completion date.

Electrical

New MSD Sand and Gravel Plant Location: Glenholme, NSGeneral Contractor:FCC Civil

In November 2009, FCC Electrical began work at the new Sand and Gravel plant in Glenholme, NS. The FCC team, led by supervisor Jim Johnson and site foreman John arnold were tasked with the installation of a new NS Power high voltage underground duct bank, as well as the electrical fit up for the new facil-ity’s control room which houses a new 1200 amp service entrance, and 600 amp, three section motor control center. All new power feeds and control wiring were installed from the new control building out to conveyors, hoppers, belt

motors and site lighting. Work is cur-rently well underway with a scheduled completion of April 2010.

Electrical & Communications Cabling

Canada Post Fit-Up Location: Bridgewater, NSGeneral Contractor: FCC Civil

FCC has been awarded the Canada Post tenant fit up contract for their new 3000 sqft office located at the new office building in Bridgewater Nova Scotia. This project involved the installation of: a new 200 amp, 600 volt main service entrance; specific tenant interior lighting fixtures; and branch power and com-munications cabling for the new office area, mail sorting area, and operations areas within the building. FCC super-visor Rick Hetherington, site fore-man Delbert Noble and their team of electricians have been working diligently towards the scheduled completion date.


All Wired Up...

Marque Industrial UpdatesEast Saint John Marine Terminal: Marque is working on the new Vapour Recovery Unit at the terminal. Our scope includes the installation of a 2 MVA trans-former (large enough to supply 80 homes with electricity), 600 volt Switchgear, 2 - 600 volt Motor Control Centers, cable tray, power & control cables, a Program-mable Logic Controller, Variable Frequen-cy Drives, and a cable bus system.

Irving Oil Refinery: We are in the pro-cess of installing a 650KVA Emergency Generator and its associated Automatic Transfer Switch in the #3 Crude Unit. This project also requires the addition of

an MCC section and all required cabling and grounding.

Irving Pulp & Paper: The electrical & instrumentation contract for the Dreggs Washing Project has been awarded to Marque. This project involves install-ing 13 Variable Frequency Drives, cable trays, cables, process instruments, air & process tubing, and all terminations.

Irving Paper: We are nearing comple-tion on the TMP Line 1 Bins project. This was an energy efficiency upgrade at the mill. We performed both the electrical and the instrument scope of work.

Lake Utopia Paper: Marque recently

started working on the new Utility Build-ing at the Lake Utopia mill. To date we have completed the installation of an electrical grounding grid and will soon begin working on the building electrical services.

Potash Mine: Marque has accepted a sub contract from Comstock Canada to assist them with their Compaction Plant project. Our scope is to complete the instrumentation portion. We are installing instruments throughout the plant, fabricating & installing instrument stands, installing process & air tubing. We started in January of this year and expect to complete this portion of the project by this summer.

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FCC Electrical & Communication Cabling Updates contributed by ROXANNE WALSH

contributed by TOM COUGHLAN


Marque Industrial Updates

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Martin’s Point Martin’s Point Health Care is a not-for-profit health care organiza-tion based in Portland, Maine. Martin’s Point Health Care Centers and their affiliates: Evergreen Woods Primary Care; and Bowdoin Medical Group; serve eight communities in Maine and New Hampshire. In April of 2009, Martin’s Point Health Care received approval from the Portland City Planning Board to build a 42,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art primary care medical center at the company’s main campus at 331 Veranda St.. The location, from which the company derives its name, is better known as Martin’s Point, a 12-acre tract of land at the northeast boundary of the city that juts into Casco Bay. The new building will provide all medical services on a single top-level floor. Two lower levels will be used for parking. The building will incorporate the latest in environmentally friendly technology and has received recognition as a LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) medical office building. Boulos/CB Ellis Company has served as owner’s representative for the project planning. Architectural, engineering and interior plan-ning work has been done by SMRT Structural Engineers, and Pizzagalli Construction Company is building the facility, which is scheduled to be completed and open to business in December 2010.

PRECAST: Strescon Limited was contracted by Pizzagalli Construc-tion to design-build a single deck garage to support the 2-storey struc-tural steel building. Rapid construction of the garage to accommodate structural steel erection was critical, but despite tight building tolerances

and a crowded jobsite, Strescon successfully rose to the challenge . Precast wall panels were used as enclosure and support walls

for both stair towers from garage to building structure. A series of precast ledger beams were used on 3 sides of the

garage, which serve as both a support element and tie-back for the composite cavity wall veneer. Strescon also supplied and installed precast components for the parking deck, including: double tees; inverted tee beams; shear-walls; wall panels; and ledger beams &

columns.

with photos & info from GERALD K. GRASSBY& BILL GATELY

21CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010

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22 www.oscoconstructiongroup.comCONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010

InduStrIalVBu/VRu foundations, East Side Termi-nal, Saint John, NB; Gulf Operators Ltd. 94 Tons of rebar

Truck Dumper, lake utopia paper, St. George, NB; Gulf Operators Ltd. 35 Tons of rebar

Bio Mass Energy project, St. leonard Saw Mill, St. Leonard, NB; JD Irving Ltd. 100 Tons of rebar

Service Shaft Slabs, potash Mine, Penob-squis, NB; Cementation Canada, 84 Tons of rebar.

production Shaft Slabs, potash Mine, Penobsquis, NB; Cementation Canada, 85 Tons of rebar.

InStItutIonalInverary Manor link, Inverness, NS; JonelJim/Pomerleau JV, 3 phases, totalling 422 Tons of rebar, 51,000 SF of mesh

Burnt Church School, Burnt Church, NB; Dora Construction, 48 Tons of rebar, 11200 SF of mesh

applied Science Building, Holland Col-lege, Charlottetown, PEI; G.E. MacNeil Const. 30 Tons of rebar

E Block, NBCC Moncton, Moncton, NB; RCS Const. 26 Tons of rebar.

Westwood School, Charlottetown, PEI; Williams Murphy MacLeod Ltd, 26 Tons of rebar. 16160 SF of mesh

Southeast Correctional Centre, Shediac, NB; Pomerleau Const. 50 Tons of rebar

allied Health Centre, UNBSJ, Saint John, NB; Avondale Const. 68 Tons of rebar

COMMERCIalConfederation Court Hotel, Charlotte-town, PEI; Williams Murphy Macleod Ltd, 74 Tons of rebar, 94080 SF of mesh.

BRIDGES & WHaRVESHarbour Development, Black’s Harbour, NB; Fundy Contractors Ltd, 84 Tons of rebar

Margaree Harbour Wharf, Margaree, NS; Albert MacDonald Ltd, 24 tons of rebar

Madawaska Dam, Edmundston, NB; CRT Const. 491 Tons of rebar

Eastern Wastewater Treatment Facility - City of Saint John

Rebar Update

contributed by GREG TIMS

According to the Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP), Saint John, New Brunswick currently discharges 16 million litres of raw sewage into its harbour and streams every day - the equivalent to six Olympic-sized swimming pools every 24 hours. Although Saint John is not the only municipality in Canada that dumps untreated wastewater into its environment, it is unique in that is has open sewers that run through the centre of the city, creating third-world conditions in Canada’s oldest incorporated city. The Saint John Harbour Cleanup refers to the infra-structure project that will bring an end to the practice of discharging raw sewage into its waterways. The $88 million initiative involves completing a third wastewater treatment plant in east Saint John, and diverting existing outfalls to it through lift or pumping stations. A pivotal component in the Saint John Harbour Clean-Up initiative, work began on Saint John’s Eastern Wastewater Treatment Facility in April of 2009. Pomer-leau Inc. of Dartmouth, NS, is constructing the $51 million plant. The new facility, a 35,000 m3/day secondary-level

conventional activated sludge treatment plant, will service the East and South central areas of the city. It is located on Red Head Road in Saint John. The Program is comprised of two major project components: the Eastern Wastewater Treatment Facility; and a Wastewater Collection System. Design work on the Wastewater Collection System is continuing and comple-tion of construction for the overall Wastewater Collection System is anticipated by 2012. OSCO Rebar is currently supplying and installing 1423 Tons of rebar on the project. They began installing rebar in August of 2009 and expect to be complete by late sum-mer of 2010. Strescon Concrete’s Pipe Division has also been in-volved with this project, through the supply of infrastruc-ture products. To date, they have provided 35 structures ranging in size from 30”/750mm (catch basins) to 120” /3000mm (valve chambers) as well as almost 100 pieces of concrete pipe ranging in size from 18”/450mm to 48”/1200mm.

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23www.oscoconstructiongroup.com CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010

Ocean Steel’s Rebar division is cur-rently working on the upgrading of the utility tunnel in Gagetown, New Brunswick for Philson LTD Contractors. Ocean Steel began installing the 107 tons of rebar in early November, 2009 at the CFB Gagetown Military base. The job not only required rebar installation but also demolition of the existing tunnels. Ocean Steel expects to be finished with the project in April of 2010. Strescon’s Concrete Pipe Division has also supplied product to this site, includ-ing 33 manhole and catch basin struc-tures, a concrete headwall for an outfall pipe and 2 Stormceptor 750 gallon units.

NBCC Allied Health Center Ocean Steel’s Rebar division recently worked on the new Allied Health Center at NBCC in Saint John, New Brunswick for Avondale Construc-tion. Ocean Steel will be providing 68.24 tons of rebar for the project which began in January, 2010. The New building will be located close to UNBSJ in Tucker Park and will house the New Brunswick Com-munity Colleges Health Program. Ocean Steel completed their work in March.

text

CFB Gagetown: Main Tunnels

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PouringIt On Ready-Mix

Update

Crandall University Strescon’s Moncton plant has been supplying the con-crete for the Crandall University (formerly Atlantic Baptist University) project in Moncton, NB, under General Contractor, Acadian Construction. The foundation work was completed in the late fall of 2009, and Strescon started supplying concrete for the floors in early March. The floors are to have a “Pol-ished Concrete Finish”, which required a special 25 Mpa mix, designed by Strescon’s Quality Control department. The mix was designed to minimize shrinkage as much as possible. To date, Strescon has supplied approximately 1200 m3, with another 300 - 400 m3 remaining.

Summerside Waste Treatment Schurman concrete recently completed pouring 200 cubic meter of 35 MPA floor mix concrete for the City of Summer-side’s new Waste Treatment Plant. The contractor requested a low shrinkage concrete mix design, which Schurman obtained by using a series of special admixtures. The project consisted of three concrete pours beginning on March 23rd, 2010 and completing April 5th, 2010.

Summerside Seawall Repair Schurman Concrete has been pouring concrete for the Summerside, PEI Seawall repairs for Central Prince Con-struction. The original seawall consisted of steel sheet pile which had deteriorated over the years and is now being replaced with a concrete seawall. Schurman started the first round of pouring on November 5th and wrapped up for the winter on December 21st, 2009. The contractors discontinued the project until spring 2010, due to winter weather conditions. Underwater divers have to help install the form panels, as well as monitor the concrete underwater as the pours take place, to ensure that there is no concrete going into the harbour. Upon completion, the project will consist of repairing an 800 foot length of seawall at a depth of 18 feet . The concrete being used is a 35 Map strength, with 25% fly ash and super plasticizer added to the mix to help in the flow ability. Underwater concreting is pumped thru a tremie pipeline to the bottom of the forms which are submerged in water. Approximately 400’ of the seawall was poured during the first stage. The second stage, for the remaining 400’ of seawall, was scheduled to begin pouring concrete on April 8th 2010, with a 100 cubic yard pour, followed by approxi-mately the same amount the following week. It is expected that the project will completed by the middle of May.

2424 CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010 www.oscoconstructiongroup.com

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h o w w e d o i t

Ready-Mix Update


Irving Oil has begun work on a Dehexanizer Unit at its Saint John Refinery. The new unit will reduce the amount of Benzene and other aromatics from the gasoline refining process. This is necessary to meet upcoming environmental regulations. The project began in late 2009 and will be com-plete by June of 2011. Marque Construction’s Industrial Division has been working on the project since it began, providing construc-tion support and just recently was awarded the Electrical and Instrumentation installation contract for the unit.

Construction Support Marque’s construction support scope began in Decem-ber of 2009 and will continue until the end of the project. It involves providing temporary power for all trades and support personnel, installing lighting in the work areas, investigative work for the Engineering Group, identifying Electric Heat Tracing Points and relocating existing Instruments and other devices that are in the way of construction.

Electrical & Instrumentation The Electrical and Instrumentation Contract started March 1, 2010 and is scheduled for completion in June, 2011. It requires the installation of all electrical and instrumentation required for the new unit. A small sampling of the tasks re-quired include installing cable trays along the pipe racks and throughout the unit, installing cables (some of which weigh more than 12,000 lbs per run) in the cable trays, performing and testing thousands of wire terminations, installing and testing control instruments and their associated process and air tubing, installing electric heat trace systems, and providing the necessary permanent unit lighting. In addition to tradespeople, Marque’s project team in-cludes foremen, general foremen, quality control technicians, planners, project administrators, a safety co-ordinator and a project manager.

Working Safer; Working Efficiently Marque has introduced a pre-work Stretching Program for this project which involves stretching exercises at the start of each shift. The goal is to warm up the tradespeople’s

muscles and help to prevent strains and pulls that occur when performing strenuous tasks. We encourage our people to do a few stretches throughout the day as well. This program began in late March & an unexpected result has been a huge boost in morale. By the end of the exercises, all participants are in high spirits. All our work at the Irving Oil Refinery is performed on a four day a week, ten hour a day schedule, Monday through Thursday. This shift began in September of 2009 and since then, the requirement for overtime has lessened and absen-teeism been dramatically reduced. In addition, the number of times employees arrive late for work has also significantly dropped.

Irving Oil Refinery Fast Facts • first Canadian refinery to make high octane gasoline

without the use of lead additives. • first to offer low-sulphur gasoline, 5 years ahead of

regulation. • first oil company ever to receive the US EPA Clean Air

Excellence Award. • first and only Canadian refinery to be recognized by

Hart World Fuels as “Refiner of the Year” • first and only Canadian refinery on the east coast of

North America to receive crude oil from The Acropolis, a ULCC (Ultra Large Crude Carrier)—the biggest of super-tankers at 410,000 dwt, holding 2.6 million barrels of crude.

• first refinery in Canada to install CD Tech technology which makes ultra-low sulphur gasoline.

• first refinery to own and operate the largest product tankers in Canada

• first Canadian refinery to offer low sulphur diesel ahead of regulations

• first in Canada to use a Belco™ scrubber which removes sulphuric acid and particulates

• first in Canada to regenerate sulphuric acid on-site for use in the refining process.

• first Canadian oil company to own and operate double hulled tankers.

Irving Oil Refinery: Dehexanizer

contributed by TOM COUGHLAN

w h a t w e d o


• lONG WHaRf pIlE Cap plaTES, Saint John, NB, Irving Equipment, 11.6 tons of plate

• BuNKER STORaGE ROOM ROOf, MOOSEHEaD BREW-erIeS, Saint John, NB, John Flood & Sons, 4.4 tons of struct. steel

• laKE uTOpIa TRuCK DuMpER, Lake Utopia, NB, Gulf Operators, 4.9 tons of misc. metals

• dead end StructureS, Grand Falls, NB, NB Power, 4.2 tons of struct. steel

• lIfTING plaTES fOR pRECaST BRIDGE GIRDERS, Bed-ford, NS & Saint John, NB, Strescon, 18.8 tons of plate

• EaST SaINT JOHN TERMINal Vapour Recovery, trench-ing & grating, Saint John, NB, Gulf Operators, 5.9 tons of misc. metals

• NBCC MONCTON CaMpuS, camber customers beams, Moncton, NB, Titan Metal Group, 17.6 tons of struct. steel

• NBCC fREDERICTON CaMpuS, camber customers beams, Fredericton, NB, Titan Metal Group, 97.3 tons of struct. steel

• MaNHOlE STEEl fORM, Saint John, NB Strescon, 1.3 tons of plate

• pCS pOTaSH (OlD MIll) - Replacement of Platform & Stair, Penobsquis, NB, , 1.7 tons of struct. steel

• pCS pOTaSH (NEW MIll) - Pile Cap Plates, Penobsquis, NB, Irving Equipment, 4.8 tons of plate

contributed by CHRIS BANKS, CET

Maritime Docks Ltd supply’s Floating Docks for Atlantic Pilot Authority, Port of Saint JohnYork Steel provided the pile guides & misc metals painted black (10.9 tons of steel) to Maritime Docks Ltd of Pennfield, NB to complete the job at the Saint John Wharf at Pier II on the west side. (above)

CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 201026 www.oscoconstructiongroup.com


contributed by ROB FELTUS

Group Safety Newsh o w w e d o i t

Congratulationsto Borcherdt

Concrete Products

for working

12 monthswithout a lost time accident!!!

OSCO Group Joins ISNetworld The OSCO Construction Group has been working since last October, towards getting several of its operations approved through ISNetworld, for work with two “Owner Clients” – Irving Oil Refining and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. ISNetworld describes itself as the global resource for con-necting corporations with safe, reliable vendors from capital-intensive industries. ISN collects self-reported conformance in-formation from vendors, verifies its accuracy, and then reports the results in an easy-to-follow format. This allows corpora-tions to select those resources that best meet internal and gov-ernmental requirements, while providing vendors and suppliers the opportunity to centralize their conformance information, while saving time and gaining presence in the marketplace. Through its innovative data-systems, superior customer service, and global reach, ISN fosters safer work environments, stronger partnerships, and a healthier bottom-line. The OSCO Construction Group is not unfamiliar with

third-party auditing services. A couple of our operations were involved with the now defunct Risk Management Services, based on the International Loss Control Institute format. We also have been active, for over ten years, with the Certificate of Recognition (COR) programs provided through NSCSA and NBCSA. Currently we hold CORs for eleven of our business units. Participation in these programs has provided the benefit of improving our safety management systems. The process through ISNetworld is very detailed and, considering that we are providing inputs for eight separate operations, has been quite a challenge, requiring changes and additions to our practices and procedures. We are also now tracking new statistics and performance indicators. This is not to imply that we were behind the curve on these issues. Our recent initiatives, involving Fleet, Environmental, and Quality management systems essentially put us on a parallel course with the standards required by ISNetworld. This process has provided us with additional incentive to continue with our goal of continual improvement.

Setting a Higher Safety Standard

Congratulations to AllStar Rebar for working

12 monthswithout a lost time accident!!!

CaREER SpOTlIGHT: ENGINEERING

www.oscoconstructiongroup.com28 CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010

The OSCO Group hosted a tour for 34 UNB Fredericton Civil Engineering students this past February. Organized by the HR Recruiting Team, this event provided the opportunity to introduce our Companies and products to the students first-hand. The students spent the day learning about the processes and operations at our steel and concrete plants, as well as about future employment opportunities in the Con-struction industry and with our Group. The students were divided into two groups, with one spending the morning at OSCO Head Office, while the other was taken to Strescon,

before alternating locations in the afternoon.

OSCO Head Office: These sessions began with a greeting from the Steel Sector’s General Manager, Harrison Wil-son, followed by a presentation by Design Engineer, Nihad Balihodzic and Operations Manager, Bill Gates. Following that, Bernie Blakely, Business Development Manager, and Bill Gates took the students on a tour of the steel plant. The group was then turned over to the Construction sector, where Project Managers, abbey Duguay, Bill Woodhouse and luke Johnson, as well as Estima-tor, Jordan Thompson, showed off some

recent accomplishments of FCC & Marque Construction with an impressive time-lapsed video from the Picadilly project. The students were also presented with information on other projects and Engineering career oppor-tunities with the Construction sector.

Strescon: The Strescon sessions included tours of the Precast Plant and Inspection Lab by Production Scheduler, pe-ter adams; Safety Coordinator, Jim Milton; and Inspection Manager, Doug Murphy. Following this, the students finished with a tour of the Pipe Plant, lead by Plant Superin-tendent, Dave Kierstead, and Strescon Sales Associate, Stewart Totten.

An Engineer is a person in your neighborhood…

contributed by BERNIE BLAKELY

There’s a lot of thinking behind that Steel. The OSCO Construction Group em-ploys several Professional Engineers; 14 of which are in the Steel Sector alone; and not all are designing gusset plate thicknesses or weld sizes for connections. While most are familiar with this important aspect of the fabrication process, several have taken their problem-solving, analytical minds to other departments. Our customers thus receive a well thought out solution, no matter what

stage of fabrication their project is at.

Steel Sector EngineersFRONT ROW (l-r): abdul Maftah, Jr. Design Engineer; Jingnan liu, Jr. Design Engineer; Nihad Balihodzic, Design Engi-neer; li lan pook, Contracts Mgr; Jill lay-ton, Project Mgr; lori li, Design Engineer

MIDDLE ROW (l-r): Harrison Wilson, Gen-eral Mgr (Canada); Melanie MacCormick, Jr. Design Engineer; alex Gamble, Jr. De-

sign Engineer; Bill Gates, Operations Mgr; Jeff underhill, Assistant SJ Plant Mgr

BACK ROW (l-r): andrew MacKenzie, Fred. Plant Mgr; Troy Hawkes, SJ Plant Mgr; Daniel aube, Steel Checker; Ben Smith, Design Engineering Mgr; Bernie Blakely, Bus Development Mgr; Don pellerin, Sr. Design Engineer

MISSING: Rod Macintosh, General Mgr (US); lisa frazee, Engineering Drawings Mgr

UNB ENGINEERING TOUR contributed by VIVIAN CHIASSON


West Point team’s bridge during load test

h o w w e d o i t

Since it’s incorporation in 1955, Ocean Steel has fabricated most of the large, complex heavy industrial proj-ects in New Brunswick. Several of those structures have been designed by the Engineers at Stantec (formerly Neill & Gunter) specifically in the areas of Power Generation, Lumber & Wood, and Pulp & Paper. As a result of these many suc-cessful projects, the staff from each company has gotten to know each other fairly well, with some relationships going as far back as their University days. In an effort to continue this suc-cessful working relationship, Ocean Steel provided a tour of their main plant in Saint John for the current Structural Engineering Department of Stantec’s Fredericton office. Senior Detailer Brad Macphee showed how Ocean initially brings the design stick-model to life with the 3D modeling system SDS2/Design Data,

where the Engineers were surprised at the level of detail - right down to the individual washers at connections. Tour guides Harrison Wilson (General Manager), Bill Gates (Operations Manager), Troy Hawkes (Plant Manager) and Bernie Blakely (Business Development Manager) then gave the group a first-hand look at how that electronic information is used to fabricate the indi-vidual components in Ocean’s modern state-of-the-art facility.

Stantec Tour

“On behalf of Stantec’s entire Civil/Structural Engineering group in Fredericton, I would like to thank you for the wonderful afternoon we spent with your folks at your office and fab shop. Everyone in our group was very happy to have been part of the experience and are grateful for the insights and knowledge gained. We deeply appreciated the time you and others in your staff took to inform, explain, guide, and teach. Our group has grown stronger because of the generous offering of your time to us. Additionally, our con-nection with Ocean Steel and its people has also been strengthened. This I am sure will serve both of our companies well in the future.Again, thank you very much!! ”

Gordon J.W. Boneschansker, M.Eng., P.Eng. Team Leader - Civil/Structural Engineering - Stantec Consulting

At noon, the students were brought together for a networking lunch with our Group’s resident UNB Engineering alumni, along with representatives from each of the sectors. The students were very responsive and inter-ested to see the concepts they learn about being put into action. The tour was considered to be a great success. The HR Department wishes to thank the employees who represented our Group so well, and made this day informative and interesting for the stu-dents; this is exactly the kind of effort that is needed to attract important new talent to the organization, which will position us for our future growth.

contributed by BERNIE BLAKELY

h o w w e d o i t

www.oscoconstructiongroup.comCONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 201030

25 Year Club Dinner

contributed by Human Resources Department The annual OSCO Construction Group’s 25 Year Club Din-ner was set at the elegant Delta Brunswick in Saint John on November 13th, 2009. This was an extraordinary year for the Group, as we welcomed 34 new members into the 25 Year Club. The evening began with a reception where guests gathered to greet many long time friends and get reacquainted, followed by one of the largest group photos in 25 Year Club history. Before dinner began, George paisley graciously blessed the meal as he has done in the past, followed by a moment of silence for employees who had passed away. Guests were then treated to a wonderful dinner buffet put on by the Delta staff. The President, Hans O. Klohn, then unveiled a new time-lapse video production showcasing the record-setting 14 day con-struction of a very large Service Shaft building on the Picadilly Project involving many Companies within our Group. The award presentations began soon afterwards. Strescon General Manager, Don Isnor took the stage next, to present Strescon inductees their awards. The new mem-bers welcomed into the club from Strescon-Saint John were: Michael atkinson, Michael Belding, Michel Roy, lorenzo Sr. Savoie, Bruce Gogan, Malcolm Belding, anthony a. Watson, Norman D. Hazelwood, Gary Bogle, and Christine Boyd. There was also one new member welcomed from Strescon-

Bedford, which was David a. Hume. Ocean Steel General Manager, Harrison Wilson took the stage next to present awards to the Ocean Steel-Saint John inductees, which were as follows: Bruce Beckett, Mike lewis, Douglas Oliver, Carl parlee, and Kenneth parlee. Schurman’s 2008 inductees were then acknowledged and a speech was given by General Manager, Bill Davis before each of the inductees were brought on stage for a group photo, they were as follows: alfred J. Condon, John a Hume, Kenneth R. Maclean, Wayne Smith, paul Biggar, William Davis, Edmund Gallant, David Murray, lawson Murray, Charles Wedge, Keith Wedge, Ken O’Donnell, Steven Dyer, and Wayne Gaudet. Harrison Wilson then took the stage once again, to induct the newest members of Ocean Steel-Fredericton into the 25 Year Club and they were as follows: linda Dixon, Randolph pollick, francis levesque, Merlin Colford, W. Wayne Morgan, Michael D. Eroh, John Sparks, Daniel Jordan, Robert Betts, Stephen Handrahan, arthur Wooden, andrew Jordan, Mar-ven Jordan, Robbie Roden, James f. Macfarlane, fernard Duguay, Hollis Golden, and Brian underwood. The evening was put to a close with remarks from the President and drawing for door prizes by Mr. John Irving, while Connections magazines were handed out to each guest as they left. Congratulations to all our 2009 25 Year Club Inductees!

OSCO Group Inducts its Largest Group Ever to Long-Service Club


2010 kicked off a new decade so we thought it was time to hold our Employee Recognition Awards, namely the “OS-CORS”, at a new location befitting the stars of our industry – OUR EMPLOYEES! Every year seemingly gets bigger and better and this year is no exception. It is our opportunity to thank our employees for the hard work and dedication that they show throughout the year. This year the red carpet will be rolled out at the new Marco Polo Cruise Terminal on Saint John’s beautiful water-front. The evening will begin with an amazing buffet style dinner. It will then be time to recognize those employees that

truly were stars within each of our four sectors (concrete, construction, group services, and steel). Service Pins will also be given out during the event, to those who have achieved milestone years of service with our Group. We will also honor our commitment to Safety by recognizing the Plants with the best safety records over the past year. Last, but not least, we will recognize those employees who have furthered their pro-fessional development through certifications and licensures. On a less serious note, our favorite game-show host, Steve Adams (OSCO Group Services), will then call up mem-bers of the audience to compete for cash prizes in a series of challenges from the newest, hottest game show on television, “Minute to Win It”!

h o w w e d o i t

A Night Celebrating OSCO Group’s Stars...

Congratulations to This Year’s Nominees:

contributed by Robin Kilpatrick

Best Actor/ActressSteel: • Cathy Parker • Margo Hibbard• Debbie Keyes

corPorate:• Kelly Adams • Rebecca Codling • Chris Carmichael • Karen Gatien • Duanne Shanks

conStructIon:• Dwight Edgett

• Janie Dysart• Shelley Rogers • Daryl Ross• Roxanne Walsh

concrete:• Brendan Clancy• Xiangning (Simon) Li • Peter Adams • Stewart Totten• Serge Boudreau

Best New Actor/ActressSteel:• Josh Dugas

• Allister Mood

corPorate:• Jody Corbin• Keri Tyner

conStructIon:• Greg Gormley• Shonda Burgess• Jordan Thompson• Luke Johnson

concrete:• Christine Gilbert • Jeremiah MacLeod

Best DirectorSteel: • Terry Arseneau• Ron Estabrooks

corPorate:• Ian Hudson• Monique Walsh • Jennifer Gregoire • Amy Shanks

conStructIon:• Rick Williston• Ron Rathje• Robin Young• Dan Mazerolle

concrete:• Gaetan Vaillancourt • Rebecca Patterson

Career Achievement• Terry Arseneau: Steel

• Brad MacPhee: Steel

• Valerie LeBlanc: Corporate

• Abbey Duguay: Construction

32 www.oscoconstructiongroup.comCONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010

w h o w e a r e

The OSCO Construction Group values its relationships with the communities they live and work in. In addition to the many smaller charitable and sponsorship contributions they’ve made over the past year, the following are groups who have received larger donations: Canadian Cancer Society - $675.00Berry fund Charitable foundation - $10,000.00Kennebecasis lions Club - $1100.00united Way - $5000.00Heart and Stroke foundation of New Brunswick - $750.00Saint John Regional Hospital Neonatal unit - $500.00St. Joseph’s Hospital foundation - $15,000.00

amy Shanks works in the HR Department as a recruiter for OSCO Construction Group and below is her fam-

ily. Amy’s sister, Erin Appleby, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 28 which she fought for 2 years. Amy and her father, Ed, were watching Erin lie in her hospital bed worrying about how her bills where going to be paid when they made the decision that a fund needed to be started to help those that are sick with paying common household bills. “There are foundations for wigs, prosthetic breasts but

OSCO Group & Employees Donate Combined $9883.50 to Haiti Relief

The OSCO Construction Group responded to the recent Earthquake disaster in Haiti by

offering an Employee Donation Match Pro-gram. Our generous employees in both Can-ada and the US, donated a total of $4883.50

through individual donations, bake sales and group collections. OSCO then matched the em-ployees’ contributions with a Corporate dona-tion of $5000.00 to the Canadian Red Cross. We know that this donation will be used to assist those left suffer-ing after this devastating event and wish to thank all employees who do-nated and supported the various fundraising efforts employees held in the company.

nothing to help those who may be facing losing their home because they are too sick to work.” Erin Appleby passed away at the age of 30, but with our help, and the continued dedication of Amy and her family, Erin’s legacy will live on through the gift of helping others. All of the proceeds given to this Fund are distributed by the Atlantic Health Sciences Centre’s social workers, who see to it the bills are paid. Amy and her family raise money throughout the year by organizing and taking part in various fundraisers. There are many ways in which you can help be a part of this much needed Fund; such as volunteering (if interested, please e-mail Sydney Peacock at [email protected]); by giving a monetary donation (this can be done easily at www.thegive.ca, just click on the Erin Appleby Fund, receive a receipt via mail); and something as simple as spreading the word (join the Erin Appleby Fund Facebook page). On behalf of Amy and the Appleby Family we thank you in advance for your support.

contributed by Vivian Chaisson


Helping Hands


w h o w e a r e

The OSCO Construction Group partici-pated in the National Take Our Kids to

Work Day program once again this year. The event was held for students in Grade 9 on November 4th, 2009. To observe this special event, OSCO Head Office and Strescon-Saint John played host to 13 students for a day of learning about the steel, concrete and construction industries, as well as about the career opportunities available. In ad-dition to the students who participated in Saint John, students registered at three of

our other locations as well: Ocean Steel in Fredericton; Borcherdt Concrete; and Strescon-Bedford. The students at these locations job-shadowed employees for the day, learning the different day-to-day tasks involved in our operations. The Saint John students spent half the day in presentations and half the day job shadowing. This year we were fortunate to have even more staff volunteers for presentations, which really made the day worthwhile for the students. Dan farren (Ocean Steel) provided them with an inter-esting safety presentation, which high-lighted our Group’s commitment to safety. Bernie Blakely (Ocean Steel) provided a tour of our Saint John Steel Plant, which the students always report to be the great-est part to the day. Seeing the production hands-on can be fascinating for those who don’t do it every day and Bernie al-ways provides a lively interactive tour that is enjoyed by all. Our Human Resources Coordinator provided the students with a presentation about our Group of Compa-nies and hosted a lunch for the students. New this year, was a credit presentation,

given by Credit Manager, Steve adams. This showed the students the process of ensuring our customers accounts are kept up to date and the importance and com-mitment the Group has to maintaining great customer relations. The students were then given tours of various departments to learn how each one works. Ian Hudson discussed Ac-counting Department processes; Jason Comeau spoke on behalf of the Informa-tion Technology Department; ann Eagles showed off some graphic programs used in the Steel Detailing Department; and Deb flewelling explained the CNC Programming side of production to the students. The day went very well and was greatly enjoyed by the students. We ap-preciate all the help from the employees who made the day so memorable and informative for the participants. We wish all the students who par-ticipated the best of luck in their future chosen careers and hope that we were able to provide them some guidance in this regard.

eyewitness accounts, Harold at this point started to turn purple (he had already passed blue). Dan Vien-neau noticed this going on from the other side of the lunch room and rushed over to help. He gave Harold one good abdominal thrust and dislodged the food from Harold’s throat. Harold was still emotional the following day in describing the events in the lunch room. He believes without a doubt that he would have died in that lunch room if it had not been for Danny. On March 18, 2010, Dan Vienneau was presented with a plaque from the Red Cross to honour this self-less act.

Take Our Kids To

Work Daycontributed by VIVIAN CHAISSON

L-R: Hans Klohn Sr., Dan Farren and Harrison Wilson presenting a plaque to Dan Vienneau.

Throwing a LifelineOSCO Shop Employee Dan Vienneau Recognized for Saving Co-Worker’s Life

contributed by Dan Farren

On September 21, 2009, in Ocean Steel’s Saint John, NB lunch room, the guys were playing cards during their lunch break, when some-

one told a joke and everyone started to laugh. Harold Cavanaugh, who had just taken a bite of his sandwich before he started to laugh, began choking. At first nobody noticed, thinking he was just laughing along with the rest of the group. When a fellow employee asked Harold if he was choking, Harold nodded his head yes, and the employee immedi-ately attempted to perform abdominal thrusts without success. From

The annual OSCO Construction Group Curl-ing Bonspiel, held this year on March 12th, was once again a huge success. The Thistle St. Andrews Curling Club was filled with enthu-siastic curlers ranging from beginner to expert. Donnie Ritchie started the night off with a brief lesson for

beginners. It was also decided this year that “sweeping” would be kept strictly optional. Slipping on the ice was not a fear for a team of four from Ocean Steel, lori li, peter Dougay, Ron Es-tabrooks and Roxanne Walsh. They came prepared, sporting pink hard hats decorated with many lovely sparkling stickers. Many laughs were shared and memories made amongst the 64 curlers during the eight ends of curling that evening.

When the curling was over and the points were being tallied, pizza was being enjoyed by all. Was it the confidence from the hard hats, luck, or just pure skill that made the decked out team from Ocean Steel this year’s winners? Not sure, but this savvy curling team rose to the top of the points scale and walked out with full bragging rights. A much deserved con-gratulations to the four of them! Great times were had by all and everyone walked away with a prize. Much thanks to Donnie Ritchie (Ocean Steel) for taking the time to organize this event again this year. It is greatly appreci-ated.

www.oscoconstructiongroup.comCONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 201034

w h o w e a r e

The Irving Hockey League is a local recreational league that runs from October through March on Sunday afternoons at the Lord Bea-verbrook Rink (LBR) in Saint John, New Brunswick. The regular season runs 14 weeks (all teams play against each other twice). The league consists of 8 teams: FCC; Ocean Steel; Strescon; Gulf Operators; Irving Oil; Irving Refin-ery; Jacob’s; and Irving Equipment. The general rule is that 50% of the team’s players must be employed from the Irving affiliate sponsoring the team. Upon completion of the regular season, the league is separated into two (2) divisions, with the top four going into division 1, and the bottom four to division 2. An elimination playoff round decides which teams move on to a best of three round to decide the years league champions.

This year’s division 1 winners were the fCC Chiefs, who defeated last year’s champions Irving Equip-ment, 2 games to 1.

FCC Roster:pat Bagley, Ben Kilpatrick, Dave Harrison, Clint Graham, Colby McDermott, Gary Chamberlain, Jason Johnson, Steve adams, Scott Graham, Ernie Roy

Ocean Steel Roster:Randy Gallant, peter Dougay, Vince Davis, Mike Jones, Ryan Starkey, adam fraser, len andrews, Nick Hatt, Jason Brown, fred Oulette, pat Oulette, Germain Martin

Strescon Roster:Eric Gautier, peter adams, Chris Greer, Brendan Clancy, Derek Millar, Wade Osmon, Gerald He-bert, Jason Boyne, frank Godsoe, Gavin Bungay, Tom Hinam, Jamie Brown, Matt patterson

The winning team (l-r): Peter Dougay, Lori Li, Roxanne Walsh, & Ron Estabrooks

Curling Bonspielcontributed by Robin Kilpatrick

contributed by Vanessa Klohn

FCC Chiefs Take Championshipaug 7: ......Company PicnicSept 18: ...Group Golf TournamentNov 3: ......Take Our Kids to Work DayNov 5: ......25 Year Club DinnerNov 13: ...OCAL Holiday PartyNov 29: ...Bedford Holiday LunchNov 30-Dec 9: Saint John Holiday LunchesDec 10: ....OSCO-Fred Holiday LunchDec 14: .....OSCO-Conklin Holiday Lunch

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35CONNECTIONS • Spring & Summer 2010

congratulations!Family Additions:Jamie Bennett (York) and Sarina Merrett welcomed son Madison James Bennett on March 19th.

Troy Hawkes (OSCO-SJ) and his wife Michelle welcomed 10 lb, 3 oz. son, Thomas Ryan on April 14th

aaron Jewett (York) and Natalie Brewer welcomed daughter, Adyson Christina Jewett, on Jan 10th.

Darrin Brundage (Strescon Bedford) and Ashley Murray welcomed 7lbs 10 oz, Lilly Brynn Brundage on Oct.8, 2009.

Josh fowler (Allstar Rebar) and Rachel Weare welcomed 7lbs 5oz., William Tyler Fowler on March 29th.

Gerry Higgins became a Grandfather for the first time on March 8th, with Elizabeth Louise (Ellie), born to Daughter Amanda and Shayne Graham

Sajjadul Haque (Strescon) and laboni Haque (Strescon) welcomed baby girl, Aribah Afreen Haque on March 7th.

Kerri Scott (OSCO Group

Services) and husband, Colin, welcomed Kyle Colin Scott on February 11th.

Jason Brown (OSCO Group Services) and wife Laura (Is-nor) welcomed Allison in De-cember, 2009. Allison’s arrival also made Don Isnor (General Manager of Strescon) a proud first-time grandfather!

adam Brochu (FCC Electrical) and wife Julie welcomed baby girl, Zoe on April 19th.

andrew Biggs (FCC Electrical) and wife Jill welcomed Lau-ren, 6lbs 2oz, on March 20th.

len andrews (OSCO-SJ) and his wife Kalie welcomed 2nd child, Sebastian at 10lbs 1oz on April 24th.

Applause:Congratulations to the follow-ing Ocean Steel employees who received their NACE Coating Inspector - Level 1 certifications: Jay Guiles (Conklin); lorne Hanson (Fred); Joe Odo (Fred); Dave lang (SJ); Tim latter (SJ)Jeff underhill (SJ); Kristy Waalderbos (Saint John)

FRESH FACESOCEAN STEEL - SAINT JOHN Chris fulton ............................Contracts AdministratorBrenda lariviere ..............................Document Runner

OCEAN STEEL - FREDERICTON

Heather Wilson (Promotion) ... Purchasing Specialist/Sales

STRESCON - SAINT JOHNCara Dawn Miller ............................... Design Engineerandrew Gabriel ....................................... QC InspectorSheri fanjoy .............................................. QC Inspectorlois Coholan (Transfer) .......... Exec. Admin. Assistant

OSCO GROup SERVICESashley Dooks ................................. Recruiting Assistantpam Ogden ..................... Payroll and Benefits AnalystRobin Kilpatrick ......Human Resources CoordinatorScott patterson ....... Accounts Receivable SpecialistJennifer leBlanc ........... Payroll and Benefits Analystamanda legere ..........................Accounting Specialist

STRESCON-BEDFORDJohn Doyle ................................................ QC Inspector

FCC CONSTRUCTIONKaren MacVicar .............................. Scheduler/Planner


On Saturday, March 13th, Strescon employees, along with OSCO Group Services employees who frequently work on Strescon’s behalf (Accounting, Contracts, IT, HR, & Inventory Systems) were invited to Poley Mountain in Sussex, NB for an evening of winter fun. Skiers and snow-boarders hit the hill with much excitement and enthusiasm! This event was held to foster growth as a team, and bond with individuals who deal with each other on a daily basis, but rarely get to connect one-on-one. Once the hills were all ripped up, everyone gathered at the lodge for a fun snowball competition, which was won by the team of Brendan Clancy, Nick Hatt, Vivian Chaisson, and Duanne Shanks. Great job guys! Everyone was treated to a marvelous meal, a gift card, and many, many laughs!

L-R: Tyson Martin, Mike Redmond, Sheri Fanjoy, Cory Vail, Andrew Gabriel and Andrew O’Donnell. Missing: Matt Skerry


New Certifications for InspectorsCongratulations to the following Strescon-Saint John Quality Inspectors who received new certifications this past March: ACI LEVEL ONE: Sheri fanjoy; Cory Vail; andrew Gabriel; andrew O’Donnell; Mike Red-mond; Matt Skerry • PCI LEVEL ONE: Tyson Martin

Strescon Ski Night

Our LocationsSTRUCTURAL STEEL:ocean Steel Corporate office & SJ plant 400 Chesley Drive, Saint John, NB • CAphone: (506) 632-2600 Member Since • 1955

ocean Steel - New England Sales Office25 Burlington Mall Road, Burlington, MA • USA phone: (781) 221-2152 Member Since • 1991

yORK STEEl - Plant & service center 550 Wilsey Road, Fredericton, NB • CAphone: (506) 444-7989 Member Since • 1995

ocean Steel corPoratIon Office & plant 53 Shaw Road, Conklin, NY • USA phone: (607) 584-7500 Member Since • 2004

REBAR: oSco reBar SerVIceS Saint John plant 400 Chesley Drive, Saint John, NB • CA phone: (506) 632-2600 Member Since • 1955

allStar reBar noVa ScotIa Office & plant 48 Duke Street, Bedford, NS • CA phone: (902) 832-0917 Member Since • 2008

PRECAST:STRESCON lIMITED Corporate Office & SJ plant101 Ashburn Rd., Saint John, NB • CA phone: (506) 633-8877 Member Since • 1963

STRESCON lIMITEDBedford office & plant

131 Duke St., Bedford, NS • CA phone: (902) 494-7400 Member Since • 1978

STRESCON lIMITEDNew England Sales Office25 Burlington Mall Road, Burlington, MA • USA phone: (781) 221-2153 Member Since • 1991

Borcherdt concrete ProductS Office & plant RR#4, Hardscratch Road Yarmouth, NS • CA phone: (902) 742-7811 Member Since • 2008

READY-MIX (OSCO Concrete):

STRESCON REaDy-MIXSaint John plant 101 Ashburn Rd., Saint John, NB • CA phone: (506) 633-8877 Member Since • 1963

STRESCON REaDy-MIX Moncton plant1212 Berry Mills Rd, Moncton, NB • CAphone: (506) 858-7110 Member Since • 2004

SCHuRMaN CONCRETE Summerside office & plant 240 MacEwen Rd, Summerside, PE • CA phone: (902) 888-4331 Member Since • 2004

SCHuRMaN CONCRETE Charlottetown office & plant 412 Mount Edward Road Charlottetown, PE • CA phone: (902) 628-0127 Member Since • 2004

GlENHOlME REaDy-MIX - plant RR #1 • Debert, NS • CA phone: (902) 662-3722 Member Since • 2008

aNNapOlIS VallEy REaDy-MIX - Plant 20 Park Drive, Windsor, NS • CA phone: (902) 798-2291 Member Since • 2008

trIStar concrete - plant 23557 #7 Hwy Sheet Harbour, NS • CA phone: (902) 885-2358 Member Since • 2008

SaCKVIllE CONCRETENova Scotia Office & plant 17 Estate Drive, Lower Sackville, NS • CAphone: (902) 864-3230 Member Since • 2008

BEDfORD REaDy-MIX - plant 414 Bluewater Rd., Bedford, NS • CA phone: (902) 835-0882 Member Since • 2008

OSCO aGGREGaTES M.S.D. Enterprises Little Dyke Rd, Glenholme, NS • CA phone: (902) 662-3722 Member Since • 2008

GC CaRTaGE 400 Chesley Drive, Saint John, NB • CAphone: (506) 632-2600 Member Since • 2004

CONSTRUCTION:fCC CONSTRuCTION - office 400 Chesley Drive, Saint John, NB • CA phone: (506) 632-7800 Member Since • 1960

MaRQuE CONSTRuCTION - office400 Chesley Drive, Saint John, NB • CA phone: (506) 634-1144 Member Since • 1966

KENNEBEC CONSTRuCTION - office 400 Chesley Drive, Saint John, NB • CA phone: (506) 632-7800 Member Since • 1994

Documents

construction group Highway€¦ · Life is a Highway SECTOR pROfIlE: TRaNSpORTaTION FAIRVIEW OVERPASS Strescon Limited and OSCO Concrete contribute to the refurbishment of the Fairview