We depend on heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) more than ever to keep us comfortable. And while we often take HVAC for granted, it is hard to imagine life without it.

With the planet experiencing unprecedented temperature extremes, from unbearable heat to bone-numbing cold, HVAC is no longer an afterthought, but a vital part of the design/build process. Gone are the days when houses were built without central air and office buildings relied on fans and open windows to catch a breeze.

Today’s state-of-the-art HVAC systems are found in residential properties, industrial facilities, restaurants and bars, tourist attractions, and many other key locations. In the world of data centres, enormous servers must be kept cool to prevent overheating, system meltdown, and disaster. Along with design elements such as raised perforated floors, chillers built into racks, and computer room air conditioning (CRAC), HVAC systems are vital to keeping these critical facilities functioning.

Centuries of development

In the past, long before today’s flick of a switch, heating and cooling structures required plenty of advance work and preparation. According to historic accounts, some of the earliest forms of heating systems go back to the Greece of around 2500 B.C. Over time, these fixed central hearths were improved upon during the heyday of the Roman Empire and early forms of ‘central heating’ saw the space beneath floors utilized to transfer heated air, also from a centrally located fire, to different rooms.

Like heating, primitive air conditioning goes back thousands of years to Ancient Egyptians using passive air. Later pioneers such as Benjamin Franklin experimented with methods of cooling using evaporation. In 1820, the English inventor and scientist Michael Faraday expanded on rapid cooling through compressing and liquefying ammonia.

A few decades later, Florida doctor John Gorrie experimented with using massive ice blocks to keep patients cool and comfortable. Although Gorrie’s system—which later included a patent for ice-making via horsepower, wind or steam—wasn’t practical, it cleared a path for others, including William Carrier.

An American engineer, Carrier patented his ‘Apparatus for Treating Air,’ pioneering the use of coil systems to add humidity to air by heating water, and dehumidifying by using cool water. By 1902, Carrier had left his job at the Buffalo (NY) Forge Company, joining other engineers to create the Carrier Engineering Corporation and the first practical air conditioner.

The new era of HVAC

For many years, the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems used everywhere from residential works to offices, warehouses, and factories had one thing in common: they were huge, large enough to accommodate a pumped-up Bruce Willis in the film Die Hard, or a clunky briefcase stuffed with two million dollars in No Country for Old Men.

While massive, rigid ductwork made from galvanized steel or aluminum is still widely used, some companies and customers are rethinking this method, for obvious reasons.

Nobody can seriously claim that ducts are attractive. Whereas older elements like century-old exposed brick, rustic wooden beams, and even cast iron drainage pipes evoke a certain style, few people feel warmly disposed to dented metal ducts as a design feature. Even newer ducts are usually disguised behind drywall in soffits or headers, often as not limiting ceiling height with their bulk.

And there is the issue of health. Although calls about ‘duct cleaning’ have become a bit of a joke over the years, there is nothing funny about the potential health impact from dirty ducts. Build-up of dust and dust mites, pet hair, mold, mildew, tobacco smoke, and even rodent feces, plus extra added allergens, can cause occupants of houses, offices or industrial facilities to develop (or worsen) chronic coughing, sneezing, or headaches, or to feel constantly fatigued or suffer skin rashes and other airborne ailments, all symptoms of ‘sick building syndrome.’

On a practical level, dirty ducts also force furnaces and air conditioners to work harder, making them less effective and more expensive to run.

Like every other system in houses, from electrical to security systems, technology and new materials are advancing HVAC.

Metal ducts are being replaced by other materials, such as fiberboard or fiberglass, which can be less costly and reduce noise better than traditional metal ducts. Made from silicon, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), neoprene-dipped polyester fabric, rubber and other materials, flexible ducts have their advantages and disadvantages.

Although cheaper, more versatile, and easier to install than traditional metal ducts, some flexible ducts aren’t as durable, and must have well-supported connections. But despite some disadvantages, flexible ducts can fit where larger rigid ducts can’t.

And for those wanting to get away from ducts completely, ductless systems are fast becoming popular for their ease of installation and effectiveness. Other systems, such as geothermal heating and cooling, and dual fuel, combining heat pump and gas furnace, zoned HVAC, and systems using solar power, are proving effective and economical to operate.

HVAC smartens up

We hear how ‘smart’ apps and technology are applied today to many systems including lighting, appliances, and security, and HVAC is no exception.

For everyone from homeowners to managers of massive facilities, the ability to control heating and air conditioning remotely is built into our phones, tablets and computers. No longer do we need to be in the same room or building to control temperature when we can do it through smart controllers and programmable thermostats.

According to MarketsandMarkets, a worldwide research platform, the HVAC market size was around 197 billion USD in 2021. It is projected to hit a staggering $271.5 billion by 2026 and reach a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.6 percent between 2021 and 2026.

Part of the reason for the growth has been COVID-19. Although the pandemic disrupted practically every industry on earth, it also created opportunities with growth in the Internet of Things (IoT), with HVAC systems being tapped into the Internet.

“Some contractors offered video consultation, a practice that certain businesses had already implemented in the pre-pandemic period but was now a necessity,” says the HVAC System Market report. “The contractors relied on cloud-based technologies for their team to access everything while working from home.” This saw some companies offer free virtual maintenance calls with property owners via Skype or FaceTime, with professional HVAC technicians helping guide customers through minor repairs.

Accelerated IoT data collection and sharing enables more cost-effective diagnoses performed remotely over the Internet, instead of in person. The collection of real-time HVAC information allows for facility managers to detect potential issues in advance, make a diagnosis, and perform adjustments which minimize system failures.

Highly efficient, energy-saving HVAC in our homes, businesses, and factories is no longer a dream, but an expectation. Terms like ‘indoor air quality’ are now the norm, with more of us wanting to breathe clean air wherever we are, free from pollution, chemicals, infection, and dust. And increasingly, HVAC is a part of Building Information Modelling (BIM), software used to store designs, operational details, and other data to help buildings operate more effectively every day.

For businesses and homeowners alike, HVAC represents a significant investment, one which will continue to pay off long into the future.

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That was the moment at the World’s Fair when Westinghouse pulled a lever and switched on AC power, developed by famed inventor Nikola Tesla, to light the World Fair’s exhibits throughout the night. From that day on, people began to grasp the great potential in light to open up new ways of how we would work and live.

We’ve come a long way from that historic night, and although we may now not give light a second thought as we work away in our offices and homes, a lot of the work that we do really wouldn’t be possible without modern lighting. Lighting in workplaces is now fused into the entire ecosystem of the latest buildings.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has a lot to with this. It’s much more than lights turning on or off at a certain point of the day or night; now they adapt to situations and levels of activities. For instance, a company called Signify connects the IoT to LED lighting which results in an environment that offers not only more balanced lighting but also more efficient heating, while sensors collect data throughout the day and adjust lighting accordingly.

The software behind the lighting system allows users to take control of the lighting in small areas or throughout entire buildings or sites with a dashboard that indicates lighting levels and has the ability to manage them remotely.

This integration of light with technology is transformative. Before, lighting was just another function in a silo, like water and heat, but now we can bring all systems together to make for one efficient building.

And it’s not just about saving money on maintenance or power costs. It’s about communicating with occupants and gathering data. Knowing the flow of people and keeping the best lights on for people who are working late as well as making the most of the daylight that comes into the space.

Taking things a step further, Granby, a city in Quebec, is now working with a local energy company to change the city’s 5,794 lights to smart LEDs that will real-time remote management of all light fixtures to maximize efficiency and reduce maintenance costs. All just a little bit like that giant step forward in Chicago nearly 130 years ago.

“This lighting conversion will not only allow us to be more efficient and environmentally friendly but will also improve the safety of our citizens and our roads by increasing visibility,” Granby Mayor Julie Bourdon told Smart Cities World.

Smart lighting strives to optimize energy for the building and make things comfortable for its occupants. It’s also important to strike a balance between natural and artificial light. Living or working in a building without natural light deprives people of something that we all need.

The value of sunlight, especially for people who live in northern climes, hits home when those first bright, warm rays of light that come in the spring flood us with a sense of wellbeing.

Health sciences researchers from the Joanna Briggs Institute in Australia touch on the science of this: “As well as its necessity for Vitamin D synthesis, sunlight is the trigger for melatonin creation and the release which is vital to regulating circadian rhythms. Human beings have been designed to function optimally with light during the day and complete absence of light at night. People tend to feel better, more cheerful and energized in daylight.”

The presence or absence of natural daylight has a particular impact for people who live and work in buildings.

Architect Magazine notes the concept of daylighting in design principles: “Daylighting has been touted for its many aesthetic and health benefits by designers and researchers alike. Scientists at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) in Troy, New York, for example, have reported that daylit environments increase occupant productivity and comfort, and provide the mental and visual stimulation necessary to regulate human circadian rhythms.”

Building designers look at lighting that mimics the warmth and appeal of sunlight. There’s also the trend to incorporate more skylights, panoramic windows, and spacious communal rooms that help to bring the outdoors in—for many good reasons.

In fact, light has a surprisingly strong impact on employees in the workplace. The Harvard Business Review reported on a survey produced by Future Workplace, an HR advisory firm which polled 1,614 employees in North America about the impact of natural light and views of the outdoors in their workplace.

The survey found that these outdoor views are actually the number one factor of importance in the workplace environment. This outranks other bright and shiny perks like onsite childcare, cafeterias and fitness centers.

The inverse of all this is that 47 percent of employees claim they get tired or very tired from the absence of natural light.

As the benefits of natural light for employees take a front seat, more companies and architects are finding ways to re-imagine the workspace as a place that brings natural light into the lives of workers. Interestingly, they are even beginning to flaunt this as a recruiting tool.

An impressive example of this is The Spheres, Amazon headquarters in its hometown of Seattle. The Spheres is a workspace that is also a curated jungle with 2,000 plants. Amazon’s Spheres relies on the premise that natural light, plant life, and providing opportunities for healthy activities such as walking go a long way to reducing employee stress and improving job satisfaction.

As the name implies, The Spheres are three interconnected glass domes built on a vine-like metal framework. All of this creates an interior park that’s also a workspace for 800 people within a major corporation’s headquarters.

“We wanted a space for employees to collaborate and innovate,” says John Schoetter, Amazon Vice President for Global Real Estate and Facilities. “We asked ourselves: What’s missing from the modern office? We discovered that missing element was a link to nature.”

Light, both natural and artificial, is the driving force that makes The Spheres work. The domed structure itself allows for natural light throughout. And beyond the natural light, the artificial lighting is adjusted for both people and the plants that share the space.

These lights were developed for sports arenas and include the full spectrum of light. This is important because plants and people need different parts of the light spectrum for their health and function. The output of these lights was balanced to make them comfortable for both the employees and the plants that share the space.

There is an additional purpose for these lights—to focus inwards and draw people’s eyes to the warm, soothing green glow of the plants rather than the virtuosity of the architecture.

The Spheres are an oasis in a work environment. As Amazon claims: “The Spheres are a place where employees think and work differently, surrounded by nature and the wellness benefits it provides.”

While the plants are the focal point of The Spheres, this enviable workplace also shows us how much light matters in making a space work. The combination of smart lighting and well-planned natural lighting can make the workplace itself a more human, empathetic space and result in a creative and focused workforce.

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As a mortgage broker, mortgage administrator, investment manager, and proud member of the Canadian Home Builders Association, Downing Street Group is dynamic and financially strong. The company also operates as an exempt market dealer (EMD) and as such, it is authorized to offer investments for sale while conducting business. Therefore, the company is strictly regulated by its local financial services regulatory authority.

Downing Street Group’s real estate investment division offers three investment theses—research-and-analysis-supported rationales for specific investment strategies. Firstly, its commercial investment thesis comprises buying and restoring single-story flex office and light industrial facilities that are, once completed, returned to the market for leasing.

Secondly, its traditional development thesis typically covers purchasing contaminated brownfield lots in a radius stretching from Durham to Niagara across the Golden Horseshoe, the Southern Ontario region surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario. It then joins forces with a partner which remediates the land, allowing the company to secure and resell rehabilitated land approved by the Ministry of Environmental Affairs to developers. That is if it does not build on the land itself.

Thirdly, the company joins forces with one of several building partners to build, develop, and sell residential units. Its partners include Marydel Homes, Averton, and J.D. Development Group. Currently, there are nearly ten such projects in progress consisting of 2,000 low-rise, detached townhouses with some five-to-eight-storey buildings.

In addition, one of its properties in Etobicoke, an 11,000-square-foot co-working facility, has become a business incubator that is popular amongst new business owners for the excellent start-up opportunities it offers. Here, entrepreneurs can establish businesses that typically relocate to larger premises later. Downing Street Group also services building sites for third-party customers as it is an expert in a wide range of services.

There are several advantages to working with Downing. One of these is that the team readily shares advice and ideas with borrowers looking to buy properties with which the company has experience. Its in-house experts like environmental engineers, planners, and development and asset managers also can assist in reaching a final verdict as to whether or not a particular property is viable.

The company has a long history of visionary change-making since its founding by Daniel Odorico and another, now retired, Partner. It started as a restorer of class B office buildings in Toronto’s downtown area. Odorico was joined by Marc Canale, Partner and Chief Operating Officer, in 2011.

“The opportunity that you might find today may not be the opportunity tomorrow. There are so many segments of real estate to be in,” says Canale, noting that the company goes “where we see opportunity and we can add value. You have to evolve, and we follow where we believe the opportunity is.” And so, the firm often makes use of third-party investors to bring projects to life that benefit society in financially sound ways.

Its latest example of just how much its work benefits local communities is also one of its proudest projects, so far. The Laurentian Commons development is set on a brownfield site right in the middle of Kitchener-Waterloo. It boasts six hundred master-planned residential units alongside a mixed-use complex perfect for living and working. All of this spreads across twelve acres of beautiful land with easy access to a host of amenities such as stunning public parks and trails as well as retail and dining establishments. Getting to work and school is easy thanks to its strategic positioning and nearby transit stops.

As with all valuable real estate, its location is key to its value. “As the second-fastest-growing community in Canada, [Kitchener-Waterloo is] expected to reach a population of 742,000 by 2031. It is the tech hub of Canada with over 15,000 tech companies creating 200,000 jobs and sixteen surrounding universities and colleges,” says Mark Stirpe, Managing Director.

The development greatly enhanced the value of all the surrounding properties as it transformed a formerly unsightly, empty property into a thriving hive of activity. As a result, the city also benefits from increased property taxes. Ultimately, this development stands testimony to the huge contribution Downing Street’s teams have made to the community.

The flagship development was launched in collaboration with two of the company’s trusted and widely respected construction partners that are also members of the Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA). Averton and J.D. Development Group were chosen for their tremendous experience and visionary approach to developments of this calibre.

“Laurentian Commons is a Downing Street community created for residents to enjoy surrounding parks and trails, shopping and dining, and employment opportunities. We wanted to bring vibrant community living to this area with this development, and we are proud to have achieved it,” Stirpe adds.

Downing Street Group’s team of around twenty-three people is as close-knit as a family, and Canale is open about how important its people are to one another. “I call them my second family. While they have very defined roles, there are a lot of touch points for various people,” across departments,” he says, noting that as a result, the company’s people are highly skilled due to the variety of fields in which its people operate.

“I think we provide people, especially young people, a real education in the real estate development business and the lending business very quickly. There is also very little repetition,” he continues. This is a company that makes a rewarding and healthy work environment a priority to benefit all of its staff members.

Naturally, this came into play in a big way when COVID-19 hit. Everyone pulled together like never before, and the rest is history. “I was worried for many of our tenants. But [they] did very well. We… did not have any defaults in our mortgage fund throughout COVID. Frankly, we are very proud of that achievement. We are frankly also proud of our borrowers that they sustained the blow of COVID and managed to [go] forward with their various properties,” Canale adds. Regardless of a couple of developments being shut down due to pandemic regulations, there were no major obstacles that came the company’s way during the crisis.

Downing Street Group has a big heart, and its teams love having fun with their charity work. Its generosity is based on a solid sense of responsibility toward those whose lives are affected most by its work. The supported charities are all local since the company is “local by nature. [We have our] feet on the street. Every asset that we own or mortgage that we currently have, we could drive to from our office within an hour or hour and a half,” Canale says.

One of its big focus points for giving back to the communities in which it thrives is in South Etobicoke, Ontario. Recently, the company partnered with the city in closing off a street to host an art festival where residents could celebrate locally produced art. Another time it welcomed people to a 1950s-style drive-in dining experience complete with servers on roller skates bringing food to visitors in their cars.

The company also supports internationally known medical aid organization Global Medic, which is headquartered in Etobicoke. “During COVID-19, we donated a 35,000-square-foot building of ours for their use so they could use it as a distribution warehouse,” says Canale.

But it is not just this city that benefits from the company’s generosity. Others, including Toronto, are also blessed with its strong involvement in community work. The company offers bursaries at St. Michael’s College School as well as significant support to Ve’ahavta. This Jewish charity performs social services to anyone in need, irrespective of religion or culture, by supplying the basic needs of the less fortunate from its offices at Chesswood Drive 1, Toronto.

Back at the Downing Street office, company leadership is set to make the best of future market trends. Despite obvious challenges, Canale hopes that the housing market’s current prohibitive pricing spike will correct itself for the sake of first-time buyers. In terms of the existing housing shortage, he refers to the January 2022 Scotia Bank Report noting that of all the G7 countries, Canada has the biggest housing shortage, with Ontario in the lead.

To this end, the company is committed to continuing to meet the demand in the Canadian housing market with expert knowledge and superb service. Canale is confident that the team is always ready and prepared to meet its next opportunity. “All our services complement each other. We take a sense of pride in [what we do.] When, generally speaking, people [are putting their] largest investment into [your work], you want to feel good that they feel good,” he says with a smile.

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Sean J. O’Connor had none of these things, but always knew a different path into the industry was possible.

Years before founding SJOC Construction Inc. in 2016, O’Connor wanted to be a builder, but freely admits he knew little about construction and had no family influences or any prior training. Even without hands-on experience, he was consumed with a passion to build and transform properties.

Meeting a lifelong contractor who began showing him the ropes, including dealing with trades and understanding different sequencing and methodology, his eyes were opened to this exciting new world—and his first love.

“I realized then that I have to learn this business, and I will do whatever it takes,” says O’Connor, who began touring job sites with his hardhat, safety boots and lunch pail.

Working for whoever who would take him on, he met a Cuban man who, on his own, was building a house in a Brampton, Ontario suburb. On the back of his dusty truck, the man wrote with his finger that he would pay $10 an hour. O’Connor told him to keep his money and rather, teach him how to build.

Joining the union and working with this contractor for a year of introduction, O’Connor fortunately met two seasoned construction veterans and worked his way up to lead carpenter. He quickly became so adept that the owners asked him to take over the company. Although the offer was tempting, he declined, sticking with his ambition of becoming a builder.

Creating a destiny

Around the same time that the offer was made, the Canadian construction industry was hit with a six-week union strike. That pushed the young O’Connor to start his own company, SJOC Construction. The company namesake comes from his initials representing total commitment and ownership. Since the original founding, the company is no longer about one person, but rather the entire team behind the same vision.

Unlike others in the industry, SJOC Construction, from the beginning, was never afraid to tackle complicated, risky, structural remodelling projects. This led to O’Connor subcontracting, then bringing on board plumbers, masons, flooring installers, et cetera, building himself a list of trusted tradespeople, and negotiating with suppliers.

“I knew the client base was very particular on the level I got involved with, so I didn’t want a subcontractor touching something unless they had been doing it for 20 years,” he says. This included specialized tile setters who focused solely on creating remarkably precise work, rather than the “plumber being the painter being the tile setter.”

Soon this led to bigger projects and more responsibility, with O’Connor and his team building a reputation for work which was not only outstanding, but often completed ahead of time. Sometimes this involved O’Connor sleeping on the job site, doing whatever it took to get everything completed to client satisfaction.

“It’s like the old saying: ‘If you want something done, give it to a busy person,’” he says. Before long, O’Connor had built a company complete with site managers, project managers, architects, draftspeople, controllers, marketing experts, and finance.

Today, SJOC Construction takes on impressive residential works including residential renovations, custom and high-end luxury homes, commercial, institutional, military and security works, project management, property evaluations, design and engineering, and more.

“We operate across Ontario and take on any job we can mobilise around, and that either has drawings or doesn’t,” says O’Connor. “A big component of our business is design-build.”

A better construction experience

Sometimes clients approach the company with an idea but don’t know where to start. As the builder, SJOC gets involved at the consultative end, guiding the architects and engineers to better, more cost-effective ways to build for the client. “We handle all of those components on their behalf and on behalf of the trades, and help them get organized.”

At SJOC, the team lives by its straightforward motto: A Better Construction Experience. O’Connor notes, with pride, that he and his people ask themselves every day how they can improve the building process for their customers.

This includes everything from responding to client questions quickly (often within minutes, not hours), keeping clients in the loop about the state of the project, and being transparent about pricing. This can result in weeks shaved from construction times, saving everyone money and freeing both SJOC and their clients to move on more profitably.

“As much as our clients love us, what best serves the project?” asks O’Connor. “Being expeditious, providing high quality, and safety. We’ve never had a safety incident in the history of our company.”

Customers know which experienced team member they are dealing with, and aren’t bounced around from one person to another, as often happens in some other companies. These factors—timely project completion, stellar communication, professional work, and honest communication—are some of the reasons why customers come to SJOC, and leave glowing reviews on Google and other sites praising the company and its work.

Reasons for the outstanding reviews, says O’Connor, come down to one thing: SJOC Construction’s absolute commitment to its clients. “We don’t leave until you love it,” he says simply, “and that often comes at a cost to us, but it’s the roots of this company.”

Everything comes back to care. How do project managers and site manager work with clients? Are workers treating job sites respectfully, with no candy wrappers or cigarette butts left on-site?

“We care for that visual and the client comfort, and they don’t even feel like they’re on a construction site,” says O’Connor. “We should be like ghosts, and not have scaffold piled up in front of somebody’s lawn for seven months. Teaching that care to our people translates to the clients, that we give a damn, and that’s rare. It’s not common amongst different businesses.”

A piece of the pie

In fact, it was this care, and going the extra mile, that appealed to Chris Suraci. Now heading SJOC’s business development, Suraci says it was SJOC’s passion that drew him to the company. “The slogan of ‘a better construction experience’ speaks to our niche in an industry that’s very populated, and has definitely made a name for itself of being about greasy contractors with attitude,” he says. “We carve out a major piece of the pie simply by treating people better. We just do things that are considered ‘a better construction experience.’”

To ensure clients the best possible building experience, the company has invested in hiring the right people and using the latest technology, including next-level software that interacts with a project as it happens.

Once somebody comes on board with SJOC, a portal is created which can easily be accessed at any time through a phone app or computer, so all communication from anyone on the team, including subcontractors, flows through the app.

“It’s comfort they can see, and clients are at peace,” says Suraci. “How do you pull back the veil? How do you let people behind the scenes? That’s a big part of our positive Google reviews, and clients interact with that. It’s a big deal.”

With his company a proud member of the Canadian Home Builders Association, O’Connor attends many of the CHBA’s speaking events and promotional activities. “It’s always been a dream to be involved with CHBA,” he says. “I think our relationship is largely untapped with the resources that are there and available, something that allows us to get involved in different project scales, so it’s very interesting.”

No cherry picking

Taking on residential and commercial projects, SJOC believes there is an untold number of projects in any category or sector. “Anything constructible, anything that can be built, we want to get in and make our mark on,” says O’Connor.

This ambition frequently leads the company to unique projects, including one under way in Dundas, Ontario, where SJOC is using quantities of historic and reclaimed wood to realize the client’s vision. Other projects in the work are ultra-modern, with polished concrete floors, floating vanities, and no traditional elements.

Envisioning significant growth in the next five years, O’Connor says the company’s end goal remains the same: to be a company where clients simply say “Give the work to these guys, they’ll take care of it. That’s based on how many people know us,” comments O’Connor. “So it’s really about executing on projects, well-run projects, and building consumer confidence that we can handle it. ‘Forget about that other guy, honestly do yourself a favour, and hire these guys.’ That’s where we need to be.”

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This means Ontario’s energy system needs a significant overhaul, moving away from fossil fuels, which account for 76 percent of Ontario’s GHG emissions and 80 percent of total energy consumption.

Enter net zero homes, which produce exactly as much energy as they consume, making no net energy purchases from the power company. It’s a novel concept gaining acceptance as people grow increasingly interested in owning a home that is cost-effective to maintain as well as attractive and comfortable. Although challenging, it’s absolutely possible, and Enercare Home and Commercial Services has plenty of solutions to make it a reality.

Smart energy solutions

One of North America’s major providers of energy solutions for both residential and business services, Enercare serves 1.9 million consumers across Canada and the United States, selling, renting, repairing, and maintaining furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters, water treatment systems, and other HVAC devices.

“We’re going to see quite a demand in net zero being built in the province of Ontario,” says Nolan Leiska, Director of Builder Sales. “In 2022, probably about 300 to 350 net zero homes will be built here, and in 2023, we see that number closer to 800, based on permits. We know the building code is going to get to net zero by 2030 anyway, so some builders are being early adopters.”

Because net zero homes are made to be up to 80 percent more energy-efficient than typical homes, they start out using less energy. They can be positioned to better receive the sun’s warmth and light, a process called passive heating, and to retain heat in the winter and keep it out in the summer, they’re also exceptionally airtight and insulated.

Low-energy appliances, HVAC systems, and other electrical equipment are essential, and through technology, homeowners can regulate energy use by paying attention to how energy is consumed throughout the house.

Through solar panels, water management, smart devices, energy-efficient appliances, efficient lighting, and high-performance windows and doors, numerous ways can be found to create sustainable and comfortable living conditions.

Pressure on builders

“I think it’s also fair to say that builders are starting to feel increased pressure from their purchasers on sustainable development—that customers are looking for energy-efficient options not necessarily available in the market today,” says Scott Beneteau, Vice President, Commercial, Builder, and Strategic Partnerships. “I think that’s increasingly driving builders to start looking at heat pump technology, energy recovery ventilators, and smart home controls to manage the energy for end users.”

That includes HVAC and water heating solutions; Enercare is seeing an increasing demand for efficient, on-demand water heaters and boiler technology as opposed to less efficient, tank-style water heaters, for example.

“We’re seeing that early adopters are pushing the envelope in trying new products,” says Leiska. “For instance, we’re in the water heater business and we signed a deal for our first heat pump / hybrid-electric water heater.”

The big advantage with this kind of solution is that it isn’t gas fired; it’s essentially a renewable energy and can be used to heat the water of the home.

“I think we’ll end up seeing everything pushed to net zero electric that can be,” he adds. And once this is implemented, you should find only two gas-fired appliances in a home, one a heating source, like a small furnace, and the other a gas BBQ. Everything else should be electric.

An eye on the tariffs

To reduce monthly energy bills, families are also turning to smart home energy solutions like thermostats that can change settings automatically to meet changing energy requirements. Additionally, this technology can identify inefficiencies to reduce wasteful power, water, and gas usage. By running homes on smart technologies, energy consumption can be drastically reduced.

“Obviously, as these technologies continue to grow and we move away from natural gas and toward electrification, electricity tariff structures are increasingly important,” says Beneteau.

“There are new programs on the horizon that leverage battery technology. If you use it in your home, you get an off-peak discount on your electricity to allow you to store energy during the night or peak hours when it’s cheapest. It’s just common sense to streamline our electric base load and incentivize customers from a tariff point of view to deploy these technologies,” he says.

But it’s not just HVAC and water heating technologies at play; it’s on-site energy generation, including solar, says Beneteau. The next mass market products to follow will then likely be battery storage combined with smart panels to allow customers to store energy and have backup resilience for power outages.

“For example, we continue to see an increase in EVs (electric vehicles) being able to use the power stored in their batteries and feed it back into your home in times of an outage,” he says. “When I think about electrification, that’s really what jumps to my mind as the most likely next step.”

Following that would be central heating and cooling based on heat pump technology, which has come a long way in meeting the rigours of the Canadian winter, in particular.

The challenge of heating water

“There are very good technologies on the horizon, and I think water heating is likely the one to lag behind,” Beneteau shares. “Obviously it takes a lot of energy to heat water, and our expectations from a comfort perspective are that we have a voluminous, ready-at-hand supply of hot water. So there’s work to be done on the water heating side as it relates to electrification.”

Additionally, electricity is expensive in Ontario, so, in the formulation of public policy at the provincial and federal level, the cost of electricity itself will be a large factor, along with the carbon tax.

“There needs to be some reasonable offset, or something approaching parity, between electricity and natural gas to really get customers and builders to take up that option,” says Beneteau. “We also need to educate and convince customers that this is a good idea for the future.”

With respect to water heating, he thinks there will be a share of scepticism if electricity is the fuel that can ultimately deliver the volume of hot water we have come to expect in Canada at a price that people are willing to pay.

“As it stands today there’s a trade-off,” adds Leiska. “You can be more energy-efficient and feel good about not using fossil fuels, but you won’t feel super good when you have to take a cold shower because demand can’t keep up.”

The use of electricity for water heating certainly brings some significant challenges. Can it be done? Absolutely, says Beneteau, but you need large electrical coils to do it, which drives high costs and a heavy demand on the electricity grid.

“There are obvious challenges we’re going to face with electrification given the demands of hot water heating and the increased capital cost of acquiring these electrical heat pump technologies as compared to a conventional gas-fired system,” he says.

Heat pumps as standard

The industry is moving slowly, but there’s certainly demand, particularly in high-rise new construction where heat pumps are increasingly becoming standard, which is good to see. “High-rise new construction is an area where I expect to see tremendous growth in heat pump and smart tech deployments,” says Beneteau. “High-rise developers are building product that offers greater energy efficiency and long-term operating cost savings; however, property managers will need more support to help manage these increasingly sophisticated and connected HVAC systems,” he shares.

“One of the core pillars of our company is affordable sustainability,” says Beneteau. “What’s the mix of technologies that will ultimately get our customers to have a more sustainable home, but be able to do it in an affordable way?”

He thinks the answer is natural-gas water heating as the standard for the foreseeable future, increasingly moving to centralized heat pump technologies. However, that should be paired with battery and smart home panel technologies that offer the insights and actionable intelligence that customers need to run a home more effectively, and ultimately take some accountability for their energy consumption.

“It’s going to take a mix of technologies to deliver the affordable part of our sustainability goal.”

Leiska agrees, adding that educating the customer is vital, as most don’t know what appliances are out there.

Aiming for net zero

“Other than buying something with an Energy Star sticker and feeling good about that, you really don’t know what energy drives your day-to-day life,” he says. “Part of our smart technology would be telling you where you’re using most of your energy so you can pay attention to it. If your washing machine uses the most electricity, maybe you should be doing laundry loads at different times of the day.”

Smart home scheduling is going to be critical to managing overall energy consumption, along with heat pump technology and likely, a gas-fired, energy-efficient water heater, says Beneteau. “I think that’s a setup that can get you, if not entirely to net zero, then pretty close.”

Leiska agrees. “It’s like monitoring the performance of your home. It’s absolutely done through a combination of electric and gas and the cleanest kind of energy you can put in—and the most affordable kind of energy is electricity.”

After heating is taken care of, water will be the next challenge, says Beneteau, including wastewater conservation, and reusing the water inside the home, more goals and challenges that Enercare is looking to tackle.

“We see ourselves as a leader, somebody our customers are looking to to bring new technologies, new control systems and ultimately, deliver on the affordable sustainability that we’ve really turned our mind to,” he says.

What Beneteau would like to see includes at least a third of the construction business in the next five years moving forward with net zero configuration, or at least starting down the path at some of their sites, making them net-zero ready with devices in place and properly configured.

In the meantime, there’s work to be done on keeping our living spaces as clean and green as possible.

“Smart panels and batteries, grey water capture, and recycling,” he says. “That’s a huge step to affordable sustainability for our customers. Our ambitions in the next five years are to get a third of our customers taking meaningful steps toward net zero, or at a minimum, net-zero ready.”

The post Turning the Energy Tide with Net Zero Homes<p class="company">Enercare</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The initial operations of AMRIK as a real estate company centred on buying and selling distressed assets like apartment buildings, coupled with other transactions that made sense for the then-nascent business. The company purchased land around Alberta over time and began working with land developers and home builders to develop land and build single-family homes, car washes, and more.

Once the lots were purchased, the AMRIK team would bring in preferred home builders to complete the home construction while they managed the inner workings of development, such as financing and marketing. Having started with only nine lots and growing that into hundreds, the company has become one of the foremost developers in its area through its significant growth.

AMRIK is a proud member of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA), and Singh says that the affiliation has helped the company expand its network of contractors over the years. CHBA has allowed AMRIK to meet trades and contractors that may not have been available otherwise. The partnership has also given the company access to helpful industry information, which is further relayed to its builder groups. This information helps all involved to stay ahead of the curve in the industry.

The CHBA partnership forms a crucial part of the way AMRIK does business. “We’re so glad we’re a part of the CHBA now,” Singh affirms. “I don’t know what took us so long but… once we had the opportunity to make the leap, we’ve never looked back.”

AMRIK’s mission is to help builders in local communities find land opportunities, whether for residential, multi-family, condominium, or other building projects. The company provides marketing and financing services for the home builders it works with, and if land opportunities are not available, AMRIK will analyze the areas in which these builders operate to help them make informed purchasing decisions.

To illustrate the company’s success with its builders thus far, Singh gives the example of one of AMRIK’s main builders, one who was initially unsure of how to begin business in Alberta. AMRIK offered the builder lots in its first large land purchase, the Hills at Charlesworth neighbourhood in Edmonton, and offered financial support along with marketing and sales expertise. Singh adds that, at times, financing can be a problem for a builder because it may not be big enough to qualify for lines of credit or simply may not know the area well enough to market to it.

Buying can also present a significant challenge, as large developers do not always sell to smaller operations. In this case, through the efforts of AMRIK, the builder went from constructing five homes a year in one area to forty homes a year, a success that spurred even more builders to crop up in the AMRIK pipeline.

AMRIK Developments is not only concerned with its local community from a business perspective, but from a philanthropic one also. The company has been involved with community and charitable organizations for a long time, helping to sponsor, fundraise, or support local sports teams, drives, and charity events and societies. The company’s work with CASA Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health hits home for everyone involved. As so many people worldwide and at the company itself have had loved ones facing mental health issues or have been impacted by them themselves, AMRIK looks to its builder partners to support this type of universal cause.

For both the company and its builders, the opportunity to give back to the community is hugely important, as is the ability to start a positive social movement. Singh cites the Chief Executive Officer of Cantiro Homes, George Cantalini, as the person who inspired him to take this attitude toward charitable actions and who taught him the importance of giving back.

“You don’t know what people are going through,” he explains. “We’re all in this together and we need to reflect on what the other person is going through.”

This attitude is also why the company emphasizes slow and controlled growth for itself to avoid industry burnout and continue to keep perspective on its actions. Singh mentions that a big part of the AMRIK calendar year is the annual CASA charity golf tournament, which is held in late August and is always a lot of fun.

The company has gone from large project to large project within the last year alone. In 2021, the company worked with JL Developments on a purchase of lots in Schonsee, North Edmonton. AMRIK purchased eighty-five lots from the city of Edmonton in May 2021 in a project that was, at the time, the largest development the company had partnered in.

Now, its biggest ongoing project concerns the Robinson subdivision in Leduc, Alberta. This one will be the largest development that AMRIK has been a part of to date, according to Singh, and is well underway. When looking at the developing market in broad focus, he admits that homebuilding right now is a little tougher than usual, mostly due to interest rate inflation, and the cost of supply and obtaining of goods. It is something of a fraught time for a lot of developers and homebuilders, especially with some Canadian markets being more strongly affected than others. Singh is confident, however, that Alberta will be able to remain strong throughout market fluctuations and will weather the storm; it will just need to be cautious.

When AMRIK Land Development Corporation began operations five years ago, it was with only a nine-lot subdivision. “We had no clue what we were doing,” he chuckles.

AMRIK not only survived and learned a lot along the way but today sports a fifty-lot subdivision with a further goal of 100 to 150 lots by 2023. AMRIK also has eyes on becoming a boutique land developer, dipping into buying, designing, and developing its own land exclusively for its collection of builders. This measured growth and doing right by its builders have led AMRIK Developments to great heights, and promise to be the values that will see it through the coming decade and beyond.

The post Supporting Alberta-Area Builders and Charities with Continued Growth<p class="company">AMRIK Developments </p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

ACO has production facilities in North America, Europe, China, and Australia, and more than 5,000 employees across 40 nations. In its efforts, the company works intelligently to protect natural resources, maintain building infrastructure, and promote industry safety.

The company has provided innovative products and materials for more than 75 years for all surface-water management and building drainage markets, including sports, hospitality, commercial, and transportation.

The one Formula 1 chose
The market leader in elite sports venues, including F1, MLB, NFL, NCAA, and international Olympic sites, ACO has provided solutions for inclement weather conditions that could adversely affect outdoor events. Whether it’s the local high school or high-octane car racing, the show must go on, and safely.

In fact, ACO’s latest success story is the newly built Formula 1 Grand Prix track at Miami International Autodrome, which involved the consideration of a variety of potential natural risks in southern Florida.

“Leading by innovation is how we handled this big F1 Miami track,” says Ben Aulick, East Regional Sales Manager. “ACO was involved from design to installation at every stage of that project. What makes it unique is that, not only was it one of the largest projects we’ve ever sold as a company, and one of the most high-profile, but that we developed new custom products specifically for this one.”

This speaks to the innovation and the agility ACO has being a global organization, but also family-owned, and the ability to meet customer needs quickly, he adds.

“We’ve actually done about 23 or so different Formula 1 tracks across the world,” says Technical Services Manager Jason Jonke. “This one was a unique project being in Miami with the water table so low; it was pretty difficult for any other drainage company to do what we did.”

Full-on and hands-on
ACO was successful due in part to its in-house R&D team. The company manufactures everything in Arizona and Ohio and was able to attack the project more full-on and hands-on than anybody else could have.

Due to the proximity to the water table, everything was kept as shallow as possible to effectively move the water further away. Slot drains set considerably higher than usual carried the water into drainage pipes, allowing use of a gravity feed across greater distances than a regular slot drain. There was also a very efficient drainage system throughout the site, including vast storage tanks beneath the stadium.

“While we were heavily involved in the design and developing new products, we also had people on site for weeks assisting with the installation,” says Aulick.

While most spectators remain unaware of the importance of safe and efficient drainage, excess water on a track can cause untold damage, whether with safety issues during an event or disintegration of the track over time.

“ACO drainage is used on many running tracks, starting with 1972 Olympic Stadium in Munich, Germany, and has been involved with every Olympics since,” says Jonke. “Even down to high school is a big market for ACO—removing water as quickly and safely as possible from the surface to increase their life expectancy.”

Racetracks are designed to remove any standing water. ACO drains assist and take over in crucial areas to rapidly remove water from the surface and transport it to a water detention or infiltration system.

“It’s obviously pretty important for safety,” says Aulick. “Many of these tracks are designed so they won’t stop the race when it starts raining. Evacuating water off the surface is critical, and a major part of the design of the track is how water flows off the track and is removed.”

What about the water?
What does an ACO system do with the water it collects?

“We care for water,” says Chris Califano, Marketing Assistant. “We are more than just a drainage company. We have a wide portfolio of products around caring for water. Every product we make fits into a piece of our system chain: Collect, Clean, Hold, Reuse,” he explains.

“‘We care for water’ means focusing more on the water,” he says, “because it’s Earth’s greatest resource and everything ACO does protects people from water, and water from people. “What we’re working on is more products and innovation within the hydrological cycle,” Califano says, “collecting the water, cleaning the water, holding, and controlled release back into the ecosystem.”

In fact, ACO has created products to help businesses adhere to the tougher environmental pollution controls that the globe is seeing everywhere, including oil, water, and solids separators, as well as spill containment systems using materials such as corrosion-resistant fibreglass and polyethylene.

“We’re working on adding more products to our portfolio especially on the cleaning side, whether it is for FOG, sediment, hydro carbons, or heavy metals,” Califano says.

It’s interesting when looking at how ACO’s missions have changed over the years, adds Aulick.

“We’ve innovated and developed products that match what we’re doing,” he says. “We’re a full-service stormwater-management provider of stormwater products now. When you look at that sector, we sell some of the most innovative products, so we know what essentially needs to be done better.”

Sticking to the standards
The market is driven by stormwater standards and codes, with standards to be attained and companies developing products to better meet the needs of engineers, distributers, and contractors. Where ACO takes a different approach, since it manufactures most of what it sells and doesn’t use many third-party vendors, is that it’s able to develop products that are great for engineers and easy to design with, but also designed with the contractor in mind from an installation standpoint.

“That’s usually what’s missing in these markets, because when manufacturers manufacture, they don’t necessarily design and engineer products,” says Aulick. “We really consider ourselves an engineering and marketing company that adds to the treatment train of water.”

Hygiene made in America
A project ACO has been working on the last few years is a new stainless steel manufacturing plant on its Casa Grande Arizona Campus, developing a building drainage division which focuses more on products inside a building.

“A huge issue there is hygiene,” Gert Laumann, Leader of Building Drainage, says. “Everything needs to be stainless steel. We needed a new plant to support that business and growth as well. It just made everything a little easier that we’re manufacturing everything on site, and we’re sourcing more materials locally as well to be able to truly say that everything is made in America. That’s been a big focus the last couple years in dealing with supply chain issues.”

Coming out of the pandemic as a medium-size company, ACO was able to handle the challenges “very well,” says Aulick. While many companies saw a reduction in workforce through that era, ACO did not.

“We were able to maintain ourselves,” he says. “Supply chain issues placed the kind of demands on organizations that we’ve never seen in our lifetimes, but as a company we adapted very well in how we handled our manufacturing to meet demand.”

ACO has control over most of the products it sells due to manufacturing domestically in the U.S., using domestic suppliers for what it doesn’t.

“We’ve been able to meet the demand for the most part, and during that time have also seen record sales growth,” Aulick says. “It’s been pretty exciting to see what we’ve done, being agile and able to adapt to what the market throws at us.”

The company has also recently bought its own semi-trucks to help ease some of those supply chain issues, another tip of the hat to innovative thinking

The inside story
“We do a lot of things well on the inside as well to become a world-class company,” Aulick says. “We’re unique. We’re a U.S. manufacturer, but part of a bigger global organization. We have a global network of great engineering and the kind of great minds that have helped our products to be market leaders, and over the years, when we launch something, you see a lot of people follow suit with similar designs.”

More importantly, when looking at the product line’s position in the construction industry, it wouldn’t be considered a commodity, Aulick says. It’s a designed and engineered system for each project.

“What we’ve done differently is that we’re a manufacturer that structured our customer service and sales team to operate like a distribution or wholesale company, and because of the engineering side, we put a lot of support behind the design and engineering of our systems for the market,” he says.

Not only does ACO innovate products, but it also provides industry-leading marketing and design tools for its engineers, along with tools that nobody else in the market has at all. The result?

“It’s the reason why we’re the most highly specified product in the country when it comes to surface water management.”

The post Water Ways: Drainage Design for Our Age<p class="company">ACO, Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

We caught up with ML Crane’s President Caroline Asimakopoulos in an executive airport lounge, on her return to company headquarters in Denver, after visiting some of the group’s strategically located 11 branches.

She explains how ML Crane—a part of ML Holdings which includes ML Utilities, ML Distribution Group, and ML Environmental Group—began in 2007 through the acquisition of two Crane Service Inc. locations in Albuquerque and Bloomfield, New Mexico. ML Crane grew solidly over the next 11 years by opening greenfield operations in areas such as Sweetwater, Texas, and through six additional acquisitions across Texas, Illinois, Colorado, and Maryland.

Reaching across industry

Although ML Crane is indeed a crane rental company, it is much, much more, with considerable expertise provided by its 500-plus employees. The company’s specialties include heavy lifting, rigging, heavy hauling, alternative movement, and warehouse / storage solutions, and it serves a broad range of industries with customized solutions and skilled operators.

Included in the spectrum is the renewable energy sector, as well as the refining and petrochemical sectors; power generation and distribution; HVAC / mechanical; infrastructure / maintenance, and building construction; and government, commercial and residential.

Asimakopoulos says that, last year, ML Crane’s business comprised 20 percent wind, 30 percent petrochemical, 40 percent construction, and 10 percent other.

“We want to continue to diversify both geographically and through our end-market segmentation,” she says. “Our recent expansion in renewables and petrochemicals has been as much about diversifying the type of work we are going after and geography, as it has been about the end-market segmentation.”

Cranes are used in refineries, which periodically must be completely shut down for maintenance and repair. The last major one the company serviced was in Illinois and used 38 cranes.

In the oil fields, cranes are used to build the drill rigs and for fracking, and on wind farms cranes are used not only to install the towers and blades, but throughout the life of the wind turbine on the farm. They are required when blades, gearboxes, and generators must be replaced or general maintenance done on the turbines.

“There are so many needs and uses for cranes. It’s an exciting time for us. There is a huge emphasis on renewables right now and we’re there to help that industry, but we also know oil and gas is not going away so we continue to invest there as well,” she says.

A part of something

Appointed President of ML Crane on August 5, 2021, Asimakopoulos had joined the company in 2018 as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Operations, bringing with her more than 20 years of experience in finance, accounting, and operations.

She had begun her career working for a smaller company “that was very entrepreneurial, but then we were bought out and became part of a large public company, and I didn’t want that,” she explains. “I wanted to be in a company where we could make big things happen, where we could make decisions and grow it.”

Following advice from a mutual friend, she interviewed with ML Holdings owners, Bob Matz, Chair, and David Matz, President. By the end of the interview, she knew she wanted to work with them, much of her decision to do with the entrepreneurial opportunities that were available.

“I wanted to be part of building something. My background and experience were a great fit to help move the company from being a series of branch-centric siloed entities, to an aligned company focused on growth, excellence, and customer service.”

Aligning an industry

Over the last three years, ML Crane has been on a journey to align under one vision and one set of core values.

“Our vision is to be the best partner for our customers and an employer of choice. The intent behind the multiple acquisitions had always been to capitalize on the strength of a larger company with more talent and equipment. However, we needed to stop treating each other as competitors to get there,” says Asimakopoulos.

“Today we are rebranding under ML Crane, and we partner with each other to give our customer the highest quality service experience. The result is that we can meet all our customers’ needs, whether setting a small air conditioner or moving a 600,000-pound transformer,” she explains. “We are not a crane rental company or a transport company. We are the partner that will help our customers find the best solutions for their lifting and transportation needs.”

ML Crane’s culture is focused on core values of safety, integrity, accountability, collaboration, and respect, which Asimakopoulos says are “not just on a poster on a wall.” It is the company’s firm expectation that leaders and team members will make decisions using those values. “That means,” she says, “there’ll be times when we make a choice that’s not the choice our customer wants; however, we’ll never compromise on the safety of our employees.”

Diversity pays dividends

In keeping with the company’s vision of being the best partner to its customers and employer of choice, she says it comes down to hiring the best people in the marketplace and this is where diversity comes into the equation. The company does not spell out a diversity policy, but always looks for talent from diversified backgrounds and perspectives. That can include different industry or business experience, gender diversity, and ethnic diversity.

While the crane industry does have fewer female employees than many others, that has changed in the last few years, and Asimakopoulos notes that the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) recently announced they have launched a women’s executive round table.

“Research shows that companies with diverse leadership have better performance and our vision and goals will require that we continue to find the highest quality people regardless of gender,” she says.

The ML Group owns most of its own equipment, which includes approximately 300 cranes across its network. When the cranes go out, they go with a qualified operator. Eighty-five percent of the company’s locations are unionized, which means employees are trained through the apprentice program at what Asimakopoulos calls “fantastic, state-of-the-art training centers.”

To ensure that the remaining 15 percent of non-unionized employees also receive training and achieve certification, the company has just opened a training center at its Albuquerque location, which includes training in rigging, signaling, and crane operation.

“In my experience in the automotive industry, specific continued training and certification is provided as part of the normal operations, but this is something the crane industry has not done well. People in the crane industry have said to me that they don’t want to pay for training because they had to pay for their own and don’t want to pay for someone who may leave their company to work for another. But we flipped that upside down. We are going to pay for people while they train, and to the industry people who say, ‘but what if they leave?’ we say, ‘what if we don’t train them and they don’t leave?’”

Re-connecting

As pandemic restrictions lift, Asimakopoulos is pleased that company representatives are now attending trade shows, something in which ML Group had only limited participation until industry veteran John Rowe was hired as Chief Commercial Officer and Marilyn Wilkes joined as Marketing Specialist.

“There are probably hundreds of conferences and shows we could attend,” Wilkes says, “so we need to make sure we get out what we put in and go to the ones that will benefit us, the ones where we can build solid relationships. Typically, we attend about eighteen annually, in the Gulf Coast and Mid-Atlantic Regions,” she shares.

“As well as meeting customers, you also make strong industry connections,” she adds. “We are in competition with a lot of other companies at the shows, and yet there are times when you have to reach out to your competition for help and they may need to reach out to you as well. Industry events are a very good way to make these connections and build strong relationships.”

The future is bright

The company has outlined a three-year plan intended to double its size, to be accomplished through both organic growth and acquisition. This involves geographical expansion, such as the two new greenfield locations in Houston, Texas, which recently opened, and Iowa, which is coming soon, and the development of new divisions.

Renewables, heavily focused in Colorado, have already tripled the company’s wind-energy business since last year, while the Capitol Projects division will focus on complex engineering projects, including construction of structures such as bridges and airports.

At ML Crane, all the pieces of the business puzzle—acquisitions and diversification; training and education; relationships and customer service—are interlocked, ensuring success for this company which is building the future.

The post A Nationwide Lift for the Crane Industry<p class="company">ML Crane</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Vice President Patrick McMahon says that the company has maintained its growth for twenty-five years and is pushing forward into a new era. “We have certainly travelled with the increased demands on EPS, and we have certainly been part of that increased growth through homebuilding,” he says.

Amvic’s story began in 1997 when founder Dr. Victor Amend applied his Ph.D. in building science to the private sector. Steady growth followed, with Amend himself providing much of the fledgling company’s research and development. Today, Amvic operates two plants in Ontario, a third in Calgary, and a licensed production facility in Utah to supply the U.S. market.

As Amvic celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary, the company is hardly resting on its laurels. McMahon sums up how the company is celebrating in a single word: “quietly.” He and his colleagues recognize more than ever the issues facing our world today and are always refining what makes Amvic stand out—its innovation, design, customer service, and quality.

“We’re continually evaluating what we do and raising the bar to be better,” he says, adding that Amvic is committed to creating and manufacturing products that improve comfort, quality, resilience and performance; we do it every day,” proud to have bettered the well-being of anyone who has used its products in their buildings. “It’s been a quiet celebration for the company but, that said, it’s also one of great pride.”

As part of its ongoing product development, Amvic is offering two new products to help its clients and end-users increase the quality, efficiency and sustainability of their building envelopes. The additions of Envirostrap and Amrad will further raise Amvic’s ability to offer versatile building envelope improvements at manageable costs.

Envirostrap combines the insulation of EPS with the support of two integrated plywood furring strips. These deliver a dual solution, incorporating both insulation and finish attachment surfaces and are applicable in both above grade and below grade interior applications. The furring strips can either protrude from the foam surface or be fully recessed within it, for exterior cladding installation.

Amvic’s newest development is Amrad, insulation paneling designed to mitigate and remove radon gas. Amrad replaces the need for 4” (102mm) gravel and a dedicated soil gas retarding membrane. This panelized solution with its unique channel design, void percentage, film and foam density creates a strong and durable panel, giving builders the ability to build an insulated concrete slab while meeting radon building code requirements and improving the interior air quality for the occupants.

The panel is 48×48” (1219x1219mm), molded from high-density, closed-cell, Type II EPS insulation. Amrad comes as a 3.5” (89mm) thick panel at R12 (RSI 2.11) and is also available in 4.5” (114mm), R16 (RSI 2.82) panel.

McMahon notes that these products, like many in Amvic’s lineup, reflect the company’s goal of improving the building envelope. “When you look at all the components of our products, they’ll all have a degree of enhancing that envelope, one way or the other,” he says. “Comfort, quiet, safe, energy-efficient and responsible, resilient to weather extremes.”

To ensure adequate production levels, and that costs remain manageable for end-users, which is more important than ever in today’s economy, Amvic is investing in automation. This evolution has been in two distinct parts: firstly, and more visibly, is robotic manufacturing equipment to accelerate and enhance production.

Secondly—and more behind-the-scenes—is Amvic’s investment into automation software to aid in all company operations, from warehousing management to lead management to communications with customers. In McMahon’s words, “these investments increase Amvic’s productivity, quality, and business intelligence, improving our customers’ experience working with us. We want to make sure we are able to improve our efficiency so we can improve our costs and provide a better product to the marketplace,” he says. “We also want to ensure that we are accurate, so the degree of accuracy is important to us.”

Additionally, Amvic advances its shipping and receiving processes, essential in an era of supply chain snags, with more of its product coming and going from its plants. “How do we streamline that process?” he asks rhetorically. “How do we take away time delays wherever we can? How do we move product in and out of our plant in an expedient manner?”

While more recent months have offered expansion opportunities to add new distributors, McMahon cautions that it is easy to be overstretched and not be able to provide the same level of service. “At the end of the day, you can only take on so much demand, and you only have access to so much raw material,” he says. “Focus on your current customer as they will be the ones with you for the long term.”

This commitment to quality reflects the company’s history as a company focused on innovation and design. McMahon says that, “in reality, we design exceptional products, then we had to become an excellent manufacturer to ensure the quality and supply chain were in our control. We became a manufacturer to support our products, our innovation.”

Finally, he notes the paramount importance of a strong communications policy and strategy. “Communication is more than just a greeting, more than just celebrating the wins,” he remarks. “Communication is being able to have tough conversations, to be truthful, mindful, and empathetic to those around you.”

Forged during the tough days of COVID, he relates that Amvic’s communication strategy evolved to not assuage staff with vague promises but to lay out the occasionally unpleasant truth, get ahead of the curve, be straight, be honest. “For us, communication was really critical, and the company put a lot of focus and a lot of discipline around that.”

As Amvic celebrates twenty-five years, McMahon retains a quiet pride in the accomplishments of his colleagues. “If I’m going to celebrate anything on our twenty-fifth anniversary, it’s the fact that our people put customers and other employees first; they are focused on not disappointing those that have always supported us. The dedication, perseverance, and resilience of the staff has been amazing. This is worth celebrating.”

He expresses confidence that Amvic’s ongoing commitment to quality over market penetration will continue to drive growth above all else, and give good returns. “People like our product, they like the design,” he says. “That has created significant growth for this company over the last twenty-five years, and it will continue.”

The post Pushing the Envelope of Building Envelopes<p class="company">Amvic Building System</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

A collaboration of partners who consciously work together outside their organizational obligations to achieve shared goals, the Consortium strives to improve the design and marketing of mass-market energy-consuming products, working together to identify commercially viable performance levels and generating markets for energy-efficient products and services that are profitable—and beneficial—for all.

“We’re changing the paradigm in which society, or at least our stakeholders in North America, define Energy Efficiency (EE),” says John Taylor, Deputy Director.

Historically, Department of Energy laboratory tests have determined which products use more energy in their lifetime, and while that’s still valuable, the integration of renewables and a justified aversion to building new power plants has shifted focus to time-of-day and time-of-year when energy savings occurs, and even to some extent the location where savings occur.

“This is to adjust particular congestion that utilities have to deal with in terms of too much demand for electricity and not enough resources in that location in terms of power lines or generation in that area’s substations,” says Taylor.

CEE’s market reform initiatives have produced some noteworthy achievements in the past 30 years. To produce outstanding customer, utility system, and environmental advantages, members have jointly designed and implemented analytically based and meticulously investigated initiatives.

While many organizations strive to achieve crucial efficiency targets, the social contract among Consortium members obliges CEE to take into account options that cater to the whole range of integrated demand-side management goals including affordability, reliability, resilience, equity, and decarbonization.

Distributed energy resources (DERs), which offer sustainable options and the potential to boost resilience, frequently call for a focus on sufficient capacity as well as the time and locational value of energy saved. The responsibility of supplying secure, dependable, and inexpensive energy becomes more challenging as extreme weather events, ageing infrastructure, and challenges with siting new transmission lines threaten grid stability.

These are all issues CEE members are confronting right now.

In response to increasingly dynamic and volatile energy markets, an energy-efficient home that can respond to the changing value of energy based on time and place is vital. The CEE^SM Integrated home is a fuel-neutral platform that uses the potential of connected, smart goods to integrate for quantifiable benefits to customers, utilities, and the environment.

“A big part of the Integrated Home and residential buildings meeting our consensus specifications is helping define specifically performance that’s going to get us to products that are not only efficient at the particular time of day, but can disclose their location,” Taylor says. “We’re really demonstrating a consensus of our members that these programs are going to have to be increasingly capable of targeting specific savings.”

He adds that while there’s still a need for savings independent of a time or location, a big piece of the Integrated Home is demand flexibility and having a building that can adjust its consumption to reflect what the grid is dealing with at that moment.

“It’s a complicated issue, so we’re proud of the Integrated Home,” says Taylor. “Our members in the U.S. and Canada don’t agree on everything, but what the Integrated Home does represent is a good consensus of where they do agree, and we’re starting there in terms of our characterization of how EE is evolving.”

To better meet members’ present and future requirements, CEE has also recently opened the new Center for Equity and Energy Behavior, which builds on more than 10 years of research at CEE into ways that demand response (DR) and EE programs are influenced by human decision-making.

The Center’s mission is to assist members as they create and improve programs for EE and DR so ratepayers gain more fairly. To better capture the genuine participant and societal value, this includes improving program participation and benefits among underserved consumer segments, as well as identifying and characterizing non-energy impacts.

“Our members have cared about a portion of underserved audiences forever,” says Taylor. “Historically referred to as low-income, it’s maybe a customer who has relatively low means and does not have the capital necessary for buying a $20,000 air conditioner that’s the best of the best. But there are several cost-effective options when coupled with incentives that will deliver monthly bill savings and support decarbonization. Now our industry’s investment is expanding to address other underserved customers with attributes that go beyond just income.”

There’s a long, vibrant history of utilities and the program administrators offering direct-install programs for some types of customers who are below a certain income threshold, installing products at no cost and making recommendations, he says.

“What’s been exciting in the last few years is the seriousness and the breadth with which our members are addressing underserved customers, and the way the effort to bring equity to how these programs directly benefit particular customers has ramped up.”

CEE is always working on behalf of the Consortium of larger organizations, he adds, with each of them coming at equity with a different definition, or reason why they’re addressing it to meet the varied needs of their customers.

“Enough of our members are actually spending money and developing programs directly in support of underserved customers,” Taylor says. “They want to figure out how to do it well.”

CEE’s goal is to enable its members to succeed across all of its work.

“This is a new, important area where members are being asked to report impact and demonstrate they have successfully allocated impacts and programs across a wide range of customers,” Taylor says.

A big part of that is about CEE members agreeing on some definitions of equity they can all live with and the associated measurement of progress toward those definitions. “How do you measure success, and where have we had measurable success?” says Taylor. “Also, can that success be replicated in other locations?”

Much of that comes down to good analysis, collecting information, understanding the context in which the success occurred, being consistent in the definition of success, and then vetting it with other organizations in other parts of the country to see if they can replicate it. This is important work led by a behavioral scientist employed by CEE to get those underserved customers to participate in beneficial programs.

“It’s about motivating them, showing them what’s in it for them and having different angles of engagement and marketing to recruit them into participating so they do see the benefit,” says Taylor. “There’s a tremendous amount of science out there on how to do that and we’re trying to bring that to bear.”

CEE serves whomever its members serve, which means a variety of customers; one of British Columbia’s areas of focus when it comes to equity is the Indigenous communities, which is true of many other places as well. In other states and provinces it’s English as a second language, minority-owned businesses, and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities.

“And it’s not either-or, it might be many of these,” Taylor adds. “But because of the breadth of our membership—and this is why it’s a complex and important discussion—which audiences we include under the definition of underserved will be one of the major exercises at the beginning.”

The kinds of things you do for a small business owner to help them become more sustainable and use EE to the benefit of both their business and the environment may be different from how a tribal community in Northern Ontario gets served by the utility there, says Taylor. “Our goal is to categorize logical strategies that are going to be transferable and to do that you have to segment different strategies for different customer types.”

As pointed out above, being energy-efficient doesn’t just help citizens; it also impacts both climate change and air quality, not only by lessening the need for new power plants that emit carbon or other pollutants, but by off-setting new power plants or at least postponing them, and allowing existing plants to run less often.

“There are different power plants turning on or off throughout the year: coal, natural gas, wind, solar, and even diesel, believe it or not,” says Taylor. “There’s a serious effort underway to understand that the next power plant that gets turned on—and at what time—will be based on the conditions, and trying to shift away energy use at the time of greatest carbon intensity.”

If you can identify when the “dirtiest” power plants will be on and focus energy efficiency on that effort, you can reduce the use of fossil fuels.

“That’s a complicated analysis, but one our members are undertaking,” says Taylor. “We want to incorporate more renewables and don’t just rely on battery storage as an efficient solution, if for no other reason than the expense. You have to make these buildings more flexible in terms of when they consume energy.”

Making buildings flexible to incorporate more intermittent renewables means you can cost effectively put more solar and wind on the grid and have them work well without having something you can just turn on and off.

“There are a lot of ways in which these demand-side programs can contribute to reducing carbon in the atmosphere,” Taylor says. “We’re going after all of them.”

Another important part of CEE’s mission involves pressing for market transformation in collaboration with manufacturers and service providers.

“We’re supporting market change that’s beneficial to the environment and to customers, but in the end, we are utility companies trying to support market leaders bringing the best technology to market, including space and water heating manufacturers,” Taylor says. “They know a lot more about the business than we do, yet we have a very big stake in how water heaters and other large loads consume energy, and so do our shared customers.”

CEE members share customers with manufacturers, and sustaining success means collaboration and consultation with both manufacturers and the entire supply chain in these industries designing energy consuming products.

How does that collaboration happen?

“Our board of directors is very serious about process, and ensures CEE has a good understanding of the implications of our actions,” says Taylor.

This involves quite literally inviting manufacturers to provide written comments to CEE about anything it does that will possibly be used by the utility community, and staff supports a process where the board of directors looks at every comment that comes in and how it’s addressed.

“Their interests are not always the same as ours, and that’s okay, we expect that,” says Taylor. “There’s a huge amount of formal commenting that goes on where we actively solicit feedback from either the manufactures themselves or their trade association. Ultimately we seek technology-neutral solutions to meeting the objectives of our initiatives.”

CEE also conducts ongoing consultations, with staff regularly talking with industry players they collaborate with, along with one meeting a year where manufacturers, service providers, distributors, and retailers are invited to have a curated discussion to help CEE develop its initiatives actively, learning how their individual success is measured and limitations on the money they can spend on EE.

“When we have that level set, we talk about how to meet those goals collaboratively and what you think might be ways to think outside the box,” says Taylor. “We’ve had some important breakthroughs in understanding how an industry operates, the unintended consequence of what we think would help, and avoiding that pitfall. There are multiple layers of engagement with the industry that are a big part of who we are and what we do.”

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