Sir David Adjaye, OBE, the famous British-Ghanaian architect who acted as the lead designer alongside a large team of other design professionals on the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. received England’s highest architectural honour when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2017 for his contributions to architecture. He is, however, an exception.

The meager representation of Black architects in practice in London, United Kingdom (UK) has now reached a point where it is widely considered to be unacceptable, while in North America, of the roughly 113,000 currently licensed architects, the percentage of practicing black architects is estimated at an equally low two percent. To understand the dynamics better, we went in search of some of the industry’s most notable voices.

Many discoveries come from freedom of information requests. This is exactly what Bola Abisogun discovered when he went in search of answers to make sense of why statistics on black professionals in architecture did not add up. Abisogun is a quantity surveyor and founder of UrbanIS, a construction and project management firm based in East London, UK. He has considerable, first-hand experience with the challenges professionals of colour face in the city’s construction industry.

Abisogun’s 2016 research proved that not a single black architect had, up until then, ever been employed in any of London’s thirty-two boroughs. “Public authorities have failed miserably,” he told The Guardian in June 2020 for a piece titled: ‘People say we don’t exist’: the scandal of excluded black architects. “Why is it that, in areas where councils have an overwhelming number of non-white business owners, their procurement process excludes that very same demographic?”

Another thought-provoking viewpoint was shared with The Guardian by Yẹmí Àlàdérun, a female architect in the United Kingdom. Starting solo, Àlàdérun moved into a position at a housing association. “Now I am on the client’s side, I do understand how much risk these public bodies are having to take,” she says. “You naturally want to go with the guys who have been around forever and have the massive professional indemnity insurance – the safe pair of hands who have done it twenty times before. But that means the new architects coming up are never given a chance.” Doing everything in her power to improve the situation, Àlàdérun established Paradigm, a movement working toward better representation for black and Asian people in construction.

Closer to home, the matter looks much the same. Roberta Washington of Roberta Washington Architects, PC in New York points out in Curbed magazine’s 16 architects of color speak out about the industry’s race problem that, to flourish as an architect in the industry has meant having to “look past,” sexism and racism. Washington confirmed that there is significant support to be found in groups such as the National Organization of Minority Architects.

Black architects founded the National Organization for Minority Architects (NOMA) in the early 1970s. NOMA describes itself as being founded to create “a strong national organization, strong chapters and strong members for the purpose of minimizing the effect of racism in our profession.”

Contrary to common belief, history shows us that black architects have made tremendous contributions to the American skyline. A Veranda magazine article titled 15 Pioneering Black Architects Who Shaped America detailed just how significant the work of these trailblazers was.

Listed among the pioneers – and America’s first Black architect to achieve accreditation in the field – is Robert Robinson Taylor, who was born in 1868 and passed away in 1942. Taylor was also the first student of colour to enrol at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he completed his studies. From here, he was invited to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to develop engineering and architecture programs. He also designed many early buildings for the institute’s campus and for a number of other historically black colleges and universities, including Selma University.

Born in 1874, Wallace Augustus Rayfield was America’s second formally educated practicing African American architect. After graduation, Rayfield struck on a brilliant business idea, selling house plans by mail order from his home when he was not lecturing at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute. He eventually founded his own office in Birmingham, Alabama, where he worked as a prolific architect designing scores of buildings, including many churches.

Other big names include giants such as William Sydney Pittman, Julien Abele, Clarence W. Wigington, Vertner Woodson Tandy, Paul Revere Williams, Albert Irvin Cassell, Hilyard Robinson, all born in the late nineteenth century. Then there are also Beverly Loraine Greene, John Warren Moutoussamy, Wendell Jerome Campbell, Norma Merrick Sklarek, and J. Max Bond, Jr., all of whom were born in the early twentieth century. All of these architects created iconic works during their successful careers.

The solution to addressing the diversity deficit in America’s architectural and construction industry may start with the early school years. Mabel O. Wilson, founder and principal of Studio& and professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, feels that the overall story we tell ourselves and our children needs to reflect reality, especially with regard to the history kids are taught in school.

“As I became more interested in theory and questions around race and my own background and family history, I kept thinking, ‘Well, why isn’t my experience in the [architecture] narrative?’” she said in the 2017 Curbed magazine article. “I have an undergraduate education in architecture as well, and I never saw anything about work by black architects or architecture about black people unless it was traditional African architecture or the pyramids in Egypt. That’s as far as it went,” she continued.

In the same article, Germane Barnes, assistant professor of Architecture at the University of Miami, and principal at Studio Barnes Design Firm in Miami, Florida, also expressed that real change needs to begin in schools. “We need to get arts programming back into schools. A lot of schools that teach people of colour don’t have the resources to teach architectural or art courses,” he says. “But that’s how I got started: My first couple jobs were as a painter, an artist, and photographer. How can someone reach their full potential or be exposed to new things if they don’t even have it in their classrooms?”

Barnes also reminds us that, as architecture is a very demanding field of study, it is much more difficult for marginalized youngsters to pursue because, more often than not, they do not have access to the same finances and other support as traditionally privileged students. This, in turn, means that they have to work much harder, both psychologically and economically, at keeping their studies afloat.

There appears to be a consensus among Black architects that children must see people like them design their private and shared spaces, public places, and national monuments. As experience has taught Samantha Josaphat, registered architect and principal at STUDIO 397 Architecture PLLC, sometimes opportunities have to be made.

“I decided that I wouldn’t let years go by letting others who don’t want to see my worth have control over my career. My true value was never recognized until I provided myself with the opportunities when starting my own practice,” she told Cultured magazine’s 15 Architects On Being Black In Architecture.

Josaphat is now not only an incredibly well-qualified professional but also an associate professor at the Spitzer School of Architecture at City College in New York and president of the New York Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (nycoba|NOMA). “I think the biggest struggle is having only a handful of Black architects in leadership roles to look up to, work with and learn from,” she said to Cultured. Considering the caliber of professional Black architects who do work in the field today, they may just be the mentors young up-and-coming Black architects will need.

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Similarly rising is the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC) which reaches up defiantly from the soil of Washington D.C., victorious over the suffering of centuries past. This museum is situated on the Washington National Mall next to the Washington Monument and opened its doors on September 24, 2016, inaugurated by President Obama. Comprising nearly 400,000 square feet over ten levels, it sits in perfect proportion amongst its surrounding monuments.

It was not an easy road to get here. The push for a national museum dedicated to African American history and culture began all the way back in 1915, spurred by the efforts of African American veterans of the Union Army, who formed a committee to build a memorial to African American achievements. The committee’s efforts bore some fruit in 1929, when President Herbert Hoover approved a commission charged with building a “National Memorial Building” showcasing African American achievements in the arts and sciences. Congress, however, did not back the project, and private fundraising also failed, describes Robert L. Wilkins in his 2003 Washington Post piece, A Museum Much Delayed. Although proposals for such a museum would be brought to Congress for the next 40 years, none gained more than minimal support.

Ultimately, it would take until the turn of the 21^st century, when Representatives John Lewis and J.C. Watts re-introduced legislation for a museum in the House of Representatives, for real action to take place, with President George W. Bush signing the National Museum of African American History and Culture Act into law in 2003. Construction began in earnest in 2012.

A team of firms were responsible for designing the NMAAHC: Adjaye Associates from London, United Kingdom; Davis Brody Bond from New York; SmithGroupJJR from Washington, D.C.; and Freelon Group (now part of Perkins and Will) from Durham, North Carolina.

“The NMAAHC illustrates how museums can offer a specific narrative alongside a universal message,” says acclaimed British designer, Sir David Adjaye, on the Adjaye Associates website. “The African American story is about one culture having empathy with another. The hope is that the museum will offer an open exploration of history, culture and society – thereby, addressing profound aspects of the human condition and the positive value inherent in creating a forum for multiple interpretations of America’s history and demography – however uncomfortable those may be.”

In this design, Adjaye leaned on the artistic language of Yoruba culture, found across Yorubaland, a region that covers parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo in West Africa, as this is where most African Americans trace their roots, according to results from a study concluded at Oxford University in 2015. He also looked further afield, drawing textures and shapes from African wood carvings and everyday objects from across the continent.

To preserve the integrity of the existing skyline, designers went underground for five of the building’s ten storeys. For reasons of both efficiency and cost, steel proved to be the star material used in the museum’s construction. Long-span and plate girder beams allowed designers to create roofing over the colossal exhibition halls, while the open halls across the surface levels were achieved by installing a four-core system comprising steel floor beams and poured-in-place concrete walls merged with the master skeleton. These columns carry the weight of the steel frame.

The exterior façade, of nearly four thousand metal panels weighing in at over 229.5 tons, is attached to and cantilevered from beams on the fifth floor. Looking at the sheer scale of the project, one can appreciate the incredible logistics and perfect timing needed for pouring concrete alongside steel construction, plus the safety challenges that the teams faced here. The bronze-coated aluminum lattice façade is a nod to the ironwork, created by freed slaves, that has become synonymous with Southern architecture.

The enormous modular porch with its lush green roof was completed last. This independent system was installed over ten days by expert crane operators. Its position in relation to the subterranean part of the building proved challenging given the weight of the equipment needed, resulting in some spectacular lifts to prevent damage. The result was the porch, a welcoming space for socializing and relaxing, and another acknowledgement of the architectural vernacular of the African diaspora.

The building comes to life through its stories, textures, and ingenuity, casting shadows from its intricate, bronze-hued metal lattice patterns across halls and stairways. To date, the museum has collected close to 37,000 objects and nearly 170,000 individuals have become charter members. The structure stands proud and regal, just like the men, women, and children who helped build this country under the bonds of slavery, and who never lost touch with their hope and yearning for a better future.

After winding their way upward through the story of the fight for freedom and rights, museum visitors reach a place to rest before proceeding to the upper floors featuring notable African American cultural contributions.

This space, the contemplative court on the main level, is where water rains down around the oculus like the justice Martin Luther King Jr. wished for when he said, “We are determined to work and fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” That quote now is displayed proudly in this space, alongside quotes by Nelson Mandela and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, among others.

From here, the water flows outward and into the surrounding landscape to the reflecting pool of the porch. The water feature employs evaporative cooling to offer visitors respite from the heat when approaching the museum from the south. The building is also the first museum on the Mall designed to sustainability standards, serving as the Smithsonian’s ‘Green Flag,’ and receiving LEED Gold Certification in 2018.

This monument to African American achievement, memory, human rights, and reconciliation was described as a “major turning point in architecture,” by fashion designer Ozwald Boateng, one of the judges who declared it the winner of Beazley Design of the Year 2017. Presented by the Design Museum in London, this award is given to the project that best meets the criteria of design that “promotes or delivers change, enables access, extends design practice or captures the spirit of the year.”

“We couldn’t look any further than the Smithsonian for the overall award,” said Boateng. “It is a project of beautiful design, massive cultural impact, delivers an emotional experience and has a scale deserved of this major award. You enter the building clouded in darkness and work your way through the displays and end bathed in light – this is a project that feels like a major turning point.”

The journey Boateng describes is one of necessity – the five subterranean levels were included in the design so that the building would fit seamlessly into the landscape. But it is also one of contrast and beauty; the result is that the visitor starts in a dark place deep beneath the Earth and then makes a spiral climb up into the light.

Nelson Mandela said in a speech five years after his release from prison in 1990 that, “Reconciliation does not mean forgetting or trying to bury the pain of conflict, but that reconciliation means working together to correct the legacy of past injustice.” The museum, the realization of a decades-long effort, has given rise to a larger discussion of the previously unacknowledged contribution of African Americans to the country and the world. All who visit this place will know that truth lives here.

The post Exploring the Home of the African American Odyssey<p class="company">The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC) </p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Aiming to change the mindset of traditionally bid projects through its design-build process, SCIC negotiates instead of bids, making its work a collaborative, round-table process that is both faster and more affordable. And with the company acting as general contractor, it’s also able to control the timeline.

SCIS is partnered with EGA Architecture, an architectural design and planning firm with a primary practice studying and designing senior living environments, and the two companies have an extensive number of unique projects in the field to their credit.

“With us being the construction manager and one point of contact, it means better coordination, including everything in relation to EGA, to make sure it all fits within the project,” says Gareth O’Neill, Project Executive with SCIC. It also means dictating speed, the budgeting phase and proposal pricing. On the engineering side, SCIC can control and drive the process through to the project itself when it’s in pre-con, and eventually into construction.

The company works predominantly in occupied spaces. As O’Neill explains, “These buildings cannot shut down and we need to be creative in our phasing, how we design the construction, how the pieces of the puzzle fit from the architectural standpoint, how it works in real time, and how it affects the building.”

Incorporating and phasing early in the project is vital, so SCIC being involved from the beginning phase heightens this collaborative approach.

“Traditional models will be last to the races,” says O’Neill. “This is where the owner would hire the architect and the engineer; they wouldn’t necessarily talk, they would do what they’re told to do, and then we come in later competitively priced, and then we start talking.”

This means the phasing may dictate much of the cost because certain things can’t be done executively. “I think from a design-build standpoint, being in early and collaborating with the architecture professionals means we can help make things flow a lot easier on the front end,” he says. “The outcome means more flow within the schedule of the project that results in costs being kept as we dictated them at the start.”

With one point of contact, SCIC would, in agreement with EGA for instance, talk to clients earlier on and set the expectations regarding scheduling and timing.

“We set parameters with the owner and we design it so everyone right from the start understands what we need and what our partners need in order to provide the service,” says O’Neill. This could mean, for instance, a municipality permit the company would then be responsible for. It also defers liability from ownership to the construction professional.

“A traditional model means owning every aspect, but with this design-build model they’re coming to us for our expertise, our knowledge of working with these spaces and what they require,” he says.

The bottom line is when it comes to speed and coordination, scheduling and setting expectations, the design-build process benefits numerous areas.

“From our perspective, South Coast has a really strong management team and that helps keep these projects on track and makes things run smoothly,” says Scott Hall, EGA Architecture CFO and Registered Architect. “Also, South Coast builds strong relationships, and they foster those relationships with the authorities who have jurisdiction, whether that’s the building inspector or the fire chief. They build those relationships early and that really helps smooth the process.”

Hall says SCIC is “excellent” at working around occupied building spaces, taking the time to ensure current residents remain in the building and disturbances are kept to a minimum.

“The design-build process allows us to streamline our designs,” he adds. “We have a long history of working in the senior housing industry. We’ve been doing this for 55 years and we understand what these buildings need, and the design-build process allows that,” he says. “There is a tremendous time savings for us to focus on the things that matter. Whether it’s the things you see, plumbing fixtures, or door hardware, we can focus on what the user and the owner are going to [experience] when the building is finished.”

The process also fosters teamwork, says Hall, with the owner, contractor and designer working together to both minimize effort and maximize gains.

“Each of us focuses on what we do best, whether that’s designing, building or managing the finances from the owner’s standpoint,” he says. “Keeping people living there while building is a huge task and you have to pay attention to the littlest details. South Coast does a great job of that from start to finish.”

One successful example is The Residence at Great Woods, an LCB Senior Living project in Norton, MA.

“For the Norton project, this building sort of evolved over time, with several additions added to it,” says Hall. “We had four different buildings all designed and constructed differently, and both from a code standpoint and a constructability standpoint we had to think about how we treat each one of these four buildings to bring them together to make one new memory support wing.”

The memory yard is currently unoccupied so it’s moving briskly, but there’s also phase construction of the existing, occupied building, necessitating two different approaches to the project, says O’Neill.

“The wandering garden is a very special feature and a lot of places don’t have that luxury, but they’re coming up with ways to design ceilings that give the atmosphere of being outside for that resident who may be suffering with mental illness. It’s really focused on the resident and their experience living in the building,” he explains.

The work comes with a number of unique challenges, but adding COVID-19 into the mix while working in occupied space was especially daunting. “We need to be creative in our phasing and redesign our methodology of how we’re going to do these projects to make them flow,” says O’Neill, highlighting two other projects as accomplishments in this area: Merrimack and VOA.

Atria Merrimack Place—a senior living community in Newburyport, Massachusetts—features a 45,000-square-foot expansion with 45 units for Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers. All the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems in the new and refurbished rooms were replaced, and the new assisted living rooms have new millwork installed as part of the kitchen area. The $20 million Concord Park VOA (Volunteers of America) project features a 25,000-square-foot extension, with three stories of additional assisted living apartments, including studios, one- and two-bedroom homes. The roof was removed from an existing two-story addition and a third floor built for more senior living apartments.

Navigating difficult renovations during a pandemic is certainly a point of pride for South Coast, along with managing numerous budgets and pivoting and being nimble when challenges arise. But the company also prides itself on repeat business, which comprises 85 percent of its work, built on solid relationships.

Although the firm also tackles occupied space projects such as affordable housing, education, and some commercial real estate, its senior living projects remain at the forefront. “I don’t know of another company that specializes in renovating senior living projects, so I know our résumé speaks for itself,” says O’Neill.

Expanding to other markets is also planned for both companies, something they were attempting before the pandemic hit and something their clients have been encouraging them to pursue.

“With our understanding of working in these buildings, our clients brought us to new regions,” says O’Neill. “They were having difficulty with local contractors, people who weren’t experienced. We were asked if we work in North Carolina or Mississippi, and that was sort of a string to our bow for us.”

SCIC’s historical pricing data means it can help the investment side when doing acquisitions, says O’Neill, getting the series of data and questions answered and helping structure how they do projects, either working to budget or bringing the cost down. “I don’t know if there’s another company that provides that service to their clients,” he says.

Hall agrees, and also shares what sets EGA apart. “One [element] is our lengthy history in the senior housing industry; we’ve spent the last 55 years designing solely for the senior housing market. And secondly, we have an incredibly strong team here. The vast majority of our managers have over 20 years of experience at EGA, so we have incredibly deep staff and they’re incredibly well-versed in senior housing design.”

At present, design-build is the way forward in the current market, adds O’Neill, stressing that there’s a different conversation to have with proven contractors that leads to a collaborative approach with architects and engineers who offer a wealth of knowledge through a process that can only benefit the clients.

And that’s definitely something SCIC will continue to embrace.

“We’re not a changeover company. Our process allows us to bring out the deficiencies or coordination issues early so we can either address them off the bat, or come up with ways to get around problems with solutions on the front end,” O’Neill says. “We’ve been doing this for 20 years. This isn’t a division of our construction company; this is our niche, this is what we focus on.”

The post Better Living Through Better Building<p class="company">South Coast Improvement Company</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

We are talking to Tim Prevost, Executive Director of Business Development at Energy Saving Products Ltd. (ESP), the company behind Hi-Velocity Systems™. Over the years, the company has closely monitored and analyzed the evolution of air delivery systems in the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning industry, but has boldly gone its own way.

Prevost explains that the norm in HVAC systems is that a centralized furnace forces air through the system, which invariably results in spaces furthest away from the heat source – such as second or third floors – receiving much less air.

Another disadvantage of regular HVAC is the dust produced, which has become an even greater issue during lengthy COVID lockdowns.

“We are only as healthy as the air that we breathe,” Prevost says. “And now, more than ever, we are being asked to spend more time in our homes.” As a result, and going beyond the norm for HVAC, Energy Saving Products has developed its own advanced system offering superior heating and cooling while drastically improving indoor air quality (IAQ).

Compact and energy-efficient, a Hi-Velocity system can also be installed more quickly than conventional systems and fits in areas traditional ducts cannot reach. Energy-smart motors with variable frequency drives are quiet, highly efficient, and save clients money on their heating bills.

Best of all, Hi-Velocity delivers air under greater pressure than regular systems provide, which eliminates hot and cold spots in homes.

Proudly family-owned
Tim Prevost grew up with the family business. His parents, Leon and Elaine Prevost founded the company in 1983.

Leon Prevost had spotted a gap in the market, after a spell working for another business selling heating and cooling products. Sharing a bent for engineering, Leon and his brother-in-law Dave set to work making air handlers in Leon’s garage, creating competitive systems focusing on energy efficiency and improved air quality.

Tim was born the next year, and so has seen the company grow from a garage-based business to its current manufacturing facility in Edmonton, Alberta.

“That place was known to my brother and me as ‘the shop’ and not the garage,” he says, with some nostalgia. “We would spend inordinate amounts of time there with our uncles and our dad, smashing hammers and drilling screws into wood, and trying to participate however we could.” The boys spent days off from school, as often as not, on the production line.

Expanding to a warehouse around 1990, the company purchased its first building about a decade later. Destroyed by fire in 2009, the structure was soon rebuilt on the same site, a testament to the company’s resilience and dedication.

Today, with a staff of between 15 and 20 – some with the company for 30 years – the role Energy Saving Products’ workers continue playing in its success cannot be overestimated, says Prevost. “Our staff is extremely important to us. Being a family company, we try to instil a family type of environment here,” he says.

With production line workers, order desk and sales, an engineering design team, and a research and development facility working on energy efficiencies, ESP emphasizes creating opportunities for the personal growth of employees.

It seems quite typical that their main designer, Bill, came from the shipping department and is today considered one of the world’s best Hi-Velocity duct designers.

Unique technology
In its second-generation, Energy Saving Products Ltd. has seen Tim and his brother Daniel, director of operations, taking over in a time of transition for the company.

Focusing on the North American market for years, ESP is now seeing considerable growth in other locations, including Europe, China, and Australia. “It’s a lot of international business that has kept us going through the years, and taken us to the next level,” says Prevost.

There’s no doubt that an important driver of the company’s booming sales is the industry-leading technology in the systems it makes.

Unlike traditional products – which struggle to heat and cool distant areas of houses – Hi-Velocity Systems utilize smaller ductwork, moves air more effectively, and eliminates cold and dead air spots. This is achieved through clever utilization of the Venturi Effect and Bernoulli’s Principle, where flow accelerates and pressure drops as tube diameter is reduced. It means that higher-pressure air is drawn to lower-pressure areas.

In this system, as air leaves a Hi-Velocity outlet, it displaces the molecules around that outlet, creating a low-pressure zone. This helps the air move much more efficiently and less air is needed, which saves energy.

“Air quality for me has been the Number One selling point of this product,” says Prevost. “I feel this is a life-changing technology for a lot of people in new home construction – having a system that actually moves air instead of having traditional ‘lazy air’ that just dumps air into the space, hoping that it does what it must do.”

Another unique aspect of the company’s systems is efficient energy use. Typical heating and cooling systems are set to a certain temperature via a thermostat. To meet that temperature, fans on furnaces and air conditioners start and stop intermittently.

Instead of this old-fashioned method of heating and cooling, ESP uses energy-efficient motors and variable frequency drive (VFD) technology, resulting in some of the lowest wattage per cubic foot per minute (CFM) that’s been attained worldwide. Rather than stopping and starting, the fans achieve improved efficiency by running continuously at a low speed, just the opposite of most systems.

“With how low our watts per CFM is, you’re actually saving money by running constant fan, which keeps the thermostat satisfied longer than it would otherwise,” says Prevost. “And by running constant fan, you are using your filter or air purification 24/7, instead of 10 minutes out of the hour if you’re reliant on heating and cooling calls to heat or cool the air in your home. That’s a big focus of how we educate our customers – running constant fan on a low fan speed for energy efficiency and major air quality benefits.”

For customers, running the fan constantly consumes only 50W of energy, about what it takes to power a single light bulb. Independent tests performed by Natural Gas Technologies in Québec showed 20 percent energy savings versus using an intermittent fan based on heating and cooling. And along with that comes much improved indoor air quality.

Building the future
The Hi-Velocity Systems made by ESP have not gone unnoticed by the likes of home builder Landmark, the Net-Zero Council of Canada, and the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA).

Over the past decade, the company’s products – found mainly in large high-end homes up to 50,000 square feet – have become economical enough for use in new home construction. In 2018, well-known Landmark Homes switched over to exclusively installing Hi-Velocity Systems in every property it builds. Creating a new builders series product line that doesn’t sacrifice quality, the company can meet the budgets of builders for their new row housing or condominium projects, which benefit from small duct systems.

As a sponsor and member of the Net-Zero Council of Canada, ESP is a leader in significant technological changes happening within the building industry.

Due to the shift in how we consume energy, Natural Resources Canada wants to have Net-Zero as a part of new construction codes by 2030, a goal that is fast becoming attainable with improved technology and better access to solar production products for builders.

Houses will not only be more energy efficient but make ‘off the grid’-style living a part of city life, not just the reserve of life in the wilderness.

For ESP, being on the Council enables the manufacturer to understand intimately all requirements and the ins and outs of compliance, and to be part of conversations with builders about integrating new technologies.

“It’s a team-building exercise as opposed to a ‘thou shalt’ doctrine from the government and the building code industry, who sometimes just dumps things in our laps,” says Prevost. He believes this open dialogue with government and builders and manufacturers is greatly helping the company to ensure the federal government reaches its goal of constructing off-the-grid new homes by 2030.

The outstanding features and performance of ESP’s systems have inspired several copycats, but that’s where any comparison stops. Along with its unique systems, Energy Saving Products has also had a reputation for top-notch customer service since its earliest days.

Instead of putting calls on hold as happens with many large HVAC manufacturers, ESP answers every incoming call between 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Eastern, Monday to Friday – another selling point for the business.

“Any of our customers will say one of the best things we offer is our technical support team,” comments Prevost. “We are on the phone daily with customers, helping them with everything from the conception of a project to the commissioning of a project.

“Everybody here, whether it’s R&D or the order desk, is trained in technical support, so we can speak personally with our customers whenever they call in.”

A key difference is the company’s supply chain. Where many manufacturers are still affected by a pandemic-related delay of parts from overseas, ESP, which uses local suppliers, has had no slowdowns.

While building its systems is a bigger challenge than before COVID, the company continues selling products internationally and domestically, proud of shipping many systems to China, instead of vice versa. “Being a Canadian-made air quality product is a huge selling feature for us over there,” says Prevost.

The post What’s Good About Shrinking HVAC Systems? Everything.<p class="company">Energy Saving Products</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

We spoke with Michael Tunney, Gerflor Canada’s Director of Sales for Ontario and Western Canada, who had previously worked for a different resilient-floor manufacturer in a similar role for 13 years. During those years Tunney had become acquainted with Gerflor when distributors sold its products in Canada. He had noted that the company had done extremely well in the Quebec region but had not grown in the rest of Canada.

The upshot was that three years ago he decided that it was time for a career move to Gerflor, “thinking this was a good opportunity to go to work for a good company and help them expand in the territory I knew, with products that I knew were excellent.”

What caught Tunney’s eye was Gerflor’s long history, beginning in 1937 in Provence, in southeastern France.

In addition to Gerflor’s international reputation developed over the past 80 years, the company stood out, in his eyes, for its wide range of commercial flooring products; its design-led approach; an ability to leverage technology to create superior products; and continued growth through acquisitions.

But most importantly, for Tunney, there was the pride that comes with being a solutions provider which goes far beyond product sales.

Worldwide, there are twenty market segments in over one hundred countries that turn to Gerflor to address specific problems and provide flooring solutions for housing, education, sport, retail, industry, offices, hospitality, and for transportation vehicles and healthcare.

“While homogeneous flooring goes throughout the majority of the hospital areas, some require anti-static properties, depending on the type of medical equipment that is used. And then safety floors are needed for bathrooms with roll-in showers without a lip, which allow the water to spread over the entire area,” Tunney explains.

“The whole floor has to be manufactured to be slip-resistant, to withstand having water consistently on it, and to have the ability to be thoroughly cleaned. So those are areas that unique to a hospital, and there is not just one product that fits all.”

In 1937 Gerflor introduced Mipolam, the original resilient, homogeneous sheet flooring, which it has significantly enhanced through technology over the years and is now ISO 22196-certified to inhibit 99 percent of bacterial spread.

Since 2010 Mipolam has been treated with Evercare, an exclusive patented coating obtained by UV laser cross linking. This coating offers easy maintenance, is stain resistant, and according to Tunney, sets the standard other companies aim to achieve.

Also in 2010, Gerflor introduced Mipolam Biocontrol, a nonporous, abrasion-resistant product engineered to meet the technical regulations for cleanroom environments. Biocontrol has been assessed and certified for use by the world-renowned German Fraunhofer Institute.

Then, in 2011, Gerflor introduced Mipolam Symbioz, the only resilient sheet flooring made with a bio-based plasticizer.

Taraflex, the original resilient sports flooring which the company introduced in 1947, is engineered to provide shock absorption and comfort to athletes using indoor surfaces for sports such as volleyball, handball, badminton, and table tennis.

Taraflex first featured at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and has been selected for every Summer Olympic Games since, including the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.

Like Mipolam, Taraflex has undergone continuous improvement. Since 1995 it has been available in both wood and colour designs and in 2013 was redesigned as Taraflex Sport M Comfort Flooring, featuring triple density backing.

Taraflex is the only synthetic sports flooring with a shock absorption rating greater than 50 percent, making it ideal for intense sports training. It is, in fact, the only resilient sports flooring with solutions in Classes 1 through 4 to meet ASTM F2772 standards for indoor sports floors.

With the acquisition of Connor Sports, a U.S.-based manufacturer of sports floors from wood, Gerflor offers a full range of this flooring, now fully meeting all requirements of the National Basketball Association.

In 1993 Gerflor introduced Saga, the first resilient modular tile, designed with a cork underlay for significant noise reduction. It has continued to develop its Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) and Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) collections with the introduction in 2011 of Creation Clic (LVT), a commercial application which has proved capable of withstanding the rigours of retail and commercial grade traffic.

While Gerflor’s resilient flooring products are all about practical considerations – durability, safety, ease of maintenance – that doesn’t mean aesthetics have been sacrificed.

In 2016, The Creation LVT Collection from Gerflor won the prestigious RedDot Product Design Award. An international panel of forty-one experts selected Gerflor’s entry from 5,214 entrees from 57 countries.

The experts did acknowledge the product’s practical aspects such as its usefulness in renovating existing floors and its recyclability, but they particularly focused on Creation’s range of mineral, wood, and textile designs in different embossed finishes, living proof that practicality and aesthetics can harmonize beautifully.

Gerflor also offers a range of products, including LVT, LVP, and homogeneous vinyl flooring that’s ideal for residential developments and provides solutions for a wide variety of typical homeowner issues and concerns. For instance, there is a sheet product that’s ideal for basements prone to flooding because it can be lifted out, dried, and reinstalled. There are floorings that can be laid over in-floor heating coils; that can withstand wheelchair traffic, that provide cushiony comfort in kitchens for cooks; while yet another product is ideal for cottages left unheated in winter, because it doesn’t crack.

Recognizing that everyone may not want to use PVC flooring products, Gerflor in 2011 became a distributer in France for DLW Linoleum products. The German company was founded in 1887 and had grown to become the world’s second largest manufacturer of linoleum by the time Gerflor acquired its plant in Delmenhorst in 2018.

Unlike synthetic resilient flooring, linoleum is manufactured from natural, renewable and 100 percent biodegradable ingredients which include linseed oil, wood flour, limestone, jute, and resin, and is available in a variety of colours and created with natural pigments.

With this addition, Gerflor’s product portfolio as it is now can offer a choice of vinyl, linoleum, and wood flooring.

DLW, like Gerflor, has a long history in Canada. Several large hospitals and educational facilities have it installed, including the just-completed student residence at St. Clair College, in Windsor, Ontario, a project overseen by Tunney.

Gerflor products have been sold in Canada for over 35 years. However, as Tunney notes, until Gerflor Canada was formed in 2015, these products were sold through distributors who carried multiple products – carpets, tiles, resilient flooring – from different manufacturers.

“But with a distributor,” he says, “you are always fighting for face time, because the distributer has so many assorted products, and the manufacturer’s concern is whether or not the distributer spends enough time trying to sell its products. That’s why Gerflor decided to create its own Canadian sales organization. It parted ways with the distributor and went direct to market in 2015. This ensures that 100 percent of the time of the people we hire is spent solely on selling our products.”

As he emphasizes, it’s not only about selling, but it is also about providing the solutions and technical services with installation.

“When we do large projects, we can have our technical representative on the site to start up and make sure the moisture content in the floor is correct and the air temperature is correct. This is particularly important. And not only do we manufacture the floors, but we also supply the adhesive – Gerpur, our full-spread adhesive product – and other accessories. People feel confident because we don’t just sell the product, but we make sure that it meets their specific needs and that we are there to help throughout the installation,” says Tunney.

“It’s hard to walk down a street in Quebec and not see a healthcare facility Gerflor has done,” he tells us, discussing the Centre Hospitalier de l’Universitè de Montréal (CHUM). This is a $1.9 billion mega-facility which brings together three existing hospitals in the heart of downtown Montreal. Gerflor provided the flooring – 3-million square feet (342,000 square meters) of it – under the direction of National Sales Director Steve Melo.

Further to the east in the neighbouring province of New Brunswick, Melo is executing another large flooring project at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, while in the far west, in the interior of British Columbia, Tunney is involved with the flooring solutions at the Royal Inland Hospital (RIH).

Located in Kamloops, this 254-bed teaching hospital is the primary referral centre for a catchment area of 225,000 square km and is currently the largest project on which Tunney is the working. The job has two phases, the first being the construction of a tower which is nearing completion, and the second a major renovation of the existing hospital, once patients are transferred to the tower section.

Tunney says that “from the very beginning we worked with Parkins Architects and their designer, In House, based in Vancouver, and with Don Ellis Construction, once it was awarded the contract.

“They were all looking for a product that met the high-performance standards the hospital required, so we were able to learn about these requirements which incorporated a number of design elements – more than other health care facilities have,” he explains. “They’ll use standard homogeneous vinyl and the other types of flooring we talked about – the safety flooring and the anti-static flooring – but they also have a wood-patterned vinyl installed in patient sitting areas to give it a more homely feel. That’s the first time I’ve seen this done in a hospital.”

The feedback from the hospital on the flooring – installed by Maxwell Flooring – has been positive, which is why Gerflor products will be used again on the second renovation phase. “If there were issues or problems, they wouldn’t be specifying us,” Tunney says.

In fact, Rick Wagner, Maxwell’s owner, is so pleased with the first phase of the flooring that he intends to submit the project for a design award from StarNet Commercial Flooring, the world’s largest network of full-service commercial flooring contractors.

Tunney believes RIH will be a marquee asset for Gerflor Canada, and that this flagship hospital will really help grow business in western Canada.

Not only can potential clients see the product for themselves, but they like doing business directly with the company that manufactures the product and not a third-party distributor. “People know exactly who they’re dealing with,” Tunney says.

In addition to providing superior quality, Gerflor meets ISO14001 standards in recycled materials and recycling of end-of-life material.

Clients are given EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations) and HPDs (Health Product Declarations) which provide full disclosure about ethically sourced raw materials, accurate reporting of product contents, and health information on products designed for the built environment.

“This has become the industry standard, and it’s now reached the point where if you don’t have it, architectural firms won’t even let you put your books in their offices,” Tunney says. Obviously not something Gerflor Canada has to worry about.

The post Wall to Wall Solutions for the World’s Floors<p class="company">Gerflor Canada</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

From the U.S. and global headquarters of First Onsite in Metro Denver, as well as its Canadian headquarters in Toronto, the team seamlessly coordinates dozens of subsidiaries – acquired in recent years – all proudly operating under the First Onsite brand.

Due to the velocity and volume required in a restoration project, particularly disaster-related, First Onsite is implementing a strategy of maximum reach. To this end, the company now operates in over 90 locations across Canada and the United States.

Thanks to this wide geographic reach, First Onsite provides restoration services for multiple types of damage. This includes fire, smoke, and soot damage, as well as accompanying water damage from extinguished fires; flood- and storm-related mold and structural damage; large and complex loss recovery; and emergency response planning.

As part of its mandate, First Onsite supplies additional services necessary for restoration, including temporary power, specialty cleaning, and general contracting and reconstruction services to bring clients the help they urgently need as quickly as possible to ensure clients can get back to business.

At present, to combat the current pandemic, First Onsite has implemented its trademark ARMOR three-step decontamination service. First establishing a controlled work area for employees, First Onsite technicians sanitize all surfaces with EPA-certified, environmentally-friendly, colorless and odorless disinfectants guaranteed to immediately sanitize and also keep most surfaces COVID-free for up to 12 months. This process, using advanced antimicrobial bio-static coating, can protect home and business occupants while ensuring business operations remain uninterrupted.

First Onsite is also able to implement any of its services in an equally comprehensive range of buildings, both residential and commercial.

For commercial restoration, First Onsite can service commercial properties as well as hospitals, senior living facilities, large universities, and more, while transport options including cruise ships, aircraft, marine shipping, trains, trucks, and even city buses and light rail are also part of First Onsite’s portfolio.

First Onsite’s expertise in the range of skills required when restoring buildings of different construction and use – for instance, healthcare – is unmatched, according to Senior Vice President for Company Culture Jenny Vandehey. “Within restoration, work in healthcare is going to look different than work in other types of industry,” she says.

First Onsite’s wide-ranging partners ensure the company can deploy highly trained and experienced specialists to deal with any situation, anywhere, using the latest in disaster mitigation and restoration technology.

As a recent example, First Onsite initially deployed a field command center to Florida in preparation for Hurricane Dorian, which was poised to strike the area. But as the storm turned north to affect multiple Atlantic states and provinces, the company shifted its strategy to a highly mobile ‘storm chaperone’ command center, able to follow Dorian’s path and mobilize recovery teams as needed.

This past February, when the polar freeze hit Texas, First Onsite opened 1,100 new projects in response to the storm. It was a record number of projects for the company. While there are inherent difficulties in the sheer volume of projects from this CAT event, the company had the support from other regions across the country, a dedicated National Team, and the proper materials and equipment to manage the response. On a deeper, less tangible level, though, the successful response came down to three core things: planning, preparation, and partnership.

This command center, coordinating with First Onsite’s larger command and communication networks elsewhere, performed on-the-spot storm damage analyses and deployed teams to affected areas. Thanks to the company’s widespread reach and large subsidiary and subcontractor network, First Onsite, living up to its name, successfully coordinated responses over 900 square miles of coverage.

Indeed, First Onsite’s abilities have earned recognition beyond North America. When heavy summer rains led to mudslides in Rio de Janeiro, sending muddy debris through a major hotel, First Onsite deployed to Brazil.

Working in close contact with partners in Mexico and Bolivia, the company used its resource network to rapidly deploy personnel and equipment to the affected area. Tina Ballard, Senior Vice President for Human Resources, remarks that although an international reach isn’t an immediate goal, First Onsite intends to do whatever it takes to reach out to clients. “We go where our clients ask us to go,” she says. “If we can mobilize a team to go international, we will go.”

This large network also reflects First Onsite’s acquisition-focused business strategy. As Vandehey remarks, the company’s goal is to be the single point of contact for their customers: “Our immediate aspiration is to be the only partner our customers will ever need,” she says.

Ballard explains that First Onsite can deploy specialists throughout the continent and beyond thanks to its recent acquisitions. “We can serve all of Canada, and all of the U.S., if needed,” she says. “We intend to expand that footprint through acquisition as well as greenfield growth.”

Marc Cohen, Chief Strategy Officer, explains that, “We’ve been very intentional about our approach [to acquisitions]. We learn from every new partner and we take that learning and use it to make each partnership a more exceptional experience for new partners and teams, and that translates into growth for our new partners and for First Onsite.”

As an example of this acquisition-focused and continental-reach strategy, the company acquired A-1 Flood Tech in Washington, D.C., shortly before this writing, adding to its inventory yet another well-entrenched business with a strong customer base and years of experience. With offices in both Maryland and Virginia, A-1 will now benefit from First Onsite’s resources and expertise and further expand the company’s geographic footprint.

As First Onsite expands its reach, the challenge now is to integrate many individual companies into a coherent continental structure, without compromising each company’s individuality. “The values and cultures of those companies have been a big influence on who we pursue and bring into the company,” Vandehey says. “A shared set of values – that’s something we’re looking at every day.”

Cohen agrees. “Every company that we partner with has a little bit of a different culture, that’s to be expected,” he shares. “So, one of the more important aspects of our process is to make sure that even though there are differences in cultures, we embrace those differences and use them to make First Onsite’s culture stronger.”

This focus on values and a clear company culture is the product of a recent rebranding, necessary to bring more than 90 locations in line with a central structure. There have been growing pains, but Vandehey says everyone’s efforts have paid off with a common sense of shared mission.

“Prior to our rebrand earlier this year, we were a collection of many companies,” she recalls. “Now that we’ve come together with one name, that’s allowed us to feel a shared sense of purpose and to strengthen our culture in many ways, because we can all rally around that.”

As First Onsite continues to expand and acquire, it’s also working hard to fill its ranks. The company’s high standards call for applicants of the highest quality, and not merely in terms of hard skills. Ballard notes that First Onsite is looking for empathetic staff: “someone who wants to run toward a disaster and help when people really are at their lowest point,” she says.

Additionally, the company is ensuring recruits have coaching abilities, making them easily able to pass their skills on to new hires. While this strategy does limit the candidate pool, Ballard says it’s a goal worth striving for. “We want to stand out, and stand out with our people.”

In a rapidly changing world marked by extreme weather, such as landslides in British Columbia and unseasonal tornadoes in Kentucky – to name only two recent disasters – First Onsite is proving its mettle, helping its customers resume normal operations.

Experienced staff, advanced resources, and a continental reach all ensure First Onsite’s clients have the most dependable, knowledgeable help available to them – just when they need it.

The post Bringing Disaster Preparedness and Restoration to North America<p class="company">First Onsite Property Restoration</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Jacobsen Homes has a long history of customer satisfaction as well as excellent dealer relations with its customer base, which is the wholesale market rather than the retail market. The company has continued to succeed using the combination of cutting-edge designs, the highest quality materials, and a wealth of experience.

The company builds to all grade levels and complexities with a multitude of aesthetic options. Its manufactured and modular buildings range from entry-level family homes to multi-acre country estates.

Jacobsen began in 1959 with Bill Jacobsen when he realized the need for quality, affordable housing in Florida. In 1981, his son Bob Jacobsen purchased the company, and it has now moved on to the third generation in the family, Bob’s sons, Beecher and Colby Jacobsen. Their father remains the chief executive officer as they take on the daily responsibilities.

Specializing in manufactured and modular homes, Jacobsen Homes has the primary goal to provide an affordable and high-quality product to its customers. “One of our philosophies here is that we build to a standard of quality beyond code. We do not build to the minimum Florida building code; we add our own additions to it based on our history of building in Florida for so many years and surviving every storm that’s come through this state, which are many,” says Vice President of New Business Development Mike Wnek.

Many of the company’s competitors in the area start with a stripped-down, entry-level product that is more likely to be damaged in a catastrophic storm. Jacobsen Homes chooses to start fresh with a product that will weather the forces of nature and exceeds the state’s regulations in dozens of areas.

For example, within the HUD guidelines for manufactured housing, the sheathing options include thermo-ply, foamboard, and other materials that Jacobsen Homes would consider substandard. The only sheathing used by Jacobsen Homes is OSB or plywood sheathing. It uses the highest standard of sheathing because the wind in the state of Florida commonly hits speeds in excess of 130 to 140 miles per hour in hurricane season.

Other instances of steps taken by Jacobsen Homes to go above and beyond code standards are that it uses 2×4” interior walls rather than the 2×3” studs favored by other manufactured home builders, and its products feature a double marriage wall, ensuring an eight-inch thick wall at the center line. “We want our product to have the best chance of standing up to storm after storm for the history of the ownership by the customer who buys our home,” says Mike.

Another aspect of the company of which the owners are proud is the length of time many of its employees have been in the industry. It employs roughly 230 people, 170 of whom work in the factory. More than thirty percent of its workforce has at least ten years of tenure at Jacobsen Homes, and the senior managers have over thirty years of experience.

“We wouldn’t be where we are without the good people we’ve got working here for us doing what they do every day, and that’s everywhere from the people sweeping the floor in the shop to people like Mike and myself to our salespeople and everybody else,” says company Co-President Beecher.

The challenges of the pandemic made Jacobsen Homes a stronger and more flexible team. While adapting to all the changes in the market, the objective was simply to run production every day and stay afloat. The resulting supply chain issues have also caused problems for the company, but the resiliency of its employees has allowed it to pull through.

“Managing to stay somewhat profitable during that whole ordeal was a very big feat for anybody, and we’re extremely proud of everything our employees have done here to enable us to do that. This pandemic created a market like we’ve never seen for housing, and made it tougher than it’s ever been to build and supply that need,” explains Beecher.

As a private, family-owned-and-operated company, Jacobsen Homes can respond to changes in the market quickly, which has been particularly useful in the last two years. “One thing that sets us apart is being privately held, we do not have an ivory tower that we have to go to to get things approved, and this market changes daily. Building departments change daily, the requirements for permitting change daily, and when something happens in our marketplace, we have the reputation and history of being able to respond immediately,” says Mike.

The backlog of the supply chain has diminished the ability to provide manufactured and modular homes with a fast turnaround time, which is usually part of the product’s advantage. Still, the benefit of manufactured and modular homes is that they are built just as well, or even better, than any site-built house.

“There’s a big misconception about them being cheap or flimsy because they are made in a factory when in fact, they are inspected every day in the plant, and then they’re driven down a road, sometimes several hundred miles, so that’s going through almost hurricane-force winds before you even get the house there. I think that speaks of the quality and the construction standards that we build by,” says Beecher.

As Mike Wnek puts it “You wouldn’t build a computer out in the rain, you wouldn’t build a car out in the rain, so why would you build a house out in the rain?” Particularly in Florida, where six months of the year have the potential for torrential rains, it can be especially problematic to have the building materials exposed to the weather elements. After soaking up moisture from the air, buildings are then to be assembled on-site in a near air-tight package, and this becomes an ideal opportunity for mold and other issues. It is much more sensible to build in a factory when possible.

“It’s also better for timing. Being out of the weather, we don’t miss any of those building days. When you hit storms like we do in the summer, production at the site-build level can plummet. In our case, rain-in, rain-out: build them; ship them; get them on the highway.”

Building in a factory does limit some flexibility options. When building on site, the product can have multi-angle roofs and other complexities that are difficult to accomplish in a factory setting. However, when building essential and mid-range housing, building in a factory is the better choice. The product is inspected far more often than at a site-build, it is more energy-efficient, and it is highly cost-effective.

In regards to the cosmetics of the home, any aesthetic in a site-built home can be done in a manufactured or modular building. This includes various roof heights, trim levels, or floor coverings. Customers can select from the same palette of options either way.

The difference between a manufactured and modular building is that manufactured homes are constructed to the federal HUD Code, and modular homes are simply homes built in the factory that follow state or local guidelines.

The Ocean Breeze project, owned by Sun Communities and located in Jensen Beach, Florida, is a great example of how Jacobsen Homes is able to combine features of manufactured homes and modular homes in one project. The two-story modular buildings, with the lower concrete level stilt platform built on site, are situated on the water and feature amenities that allow for a very laid-back lifestyle. Part of the project is made up of HUD manufactured homes and then moves up into more of a modular building. Built on stilts, the product is unique, highly detailed, and structurally strong to keep up with the weather in Florida.

“It is probably just as stylish as you can buy at any price point in Florida, and they buy the home but they lease the property from the developer, so they also get an incredible presentation of amenities: clubhouses, health clubs, a swimming pool, spas, hot tubs, you name it. They have everything from yoga to woodworking,” says Mike. Ocean Breeze in Jensen Beach has proven to be a tremendous success both in sales rates and customer satisfaction. People love living there.

This type of home and lifestyle is growing in popularity in Florida as more people are selling their large homes up north to find a more simple and comfortable way of life. The lower-end, affordable housing market will continue to supply the demand for manufactured and modular home construction, although the higher-end market is picking up steam as well. As parks that were built thirty to forty years ago are replaced over time, they will move towards more modern and stylish options that are available today.

Jacobsen Homes is excited to see where innovation will lead the manufactured and modular home industry. When upgrading the factory, it will look for ways to improve quality wherever possible and to make production less labor-intensive on its employees. “We’d like to continue what we’ve been doing and get better along the way, but we are proud of what we build because we build with our customers in mind,” Beecher concludes. “Aside from that, we try our best to treat our staff and employees the right way, because none of this happens without them.”

The post Florida’s Answer to Structurally Sound, Affordable Homes<p class="company">Jacobsen Homes</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The traditional method of using a drill and a bucket is not an efficient way to mix material for a construction project. Having applied its expertise in Europe for many years, Collomix manufactures machines that are designed to properly mix many different types of material.

Recently, the company expanded its product line to include the AQiX, which is a tool designed to measure the exact amount of water needed in the mixture, consistently. “We kind of look at it like a math equation. You start with the material like concrete, mortar, or whatever is in the bag, plus water, plus mixing, equals results. Up to this point, we have been the mixing part of the equation and we still are, but now with the AQiX we’re part of the water part of the equation as well,” says Al Karraker, President of Collomix.

The AQiX connects to a standard garden hose and doses out the exact amount of water that the bag of material requires. The volume can be adjusted to one tenth of a quart, gallon, or liter.

Generally, any imperfections that arise in small batch mixing are the result of mistakes made in the mixing process rather than defects in the material itself. The two most common ways that mixing can go wrong are when the material is not mixed thoroughly enough, or when the amount of water added is not consistent with the amount specified. Collomix has helped its customers solve the first problem with small batch mixers, and now it’s helping them solve the second problem. With the help of a dosing instrument like AQiX, the person doing the mixing will be able to measure the exact amount of water every time, resulting in consistent, high-quality results.

The companies who make and sell the mixing material also appreciate the consistency offered by the AQiX. Customers tend to be much happier with the material overall when it is properly mixed because the results are more consistent. Rather than relying on a person’s memory to use the same amount of water with each batch, the AQiX reliably produces the same mix every time, resulting in less waste, fewer mistakes, and better quality.

In the past, other bucket manufacturers have endeavored to mitigate human error when measuring water, but developed products that are not as foolproof as the AQiX. “As far as we know, this is the only way that you can do this consistently, and consistency is the key. If you’re just doing one mix it might be okay, but if you are doing one after another and these materials are physically next to each other, like if you’re doing a floor leveling job, it all has to blend,” says Karraker.

Introduced originally in Europe, the AQiX was released in North America in March of 2021. The initial plan was to hold the launch one year ago at the World of Concrete 2020, but the demand in Europe was overwhelming and inventory quickly ran out. Collomix pushed the release date back one year and ramped up production to catch up with the growing demand.

The AQiX operates on two AA batteries which can last a full year with normal use. It’s designed to connect to and work with the level of water pressure in a standard garden hose, so setup is fast, easy, and accessible in most situations.

Approximately 95 percent of the 120 Collomix employees are located in Germany, although the company is steadily growing its customer base and distribution footprint in North America. Its two North American warehouses are located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Cambridge, Ontario, outside of Toronto.

Using a standard hand-held electric drill to mix materials in a bucket is a common approach in North America, but it comes with a number of major drawbacks. An electric drill is designed for high speed and low torque, but mixing works best with low speed and high torque. Using a drill to mix will often cause it to overheat and break. Worse, the mixed material may end up inconsistent. When there are a number of batches to mix, often the mixer will get sore leaning over the bucket. This results in the last few batches being mixed less than is required. Since mixing depends on a chemical reaction, those last few batches may end up being lower quality.

Certainly, awareness of the importance of small batch mixers has grown in North America. However, the traditional method of using a drill in a bucket to mix material continues to be an ongoing issue. Collomix is dedicated to taking the time to recognize this and demonstrate the benefits of proper mixing to others in the industry.

Ten years ago when the company first started on this continent, the response was quite reluctant. The hesitancy has eased over time and in the last year, customers have begun to reach out to Collomix after seeing its products on job sites. Those looking for efficient, sustainable, and quality results in small batch mixing are increasingly looking to Collomix.

Collomix defines a small batch as one using between one and four bags of material. For construction projects that require mixing within these parameters, the company releases educational information on the correct tools and methods to optimize mixing results.

There are a number of different shapes to the paddles when mixing and people often pay no attention to their various functions. One of the most important messages Collomix has for small batch mixers is that the paddles are designed for specific uses, because certain materials need to be mixed in a certain way. “Some materials are mixed from the bottom up, some are top down, and some are side to side, and we are trying to, among other things, educate people about what style of paddle goes with what material,” explains Karraker.

The company aims to provide its customers with a program of units that work together and make the mixing process more efficient for their specific needs. For one of its customers, Collomix created a customized booklet labeling all the materials they may use and ranking the best choices of paddles. Karraker explains that if the correct paddle is used there will be better results, and all parties involved will be pleased.

“For example, if you’re going to be doing floor leveling, it should be mixed from the top down so you don’t get air bubbles. Therefore, if you don’t know that and you mix from the bottom up, it’s full of air and you pour that out and it’s supposed to be smooth on the floor but now it has bubbles all over it. It’s a disaster, but if you don’t know, you don’t know. That’s one of the things we’re trying to bring to the party, just that little bit of education,” he says.

Small batch mixing is continuing to grow in popularity in North America, and Collomix is demonstrating how it can be done consistently and efficiently. As the company makes progress in raising awareness, it looks forward to how the industry will move into the future. Its new product, the AQiX, fills a void in the market, and Collomix will continue to innovate and manufacture products that maximize the quality of small batch mixing in the years to come.

The post Sustainable Solutions for Small Batch Mixing<p class="company">Collomix</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Enter Royal Truck & Equipment, a company dedicated to improving work zone safety, protecting both workers and drivers from injury. Founded in 1982 by Rob Roy, the company has developed a reputation for best practices in the workplace, predominantly in relation to work zone safety by incorporating superior fleet designs, particularly for TMA trucks.

A TMA (truck mounted attenuator) truck is a safety vehicle strategically positioned in a highway work zone to act as a protective barrier, shielding employees from oncoming motorists. Using an impact attenuator, also known as a crash cushion, the truck absorbs the collision’s kinetic energy to protect the impacting driver—and its need is on the rise.

“To say that work zone crashes are almost inevitable is practically an understatement at this point,” says Director of Marketing Theresa Delgado, who adds that the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) conducted a highway work zone study in 2019 and found that 67 percent of highway contractors reported having a crash in one of their work zones that year. “The study also concluded that 73 percent of contractors reported the risk of highway work zone crashes was higher than 10 years ago.”

Looking at the crash data reported by the FHWA, 842 people died in highway work zone crashes that year compared to 757 the year prior, says Delgado, an 11 percent increase and the largest percentage increase of highway work zone fatalities since 2006. These sobering statistics mean Royal’s expertise is more needed than ever.

“When we look at why this is happening, it really comes down to a few key changes in driver behavior,” says Delgado. “We’ve got distracted driving, which is typically texting these days, and driving while being tired or under the influence. What’s interesting is that speeding has become more prevalent in work zone intrusions. This is a result of more people working from home or being out of work, so there are fewer vehicles on the road and unfortunately drivers take advantage of having more open, less congested roadways.”

The company continues to address real-life liability challenges that highway contractors face, along with potential risk-mitigating solutions in light of escalating dangerous driving across the country.

“When we look at what’s happening with the changes in how people are driving and the increases in incidents and level of severity, it’s impossible to deny that things are getting worse,” Delgado says. “What’s interesting, though, is how contractors are not only battling to keep their workers safe, but also battling in the courtroom in dealing with liability issues.”

Delgado cites an example of what could and has happened in the past: An intoxicated driver speeds into a work zone and crashes. The driver loses their life, and their surviving spouse then sues the contractor, stating there was either no warning or inadequate warning that the lane was closed. The plaintiff might also say there wasn’t enough warning of a work zone ahead.

“If that were true—that there wasn’t enough warning given and that the work zone wasn’t set up properly—the contractor would be liable,” she says. “In consulting with Greg Stefan, Vice President of Risk Control at Arch Insurance Group, we’re learning that not only has this become a more common scenario, but there’s also been a rise in nuclear verdicts: Verdicts where the jury awards an exceptional amount often surpassing $10 million.”

Historically, when it comes to liability and prevention in relation to work zone incidents, Royal’s role in safety management has focused on protection, rather than prevention.

“We’ve always focused on the integrity and design of the vehicle to ensure workers are protected as well as the impacting driver,” says Delgado. “We’re proud of how we’ve been able to accomplish this in how we build our trucks.”

This also helps with liability, she adds: If the driver of the impacting vehicle is walking away with minimal or no injuries and if the workers are protected and uninjured, there is less chance of or reason for a lawsuit. Additionally, Royal is a final stage manufacturer, meaning if an incident were to occur, the company would be liable in the event of a lawsuit. But not every TMA manufacturer has this designation.

Over the past few years, however, Royal has found that just having the TMA truck there for protection isn’t enough for contractors to minimize risk and reduce liability.

“We realized that preventing the incident is just as important as protecting the workers when an accident occurs, and we wanted to be a part of helping resolve or at least alleviate some of that pressure on our customers,” says Delgado.

With Royal’s expanding product offering, there are four key areas where the company can help minimize risk and liability: Virtual Reality Training, Connected Technology, DVR Systems, and as a part of that offering, AI Recording Systems.

When considering what it takes to prevent an accident, one clear and obvious factor is ensuring workers are properly trained, says Delgado, which is where Royal plays a significant role in safety management, facilitating multi-faceted training for contractors setting up a work zone and performing highway repairs or maintenance.

“We don’t aim to cover all aspects of training,” she adds. “Workers need to know how to properly set up the job site according to the traffic control plan, how to read the plan, how to operate the equipment, and so on. The courses and training provided by ATSSA (the American Traffic Safety Services Association) and other safety services and organizations are extremely beneficial, so our goal is not to replace traditional training, but to provide enhanced supplemental training using more technologically advanced methods.”

Royal’s Virtual Reality training provides that and beyond. These programs require a laptop and VR headset that are easily transported and distributed, and also provide on-demand training. Programs also cover a range of core skills training, from reading and setting up a traffic control plan, to tri-axle dump truck pre-trip inspection, cone retrieving, and flagging operations.

“The programs all include a testing element, so you’re able to see how well you did and what you need to work on before you even step into a live work zone,” says Delgado. “Not only does this method of training reduce the risk associated with training workers in a live, dangerous environment, but also allows you to test and evaluate job candidates or even existing employees to ensure they’re comfortable doing the job. We always say if they’re afraid to lean into traffic to retrieve cones on a moving virtual truck, they’re probably not ready to be out in real traffic yet.”

Royal has also recognized the critical issue of contractors’ liability with regards to advanced warning, and so provides connected technology solutions, specifically a line of products called ConnectedTech by iCone. These products connect to clients’ existing equipment and when activated, transmit a signal that alerts drivers of activity in their upcoming route via GPS app.

“We found this to be so important that we started adding the arrow board kit to all of our trucks last year,” says Delgado. “Now, when our customer turns on the arrow board on one of our trucks, the connected device immediately begins transmitting that vehicle’s location and traffic pattern changes like lane closures to approaching motorists.”

Earlier this year, Royal Truck also began offering a ConnectedTech kit for hazard lights which several tow and fire companies have started using, an iPin device that drops into a traffic cone, and a baton kit that attaches to any standard flagging baton. The company has also expanded its recording options after many years of offering a DVR recording system that captures footage moments before, during, and after an incident occurs.

“In recent years, we were able to integrate that system with our advanced radar board so when an incident does occur, the DVR captures not only what happened but also the speed at time of impact which can be seen overlaid on the captured footage,” explains Delgado. “As we’ve expanded our product offering and our focus to go beyond post-incident support to incident prevention, we’ve added an AI system offering that’s designed to detect events and harsh driving and provide real-time in-cab feedback to the driver while also recording to the DVR system.”

Essentially, this system includes an AI camera in the vehicle’s cab that responds to texting, smoking, using a cell phone, fatigue, tailgating, lane departure, and many other unsafe scenarios via an audible alert. The system then provides feedback to help the driver correct whatever unsafe event is occurring and decrease the likelihood of an accident, also reducing the contractor’s liability if an incident occurs.

“Our biggest challenge in helping our customers reduce liability and prevent incidents isn’t just keeping up with the ever-changing environment, but getting ahead of it,” Delgado says. “We wouldn’t have anticipated increased speeding incidents due to less traffic congestion as a result of a pandemic. I don’t think many people could’ve predicted—or even imagined—we’d be dealing with what we are dealing with at this point. But it’s real, and it’s happening, and we’re working hard day in and day out to stay on top of what these contractors are facing and working to come up with viable solutions to help.”

Delgado posits that, a few years ago, Royal would say its biggest accomplishment has been saving lives, with the quality and engineering of builds being the backbone of its success. Now, however, she says the company’s biggest accomplishment is the ability to evolve from a company that focuses on building the safest trucks possible for the greatest protection for workers, to a company that has been able to bring technology-based products to the industry to help prevent incidents and reduce liability.

Looking ahead, Royal has some “pretty lofty aspirations,” according to Delgado.

“We’ve looked at how can we make it safer for those in our industry, how can we help with accident and incident prevention, how can we help with reducing liability, and we’ve spent a lot of time focused in our own industry and highway work zones and construction,” she says. “Over the coming years we’re really starting to branch out and set some goals of working in other industries.”

For instance, Royal has sold numerous trucks and equipment in the utility industry, has been working with first responders and fire companies, and is continuously looking at products such as vehicles, virtual reality training or connected technology in order to figure where those products could be utilized, not only with preventing accidents but also protecting workers.

“Our trajectory is taking us down the path of seeing how we can bring all of these life-saving, liability-reducing products into other industries to help those folks as well,” says Delgado, adding that Royal’s vision, passion and drive means maintaining safety and continuing to develop products in the future.

“We’re very visionary here, very forward-thinking and we go beyond just a safe build,” she says. “We look at what other products we can bring to market across all different Industries where any worker is out on the highway and needs protection.”

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