Former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge issued a stern warning to delegates at the recent Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP) conference in Toronto that cyber attacks could have profound consequences on critical infrastructure and urged them to consider cyber security as an integral part of builds rather than an afterthought. Read more
The Trudeau government is trying to dispel fears about its plan to tap some of the world’s wealthiest institutional investors to help fund infrastructure projects in Canada. Read more
Canadian public-private partnerships (P3) have generated an economic boost of nearly $12 billion from their current portfolio of projects indicates a report by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis (CANCEA). Read more
Michael Atkinson, president of the CCA, said reopening NAFTA could be an opportunity to look at how it can be improved. “If president-elect Trump wants to renegotiate NAFTA, having the procurement provisions apply more broadly, I think it would be a positive thing,” said Atkinson. “It would be one way to modernize that agreement, but certainly CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement), Trans-Pacific (Partnership), any of these newer, international trade agreements, the procurements apply more than just to national procurement, it applies to subnational procurement as well. That is where all international trade agreements are going now.” That is important, he said, because Canadians felt shut out during President Barack Obama’s infrastructure stimulus program when Buy American provisions were imposed on federal projects which meant Canadian products couldn’t be used. Read more
Every week, thousands of listeners tune in to the construction industry’s leading tech podcast – ConTechTrio. This week, along with updates on the latest tech to hit the market, the Trio interview Jason Waddell from Batson-Cook Construction on photogrammetry uses in construction. Listen Now
Check out our picks for taking management advice, product reviews, business best practices and more on the go. Read more.
Skanska USA is expanding deployment of Smartvid.io machine-learning tools for organizing and analyzing photo, video and voice data collected from drones, smartphones and other Internet-connected devices on construction sites. Read more
North American wastewater treatment plants could one day turn ordinary sewage into biocrude oil thanks to new research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Perhaps as soon as 2018, the technology developed could be producing biocrude at a demonstration facility in Metro Vancouver. Read more
Lean Construction Institute of Canada’s training day will take place May 3 with the conference being run May 4 and 5. The 2017 event themed “Hitting the Target – Building a Lean Culture” will take place in Toronto. Some details on the hotel and travel discounts are already posted on the LCI-C website. Learn more
Almost all professionals these days provide their clients with a written engagement letter – if they don’t they should. This includes all sorts of professionals including architects and engineers as well as design builders. Many design firms try to limit their exposure in the event of errors or omissions by including limitation of liability clauses in their engagement letters and / or contract terms. However, the professionals who rely on them may not always be as protected as they think they are. Read more