EllisDon sets up St. John’s, Newfoundland office

Ken Shugarue, regional manager for EllisDon in Newfoundland and Labrador, talks about the construction contractor’s plans in the province. Its first project was a student residence at Memorial University in St. John’s.

EllisDon, one of Canada’s largest construction contractors, has set up an office in St. John’s, NL. Executives of the company think the timing couldn’t be better.

“We see very prosperous economic growth in Newfoundland and Labrador,” says Ken Shugarue, hired as the regional manager for the Newfoundland and Labrador branch of EllisDon.

Raised in Newfoundland, Shugarue had been employed with EllisDon for eight years outside of Newfoundland before taking a government job in St. John’s in 2008.

The province’s growth is spurred on in part by major industrial developments in the oil and gas and mining sectors.

The $50-million 500-bed residence at Memorial University in St. John’s is the branch’s first project. Shugarue expects more will come soon, however, as the province and city ride an economic wave.

EllisDon will need project managers, project co-ordinators, superintendents and estimators to meet the demands of the growing construction industry in the province.

While industry reports indicate there is a shortage of skilled management people in Newfoundland and Labrador, Shugarue says the company’s recent help wanted ads have received plenty of responses from qualified people in the area. He expects the 2,000-square-foot downtown St. John’s office will be fully staffed by local people.

In addition to industrial growth, Newfoundland will see considerable investment in health care as the province loosens its purse strings in that sector. Long-term-care facilities in Corner Brook and Carbonear alone are valued at several hundred million dollars.

The province also plans to put money into at least three new schools valued at $20-$30 million each, says Shugarue.

With so much work on tap in the province, the branch head says contractors might have to look at alternative construction delivery methods to the commonly used lump-sum (stipulated price) contract based on a low-bid format.

One alternative is construction management. As a delivery method, it could serve the industry well on large projects largely because the builder is retained at the start of a project during the design phase to offer constructability expertise. “It also allows the contractor to manage the project and bring it in on time and budget.”

Shugarue says right now there are only a handful of general contractors in Newfoundland with the capacity to act as construction managers on large-scale jobs. “And many of those companies are going to get tied up with the magnitude of work coming up.”

As the province’s construction sector ramps up, skilled labour shortages are bound to challenge subcontractors, translating to difficulties in scheduling work for general contractors and project management teams.

But Shugarue isn’t convinced a skilled shortage will be significant. “The key here is that there are a lot of Newfoundlanders working outside the province who have the skills and will want to come home to work and be with their families.”

EllisDon started construction on the 500-bed residence at Memorial University in April. The project, which includes two six-storey reinforced concrete structures, is targeting a LEED Silver certification. Completion is slated for spring 2013.