A cold January morning on the Northumberland Strait — the “north coast” of winter-laden Nova Scotia —seems like a strange time to open a new farm. But then again, the new Summer Street Farm isn’t your typical plants-in-the-ground farm at all. Instead, the farm can be found inside a metal box wrapped in colourful steel paneling. The hydroponic farm is designed by Growcer, an Ottawa-based…
LEED shouldn’t be a new term to anyone working in the Canadian construction industry. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard is an internationally recognized rubric that certifies whether a building has achieved various levels of environmental milestones. Many cities across the country, including Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa, have mandated that new builds, retrofits, and de…
Steelmakers and fabricators across North America are looking to solve the sustainability puzzle: how to hit ambitious embodied carbon targets in new and upcoming mega-projects. In the case of the recently completed construction of a new customer distribution centre in Hamilton, stringent carbon requirements required some out-of-the-box thinking. Steel fabricator Canam turned to new XCarb® stee…
Like many parts of our homes, we seem to only notice the roof above our heads when it’s causing problems: when there’s a leak dripping into the attic, or when we have to clean shingles off the lawn after a particularly bad windstorm. But what happens when things do go wrong, when those roofs spring a leak, or simply start to wear out? After all, a typical shingle roof will last betwee…
Construction cranes are not an unfamiliar sight in Ontario’s Niagara region. The area, best known for its world-class wineries and Niagara Falls, is rapidly undergoing a population boom powered by proximity to major urban centres and the USA-border. Since 2020, the region’s population has grown by more than 15% (accounting for 75,000 people), represented by expanding city borders, moving truck…
