Surety Association of Canada Announces New Bond Form for IPD Projects
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On May 7, 2020, the Board of Directors of the Surety Association of Canada (SAC) gave its approval to a new specialty bond form designed for use with Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) projects. The new bond template had been under development for more than a year and is designed to be used in conjunction with the standard CCDC‐30 ‐ Integrated Project Delivery Contract.
The IPD model seeks to create a team approach where all parties enter into a single contract, and where the decision making, the risks and the profits are shared. Proponents of the model suggest that this approach should minimize, if not eliminate the adversarial dynamic that can develop when each party pursues its own interests; and hopefully incentivize more cooperative and collaborative relationships.
Like any non‐traditional project delivery approach, IPD presents a new set of challenges to the construction industry as it works to create a sustainable and workable model that puts the theory into practice. One such challenge surrounds risk mitigation and in particular, the risk of contractor (or other party) failure. In discussing the need for protection against that risk of contractor failure, SAC has found that IPD proponents
will often dismiss these concerns. They point to the all‐hands‐on‐deck approach of the IPD arrangement and suggest that this coordinated focus on the common interest diminishes any such risk to the point of being insignificant.
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Worker safety main concern of Ontario contractors, finds survey
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The Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS) has released the Coronavirus Contractors Survey 2: Restart & Recovery to provide insight on how the construction industry is restarting and recovering from the initial effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
This report is the second in a series of independent surveys conducted by OCS. Between May 11 and 15, the OCS led a survey of 203 industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) contractors from across the province.
The new survey has found ensuring the health and safety of workers remains the top concern of contractors. More than three in 10 contractors (31 per cent) believe it will be highly difficult or impossible to ensure work sites are adequately sanitized and 83 per cent of contractors expect worksite sanitation practices will change permanently. Other prominent concerns include the impact physical distancing has on productivity and project costs, and the availability of work, whether it be general demand and investment in construction, or quick approval of shovel-ready projects and rollout of government infrastructure spending.
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LIUNA to adopt COVID-19 contract tracing app from Waterloo company in pilot project
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The Labourers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) will be adopting a Waterloo company’s contract-tracing application to help enhance safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, Facedrive Inc. said the TraceSCAN app developed by Facedrive Health and the University of Waterloo, alerts users with a notification if they have come in contact with an individual who has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
With the use of the system, LiUNA members and all other users of TraceSCAN can take safety precautions, such as self-isolation or monitoring closely for signs of COVID-19 symptoms, to protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities, the organizations said in an announcement on May 20.
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COVID-19 sidelines construction workers in all provinces – especially Quebec
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Although Quebec and Ontario are home to just over 60% of the country’s population, together they have reported 84% of Canada’s 75,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 94% of the 5,600 deaths attributed to the virus. Efforts to lock down those two provinces to halt COVID’s spread virtually paralyzed their economies during the final week of March, all of April and much of May. Forced to suspend operations that might expose their employees to infection, employers in the two provinces laid off an unprecedented 1,913,000 workers in March and April, the bulk of whom (98%) were in the private sector. As a result, the unemployment rate in Ontario jumped from 5.5% in February to 11.3% in April, and in Quebec, from 4.5% to a breathtaking 17.0%.
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Green building can help re-ignite the economy post COVID-19: CaGBC
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The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) has released “Ready, set, grow: How the green building industry can re-ignite Canada’s economy” to offer recommendations for Canada’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery.
CaGBC provided their industry perspective to key federal ministers. The document presents guidance on how strategic investment in green building could play a significant role in re-igniting Canada’s economy while also helping to meet climate goals. To help advance both the goals of climate action and strong economic recovery, CaGBC recommends the federal government prioritize investments in buildings—both public and private.
The recommendations target three key areas of investment: Workplace training and skills development, removing barriers to, and incenting deep energy retrofits, and shifting the industry to zero carbon building.
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TCA Resources on COVID-19
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To access TCA dedicated Covid-19 Updates,
click here
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