< PreviousAs for what’s next, Matheson says the team is excited to be expanding operations into Ontario and eventually the United States. In addition to this, he says, the company will be exploring options so that it can continue to offer value to new and existing clients. “Currently, we’re trying to build out our design team,” says Matheson on Powerhouse’s move to offer an increasing number of design-build services to its clients. Design-Build is a method of project delivery in which one entity, the Design-Build team, works under a single contract with the project owner to provide design and construction services. One entity, one contract, one unified flow of work from initial concept through comple- tion. “Essentially it allows contractors to get on board early and provide their input, as opposed to having an engineer or architect design first and then getting contractor input later,” says Matheson. A Design-Build team ensures all key players have a seat at the table at the outset of a project, ensuring the design is functional from a construction perspective while also adhering to the client’s needs and budgetary restraints. “At the end of the day, our clients are spending hard earned money to grow their business and we want to ensure they do that successfully,” he adds. As part of this offering, Powerhouse can generate accurate 3D models and renderings, giving the client an accurate repre- | 60 DECEMBER 2023sentation of the final product before any work starts. For Powerhouse, it is all about keeping the client informed and involved in the process, from initial project planning all the way to completion. In addition to recruiting for the Design-Build aspect of the business, Powerhouse is also ramping up recruitment efforts to attract the top-tier project management and coordinator talent it needs to keep pace with its rapidly growing business, particularly as experienced workers are starting to age out of the industry and retire. The working pitch? “Construction is an industry where you get to experience tons of different clients with new and unique problems to solve. It’s always different every single day,” says Matheson. In addition to new staff, Powerhouse is always looking to welcome new clients and explore new industries. “Our ideal customer is someone look- ing for a really high-quality standard in their work and looking to negotiate a contract that is beneficial for all parties. We like to negotiate work for the client to ensure they get what they want,” says Matheson. Find out how Powerhouse can help make your small or large- scale industrial project a reality. Visit its website for more information or fill out its contact form here. “One entity, one contract, one unified flow of work from initial concept through completion.” | 61 APEIRON CONSTRUCTION| 62 DECEMBER 2023WRITTEN BY GARRETH OWEN W ith many business leaders increasingly focused on sustainability and responsible practices, companies that prioritize environmental stewardship and local communities stand out for their unique approach. Ecora is one such company, blending genuine environmental commitment with meaningful partnerships with First Nation communities. Launched in 2010 by Kelly Sherman and his business partners Dan Bernier, Dave Myers and Shikun Ran, Ecora began as a forestry and environmental services firm before expanding into the engineering space. “We were all with a company that had been around for 40 years,” says Sherman. “Some of us started to feel that they’d changed their direction and lost focus on the people and relationship side of the business.” After striking out on their own as a strategic forestry and environmental consultancy, Ecora enjoyed great success and was soon ready to expand. This growth was a significant step, involving an acquisition and developing a new business relationship. “In 2012, we bought a civil and structural engineering firm called Chesapeake Engineering in Penticton and brought in a fifth partner, Mike Young.” | 63 APEIRON CONSTRUCTION“We started offering high level strategic decision support for various projects and players in the forest industry and environmental projects,” says Sherman. “In a lot of cases, you need a lot of information to support that. So, we have an arm of the business which does both resource inventories, ecological edge and forestry assets.” Working out of its head office in Kelowna, Ecora has now grown to almost 200 employees, significantly expanding its expertise in the process. “Probably 75% of the team are in the engineering space and that allows us to offer a full suite of services in engineering.” As the business has grown, so too has Ecora’s service offering. “Now geotechnical engineering is our largest discipline, followed by civil engineering. Our geo- technical engineering team is growing to be one of the best in the province and this part of our offering is very strong. We also provide landscape architecture and legal land surveys.” One of the ways Ecora stands out in the market is its strong relationship with Indigenous communities in British Columbia, offering services and support to meet the unique needs of various First Nation bands. As Sherman explains, this connection goes much further than business. “We’re quite unique in how we approach that relationship. We have a partnership with a group of bands called the St'at'imc in the Lillooet area.” The partnership has assisted the bands in repairing some of the historical harm that has been done to Indigenous lands. Back in the 1920s, power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure was constructed through the area without consultation of local Indigenous groups. The 11 First Nation bands that comprise the St'at'imc were severely affected by these developments, and now both the local government and the province’s electrical utility, BC Hydro, are eager to address the harm that was caused to Indigenous communities in the region. “In 2011, the St'at'imc Government Services was formed as a result of a long court case with BC Hydro over the dams in the Bridge River area.” The St’át’imc Communities reached a Settlement Agree- ment with the Province of BC and BC Hydro to compen- sate for impacts to St’át’imc lands and people caused by hydro development in the territory. “There were significant procurement requirements to go towards First Nations but a lot of that took a long time.” Ecora engaged in 2018 and took three years to come up with an effective structure. This process was followed by another year of meetings with var- ious bands and companies. From the resulting agreement, a partnership was created between Ecora and Tsal'álh Development Corp, the economic development arm of one of the St’at’imc bands (Tsal'álh) which has been named Szumin’ts. “Our partnership ended up fronting a bid to BC Hydro, because we have a lot of the requirements BC Hydro needs to have in place in terms of safety, insurance, all of the professional governance and requirements.” “Ecora maintains four key values: People, Environment, Responsibility and Community.” | 64 DECEMBER 2023The first project Ecora completed as part of the Szumin’ts partnership was extensive environmental studies for upgrades to the Bridge River Transmission Line (BRTP) which distributes power throughout the region. For Sherman, this project is a perfect example of how Ecora uses its expertise to fulfil numerous roles in both production and environmental areas. All the while, he says, the company maintained its goal of realizing the vision of the local community. “The transmis- sion line is being upgraded and we’re offering environmental support throughout the project. It was an opportunity to execute on a collaborative model, with the St’at’imc really driving the process.” Since then, Ecora has been involved with several other projects of various sizes ranging in scope from professional services to construction, with some exceeding $2 million. These have included T4 substation upgrades, the spill surge project and penstock stabilization works. For Sherman, Ecora’s ability to maintain relationships with both the First Nations and BC Hydro has been pivotal to its success over the years. “It took about three or four years to build the relationship but now it's working really well; BC Hydro is happy, and everybody's winning.” Having six different projects completed using this model, there is a considerable evidence base around its efficacy. “The structure we put in place has worked out really well. We have the connection to BC Hydro, and from there we can subcontract to any of the smaller firms in the area or different bands that want to participate.” At a time when many businesses can give the impression of merely paying lip-service to Indigenous con- cerns, Ecora’s commitment to its First Nations partners is truly refreshing. “We have what we call a ‘No Tokenism’ rule. The partnerships have to be meaningful, there has to be a good business case, and the First Nations have to win.” Education is a key aspect of the company’s approach to these partnerships. Unsurprisingly for a company that places huge value on the ethical considerations of its projects, this education is bi-directional where both client and company grow. “We sat down with a group of First Nations represen- tatives. We asked for direction on how to best support our commitments. What they said is that it's really important to educate yourselves. So, you can see in our Action Plan, the first point is really just education—educating our team mem- bers, educating people we work with, educating basically anybody who will listen.” As a result, everyone at Ecora has received Indigenous awareness training, with this now being a large part of its onboarding. Furthermore, training material has also been made available externally so that other companies and the wider public can increase their own awareness. On top of this, Ecora has an Indigenous adviser on hand to offer guidance on Indigenous matters in its day-to-day work. “We value that relationship more than anything else and we feel we’ve really become part of the community. We put a lot of effort into really understanding what's important to them. There has to be alignment on that with everyone we work with. And if there isn’t, then we essentially separate ourselves.” Keen to stress the importance of doing business ethically, the topic of company values is one that repeatedly comes up in conversation with Sherman. Ecora maintains four key values that it refers to as “PERC”: People, Environment, Respon- sibility and Community. As he explains, this serves as a statement and goal relating to its interactions with everyone, clients, partners, and staff alike. “Those four values tend to align really well with First Nations, but it also aligns with our people too. So, whenever somebody does something excep- tional, we'll give them a PERC award and identify how they went above and beyond to represent one of our core values.” Ecora’s unwavering commitment to its values may mark it as an outlier in an industry that seeks profit above all else, but it’s led to an impressive 44% growth per year since the company’s inception. As Sherman states, the company is on a journey that has developed through doing things right by people. By sticking to these values, Ecora is sure to do great things. “We have plans to be at $100 million in revenue by 2028 through a combination of organic growth and acquisi- tions. We’re five years into the pilot with five years to go. We’re on track right now, and we don't plan on slowing down.”| 66 DECEMBER 2023WRITTEN BY ERIC O’CALLAGHAN W hen William and Laura Donnellan ventured to Vancou- ver from the West of Ireland in 2009, they could never have imagined the success that would follow. After working tirelessly for many years, the husband-and-wife duo now run IRL Group, which includes multiple companies across Canada and over 150 employees. IRL Group started in 2011 when William noticed the opportunity to bridge a gap in the mar- ket that had persisted for years. While working in a management position for a concrete contractor, William encountered issues involving securing and maintaining a consistent supply of labor in Vancouver. As is often the case in construction, a helping hand is sometimes needed, and subcontracting is very much the norm. However, the outsourcing of labor comes with an element of risk. Invariably, workers would arrive on site without tools or PPE. In some cases, workers would not show up at all. Recognizing this flaw and seeking to find a better solution is what led to the setup of IRL, where the goal was for a different caliber of workers to be provided. IRL supplied its workers with PPE, training, company vehicles and even helped source per- sonal tools. While skilled labor hire may have been the spark that ignited IRL, the company has developed enormously, building a wide array of services. IRL offers total construction services including renovations, tenant improvements, formwork, rebar, concrete, carpentry, construction management and more. As William would say, there is not too much that IRL cannot do. With contracts typically ranging from $5,000 to $5 million, IRL has worked on numerous noteworthy projects. Laura & William Donnellan Founders of IRL Group | 67 APEIRON CONSTRUCTION“In 2012, we completed a project up in Dawson City (Dawson City Water Treatment Plant) basically as far north as you can go. It was for a group called Corix Utilities. They asked me to go and manage the job for 3 months. That ended up being almost a year, and it was phenomenal. A small village with about 800 people, 24 hours darkness in the wintertime and 24 hours daylight in the summertime.” As William explains, the variety of skill within the company has led to a growing list of successful projects. “We worked on another project in Vancouver, the Seaforth Armory. A mil- itary base close to our head office here in South False Creek. We were there for about three years doing a seismic upgrade and a new build. We also worked on the Haida Gwaii Health Centre, which is up in Northern BC. I remember Prince Wil- liam came in for the official opening on that project. Another successful job was the Kitsilano Elementary School, which is also close to us here in Vancouver. There are many, I could keep going on and on”. Another area that IRL Group has delved into, and succeeded in, is the hospitality industry. Building 10 bars in eight years, holding onto, and operating 5 still today. This enormous expansion is a long way from where it began back in 2011. In fact, as the success of these bars continues, IRL Group is developing franchise plans to expand across Canada in the near future. This move will further develop its portfolio and is a venture that the group is incredibly excited about. In addition to this, IRL Group has recently launched Vanway Properties, the group’s new development company. Vanway was setup with the intention of building more affordable homes for the people of Vancouver. This is something that, for William, is a vital component of the work IRL Group does. While construction and contracting are successful elements, there are countless endeavors that allow the organization to work with its local community. At IRL Group, success is not merely a financial consideration. The group has won multiple awards for the positive impact it has had on the local com- munity, including multiple awards from the BC Small Busi- ness Association. Over the last 10 years the organization has also sponsored a massive number of local sports teams and continues to be involved with these clubs. Recently, IRL Group ran the Irish Fusion Festival in its local community. This unique family friendly music festival included activities such as pony rides, dunk tanks, hurling and football exhibitions, Irish dancing, Scottish dancing, and more. In addition to this, William sits on boards such as Pacific Riding For Developing Abilities (PRDA), which is a not-for- profit therapeutic horseback riding facility in Langley, BC, that provides opportunities for persons of all ages with physical abilities. Evidently, giving back to the local community is something that is important at IRL Group. Not only does it keep William and Laura grateful, but it reminds William of something his mother always told him growing up: ‘It costs nothing to be kind’. “Throughout everything that IRL Group does, there is one common thread connecting it all: passion.” | 68 DECEMBER 2023This link to their homeland is an intrinsic aspect of IRL Group. For William and Laura, it is important that they always remember where they came from. The couple are extremely proud of their Irish roots, so much so that it forms a huge part of their company’s brand identity. As William explains, IRL Group is not just a corporate chain, it is a haven for people who are looking to connect. “My wife came up with a brilliant idea recently. She saw lots of people online during COVID saying that they were lonely, anxious, and fearful. We started a networking event to support people in this regard, ‘New and not so new in Vancouver’. It not just for people that have recently come to Vancouver, but also for those who have been here for years, or people who grew up here. It absolutely exploded, and now we run it monthly in Donnellan’s Irish pub on Granville Street. It's like speed dating. We set up about 10 tables and every three minutes people move to the next table. Guests absolutely love it; it has been a huge success. I have to give full credit to my wife Laura for that.” Throughout everything that IRL Group does, there is one common thread connecting it all: passion. The company has huge passion for its work, its employees, its community and even passion for those it has yet to meet. However, for Wil- liam there is one thing he is truly passionate about. Promot- ing the construction industry and developing people’s interest in securing a career in construction is hugely important to him. Coming from a small village of 3000 people and a family of 10 kids, William was the one who did not go to university or get third level education. Instead, he joined the construction industry and went on to build an empire. For him, construc- tion represents an opportunity that is unique to the industry. “I really promote the construction industry. I love the trades. I'm always trying to encourage people to join, even my own kids. We've got three little boys, one, three and six. I would be so proud if they said they wanted to be a digger driver, or they wanted to be a carpenter, or an electrician. I think there are endless opportunities in the construction industry and with the right attitude, the sky's the limit.” People often ask William if he could do it all over again would he opt for the trades rather than going to university; his answer is always the same... “Absolutely”. William Donnellan Founder | 69 APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONNext >