Canada’s Infrastructure Fit for Purpose? Crafting Canada’s Infrastructure BURNCO MANUFACTURING Cementing Success in Canada RINKER MATERIALS apeiron-construction.com | APRIL 2024We create boundless opportunity With a wealth of experience in reporting, content creation and publishing, Apeiron Media, Inc – publisher of Apeiron Construction – was set up with a clear vision to shine a light on pioneering organizations and professionals throughout the construction industry. We take a nuanced approach to storytelling and our clients benefit from a comprehensive integrated marketing opportunity through our detailed suite of online media. Apeiron Construction delivers stories from across the industry to offer high-end, thought provoking content to our readers. Conducting fascinating in-depth interviews with industry leading Executives, Managers, Presidents and CEOs allows us to gain insight and perspective while having the privilege of telling impactful stories. Our unique approach to content creation allows us to gain expert commentary on an ever-changing industry, from the people that know it best. As a media platform, we believe that our world is boundless. We want to share this world with our clients. W elcome to the April issue of Apeiron Construction. With summer on the way, there is a shifting, pos- itive mood on the horizon. Rising temperatures and blue skies add to the sense that things are progressing to a more positive outlook. The construction industry has never been one to shirk a challenge and, as forecasts remain mixed, we see many businesses dig in and keep going. Adapting to worker shortages and continuously escalating prices seems to now be an unavoidable element to the industry. To navigate this and maintain forward momentum is quite the achievement. This month we are very excited to be sharing a small fraction of these successes. From rural co-ops switching to renew- able energy and the curated creation of urban jungles, we have it all. Alongside this, we speak to industry leaders, asso- ciations and industry experts to find the true lay of the land. All the while, we speak to companies at the forefront of the industry, sharing insights and successes in equal measure. Thanks for reading! | 3 APEIRON CONSTRUCTION A note from our Chief Editor APEIRON-CONSTRUCTION.COM APEIRONMEDIAINC.COM CHIEF EDITOR SENIOR CONTENT DEVELOPERS CONTENT DEVELOPERS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS DIRECTOR OF SALES CREATIVE DIRECTOR DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER DAVID O’NEILL COLIN O’NEILL | PETER SWALE | MARK PETERS DARAGH KIERNAN | MARCO GUANNUE PRINCE ANTHONY | AARON HORGAN RAQUEL FARRINGTON | MEGHAN BARTON KAYLA BROWN LINDSAY BAILEY ALEX MULVEYWhile much has been spoken and written about the U.S. Infrastructure Bill in recent years, neighboring Canada does not receive the same level of global attention. Despite this, the country is in a similar position as it tries to come to terms with creaking infrastructure and a need for investment. According to the latest data, the country has a higher GDP rate per capita than most high-income countries. However, this same data which was collated by Infrastructure Canada shows that both its spending and quality of infrastructure are marginally lower than the average for the same high- income countries. 8 Canada’s Infrastructure – Fit for Purpose?6 3 Positive News Stories 7 Industry Events 14 Crafting Canada’s Infrastructure BURNCO MANUFACTURING 20 Cementing Success in Canada RINKER MATERIALS 26 The Local Steel Solution TECHNO-WELD 32 Upcycling – Materials of the Past, and the Future 38 Consistently Excellent JONES SIGN 44 Building Community, Building Trust ARC CONTRACTING 48 Urban Jungles 52 Championing Quality at All Costs REFRACTORY SERVICE INC. 56 Co-Op Electrics 5 | APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONWith all that is happening around us, it can be easy to miss some of the advancements that are being made in the construction industry. Let’s shine a light on some positive news stories that are making our world a little better. Origami Bridges You would be hard pushed to find a construction method being practiced today that had originated in the 6th century. Aside from concrete, most of what is used on modern construction sites is cutting edge and innovative. From materials to tech- niques, the industry is never far from the latest new design. A new development that has come out of the University of Michigan may change all that, however, with its breakthrough load-bearing materials that can be folded like origami. “When people work with origami concepts, they usually start with the idea of thin, paper-folded models -- assuming your materials will be paper-thin. However, in order to build com- mon structures like bridges and bus stops using origami, we need mathematical tools that can directly consider thickness during the initial origami design.” Engineers in the University team have discovered the key to creating origami systems with the necessary weight capacities while retaining the ability to deploy and reconfigure quickly. “That uniformity of the component's thickness is what's key and what's missing from many current origami systems. When you have that, together with appropriate locking devices, the weight placed upon a structure can be evenly transferred throughout.” news.umich.edu/bridge-in-a-box-unlocking-origamis- power-to-produce-load-bearing-structures From left, Yi Zhu, a Research Fellow in Mechanical Engineering, and Evgueni Filipov, an associate professor in both Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, working in his lab. Image credit: Brenda Ahearn, Michigan Engineering | 6 APRIL 2024National Heavy Equipment Show MISSISSAUGA, ON APRIL 11-12, 2024 www.nhes.ca Build Expo USA DALLAS, TX: APRIL 24-25, 2024 AUSTIN, TX: MAY 22-23, 2024 HOUSTON, TX: JUNE 26-27, 2024 buildexpousa.com Coffee Concrete These days, coffee is sustainably sourced, ethically produced, and mostly consumed from reusable cups. But, aside from its great taste, is that where its positives end? While coffee grounds can be used as fertilizer, cleaning products and insect repellant, it has not been brought into the construction field, yet. Researchers at RMIT University in Australia may have changed that, however. Incredibly, 11 million tons of coffee grounds are produced each year. Furthermore, this product emits greenhouse gases such as methane which are 21 times worse than CO2 for the climate. Researchers, led by Dr Rajeev Roychand, have discovered that coffee has the ability to make concrete up to 30% stron- ger than traditional mixes. “The ongoing extraction of natural sand around the world–typically taken from riverbeds and banks–to meet the rapidly growing demands of the con- struction industry has a big impact on the environment. With a circular-economy approach, we could keep organic waste out of landfill and also better preserve our natural resources like sand. The inspiration for our work was to find an inno- vative way of using the large amounts of coffee waste in construction projects rather than sending it to landfills,” said Dr. Roychand. www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2023/aug/ coffee-concrete Direct Air Capture When it comes to finding the most efficient and sustain- able practices, the key is to double up. Efficient energy is clearly a much-needed aspect of the modern world, but its cost can be prohibitive and pivoting to new technologies is time consuming. Reusing materials, or incorporating a second use into their lifecycle, can be an invaluable addi- tion to the process. Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology is the process of removing carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it underground. Until now, the process has been prohibitively expensive in comparison to most other sustainability efforts. However, a novel process that has been trialed in Ohio State University has discovered a method of combining geothermal energy with DAC technology to produce what is being called a “closed loop.” Typically, DAC works by industrial fans blowing air over special chemicals that soak up the carbon but, until now, these fans have been too costly to run. By using cheaper, geothermal energy to power them, the fans could be powered by the very carbon that they are extracting. “New technologies can enable one another, and in integrating them, we can tackle cli- mate change. There’s a lot of work to be done to take into account technological readiness and the policies needed to make that research happen.” news.osu.edu/a-climate-friendly-way-to-capture-car- bon-dioxide-in-the-air | 7 APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONWRITTEN BY DAVID O’NEILL W hile much has been spoken and written about the U.S. Infrastructure Bill in recent years, neigh- boring Canada does not receive the same level of global attention. Despite this, the country is in a similar position as it tries to come to terms with creaking infrastructure and a need for investment. According to the latest data, the country has a higher GDP rate per capita than most high-income countries. However, this same data which was collated by Infrastructure Canada shows that both its spending and quality of infrastructure are marginally lower than the average for the same high-income countries. While the differ- ences may be slight, it points to a trend of under- or poor-investment across the infrastructure sector. When we look at the spending itself, the breakdown in figures provides an increasingly complex picture. | 8 APRIL 2024| 9 APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONNext >