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OCTOBER 2018 | 31 Reinforcing Steel PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY SHERWOOD STEEL LTD. Against all odds Canada's reinforcing steel sector remains robust by ROBIN BRUNET I n spite of increasing costs and the growing complexity of regulations, the reinforcing steel sector has experienced a busy start to the year. For example, Alberta-based Sherwood Steel Ltd., which fabricates and installs rebar and welded wire mesh for all types of construction projects in Western Canada, recently finished a two-year stint on Symphony Tower, which VP Duane Kotun describes as, "not only a large scale residential project, but also one of the most beautiful buildings I've seen in Edmonton. We're also working on the Hat at Five Corners high- rise residences in Edmonton and doing piling rebar for the $1.6-billion transmission line project running from west of Edmonton to Fort McMurray." But like his counterparts in other rebar compa- nies, Kotun is enduring steadily increasing prices and longer waits for product, partly because the tar- iffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and the countermeasures they have triggered from dif- ferent countries are pushing up material costs for the Canadian construction industry. Steel mainly has been affected (and to a lesser extent aluminum and softwood lumber) with U.S. steel prices hav- ing climbed by 40 percent since the tariffs were announced in March. Martin Gobin, president of Heritage Steel Sales Ltd. in B.C., adds that Ottawa imposing its own duties on imports of steel and aluminum from the U.S. as part of the $16.6 billion in tariff countermeasures that took effect in the beginning of July, is having the unin- tended consequences "of crippling rebar companies. Unfortunately, Canadian steel mills only provide about 50 to 60 percent of the material our market requires, and they've put us on allocations because so much of their product is going to the robust U.S. market." So, despite the boom in opportunities for rebar companies, the end result of the geopolitical manoeu- vring is likely to be increased costs for building buyers. BMO Capital Markets estimates that with rebar making up about four percent of the cost of a building project, a 25 percent import duty alone means a one percent addition to construction costs – or, for each unit of a typical condominium tower project, an extra $10,000 to $12,000 that would be passed on to buyers. Kotun goes on to note that the Alberta carbon tax has contributed to price increases, and the province's minimum wage of $15 per hour is causing a different set of problems. "We pay more than that in our com- pany, but we're in a physically demanding profession, and unfortunately we're seeing a lot of people opting to work less intensely at minimum wage jobs," he says. Gobin is experiencing similar challenges. "The manpower situation is very difficult: it's industry wide, and we don't see relief during this construction cycle," he says. "We offer competitive wages, but a lot of people don't want to work in this sector anymore. Part of this is generational, so hopefully the situation will change for the better as time goes on." Still, with regards to Alberta, that province is in better economic shape now than in recent years, and Kotun expects the project opportunities to keep mounting. "Hopefully there will be a break in the tar- iffs and other initiatives down the road," he says. In B.C., Heritage Steel is busy with the Kings Crossing condominium complex in Burnaby, a project that requires 10,000 tons of steel. "This is in addition to several other substantial residential projects for clients such as Polygon and Onni Group," says Gobin. "Definitely 2018 is a busy year, and we're working on a backlog carried over from 2017." While costs may be escalating, there is still no end of new opportunities for the rebar sector in other provinces as well. Based in Quebec, AGF Steel is a prominent designer, fabricator, and installer of rebar and post tensioning, supplying projects both in Canada and globally. One of its more recent inter- national projects of note is La Portada Shopping Mall in Antofagasta, Chile. For this 6,000-square-metre facility, AGF has been tasked with producing and installing over 3,500 tonnes of reinforcing steel over an eight month period (the mall will be completed in the second half of 2019). Closer to home, AGF installed 15,000 tonnes of steel for the new Champlain Bridge in Montreal as well as provided numerous work platforms, site elevators, and other innovative solutions for safely accessing challenging spots on the site. For the pylons of the cable-stayed portion of the bridge, huge rein- forcing steel rods measuring six metres in height and weighing over 20 tonnes were carefully installed, and a specially-designed casing box was raised to cast the concrete and pour 120 cubic metres of cement into the framework to form a new level of the pylon. Finally, operating in Ontario since the mid 1960s, Salit Steel is comprised of companies and partners that provide a full range of steel solutions through its rebar fabrication division – and its extensive inven- tory allows for orders to be filled quickly. One of the most significant projects in Canada for Salit is the Keeyask hydroelectric generating sta- tion that is being developed by Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba First Nations, and Salit is the primary rebar supplier and installer for the in Northern Manitoba. Considered one of Salit's largest projects to date, the project had to surmount the problems associ- ated with this remote location, including maintaining a productive workforce in weather conditions that can reach extreme high and low temperatures. This workforce, which is lodged in two camps, operates on three different work schedules, and as of the summer of 2018 they have installed approximately 48 percent of their intended target. A Holding Strong Jobsite at The Hat at 5 Corners, Edmonton, AB.

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