Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/687429
J UNE 2016 | 13 Stuart Olson PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY STUART OLSON employees are shareholders). The Company operates office locations throughout B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. It provides general contracting and electrical building systems contracting in the pub- lic, private and industrial construction markets as well as general contracting, electrical, mechanical and spe- cialty trades, such as insulation, cladding and asbestos abatement, in the industrial construction and services market. A vastly different company to the one founded more than a century ago that was valued at $45,000. As the company continued to grow, building rela- tionships with a skilled workforce, clients and part- ners became even more important. "This has been integral to our brand and our promise. We've got a stronger culture now than we have ever had because the core of our work is extremely relation- ship focused. We are a trusted partner. For example, with a very complicated building, architects will push a client to bring us on board early. We are leaned on by clients and architects to offer advice and work together with them on jobs," says Polson. Looking back, Polson says this dedication to building relationships has been one of the more radical changes in the industry, and one welcomed by the company. "Go back 50 years and general contractors were not looked at in the best of light. They were seen as hard- nosed, tough-minded individuals who would bid each other out on a job and the low number would always win," says Polson. "Clients became more informed and we saw the industry change from being a hard bid market to placing more emphasis on relationships. Construction management, in the public and private sectors, became an important part of this new collab- orative approach." Buildings obviously too have become more complex. "There was a sudden realization that a builder should also be at the table as well as an engineer and archi- tect; a builder could understand issues of constructa- bility and how to build in sequence and to a schedule," says Polson. Embracing this new world, the company naturally evolved and soon Stuart Olson was offering all manner of general contracting services, including integrated project delivery, construction management and design-build services. Stuart Olson became a sin- gle source service provider that could literally do it all. The type of projects that the company worked on also changed. Polson recalls a moment back in 2001 when they were awarded a school that was estimated at $5.5 million: "We shut down the office and had a party all afternoon," laughs Polson. "Fast-forward to 2016, and we are regularly awarded projects valued over $100 million, some as large as the Edmonton New Remand Centre, valued at over $500 million." In fact, these days Stuart Olson works on more than 150 projects at a time. A perfect example of a high-profile Stuart Olson proj- ect is the Richmond Olympic Oval in B.C. that has won over 30 awards including RAIC's Award of Excellence. Stuart Olson was contracted to provide construction management services for this iconic symbol of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The project required close collabora- tion to ensure that this spectacular vision was realized and ready for opening day – and the result is breathtaking. "This LEED Silver project included a concrete frame with a very unique curved roof structure consisting of glulam/steel arches and innovative wood wave pan- els spanning between the arches. It was a very com- plex design built on challenging sub-soil conditions, with a very demanding schedule and the world watch- ing! It was built on time and on budget, in spite of the uniqueness of the roof system and a volatile construc- tion market in 2008," says Polson. Another iconic project was the renovation and expan- sion of the UBC Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, B.C., designed by renowned architect Arthur Erickson that saw 40,000-square-feet added to the existing build- ing. Stuart Olson acted as the general contractor on the $30-million construction portion of the project that brought the museum's building envelope on par with con- temporary construction and conservation standards. Then there's the aforementioned Edmonton New Remand Centre (ENRC) in Alberta. The 40-acre, 600,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility was designed to accommodate up to 2,000 male and female inmates in seven podular, three-tier housing units, and have the potential to expand to accommodate up to 3,000 inmates in total. Upon completion, ENRC is the largest correctional facility in Canada. Size and complexity of the buildings was on a scale unique to Alberta and the sub-trade community; at peak, over 800 construction workers were actively employed on-site daily. "The ENRC was designated LEED Silver and this led to many challenges both in controlling site activities + + Richmond Olympic Oval, Richmond, B.C. UBC Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, B.C. Edmonton New Remand Centre, Edmonton, AB.