Once it becomes operational in 2024, the plant will be the largest hydrogen production centre in Canada. As run by Air Products, the self-described “world leader in hydrogen production,” the plant will produce 100,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year. Construction is “expected to create 2,500 construction jobs and thirty permanent operational jobs,” noted an article on CBC.ca.

“We are prioritizing a strong and sustainable economy, helping create well-paying jobs, and ensuring a cleaner future. Hydrogen is one of the key elements for our path to net zero and that’s why we’re making these important investments in Canada’s energy sector,” stated François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry in an Air Products Canada press release.

The universe’s most abundant element, hydrogen has no taste, odour, or appearance. “Like electricity, hydrogen is an energy carrier that can be used to transport energy created elsewhere to another location. Hydrogen has the highest energy per unit of any fuel: the energy in one kilogram of hydrogen is the same as approximately 2.8 kilograms of gasoline,” said Natural Resources Canada.

In a fuel cell, hydrogen can produce electricity for heat, power generation, and transportation without any harmful emissions. At present, hydrogen is most commonly used in Canada for oil refining and in the production of steel, ammonia, and methanol.

There has been buzz about hydrogen over the past few years. “Momentum for hydrogen and fuel cell technology is growing globally,” added Natural Resources Canada. “Canada has the potential to produce large amounts of low-cost, clean hydrogen in excess of its domestic demand, creating an opportunity for Canada to become a supplier of choice of a new carbon-free energy export commodity.”

The emerging hydrogen sector could create “as many as 350,000 good, green jobs over the next three decades. All the while dramatically reducing our greenhouse gas emissions,” adds a 2020 Natural Resources Canada report called Hydrogen Strategy for Canada.

Should this optimistic scenario pan out, Alberta will be well-positioned to take advantage of any hydrogen windfall, an ironic twist given the province’s oil-rich heritage. Of the three million tonnes of hydrogen produced annually in Canada, 2.4 million tonnes were generated in Alberta. By comparison, the United States manufactures around 10 million metric tonnes of hydrogen a year, according to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Most of this American-made hydrogen is used for ammonia production and petroleum refining.

Alberta has been making hydrogen for decades and has enormous deposits of natural gas which is central to the production of the substance. In April 2021, the Edmonton Region Hydrogen Hub became Canada’s first hydrogen hub. One year later, Edmonton hosted the inaugural Canadian Hydrogen Convention. A second hydrogen convention in Edmonton the following year attracted dozens of exhibitors and speakers and thousands of delegates and attendees.

Back at the NAIT press conference, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith acknowledged her province’s role in the rise of hydrogen.

“Alberta is Canada’s hydrogen powerhouse, and projects like this will create jobs, diversify the economy, and build additional clean energy capacity for use across Western Canada. With such a huge attachment in the hydrogen markets, our government’s Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program is making us the most attractive jurisdiction for companies looking to invest in hydrogen. Alberta’s economy will continue to charge ahead full steam with an investment climate that encourages businesses to grow and fuel job growth,” stated the Premier.

Thanks to its oilfield heritage, Alberta has a great deal of experience with carbon capture and sequestration technology, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions. Also known as carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS), this technology is used to make ‘blue’ hydrogen which some experts predict will be in particularly high demand going forward. In addition, Alberta has plenty of “suitable pore space to permanently sequester carbon dioxide emissions,” noted Alberta Hydrogen Roadmap, a 2021 report.

Hydrogen can be produced in a variety of ways. These processes are colour-coded for easy categorization, with grey, blue, and green hydrogen predominating.

Blue and grey hydrogen are produced via steam methane reformation (SMR), “a process in which methane from natural gas is heated using steam, usually with a catalyst, to produce a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen,” explained Hydrogen’s Potential to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, a 2022 report from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.

Unlike blue hydrogen, grey hydrogen is not produced with carbon capture technology. As a result, it is cheaper to make but results in more emissions. Green hydrogen, meanwhile, is created in water through an electrolysis process powered by renewable energy. Green hydrogen produces no emissions but is costly; blue hydrogen falls between these shades price-wise.

The Hydrogen’s Potential to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions report compares the 2020 production costs and emission rates of grey, blue, and green hydrogen against those of natural gas. If natural gas costs $3.79 per gigajoule to produce and emits 60 kg carbon dioxide equivalent per gigajoule, grey hydrogen comes in at $16.70 per gigajoule with 2.2 times the emissions of natural gas. Blue hydrogen ranges between $19.60 to $23.90 per gigajoule and 1.1 to 0.25 times the natural gas emissions, depending on the efficiency of the carbon capture technology employed. Green hydrogen costs $62.60 per gigajoule to produce with solar, $63.80 per gigajoule with wind, and $22.00 per gigajoule with hydro. There are no emissions in all cases.

The Edmonton hydrogen plant will be employing carbon capture technology to achieve a ninety-five percent emissions removal rate, putting it solidly in the blue hydrogen camp. This could be a big selling point, as some industry experts believe blue hydrogen makes a perfect ‘bridge’ material.

The thinking goes like this: while grey hydrogen is by far the most common form of hydrogen in North America, it is not terribly good for the environment. Ideally, it would be best to switch to green hydrogen—a move that would help countries achieve international greenhouse gas emission reduction standards. The problem is green hydrogen is both costly and problematic in other ways.

“If hydrogen is to contribute to carbon neutrality, it needs to be produced on a much larger scale and with far lower emissions levels,” noted a research paper from energy giant Shell. “Electrolysis alone will not meet the forecast demand. It is currently expensive, and there is insufficient renewable energy available to support large-scale green hydrogen production… An alternative is blue hydrogen produced from natural gas along with CCUS… In addition, it is widely acknowledged that scaling up blue hydrogen production will be easier than delivering green hydrogen.”

This Shell information was contained in a report called The Shell Blue Hydrogen Process, which indicates the importance the energy company is putting on this methodology.

In a section headlined, ‘Why Blue Hydrogen,’ Shell wrote: “To meet net-zero emission ambitions, low-carbon hydrogen production must increase rapidly. ‘Blue’ hydrogen production from natural gas along with carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is necessary to bridge the gap until large-scale hydrogen production using renewable energy becomes economic. The cost of carbon dioxide already makes blue hydrogen via steam methane reforming (SMR) competitive against grey (without CCUS) and the Shell Blue Hydrogen Process (SBHP) further increases the affordability of blue hydrogen for greenfield projects.”

As it stands, Alberta is not the only jurisdiction to recognize the benefits of blue hydrogen. A year before the Edmonton announcement, Air Products launched a US$4.5 billion construction project to build a blue hydrogen clean energy complex in eastern Louisiana. The plant is expected to be operational in 2026.

“Air Products will build, own, and operate the megaproject, which will produce over 750 million standard cubic feet per day of blue hydrogen,” read an October 14, 2021, press release from Air Products. “The project will create 170 permanent jobs with a total annual payroll of $15.9 million and more than 2,000 construction jobs over three years. It represents Air Products’ largest ever investment in the U.S.

“Approximately ninety-five percent of the CO₂ generated at the facility will be captured, compressed, and transported safely by pipeline to multiple island sequestration sites located along a pipeline corridor extending up to thirty-five miles to the east of the new production facility,” added the press release.

“Carbon capture and sequestration are important to Louisiana’s efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while maintaining jobs and growing our manufacturing base,” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards was quoted as saying.

Out of the Canadian prairies, Alberta has adopted much the same spirit. “With a growing global market—estimated by the Hydrogen Council to be worth US$2.5 trillion a year by 2050—hydrogen has the potential to be the next big chapter in Alberta’s energy story,” noted former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in the Alberta Hydrogen Roadmap.

The post The Future Is Blue<p class="company">Alberta Well-Poised for a ‘Blue Hydrogen’ Breakthrough</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“We manufacture electrical equipment for industries that are growing in demand,” says David Evdokimoff, Chief Executive Officer of Boundary Electric. “A large part of our business is transformers and switchgear distribution. We manufacture that for multiple industries: oil and gas, hopefully hydrogen, data centres, crypto, electrical utilities.” A data centre is a secure location where networked computer systems store, process, and/or distribute gargantuan amounts of digital information.

Boundary, which also serves municipalities, maintains two facilities in Grand Forks and one in Trail, British Columbia.

“We’re an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), so we manufacture a majority of our equipment. We have subcontractors and some items we outsource to keep costs down, but most is manufactured out of our Grand Forks and Trail facility,” Evdokimoff explains.

In addition to transformers and switchgear equipment, the company also designs and manufactures metering kiosks, substation components, splitters, portable power centres, and motors. It offers testing, inspection, maintenance, repairs, and electrical servicing and contracting as well. While the company primarily works in North America, it has shipped its wares as far afield as Egypt, Greenland, South America, and the Philippines. The firm also installs equipment within the British Columbia interior.

A few years ago, Boundary developed a new specialty working with the budding cryptocurrency scene. New crypto coins are created or ‘mined’ by powerful computers that solve complex math problems to validate transactions. Housed in data centres, these computers require a lot of electricity.

“We had a company call and they said they want to put fifty megawatts into a building. That’s the equivalent of putting the power that would go to a city into a building. It didn’t make any sense. We were like, ‘Why would you want to do that?’ So, that was our introduction to Bitcoin,” recalls Evdokimoff.

After supplying electrical equipment to this client, “Our phone rang off the hook. From that point on, we manufactured electrical equipment for a few other major players in the game,” he adds.

Boundary Electric was founded in 1947 by Allen Napoleon Docksteader and his son, Wes Docksteader, with a focus on manufacturing and distributing electrical transmission gear. The company remains a family business, with Allen’s great-grandson Justin Docksteader serving as Evdokimoff’s business partner. The plan is to keep Boundary a family firm going forward. At present, the company has approximately eighty employees across all branches.

“I think for us it’s creativity, and attitude,” Evdokimoff says, regarding what the company looks for in potential hires. “Skill set, we can teach. We’re looking for people who are able to work on the fly, able to take on problems that come at them and see the opportunity as opposed to roadblocks. We’re looking for people that work exceptionally well in a team, especially in tackling new things. If you’re getting into crypto, if you’re getting into hydrogen, if you’re getting into these new markets, you have to be willing to be a problem solver.”

Boundary offers “a competitive pension and benefits program” and continuous staff training, he says. Clearly, the company is doing something right, having been certified as a Great Place to Work in Canada. Great Place to Work certification, which is largely based on employee survey results, recognizes firms with positive workplace cultures and satisfied staff.

“There are two things we’ve done really well. We’ve always provided a quality product. That’s something internally we strive to do through our quality management systems and such, but it’s also something that has always been a staple of the company. Our name is on this, so we want this to be very good; that’s on the product side. On the market side… electricity is needed almost everywhere. We have followed the market trends. If oil and gas was doing well, we’re in oil and gas. If forestry was going really well, we’re doing forestry; we’re [now] doing data centres,” Evdokimoff shares.

As evidence of its commitment to quality, Boundary has ISO 9001:2015, Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and Underwriters Laboratory (UL) certification. Maintaining these certifications entails constant vigilance and frequent audits, and Evdokimoff praises the company’s management group, which holds monthly meetings to discuss and “create action plans for continuous improvement within our company.”

Unlike a number of other companies, Boundary Electric came through the COVID pandemic in relatively good shape. COVID “had an interesting impact in a lot of ways,” notes Evdokimoff. Boundary took great care to keep its workers safe by introducing robust health and safety protocols. While some business with customers in the oil sands of Western Canada dropped off, business picked up in other areas.

“We were lucky, in a sense,” he says. “We were building data centres in the midst of all of this. That kept our business thriving, and we were hiring [while] a lot of places were actually decreasing employees. We also saw an increase locally, with our service and construction team, as a lot of people were doing household renovations and staying home.”

According to Evdokimoff, the company does its best to stay flexible and diversified. These attributes have been central to its success, he adds. As such, the company is keeping a very close eye on the emerging hydrogen sector, which has been touted as the next big thing in alternative energy.

As the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy states, “Hydrogen is a clean fuel that, when consumed in a fuel cell, produces only water. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of domestic resources, such as natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, and renewable power like solar and wind. These qualities make it an attractive fuel option for transportation and electricity generation applications. It can be used in cars, in houses, for portable power, and in many more applications.”

Needless to say, all of this is very appealing and companies are eager to get in on any future hydrogen windfall. Boundary Electric representatives attended the second annual Canadian Hydrogen Convention, held this April in Edmonton. The conference featured dozens of speakers, thousands of visitors, and plenty of interest in hydrogen.

“We’re starting to see some steps taken in the [hydrogen] industry with regards to having projects that are starting to make their way across the line. We’re starting to see that with vehicles,” says Evdokimoff. “We know there will be a massive demand in that sector and we want to support it with core infrastructure such as transformers, distribution, and switchgear.”

He describes hydrogen as one in a series of technologies including electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and data centres, that will be “the big drivers for the electrical industry in the next ten to fifteen years.”

Among the projects Boundary Electric has helped build for crypto clients, municipalities, and energy firms is a cryptocurrency mining site for DMG Blockchain in Christina Lake, BC. This project involved designing and manufacturing eighty-five-megawatt substations, twenty-four customized 2500 kVA substations, and a control centre, as well as cabling and wiring tasks.

The company also custom-built a series of 1,500 kVA substations for Access Pipeline in Redwater, Alberta and designed, provided, and tested a secondary unit substation for transportation network TransLink for the City of Surrey in British Columbia.

“The list of cool things we’ve supplied products for is big,” Evdokimoff wryly notes.

He is particularly proud of “the ability of our products and our transformers in reducing greenhouse gases in the world. That seems like an amazing thing, and that we can do this from the interior of British Columbia in small towns.”

As for the future, Boundary is looking around at other opportunities. “We’ll be starting on manufacturing liquid-immersed data centres for a customer out of the United States. That will be a little bit different than the air-cooled data centres we’ve been manufacturing to this point. We are also embarking on a panel program. We will be an OEM manufacturer of distribution panels that are five thousand amps and below,” he states.

Liquid immersion is a method of cooling servers and computer equipment at data centres and an alternative to more traditional air cooling.

“I think five years from now, our business will continue to be extremely strong,” adds Evdokimoff. “Whether that’s supplying utilities for traditional use or supplying commercial and industrial clients for their projects—i.e., crypto, data centres, hydrogen, electric vehicles—we know that for the products and services we have, demand is going to be very strong.”

The post Providing Power for Over 75 Years<p class="company">Boundary Electric</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“The beauty of the case study for us was that it allowed us to prove on a scale what we had been calculating and saying for quite a while—that this technology is perfectly suited for small locations where size or layout might be a challenge,” states Seth Moore, Chief Operating Officer and Catalyst co-founder.

Hydraulic fracturing is a drilling technique in which water, sand, or chemicals are blasted into a wellbore under high pressure to break up rock formations so natural gas and oil can be extracted. Vortex Prime offers an alternative to conventional fracking fleets—the energy industry term for the rigs, trucks, vehicles, pumps, and other equipment needed for hydraulic fracturing. The Vortex Prime fracking fleet is the first of its type to use direct-drive turbine technology.

The pumps are directly connected to military-grade turbines fueled by natural gas. The self-contained system is compact, requiring six to eight pumps versus twenty for a conventional fleet, reducing onsite space by over 50 percent. It also offers big power, speedy set-up, fuel savings, and reduced emissions and maintenance.

“We have said all along, ‘Look at the fuel savings that this technology can achieve.’ We were able to prove that,” he says, pointing to Catalyst’s case study. “When all things were considered, we saved the customer substantial money.”

Released March 4, 2023, the case study concerns an assignment that the company carried out at a small, two-well pad in Howard County, Texas. At the customer’s request, a hybrid solution was implemented, with 75 percent of pumping done with Vortex Prime and the remainder done with conventional diesel-powered pumps.

The Vortex Prime system pumped for 261 hours over 17.2 days, with an average treating pressure of 8,110 psi and a maximum treating pressure of 8,465 psi. The system can reach nearly 15,000 psi depending on how it is configured. 92 percent pumping efficiency was achieved, carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 654 metric tons, and the client’s fuel costs were slashed by 41 percent, for a savings of $425,000.

“That fuel savings number could have been even higher than what it was if we had run all the turbines,” notes Moore.

In addition to taking up less space than a conventional fleet, the Vortex Prime system used in the case study required less maintenance, enhancing the safety of the fracking crew. Fewer pieces to transport meant less need for back-and-forth trips to the worksite. It offers other benefits as well, including a kill switch feature that cuts idle time. The system can be put back online in minutes, versus hours for a traditional fracking fleet. The company makes the Vortex Prime at its manufacturing facilities and also offers conventional fracking pump options.

There have been other big developments recently at Catalyst besides the case study. At the start of this year, the company announced a partnership with GD Energy Products (GDEP), a company that has been designing and manufacturing pump solutions for the oil and gas industry since the mid-19^th century. Under the terms of the agreement, Catalyst will be using GDEP’s Thunder 5000 quintuplex pump, capable of reaching 5,000 horsepower, in the Vortex Prime system.

“It’s a spinoff of their GD 3000 pump, which was a triplex pump—a three-plunger pump. This was a five-plunger pump. We went to them and gave them a challenge, and they partnered with us,” he says. “Both companies are working in a collaborative partnership.”

Catalyst was established in April 2018 by Moore and two co-founders, all of whom were imbued with a predilection for out-of-the-box thinking. Sadly, after we last spoke, company co-founder Michael Morgan passed away. Moore and fellow co-founder Bobby Chapman are determined to respect Morgan’s vision as they keep the company going.

“It was a sad passing, hard to comprehend. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. The employees who worked with him are touched by his loss. Bobby, Mike, and myself were here before the beginning of Catalyst, and our success is certainly due in part to his efforts and his knowledge and skill and experience,” Moore says, adding, “He would want us to go on.”

Part of this going forward involves remaining true to the company’s original mission, which was to be innovative and open-minded about new technology and processes. Indeed, for all of its success, remaining flexible and agile is the goal.

“I don’t consider us a start-up anymore, but we still have a lot of that start-up mentality. We go from concept to action pretty quickly. There are not a lot of layers for ideas to get bogged down in and shrivel on the vine,” he explains.

As proof, he points to the speed at which Catalyst can erect and dismantle its fracking operations. “We can move our pumps, set up, and be ready in twelve hours or less. My guys are telling me I can get it down to eight hours; I don’t know any system in the fracking world that does that,” Moore says.

Quick installation, of course, means more pumping time for clients. This dynamic approach also draws potential employees who want to break away from the more conservative mindset inherent in the conventional oil and gas sector.

“If people have ways of doing things better, faster, safer, more efficient, and profitable, we listen to those people. Sometimes, our meeting in the morning can result in action being taken after lunch. I think that appeals to a lot of people, and because of that, we’ve been able to get some really good talent,” states Moore. Current employment at Catalyst stands at approximately 185 individuals.

The company’s business model is centered on rentals. Instead of selling the Vortex Prime and other fracking solutions, Catalyst leases out equipment and crews. The firm remains focused on the Permian Basin—a region encompassing West Texas and Southeast New Mexico containing vast oil and natural gas deposits.

“There’s a lot of work in the Permian,” says Moore, “and we’ve had people reach out to us from outside the United States and areas outside the Permian Basin. Currently, we’re building capacity,” he explains. “At the moment, it seems to make the most sense to keep this technology operating as close to our home base as possible. We like the fact that we don’t have to fly in experts. We’ve partnered with people who have boots on the ground.”

Like other fracking companies in the Permian Basin, Catalyst has had to respond to certain industry trends, including simultaneous fracturing, aka simul-frac, and electric fracturing, or e-frac. Moore is a strong proponent of the former and not a huge fan of the latter.

While conventional fracking fleets use diesel-powered pumps, e-frac systems run on electricity. By using an e-frac fleet, energy companies can reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, but it is hardly a perfect solution. Large-scale e-frac systems have such high energy needs that they cannot be plugged into an existing electrical grid, and this would not be a realistic option in much of the Permian Basin anyway.

The Texas electrical grid is independent of other state grids, leaving it highly vulnerable to unexpected surges in demand. A cold snap in the Lone Star State in early 2021 resulted in the near-collapse of the grid as Texans cranked their thermostats.

“When people say e-frac, they assume it’s easy and quick and clean; they don’t realize all that goes into it,” Moore says. Gas-powered generators are needed to create electricity for e-frac systems, a requirement that can be expensive and inconvenient.

He is considerably more enthusiastic about the emergence of simul-frac, a hydraulic fracturing process entailing the use of two horizontal wells at the same time. “We feel [our] technology is perfectly suited for simul-frac because it amplifies and multiplies that fuel saving,” he shares. The compact size of the Vortex Prime system also means it is a good fit for simul-frac operations.

When asked about the future, Moore anticipates expansion. “I think we’d like to be at eight fleets by the end of 2024. We should be adding our fourth fleet somewhere in Q4 of this year, so that’s a growth of four fleets next calendar year. We’ve talked about all kinds of options but, at the end of it all, we’re focused on making sure we grow in a [controlled] manner and that we maintain service quality and maintain safety. We feel like everything good that will happen, will happen as long as we manage those things.”

The post This Hydraulic Fracturing Pump Fleet Proves its Worth<p class="company">Catalyst Energy Services</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Approaching 70 years in business, Archrock is distinctive for its fleet of natural gas compression equipment, certified technicians, unparalleled customer service, safety culture, and forward-thinking sustainability initiatives. Along with long-time partnerships with original equipment manufacturers and distributors, Archrock lives by its motto, “Our Time Is Your Uptime®.”

Superior services
Since its founding in 1954, Archrock has remained committed to providing its customers with the best natural gas compression services possible. Conducting itself with professionalism, honesty, and integrity, Archrock has grown to become America’s compression services leader, operating the largest fleet in the nation, consisting of more than three and a half million horsepower. “Moving gas is what we know,” states the company. “And as the leader in natural gas compression, it’s what we do best.”

Among the company’s many advantages are its decades of firsthand experience, says Eric W. Thode, Senior Vice President, Operations. Part of a dedicated leadership team, Thode’s experience with Archrock goes back to 2004. Serving in different commercial and operations roles, he was promoted to his current position in 2018. “Virtually all our competitors—especially our primary competitors in the industry—have all started since the year 2000,” says Thode. “No company has the decades of experience we have in the industry, and we have relationships with top customers that extend more than 20 years.”

As a compression services company, the bulk of Archrock’s more than 1,000 employees are operations-based, with over 700 of them in Thode’s organizational chart. From field service technicians skilled at working on engines and compressors on location, to shop mechanics getting units back into operations for customers, to supply chain and administrative staff, Archrock’s team can handle any challenges that may arise.

With a customer base that is the who’s who of the oil and gas space, Archrock works with the largest producers and midstream companies in America. As the leading provider of natural gas compression services in the oil and natural gas sector, Archrock focuses on the midstream segment of the market, with its large horsepower compressor stations primarily supporting natural gas gathering operations. Forming partnerships with leading manufacturers like CAT, Ariel, and Waukesha, Archrock serves customers across all major oil and gas plays in the U.S.

Respecting the environment
A good deal of oil and gas service companies talk about sustainable practices and respect for the environment, but Archrock puts those words into action. A great believer in giving back, the company is also investing in helping its customers reduce their environmental footprint.

In March, Archrock published its 2022 Sustainability Report, which detailed its ongoing commitment to the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. At the time of its release, President and Chief Executive Officer Brad Childers stated: “This sustainability report reflects our commitment to aligning our corporate strategy with our purpose to power a cleaner America. This includes maintaining robust governance practices and integrating quantifiable ESG goals into our compensation plans, connecting our employees’ actions to our pursuit of a sustainable future. As the leader in U.S. natural gas compression, we remain dedicated to our critical role in transporting affordable and cleaner energy for the benefit of America and the world, and to continue doing so in a safe and environmentally responsible way.”

Some of the highlights in the 45-page report include Archrock achieving “a 12 percent year-over-year reduction in 2021 Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO₂ emissions intensity,” investment in electric drive compression horsepower, developing a unique patent-pending methane capture technology, and securing minority investment in a methane-emissions monitoring company.

“For years, we’ve been doing the essentials, like recycling and things of that nature,” says Thode, “but an area where we can have a big impact is in electric motor drive packages.” Focusing on large horsepower compressors between 400 hp up to 5,500 hp electric motor drive packages, Archrock keeps adding to its fleet to keep up with customer demand.

In April of 2022, to further its commitment to sustainability, Archrock acquired a minority equity stake in ECOTEC International Holdings LLC (ECOTEC), a worldwide leader in methane notification, identification, and qualification (NIQ). The move will enable ECOTEC to get its products into the oil and gas arena. “They are the only company that has all three aspects of the NIQ,” states Thode. “A lot of companies are into notification, and some are into identification, but no one has a suite of products that deals with notification when there is an issue, identification of the issue, and then the ability to quantify how large the issue is.”

Archrock is investigating how to take methane leaks and put them back into the gas stream. The result is a patent-pending product—known as the Methane Mitigation Skid—that gathers up certain operational losses of methane and re-injects them back into the stream of gases being compressed. Customers can then sell the captured gas that would have otherwise been released into the environment, thereby realizing dual benefits. Additionally, Archrock is looking into CO₂ capture and sequestration.

Closer to home, the company is focused on other ways to preserve the environment. This includes reducing the amount of driving its fleet of vehicles through telematics. A combination of telecommunications and informatics, telematics technology gathers real-time data and uses GPS. Through telematics, Archrock can send the nearest vehicle to customer sites being provided compression services by the company, reducing drive time and saving gas. And through telematics on compression units, the Archrock team monitors pressure, temperature, and more, and can react immediately if there are any issues.

A strong team
In 2022, Archrock was named one of Houston’s Leading Companies in the Houston Chronicle 100, with good reason. Fostering a company culture of respect and work-life balance, Archrock believes in the “whole employee experience.” This includes Friday work from home days at the Houston office and various bonus programs.

In support of the broader community, Archrock’s charitable initiatives include the Houston Food Bank, Toys for Tots, and employees maintaining a two-mile, highly trafficked stretch of a Farm to Market road near its headquarters through Texas’ Adopt-a-Highway program. “The family atmosphere and camaraderie that both garners participation in these charitable endeavors and that is exhibited during them means a lot,” comments Thode. “We always focus on our employees. Great ideas, including each of those employee-sourced charitable opportunities, percolate up from our employee base rather than originating or being mandated from on-high. At Archrock, opinions and ideas count and great ideas are put into action. Archrock employees recognize that and appreciate being a big part in moving the company forward.”

To help start all new field-based employees off on the right foot, Archrock provides a two-week orientation and technical training program before stepping into the field. All aspects of this training are infused with the Archrock safety culture and its Target Zero safety program. A source of pride for Thode, he tells each NAFO (North American Field Orientation) class that the only thing keeping him up at night is making sure that every employee goes home exactly the same way they arrived in the morning.

“Safety is more than a slogan or something we paint on a wall, talk about at a meeting, or put into an annual report,” he says. “I don’t want an employee to even [need to] get a Band-Aid; our Target Zero program is going to make sure we have the policies, procedures, and personal protective equipment (PPE) in place focused on keeping people safe. This includes staff, customers, customer locations, our equipment, our customers’ equipment—I want everything protected every day.”

Future goals
Not content to rest on its soon-to-be 70-year history, Archrock’s executive team continues to build a resilient business to ensure the company’s success in the years to come. This includes further embedding sustainability in the company’s corporate strategy and everything it does.

For customers, Archrock will continue adding electric motor drives to its fleet and evaluating ways to capture and sequester carbon and mitigate methane leaks.

“You can retrofit your current fleet to meet those needs, or you can continue to move into the electric motor drive direction,” explains Thode. “We’re currently exploring parallel paths, because you don’t just replace a billion-plus dollars’ worth of equipment overnight, so that has to be a gradual transition.”

Along with adding additional products and services to its existing contract compression and aftermarket service business, Archrock plans to keep building its team. “We are confident we are the most experienced, most financially sound compression services company in the business, and we intend to continue to build on that.”

The post Leading the Way<p class="company">Archrock</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

With its important historical background and an exciting future ahead of it, the airport is unique in the aviation world—and unique is something it has been, in one way or another, since it was built in 1939.

To learn more about the airport, we spoke with Graham Ingham, CEO of the Airport Authority, and Nancy Paish, the airport’s Director of Business Development and Communications, who also chairs the Board of Directors of Tourism Red Deer, a marketing agency with close ties to the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) and TIAC Alberta.

World War II role
In the darkest days of the Second World War, the airport, then known as Number 36 Service Flight Training School, was an invaluable secure resource for Allied forces, where RAF and RCAF fighter pilots trained as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP).

It closed at the end of the war but re-opened in 1950 as Number 4 Flying Training School as part of NATO’s training operations during the Cold War. Eventually, it became Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Penhold, which closed in 1995.

In 2004, the 10-acre base site was renamed Mynarski Park in honour of Victoria Cross recipient Andrew Mynarski, and managed by the Harvard Historical Aviation Society, which has collected and preserved artefacts related to the former training schools and army base, including a Tiger Moth and an Airspeed Oxford airplane, which are being restored.

Strategic planning takes off
The closure of CFB Penhold in 1995 by no means spelled the end for the noble little airport that had performed such an important role so long ago. On September 1, 1999, the newly created Red Deer Regional Airport Authority (YQF) assumed ownership of the airport from the Province of Alberta, with the City of Red Deer and Red Deer County as key stakeholders, and began operating it as a not-for-profit organization.

In 2019, after 20 years of operation, and sensing new opportunities, Ingham and the Board of Directors got together to develop a strategy to become “the aviation gateway and key economic driver for central Alberta,” while continuing to contribute to the community. That may seem overly ambitious considering that Red Deer is sandwiched between the Calgary and Edmonton airports, which Ingham describes as “two behemoths,” but he goes on to explain how the situation presents both challenges and opportunities: “Their operating costs are significantly higher than ours, they are not as nimble as we are, and they have other problems associated with operating a big airport,” he says. “I think that we are the only airport in Canada that has actually lowered its landing fees, the likes of which were decreased by five percent this year.

This satisfying situation is due in part to Red Deer’s lower operating costs, but mainly to excellent financial management. For example, reporting to the AGM in 2022, Ingham noted that despite the lingering hangover of COVID-19, the airport was able to maintain revenue and decrease expenses, finishing the year with an $85,000 surplus.

“We have a strict no-debt policy at the airport, something we’re very proud of and important to our strategy because you can’t operate a low-cost airport if you are carrying a mountain of debt,” Ingham shares. “We have a unique strategy and value proposition as a self-proclaimed low-cost airport that will resonate with many aviation and aviation related businesses such as low-cost carriers, who need this type of support in order to thrive. “The low-cost airport strategy is unique to Canada, and we’re very optimistic about our long-term future by adopting this strategy.”

Ingham indicates that if the strategic plan called for the airport to be bigger just for the sake of being bigger, or to try to take business from Calgary and Edmonton, that wouldn’t work. Instead, the plan calls for Red Deer to develop differently, to capitalize on the strengths it has that large urban centres don’t have, such as the availability of runway-adjacent land which, once fully developed, will generate hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue, and that’s what we’re excited about.”

Three phases, one strategy
Even though technically speaking, the Red Deer Regional Airport is currently going through a three-phase expansion plan, it’s really a strategic development plan that will allow the airport to reach its potential.

In 2022, the airport received grants totalling $15 million (from the Province of Alberta, County of Red Deer, and City of Red Deer) to widen the main runway from 30 meters to 45 meters, strengthening the main taxiway and apron, thereby making it wide enough for larger aircraft such as 737s from low-cost airlines, cargo and charter operators.

Phase One—widening the main runway—was completed this past July, and work is beginning on Phase Two, which involves expanding the terminal building by 10,000 square feet to accommodate 189 domestic and international passengers at one time.

Now, with $37.5 million in funding from the Province of Alberta, the airport authority is looking to begin Phase Three in 2024, which will expand Airport Drive south of the airport all the way to the north of the airport. When completed in 2026 it will provide the airport with the ability to attract and support many new aviation and aviation-related businesses such as cargo, aircraft manufacturing and heavy aircraft maintenance repair and overhaul. With over 800,000 square metres available, the sky’s the limit.

Centre of aerospace business
“There is tremendous support for business in general from the province, and especially for the aviation and aerospace sector, which they’re interested in growing,” Ingham tells us. “We have an extremely low corporate tax rate in Alberta and a lot of opportunities for support, particularly here in the Red Deer region. We have land that’s not readily available anywhere else in Canada because most of the land around airports has been fully developed. When we set a goal to make Red Deer a centre for aviation business, we came up with something unique.”

Currently, the Red Deer Regional Airport site is home to over 20 aviation-related businesses, including one flight school and two aerial firefighting businesses, which together employ over 250 people. Now, with the widened runway, larger terminal building, and runway-adjacent land available for development, many more aerospace businesses—manufacturing, avionics, maintenance and repair, cargo, charter services, and ULCC (Ultra Low-Cost Carriers) for passengers—will have the opportunity to buy or lease airside land for as little as two dollars per square meter.

Because Red Deer is a low-cost airport, this comes with competitive aviation service rates, no business tax, and safe, secure, and efficient service.

Major event destination
Meanwhile, when Paish is not working to attract new business, she’s thinking about the role the airport can play in making the City of Red Deer and the surrounding county into an event destination, something that goes hand-in-hand with having an airport close by, which she says will have a significant tourism impact and increase its potential as an economic driver.

“We’re looking at attracting cultural and sporting events, both national and international, because we have the infrastructure from 2019 when we hosted the Canada Winter Games,” she says. “We have the ski hill, the arena, and some lovely facilities to host conferences, exhibitions, and concerts. We’ve had rodeos, agricultural exhibitions, and ‘farm to fork’ experiences. For the last three years, we’ve hosted the International Powwow.”

This three-day event, scheduled for October 13-15, 2023, regularly attracts more than 7,000 people and highlights Indigenous traditional music, dance, storytelling, and educational events, as well as showcasing First Nations’ businesses and entrepreneurial spirit.

She goes on to say that while Red Deer doesn’t have the same capacity for huge events as Calgary and Edmonton, it can still serve as a secondary event centre for them and provide cargo services or facilities for practice, since they are only 90 minutes away.

When we spoke again on June 1, Paish was excited to be going on a trade mission through the Government of Alberta to the International Air Show in Paris. This is the world’s largest event dedicated to the aviation and aerospace industry and includes trade delegations from seven other countries and with representatives from over 2,500 aviation-related businesses.

“I’ll be connecting with as many of them as I can, to promote the expansion project and invite them to Red Deer,” Paish says, “so they can see for themselves the wonderful opportunities for business development that we have to offer.”

The post Low-Cost Airport, Airside Land – What’s Not to Love?<p class="company">Red Deer Regional Airport</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

TCD is eager to attract a diverse industry portfolio to the area to encourage a robust regional economy. Target industries include advanced manufacturing and precision metals, plastics and chemicals, oil and gas support industries, agribusiness and food processing, health services, and data centers.

The association advocates for local entrepreneurs with hands-on support and services that will help their businesses expand. Its help can save these businesses “countless hours of research and analysis,” with their one-stop shop approach, Diedrich points out, and all of this saving comes free with no strings attached.

TCD supports the community as a whole by coordinating workforce programs, responding to requests for proposals, managing communications, applying for incentives, participating in housing development, and more.

The Nebraska Panhandle enjoys an ideal location in the heart of the United States. The cities of Scottsbluff and Gering are perfectly positioned for cost-effective product distribution to fifty million customers within a day’s drive. In addition to four-lane highways, the community boasts rail service through Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and Union Pacific. And with two runways and thousands of flights annually, the Western Nebraska Regional Airport in Scottsbluff keeps residents connected to the rest of the country with direct flights to Denver, Colorado.

The area is dubbed the Twin Cities because Scottsbluff and Gering have grown together to form the seventh-largest urban area in Nebraska. “Our region, known as the Western Nebraska Panhandle, has everything you need and is close to everything you want,” Diedrich summarizes.

CNBC ranks Nebraska the seventh-best state to live in, he notes. The region is known for its Midwest lifestyle, which is famous for its spirit of cooperation and close-knit communities. Within this neighborly region, the Twin Cities area boasts particularly strong attributes.

Recreational opportunities abound, especially for nature lovers and outdoor adventurers. The unique and stunning local landscape includes Chimney Rock, Lake Minatare, Wildcat Hills, Monument Valley Pathway, and Scotts Bluff National Monument.

The community hosts a range of events, from Old West Balloon Fest, Oregon Trail Days, and Bands on Broadway to Scotts Bluff County Fair and Rubidoux Rendezvous gravel bike race. Families enjoy local attractions like the Riverside Discovery Center Zoo, water parks, swimming pools, golf courses, disc golf courses, splash pads, and numerous lakes and parks.

The region has also been home to the national hot air balloon races for the last three years in a row and has just been selected to host the first-ever U.S.A. gravel cycling national championship races. The event is expected to bring thousands of cyclists and tourists to the Nebraska Panhandle over the next two years.

In addition, several new recreational projects have recently been completed. A new section of the Monument Valley Pathway has just opened that includes a pedestrian bridge over Highway 26, connecting the north side of the path with the rest of the city. The path now stretches a total of 7.1 miles, meandering along the scenic North Platte River and the historic Scotts Bluff National Monument.

Gering is home to the Western Nebraska Pioneers, a community baseball team whose high-level games provide a popular pastime for families during summer evenings. The newly remodeled Oregon Trails baseball and 23 Club baseball complexes are all set to host multiple baseball and softball tournaments.

Downtown plazas in both Gering and Scottsbluff have recently undergone exciting renovations. The new plaza designs will create a more welcoming space for community events, Diedrich explains. Scottsbluff’s revamped plaza was already home to the Bands on Broadway Summer Concert Series, the 18^th Street Farmers’ Market, Best of the West Beer and Wine Fest, and the Cinco De Mayo Celebration. Now, there will be a permanent stage near the great lawn, as well as fire pits, picnic tables, shade trees, and curved brick archways over the two plaza entrances.

The region’s location places it in the heart of one of the United States’ fastest-growing economies but with a low cost of living. In fact, Scotts Bluff County’s cost of living is 19.8 percent lower than U.S. averages, Diedrich shares.

This cost savings extends to utilities. Nebraska is the only state with completely publicly-owned utilities, which boost reliability and affordability, he says. He explains that Nebraska residents pay some of the lowest electric rates in America because non-profit, cost-of-service-based rates lead to prices that only include the cost of generating and delivering power. In addition, twenty percent of the state’s power comes from renewable sources.

The region’s superior services include remarkably reliable and affordable internet. The area boasts faster broadband speeds than many metro areas due to a lower population density.

Another advantage is relatively low real estate prices on everything from vacant land and residential homes to commercial buildings. The rental costs of commercial and residential properties are also lower than in many other areas of the country, and TCD has a housing loan fund of $3.3 million to spur residential development in the region. The money has successfully funded fifteen projects in the last year alone. Current projects include a new townhouse development in Scottsbluff and a container home community in Southeast Gering. The latter will include seventy-five residential lots, multiple container home layouts to choose from, and community greenspace.

There is an “extreme demand,” for housing in the region, Diedrich says, and TCD is eager to help the community keep up to increase the local workforce, which will then help attract even more business to Western Nebraska.

Another factor that sets the region apart is its entrepreneurial spirit. Small, family-owned businesses abound throughout the community. Several organizations assist local entrepreneurs in promoting a stronger economy, including the Nebraska Business Development Center. Here, certified consultants help startups, established businesses, and entrepreneurs with everything from sales, financing, and planning to transitioning, training, and more. In 2020, the center served over 2,000 Nebraskan clients, creating or saving more than 250 jobs and generating over $40 million in business investment, says Diedrich.

The TCD eCenter, meanwhile, is an incubator that helps startups, existing businesses, and entrepreneurs access resources so they can reap the full benefits of available services. Co-working spaces are available, as well as coaching and other readiness tools.

An extension of the innovative eCenter, the Entrepreneur Kitchen provides food entrepreneurs with a commercial-grade space to turn their vision into a business. This resource means that start-ups will not be stymied by the cost of a commercial location; instead, they have easy access to a newly remodeled space complete with new stoves, ovens, large preparation spaces, and storage space. The goal is to provide startups with “every chance at success,” Diedrich says.

There should be plenty of new opportunities for these startups to explore now and into the future. “The future of our community is bright,” Diedrich says, and TCD will be there every step of the way to make sure that businesses can take advantage of these upcoming opportunities.

The post An Ideal Place to Live and Work<p class="company">Twin Cities Development Association</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Polyvision got its start in 1954 in Alliance, Ohio, producing ceramic-coated steel for building exteriors. Around 1970, Polyvision introduced CeramicSteel to the education market, creating whiteboards that would become the premier choice to replace chalk boards and other writing surfaces.

Vice President of Global Marketing and Sales Kevin Taney asserts that Polyvision’s product now “spans two billion square feet of corporate, education, and public spaces globally.”

Polyvision is the only provider of the CeramicSteel material in North America, and its primary use now, as when it began in the 1970s, is for writing surfaces where it is “the choice surface for K-12 schools,” Taney explains. Hard-wearing CeramicSteel is also used as a wall solution for offices, metro stations, and airports.

Taney explains that Polyvision’s premium writing surfaces are superior due to their durability and clarity, tougher than alternatives like melamine or painted steel and clearer and less reflective than glass. CeramicSteel is also used for such purposes as digital printing on coils since the material has roughly the thickness of a fingernail but a print can be baked directly into the ceramic. Whereas other digital printing applications typically layer the material on top of a surface, this method guarantees durability for decades.

Taney is proud that Polyvision has been a people-first organization since its inception. After nearly 50 years, the business was acquired in 2002 by Steelcase, one of the largest office supply manufacturers in the world, before being sold to investment company Industrial Opportunities Partners in 2020. Throughout these moves, the core values of the business remained as strong as ever.

“We stay true to our people and our guiding principles,” Taney affirms, and this includes encouraging a long-term culture among its workers, some of whom have been here for 30 to 40 years.

Held on a similar level of importance is sustainability—but the company approaches it a bit differently from its peers.

“Limiting our current environmental footprint is important to us,” Taney states. All of its manufacturing facilities are ISO-certified and in 2006, CeramicSteel also became the first European product to be certified as Cradle to Cradle certified. This certification emphasizes the reusability of ingredient materials and product and water conservation, among other elements. In 2020, the company exceeded a decade-long goal to reduce its ecological footprint by 25 percent through water conservation, lowering emissions, and more.

The company’s sustainability efforts extend beyond protecting the natural environment to protecting people in different ways. It has embraced the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which are seventeen sustainability- and humanity-focused goals. These include eliminating poverty and hunger as well as emphasizing good health, responsible consumption, climate action, and generally calling for greater equity.

Polyvision accepted the challenge from the UN in 2022 and aims to become an SDG Pioneer by 2025. Its business-wide attention will be on improving well-being at work, reducing its electricity consumption, and continuing to move toward more sustainable materials and more sustainable use of those materials.

Currently, Polyvision is concentrating on promoting its CeramicSteel surface in its primary market of education while continuing to educate designers and users about the surface and its capabilities. Taney observes that education is still a robust sector despite a slowdown in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic pausing traditional classes. A 35 to 40 percent drop in school construction caused a bottleneck in the industry. Thankfully, construction efforts have come back in a big way since the end of 2022 and look to be returning to normal levels, a good sign for the overall health of the industry.

A great boon for both Polyvision and its customers during the height of concern for COVID-19 transmission was its introduction of hygienic surfaces. Discussion during 2021 was dedicated to how people can work together to save space while remaining separate for safety, so the company introduced a self-cleaning, hygienic, CeramicSteel divider screen called Boundri™ containing silver ions baked into the surface, as silver is a natural antimicrobial.

COVID-19, coupled with supply chain delays in the market, caused what Taney refers to as “air in the hose,” to refer to the disruption in historical flow. Shortages of labor and supplies like steel, in turn, caused customer delays of up to 16 weeks and further disruption in overall construction. These challenges were mitigated, however, and lead times began to return to normal.

Looking ahead to the rest of the year and beyond, the company has robust plans in place for its original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and panel sales channels. Steelcase, is a major OEM customer, so Polyvision will be continuing to push further in that area to create new channels of business and new customers within those channels.

Taney is firm that all steps will be taken to protect the core business of serving the education space, especially with favorable industry headwinds foreseen for the rest of 2023. As a result of recent actions like the acquisition of manufacturer Marsh Industries in 2020, Polyvision is now offering Marsh’s series of visual boards amongst its offerings, proving that the company is still finding new opportunities in the education space.

The team is, however, interested in prospects in emerging channels that will allow more customers to become educated about CeramicSteel. Spaces like digital printing and newer office manufacturing companies are examples of sectors that could benefit greatly from such a product. A new state-of-the-art digital printing machine was recently installed in Oklahoma and will go live in July of this year in tandem with one in Belgium to help raise the visibility of the company’s signature material.

“We see the beauty of CeramicSteel and putting an image onto that is stunning,” says Taney. Polyvision Corporation still sees a great deal of potential in its signature material, and will be spreading the word about it for a long time to come.

The post Making CeramicSteel a Household Name<p class="company">Polyvision Corporation</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Bringing tenacity, curiosity, and hard-earned experience to the industry, Matt Young, President and Chief Executive Officer of Republic Developments, may be a new name in Toronto’s highly competitive property development market, but don’t be fooled; he’s been a rising star and has now branched off on his own, looking to make his mark in some of the city’s oldest communities.

His business philosophy is tethered to doing good and leaving the city better off than he found it, taking on projects he sees as being city-building opportunities. He believes that, by going into any project with an attitude of only reaping as much money as possible from it, developers are less likely to invest in the health and wellness of communities. “When we think about success in a project, we recognize it has to be a financially successful project… but it also has to contribute positively to the community. It has to be an addition and a benefit, not just something that takes away or utilizes what the community already has,” he says.

“It has to add something that all of the stakeholders—local residents, politicians, city staff, purchasers, our team—can feel proud of.”

When it comes to challenging projects, Republic Developments does not shy away from complexity. “We see ourselves as the developer who takes on the most complicated, challenging projects and over-performs. We’re very focused on execution excellence. We’re ambitious. We focus on the details,” says Young. “I’ve jokingly described us as the Navy SEALs of development. You bring us in when the problem is particularly challenging, and we execute.”

His passion for property became evident during a summer vacation from university, when he was a labourer working for an uncle doing property renovations. The results of his hard work sold Young on exploring a career in the property industry where his knack for analytical and creative thinking could bring more of this to life. As he had been particularly fond of architecture since childhood, exploring real estate became the obvious next step. After graduating from Western and eventually completing a post-graduate qualification in property development, he was offered his first position in 2009.

Young joined one of Canada’s leading firms, Lifetime Developments, known for its high-rise buildings of 200 to 800 units across as many as fifty storeys. He learned everything he could by removing “no” from his vocabulary, working as hard as possible, and treating his time there as on-the-job training. He then leveraged his experience to secure his next role with Capital Developments, where he continued learning and establishing a track record and reputation for himself in the industry.

His aim in searching for these positions was to find companies executing large, challenging projects with a small team because, he figured, he would get the most exposure and gain the most experience this way. In both cases these “were big, impactful, high-profile projects that I got to experience at [companies] where there was a small and lean team, so I was able to touch and explore most parts of the business,” Young says. “We were doing great architecture, working with incredible consultants, and I was able to work with the best people in Toronto [and] have a meaningful impact.”

Following his tenure at Capital Developments, Young was eventually ready and fully equipped to become the leader of his own development company.

Today, Matthew Young is a dynamic leader who brings a tremendous energy to everything he does. Navigating a newly formed company during COVID was a daunting task but by hiring a team of bright young minds with whom Young could establish his vision and requirements for excellence, combined with some seasoned industry experts, he struck upon a winning outcome. With eight people on staff and more joining soon, Republic Developments is off to a strong start and growing rapidly.

The fledgling business purchases difficult-to-develop plots with multiple challenges, and one such plot is in Scarborough, near where Young grew up. He went looking at sites to purchase in the area and found one he passed on his school route every day as a teenager.

As fate would have it, the well-hidden site was ripe for development. It is supremely located adjacent to the Scarborough GO station on a line giving access to areas in all directions, and is only an 18-minute ride away from downtown Toronto. After buying four-and-a-half acres of land surrounding the plot, Young managed to get the owner of the neighbouring 20-acre plot to agree to a sale at the end of January 2020. The property came with its own needs, however; environmental contamination, zoning challenges, and other issues have made the development of the property difficult.

Yet, armed with knowledge and expertise, the Republic team knew that this property was ready to be transformed into a 15-minute community with all the amenities that have historically been out of reach for those without cars. The vision for the site is of beautiful buildings overlooking parks and public spaces, with views to Lake Ontario, and access to a new community centre, daycare, a direct connection to a new GO Station, and everything else needed to create a thriving and complete urban hub.

The project is ambitious in an area known to be one of the larger food deserts in Toronto—something the company has plans to remedy by including a new grocery store. Now, all that is needed is zoning permission before it will establish what is likely to be the best thing that has happened to this part of town in a long time.

“In the development industry, I probably know Scarborough better than anyone,” says Young. “It’s has had bad PR over the years… but I know that was absolute nonsense. Cities change and evolve over time with investment, and Scarborough had seen very little investment for decades.” Once on a roll, Scarborough Junction will be one of the biggest developments in the Greater Toronto Area. As an experienced industry player, Young knows that a neighbourhood’s story can be changed, and who better to initiate it?

Another up-and-coming project, Bellwoods House, a 13-storey brick and glass gem comprising 322 units at 111 Strachan Avenue, Toronto, will be a promising addition to this verdant section of the city. The vision with this project is to create a livable and stylish community catering to urban tastemakers, entrepreneurs, and professionals who love being downtown, but want a real neighbourhood feel.

“Given that it is my first project, I wanted to do something timeless—something people would want to live in. We want something that when it is built and finished, will be a very desirable place to live,” Young says. A lot of unexpected detail and little luxuries will enhance the condominiums’ impact. They will be so lovely that Young plans to live there himself.

“The first project we do sets the tone for our brand and for the types of buildings we build, our quality and our reputation,” he adds. Some of Bellwoods House’s best features, perhaps, are the unobstructed skyline and sunset views and access to over a dozen beautiful parks within walking distance—including Trinity Bellwoods Park—only a short walk away. The building will also integrate a gorgeous heritage structure that will add character and romance to this modern but contextual design. But there are also little touches of details that can be found throughout the building. A lobby scenting system will ensure the building smells like a 5-star hotel at all times. Smart technology throughout the building including smart locks, thermostat, and light switch for suites, smart security, and a building app will ensure the lived experience for residents is as seamless and effortless as possible.

Sheltered at the calm centre of these parks, the building is only a five-minute walk from four of Toronto’s liveliest neighbourhoods, namely King West, Queen West, Ossington, and Liberty Village. Retail space, a D.I.Y. bike mechanic shop, a pet spa, co-working space, a podcast studio, and a high-end gym are also on offer at Bellwoods House.

1266 Queen Street West, to be situated in Parkdale, is the company’s next big project, and this is another area of Toronto that has not seen much investment in a while. Republic Developments is champing at the bit to turn this land into another thriving community. Its approach to this project is to leverage the assets that already exist, like an adjacent park, and expand on them to improve the condition for the local community and residents alike. The company will also be creating a community space within the building to serve local residents, though the use of this space is still being determined. To date, public engagement has been positive, with the community recognizing investment in new housing needs to happen, and the team is excited to help shape the future of this gateway to Parkdale.

Young’s choice of the term “city builder” to describe Republic is purposeful, and reflects his philosophy on investing in and improving the communities in which he builds. And sometimes, these investments are in people and organizations that are doing their part to strengthen communities.

Since meeting the founder of FEED Scarborough, Suman Roy, shortly after purchasing the land for Scarborough Junction, Young and his team have seen an opportunity for an important partnership that has helped strengthen and provide support to this evolving community. Roy established the charity to help answer the need for food security that exploded in the wake of COVID-19. Republic Developments supports the effort by giving the charity an industrial warehouse from which the charity’s main distribution depot operates.

In addition, Young came up with the idea of funding urban farming with raised vegetable beds on the property, which Roy established with the help of volunteers. “It’s become an outdoor events space, which was particularly exciting during COVID. The food that was grown went into food boxes that the food bank was handing out to families in Scarborough,” Young says.

The benefit generated from this initiative goes beyond feeding people, however; the site is also farming honey, children are learning how to cultivate their own gardens, and many friendships have been and continue to be born around this marvellous community project.

“As we gear up for eventual development on that property, we will look at moving [the initiative] to [another] location on the site over time. In a perfect world, we will find a long-term home for them in the community. They are incredible people doing great work,” Young says of the project that has grown into six food banks and numerous other programmes since its inception.

In addition to this good work, the company also supports Scarborough Health Network through Young’s work on their real estate committee raising money for the Love Scarborough campaign. He also has a cycling club, UNC, which commits itself to popularizing cycling in Toronto. As an avid cyclist, growing this network is one of Young’s greatest pleasures.

Republic Developments is also looking into establishing its own charity that will work toward providing affordable housing in and around the city. “Obviously, we want to be successful but I care about people,” he says. “I love this city. I grew up here. I want to see the city grow and thrive. But it needs help. It needs investment. It needs support, so I am doing what I can to fill some of the holes I see,” Young says of what he considers to be his moral obligation and his burgeoning company’s trademark.

The post Creating Transformative Communities<p class="company">Republic Developments</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

With a high demand for skilled tradespeople both in Canada and the U.S., these jobs are essential to daily living whether through manufacturing, transportation, or construction, and while there are still widespread misconceptions that a skilled craft is merely a job and not a career, many trades demand technological expertise and extensive training. However, the serious shortage of youth in the trades has left many positions unfilled, with concern rising that this trend will persist as many long-time employees start to retire.

Enticing younger workers is imperative and Lépine Apartments, with more than 60 years of experience in the development of new rental markets in eastern Ontario, has recently created a series of television commercials to do just that. Airing during Hockey Night in Canada to expressly promote careers in the trades, Lépine aims to actively work to recruit more youth into a lucrative and satisfying career.

“Instead of advertising our products, which is building rental apartments, we’ve modified it to promote the construction industry and the various skilled trades there, showing them to a younger portion of the workforce,” explains President Francis Lépine. “Apprentices are the newcomers into the industry, so we’re putting younger faces in the ads and hoping children and young adults in this province realize maybe there’s something else.”

In the last 30 to 40 years, the government, the media, and the school system have pushed for computer knowledge and university education, he says, overlooking the potential and benefits of the skilled trades. Lépine’s television ads aim to rectify this by bringing more awareness to this area of education.

“This is something they encourage very young in school, asking kids, ‘what do you want to do when you’re older?,’” says Lépine. “Children have two years of kindergarten, then 12 years to get through high school, and then you’re telling them to go to university for another five—nearly two decades of a young person’s life sitting on a bench listening to other people telling you things. Basically, they’re coming out of school at 18 years old and nobody has taught them any trades.”

While a university education doesn’t guarantee any kind of career and is still pushed more heavily, Lépine isn’t convinced there’s still a stigma attached to the trade industry.

“The education industry is simply promoting its own industry,” he says. “The higher the degree of education [there is], that increases the workforce and the education system. The education industry is working for its own benefit, not necessarily for the total society and all the different people we need to run a society.”

While Lépine is working to help change that with its advertising, the crux of the problem still lies with governments and educators to continue to push for students to consider the trades, he says. In the 1970s and ‘80s, for instance, Quebec heavily promoted the building of all kinds of infrastructure projects and from hydro dams to highways and bridges, with industry workers at the forefront.

“People building these things spurred people to join the construction industry in that province,” he says. “I think this type of advertising is not too dissimilar than when the Armed Forces used to do serious recruiting aimed at young people.” Maybe the message being sent presently isn’t strong enough, he adds, especially when it comes to the dire need for a construction force in this country.

There’s also a basic lack of knowledge of the trades, with many people not realizing both its financial stability and the ability to learn while engaged in a paid apprenticeship.

“They can go and really start learning and making money right away from the start and they don’t have to spend five or ten years in school before being able to practice their trades,” Lépine says. “It does pay well, and the risk of not having a job in this industry is next to nothing.”

Targeting young people also includes women, says Lépine, who adds that the industry’s technological advancements have made it easier than ever for women to do the work. And when it comes to advertising, it’s also important for young girls and women to see themselves reflected, he adds.

“From doing electrical work to driving equipment, many of the skill sets that a woman can do are similar to a man. The industry is evolving at a good pace, and with the use of hydraulic or electrical equipment, a lot of the big, heavy, manual chores of the past also now have some software adaptation to them so everyone can actually perform most of the tasks.”

When not striving to attract young people to the industry, Lépine is busy with its own endeavours, some of which endorse the company’s dedication to ecological stewardship. For example, large solar panels have been erected on the rooftops of a number of projects, and although still in its first year, Lépine hopes the technology will prove beneficial, both environmentally and financially.

“Hopefully it works out well. I don’t expect it will make a big difference with consumption, but it should reduce it,” he says. “If everything goes as planned, it should be maybe 15 to 20 percent of electrical consumption at least in summer. And the quality of these panels is supposed to last for 25 years, so over the long run, what will be the cost of energy in 10 to 20 years from now?”

As Ontario has come up with a solution for the metering, charging, and billing of power to the consumer for apartment buildings or condominiums—similar to public charging stations which use credit cards with a QR code—Lépine has also been installing a number of charging stations at its projects.

“It’s a pragmatic solution and it’s financially feasible. We’ve been wiring underground garages for electric cars since 2010 and we’re going to add another 400 charging stations throughout a number of buildings.”

On the innovation side, the company has done some amazing work with prefabricated concrete walls as seen at The Normand in Kanata. At this all-prefabricated concrete apartment building, Lépine has created a maritime theme featuring bright, nautical colours that replicates wood siding—complete with woodgrain imprints—and white wood frames around the windows, recreating a typical maritime dwelling.

“It’s an innovation with the quality of the form liners and the placement of different reliefs with form liners, and an application of a five-step paint stain and sealer on the building,” Lépine explains. “We raised the bar still another step with precast, and we’re regularly pushing new frontiers of design to create more masterpieces out of concrete while still using the same quality techniques for long durability but also giving them a different flair.”

Looking ahead, the company will continue to raise the bar in construction while promoting Canada-based production. The pandemic exposed the dangers of relying on offshore supply chains for a wide variety of industries, which is why Lépine is committed to encouraging more made-in-North America products.

“This interdependence on global supply chains puts our countries at risk. We’re dependent on materials that come halfway around the world,” Lépine says. “We talk about sustainability and the greening of things, so why would be bring something from halfway around the world that is more environmentally friendly to get from closer by?”

The company is also encouraging the warehousing of materials to reduce dependence on time-sensitive deliveries of material.

“Construction is like manufacturing—it’s a production chain,” he says. “If you start missing a product here or there in the production chain, the whole thing bogs down eventually. So securing product is important and then having warehousing capacities to have a reserve of material to be able to supply jobs without being so time-sensitive.”

Lépine also stresses the importance of keeping industry within the country instead of “farming” everything out. “Becoming a consumer society will spell doom for a country in the long run,” he says. “No one can just buy, buy, buy, and not produce.”

This decision will also inevitably lead to healthier, thriving communities. “These manufacturers create more vibrant communities where they are, which gives the people in our communities work.”

This ongoing commitment to keeping labour, manufacturing, and supply local is a mainstay of Lépine’s business vision and one exemplified by his pride in Canada.

“We’re in the best country in the world; if you can’t make it happen here, where in the world are you going to make it happen?” he says. “I think often as Canadians we’re a little bit too modest or too shy, but at one point, we have to acknowledge a few things and then take the initiative and move forward.”

Moving forward in this industry means continuing to reach out to youth, educating them, and letting them know the benefits and importance of trades for the future. “Our workforce really is already here,” says Lépine. “Our next generation are here and they can do this. They can work this, but we need to guide them.”

The post Building Solid Foundations for Youth in the Trades<p class="company">Lépine Apartments</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

And no matter the type of work, Galaxy commits itself to building trust by adhering to the highest standards while making the entire process seamless and successful for its many clients.

The reasons for Galaxy’s award-winning successes are many, says Verma, including a seasoned executive team and an experienced staff of about 140. Even with these advantages, Verma points out, there’s always room for improvement, which saw the company embrace the Entrepreneurial Operating System® about two years ago.

Streamlining business through EOS®
“Think about it as a playbook for your business,” says Verma of the system, better known in the industry simply as EOS®.

Described as “a complete set of simple concepts and practical tools that has helped thousands of entrepreneurs around the world get what they want from their businesses,” EOS is enabling leadership teams in three areas: Vision, Traction, and Healthy. Through EOS, all staff get on the same page, increase focus and accountability, improve functionality, and become more cohesive.

Although the company grew during COVID, the pandemic impacted Galaxy in other ways. As with many companies, there were challenges with suppliers and subcontractors. However, one of the biggest obstacles was that employees working at home became ‘siloed’. Operating in isolation, staff were inclined to lose contact with their direct teams and members.

“Every decision we make has an overall impact on someone else’s ability to get something done,” observes Verma. “When I saw silos were being created, I looked for a platform that would help bring our teams back together and make us more focused so we’re constantly keeping on track.”

Through EOS, Galaxy has implemented a three-year plan to define exactly where it wants to be in that time. This is further broken down into one-year plans and 90-day blocks.

Behind the plan and its effectiveness are studies that show that the human mind can focus efficiently on five to eight things for around 90 days. If tasks aren’t completed in that time, fatigue sets in and overall output decreases. The simple act of breaking tasks down into blocks and making employees responsible for some of the metrics sees everyone moving in the same direction.

“It helps us to be proactive, get to a problem, and solve it before it’s too late to solve,” says Verma.

Elevating the experience
Working on projects all over Texas, Galaxy Builders is especially active along the I-35 corridor from Dallas to San Antonio, a stretch of about 300 miles (482 km). Involved in many areas of construction, the company is seeing greater demand for luxury works. “Texas is such a great market to be in, there are going to be ways to get these deals built,” says Verma.

Some of Galaxy’s recent works include Kallison Ranch Apartments, nearing completion, and Westover Hills, which started last year. In recent years, the company has noticed a big demand for more amenities in these community-type settings and has responded quickly to client requests. In years past, complexes had fairly basic clubhouses, but this is no longer the case, a trend that only accelerated during the pandemic. With more people working at home from their apartments, the need for more ambitious clubhouse amenities close by increased.

“On the market-rate side, we’ve noticed a big shift in how clubhouses are being built. Now there is what’s called an ‘amenity war’ from project to project, with what they can do to draw their tenants to the property,” says Verma. “We used to build clubhouses on an average of 5,000 to 6,000 square feet; now they’re 10,000 to 15,000 square feet.” The clubhouse at Westover Hills is about 13,000 square feet, with 30-foot ceilings, and features a daycare as part of its amenities.

Along with daycares, many clubhouses now boast gyms, lounge areas, pool tables, wine bars, ping-pong tables, and more, drawing people out of their units where they can meet their neighbors and feel a sense of belonging.

Similarly, grounds are also offering much more, like pickleball courts, dog parks, improved landscaping, pools, and bocce ball courts. Some clubhouses even feature special rooms to handle Amazon deliveries, and valet services that will take delivered parcels directly to residents’ units.

In addition, tenants are willing to pay for on-site amenities like gyms, wine bars, and daycares if it means they don’t have to leave the property.

“These are three-story garden walk-up projects,” says Verma, “anywhere from 10 to 15 buildings on a project. Each building will house roughly 24 units. You have stair access to get up to your unit, but the clubhouse is a standalone and the focus point of the project. So the buildings are all centered on the clubhouse itself.”

Finishes, too, are being elevated. In years past, basic finishes like laminate countertops were the norm. That’s no longer the case, as Galaxy sees the demand for thick granite counters rise. “Everything is about touch and feel, and everyone is looking at how to differentiate between themselves and the project down the street,” says Verma.

Excellence wins awards
Galaxy was founded in 1991 by Arun Verma. With Neilesh Verma building on his late father’s legacy, the company now is not only growing but thriving, thanks to its dedicated clients and staff. Core values like loyalty, trust, and integrity have never dimmed, even through COVID.

“Pre-COVID, our revenues were anywhere from $100 million to $150 million. Coming out of COVID, we were at $240 million. This year, we are projected for $275 to $300 million,” shares Verma. “We’ve stayed strong through it all, not just in terms of revenue and profitability, but in the value and trust our partners in the industry have for us,” he says.

“They’ve all stood behind Galaxy—clients, subcontractors, architects, and vendors. We see [those relationships] as the greatest priority to manage. And if the dollar is there at the end of the day, that’s also great.”

Praised by customers and respected by industry peers, Galaxy Builders has received dozens of awards over the decades. One of the Top 50 Privately Owned Companies in San Antonio, the company has been consistently recognized as among the Top 10 Largest San Antonio Building Contractors, according to the San Antonio Business Journal.

In addition, just some of the recent awards presented to the company by Associated General Contractors (AGC) include Outstanding Construction Awards for the Village at Roosevelt (2022), Aspire at Live Oak, and The Tobin Estate Apartments (2021). In 2021, Galaxy received Excellence in Construction for Edge & Stone Apartments from the Associated Builders (ABC), and the San Antonio Business Journal ranked the business Number 12 among the Fastest Growing Private Companies.

Prioritizing culture
While some builders like to see themselves as progressive, Galaxy has been ahead of the curve for 32 years. With a focus on recruitment, talent management, and growth within, the business has a team culture of respect and equality.

“We have female project managers,” says Verma. “Our Chief Operating Officer, Cara DeAnda, is female, and the majority of our back office, accounting, and support staff are women. At the end of the day, we look at each person regardless of race or gender. If they are qualified, they are qualified, and if they fit in with our core values and that family-type feel, then those are the people we want.”

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