Local construction boom adding excitement for future employment

By Collin Gallant on May 4, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

There’s no shortage of major construction work either going on or on the way in Medicine Hat, and a substantial number of smaller but still notable projects are adding to what will be a growing boom, observers say.

“We’ve waited long enough, and we’ll take it all,” joked John Rodermond, chair of the Medicine Construction Association, on Thursday. “There’s a positive look around town, more so than we’ve see in the last two of three years.

“But we’re still very cautious, and everyone in Alberta is very cautious. It’s better, but we’re not going great guns right now.”

Already topping the headlines are three new hotels, site development for an 11-acre data processing facility, a 1.2-million square-foot greenhouse this fall, a truckstop on Saamis Drive, and finishing work on a new grocery store complex.

That’s not including residential construction, apartment construction, general renovations, city construction and public works projects, or windfarm development that could begin in the fall near Bow Island.

Those larger projects are often managed by out-of-town firms, said Rodermond, but with opportunities for subcontractors. His organization is still awaiting to hear how local firms may benefit from bidding on work.

“As a local association we always like to see local content,” said Rodermond.

There’s some question about whether the local workforce could pick up the amount off work that’s been permitted.

Mayor Ted Clugston said after the Aurora Cannabis facility was announced last month that an economic impact study might be required to determine whether it would spur population growth.

It could require 500 construction workers this fall, then 400 employees thereafter to operate.

It comes after several years of higher than average local unemployment after oil-patch activity fell off steeply.

Mavis Conrad is the job coach at Being Human Services, which for several years has handled a high number of clients looking to branch out of oilfield specific work.

For many, she said, that has meant a move to sectors where skills are transferable, namely construction, trucking or trades work.

“Most of the oil patch people that have come to us are out of the patch and on to other places,” she said, noting that while there is an uptick in employers seeking placement services, to this point, construction firms in general haven’t.

“With the new larger (construction management) companies coming in, depending on what stage they’re at, they’re sourcing their unskilled labour locally,” said Conrad. “My feeling is that (local subcontracting companies) are rehiring the staff that they had, maybe, previously laid off.”

Unemployment in Medicine Hat-Lethbridge region sat at 6.5 per cent in March. Figures for April are due on May 11.

Suppliers and rental companies are also expecting a busy summer ahead.

Bill Phillips is the manager of United Rentals and says that while he is not expecting a record-breaking summer, he has hired staff to meet rising demand.

“There’s a lot going on, and it should be a very good year for construction in Medicine Hat” said Phillips, who adds that major oilpatch projects and activity are still notably slow in the region. From his standpoint, that will probably prevent activity from reaching record highs experienced recently in 2015 and in the mid 2000s, when high energy prices led to residential building booms in Medicine Hat.

Still, the increased activity is welcomed after several slow years, he said.

“This will be a very fair summer for us … but, for a really big year, you need everything going,” he said.