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Take a look at the winners of the 2021 CCMPA Photo Challenge!

Resilience has long been a buzz word in construction design and is used in a variety of ways; often without clear definition.  For the purposes of this article, the definition will be derived from a paper by Norris, F.P., et al. titled “Community Resilience as a Metaphor, Theory, Set of Capacities and Strategy for Disaster Readiness”. Norris notes that “resilience is a process not just a result or outcome and resilience is adaptive (dynamic not static)”.

A condo development site in Langley, BC, is being considered a complete loss as the result of a fast-spreading fire from an undetermined cause. Hundreds of homes lost, a school closed and embers started fires up to an entire city block away.

This past weekend saw the devastating loss of a hotel being constructed in the north GTA, requiring over 50 firefighters to extinguish the blaze. The cause of the fire is unknown, but “resulted in the total loss of a hotel under construction on Stirling Crescent in the Highway 400 employment lands area of Bradford West Gwillimbury”.

Recent analyses of climate data, as well as climate modelling, indicate that the Canadian climate is changing and will continue to do so as part of the global phenomenon of anthropogenic climate change. These changes have both acute and long-term effects on many aspects of the Canadian economy, including our built infrastructure. As part of a review of its collection of standards to assess the need to adapt them to climate change, CSA Group identified several standards as high, moderate, or low priority for adaptation; the current report represents a portion of the efforts arising from the review.

Despite a global pandemic, 2020 remained a strong year overall for block in Canada. Typically the business world uses the word “pivot” when we demonstrate the agility to react to changing conditions; however the unprecedented changes last year required a complete overhaul in how business is done. The survival and success that block saw in 2020 was largely due to industry working together to advocate for essential businesses, an unrelenting commitment to safety and continual repositioning in our approach to customer service.

First and foremost, CCMPA would like to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the lives lost and families touched by all of the tragic events over the last few weeks in construction. These events have proven to be a stark reminder that we must work together in an unrelenting effort to pursue safety in the workplace.

2020 has certainly been a year for the books. Despite the challenges that have presented themselves, overall CCMPA and our partners had several key wins.

Happy Thanksgiving! Well, it’s been a trying year to say the least! But here at CCMPA we have been doing our very best to help support and navigate our membership through the calamity that has been 2020.

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