We know you are busy. We know there is an infinite amount of information out there on construction and building materials. We know that you are challenged every day to make better design, economic, and environmental decisions when it comes to building design and construction. We want you to have easy access to The Facts […]
While Fort McMurray has put the fear of fire front and centre in the minds of Canadians, the fact is that fire, both natural and man-made, wreaks havoc all the time across the country. A couple of months ago, a house fire in Calgary killed five people. A White Rock, B.C. blaze flattened an apartment […]
CCMPA is delighted to inform you that we have a new member. Rinox Inc. concrete product manufacturer is located in QC, Canada and becomes our first member in that Province. Bobby Correa is the General Manager of Rinox and his details are: 3155 Boulevard des Entreprises Terrebonne, QC J6X 4J9 bcorreia@rinox.ca 514-838-0947 www.rinox.ca RINOX Since […]
For disaster-resilient construction, think concrete block. From fire and the forces of man and mother nature • Durable & maintains structural integrity • Competitively priced • Lower insurance premiums • Higher resale value View the November 2015 Fire Ad here.
Canadian Concrete Masonry Producers (CCMPA) and MasonryWorx have teamed up to educate the homebuyers, contractors and the public on the advantages of brick, stone and masonry for home construction. Click here to read the full story.
May 27, 2015 – Marina de Souza, Executive Director of CCMPA, was on hand at the sixth annual Conestoga College Trades & Apprenticeship Awards to present four awards on behalf of the association. The event, believed to be the largest trades and apprenticeship awards ceremony in Canada, was held at Conestoga’s Waterloo campus and recognizes […]
Then build with single wythe concrete block masonry! NECB Energy Compliant Solutions using Single Wythe Concrete Block Construction Buildings constructed with single wythe concrete block masonry walls easily can be shown to satisfy the “Building Energy Performance Compliance” path of the 2010 NECB (National Energy Code for Buildings)…and without need to add expensive surface insulating […]
Code officials ignored it. Developers ignored it. Wood you? Demand concrete block. It was built to code. It had working sprinklers. But as local firefighters pointed out, once the lightweight wood assembly caught fire, sprinklers were simply no match for the 5-alarm blaze that tore through this luxury apartment complex recently in Edgewater, New Jersey. […]
Ms. Marina de Souza Canadian Concrete Masonry Producers Association 1500 Avenue Road, Toronto, Ontario M5M 3X0 October 19, 2014 Dear Marina and the members of the Canadian Concrete Masonry Producers Association, Thank you so much for making Community of Hearts the recipient of the proceeds of your golf tournament. What a generous donation! As you […]
Download Jason Thompson’s report on calculated fire resistance examples using concrete masonry assemblies.
THINGS MUST CHANGE! By Marco Tommassel, President MASONRY TO SAVE LIVES The beautiful season has just begun, the winter was long and hard, hooray for spring! I would like to speak to you regarding a very important subject for me. In the last year, there have been two catastrophes caused by fire in Quebec, at […]
Rethink… Would you really want to live here? The City of Toronto alone averages 1,400 watermain breaks per year, and it’s well-known how hard this past winter has been. All cities across Canada experience these same issues. The mayor of Winnipeg, for example, recently noted that 619 properties had been affected by frozen pipes, and […]
Flames engulf the Résidence du Havre seniors’ home in L’Isle-Verte, in the early-morning hours of Jan. 23. A concrete firewall protected the building’s two-storey addition. Photograph by: FranÁois Drouin , Info Dimanche MONTREAL — In the aftermath of the L’Isle-Verte fire that killed 32 people in a seniors’ residence two months ago, one thing has […]
ONTARIO COALITION FOR FAIR CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES March 18, 2014 All Ontario MPPs Legislative Assembly of Ontario Toronto, ON Dear MPP, Re: Bill 13 – Ontario Forestry Industry Revitalization Act (Height of Wood Frame Buildings), 2013 We are writing you as representatives of Ontario’s construction industry to identify some principal concerns that we have with respect […]
By Ian Harvey, Daily Commercial News March 12, 2014 A war of words is heating up over whether wood should be permissible as framing for six-storey buildings in next year’s National Building Code of Canada (NBC) revision. Adding fuel to the fire is a move by the wood lobby to push provinces to pass “wood […]
By Aaron Derfel, The Gazette January 24, 2014 The fire that engulfed most of a private seniors’ residence in L’Isle-Verte early Thursday morning would probably have caused more damage and fatalities had the flames not hit a firewall, authorities say. The three-storey Résidence du Havre was built in 1997 and, five years later, the owners […]
The sector argues province’s wood-first building policy is flawed By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun December 12, 2013 The image shows a huge logging clear-cut with what looks like a superimposed squirrel sitting in the corner. The caption in the fullpage ad in The Vancouver Sun says: Wood First? Think about it. The ad questions wood’s safety […]
If current deforestation rates continue, critical habitats could disappear within the next hundred years. 53% of land in Canada is covered by boreal forest. 30% of that forest has been allocated to industry. 90% of logging in the boreal forest is clearcutting. The earth loses about 13 million hectares (32 million acres) of forest per […]
Annually CCMPA supports a charity, forwarded by a member, by holding a raffle around the time of our Annual General Meeting and Golf Tournament. Raffle tickets are sold by members. Funds are also raised by selling hole sponsorships at the golf tournament along with a live auction at the dinner. In previous years we have […]
A few weeks ago the Canadian Concrete Masonry Producers Association ran a full page ad in the Toronto Star with a photograph depicting the Oklahoma tornado devastation from May 20, 2013. The event was real. The image was real. And so was the devastation. In Canada, over the past several years, there has been a […]
Build with Concrete Block. Storms. Fires. Insects. All can weaken a structure — and in some cases destroy it if it’s made of wood. Some members of Ontario’s building industry are proposing a “Wood First” initiative. Others are proposing changes to the Ontario Building Code that would allow higher buildings — up to 6 storeys […]
When it comes to construction in Halifax, put safety first — not wood. Canada’s National Building Code encourages the use of different materials in order to optimize building performance. For the sake of public safety, the City of Halifax should do the same. Halifax city staff recently released a report recommending the use of wood […]
Taking a look back at the past 50 year history of CCMPA from inception to present day.
Within hours, images of yesterday’s full-scale testing of commercial strip mall-type structures hit the information superhighway. Photos and video from the showcased testing event feature a dramatic collapse of an unreinforced masonry wall subjected to hurricane force winds while the adjacent reinforced structure stands completely intact, validating one of our industry’s core messages- the engineering […]
In 2011, CCMPA wanted to support a charity that was helping returning soldiers reacclimatize to living in Canada. It was decided that we would to assist an injured person and if we could help with a “Hands Up” project, all the better. “The fund was started because we noticed that the troops in Germany had […]
Masonry is the building material of choice in the construction of 15 duplexes in St. Albert. Habitat for Humanity creates affordable housing for low income families. Read the full article in the Edmonton Journal.
By Mark D. Hagel, PhD, P.Eng. For thousands of years, masonry has been the building material of choice in many regions, with an infinite number of possibilities of pattern and form. Brick and stone are durable materials that never go out of fashion; they have been used to construct castles and cathedrals, pyramids and great […]
Masonry Unlimited. This symposium aims to bring together world wide expertise to address current issues related to masonry in seismic regions and green technology applications in masonry. Papers on research and practical applications to create opportunities for more effective and expanded use of masonry are solicited. Final Call for Papers Brochure (pdf) http://www.CanadianMasonrySymposium.org
Hi Jerry, We are home safe and sound from our awesome Humanitarian Trip. All our projects were completed and houses dedicated. I have attached a picture of the family receiving the Canadian Concrete Masonry’s house. Their names are: Sra Licita Loui Shallo, Sr. Molia and they have one child. I cannot tell you how excited […]
Thursday, January 15, 2009 flames tore through a seniors’ home in Saguenay, Que. The damage was so extensive the three-storey building collapsed entirely. While crews picked through the charred remains of the building, investigators hinted that the fire was likely sparked in the building’s electrical room. Last year, the home passed a fire inspection and […]
To Our Producer Members: Over the past few months, a number of problematic field issues have emerged pertaining to CMU block compressive strengths, required CMU markings, and compressive strength testing and compliance. Because of the oftentimes very unfavourable consequences of supplying under-strength, noncompliant product, affecting the designer, contractor, and producer, and the concrete block industry […]
By Gary Sturgeon, P. Eng., National Concrete Masonry Association The Objective-Based National Building Code of Canada gives too much leeway in what constitutes a reliable firewall, says the author. The 1995 National Building Code of Canada prescribed that all firewalls be constructed of masonry or concrete. The fundamentals for fire performance and structural integrity were […]
CCMPA’s national media campaign prompts consumers to think about the fire safety of today’s home-building materials — and the advantages of building with concrete block. Many Toronto-area residents will recall the city’s top news story on Wednesday, February 20, 2008: A six-alarm fire — one of the worst in Toronto history — that hollowed out […]
The Conestoga/OMTC building is nearing completion with the exterior work being completed by mid-June and interior work reaching completion this week. Please find below some recent shots of the building.
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