Construction Association of Nova Scotia
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Construction Association of Nova Scotia CANS: 145+ Years Of Industry TION ASS C OC RU I T A S T I N O O N C w w c a w. c a n s . n s . CANS - 145+ Years Of Industry Section A: Section D: Milestones 1 - 5 The Organizations The Halifax Dartmouth Construction 1 - 12 Section B: Assocation at 100 The Industry Builders The Halifax Construction Assocation 13 - 14 The Brookfields 1 - 4 Bid Depository The Ropers 5 - 6 The Inter-Relations Committee 15 - 16 The MacMillans 7 - 8 Cape Breton Island Builders Exchange 17 - 18 The Gillises 9 - 12 Construction Labour Relations 19 - 20 The Dumaresqs 13 - 16 Construction Accident Prevention 21 - 22 Honourary Life Members Apprenticeship Training 23 - 26 Ernie Gillis 9 - 12 Defence Construction Canada 27 - 30 Earle Bowman 17 - 18 Adam Folk 19 - 20 Section E: R.C.T. Stewart 21 - 22 Bowman Award Recipients 1 Dean Salsman 23 - 24 Ian MacInnes 25 - 26 Past Chairmen and Presidents 2 John Lindsay 27 - 28 Laurie Stevens 29 - 30 Credits 3 Bruce Gordon 31 - 32 Lloyd MacLean 33 - 34 Bill Reid 35 - 36 John Fiske 37 - 38 Jim Wilkie 39 - 40 Jack Flemming 41 - 42 Bob Todd 43 - 44 Section C: The Pioneers The Hydrostones: 1 - 2 Halifax Reconstruction Tidal Power 3 - 5 Tilt-Up 6 - 8 2010 - 8th Edition 2010 - 8 th Edition 1 CANS: 145+ YEARS OF INDUSTRY Construction Association Of Nova Scotia 1862 The Halifax Builders’ society is formed under the The Halifax Club chairmanship of John Brookfield. 1862 1890 Committees form to discuss wages and working conditions with the unions. This marks the start of a more active Association. 1907 The Exchange is registered under the Trades Industrial Act. 1914 The Constructive Mechanical Trades Exchange is incorporated. Halifax City Hall 1887 St. John Church, Lunenburg The Exchange is registered under the Industrial 1936 1892 Standards Act and the Weekly Pay Act. The name of the organization is changed to the 1946 Halifax Construction Association. An invitation is extended to the Architects 1957 Association, the Engineers Association, and the Halifax Board of Trade to join a Committee to work towards the establishment of a ‘bid depository’. Bedford The Association opens its first plans room in 1958 Halifax and begins publishing the Bulletin. Row Firehall 1906 MacDonald Library 1959 The first job is called through the bid depository; 1914 the Dalhousie Men’s Residence (Duffus, Romans & Single). 1960 The name of the Association is changed to the Halifax Dartmouth Construction Association. Acadia University Hall 1963 The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) 1925 Code of Practice for members is adopted. 1968 The Association name is changed to the Construction Association of Nova Scotia (CANS). A new ‘Construction Centre’ is designed Yarmouth Courthouse (Webber, Harrington & Weld) and contracted 1933 (Stevens & Fiske Construction, Ltd.). CANS:CANS -140+ 145+ YEARS OF INDUSTRY 2 1 SECTION A MILESTONES 1969 The Directors approve the appointment of a Macdonald Bridge Labour Relations Officer to meet the demands of 1955 the province-wide labour negotiations. 1970 The Cape Breton Island Association ceases operations; CANS enlarges to include Cape Life Sciences Centre Breton, to represent the entire province. Dalhousie University 1971 The Cape Breton Island Builders Exchange 1972 (CBIBE) is established to operate a plans room in Sydney. CANS becomes an integrated member 1972 association of the Canadian Construction Association (CCA). The Construction Management Bureau is incorporated, taking over labour relations. The incorporation coincides with amendments to the Trade Union Act which 1972 provides for accreditation in the construction sector. CANS bylaws and objects are rewritten and 1992 approved. CBIBE officially becomes a division of World Trade and Convention Centre CANS. 1984 The Nova Scotia Construction Safety Association 1994 is incorporated with a responsibility for industry 1997 The plans room and head office are moved to safety training. Dartmouth. The plans room begins operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Camp Hill Veterns Memorial Hospital 1998 CANS begins using the internet for an interactive 1987 membership database and for downloading addenda on projects. 1999 The Bowman award -- named for Earle Bowman -- is instituted for companies that have held continuous membership at CANS for 25 years or more. Millennium 2000 The Construction Information Network (CINet) is Centre established over the internet, enabling viewing of St. Francis Xavier plans and addenda from a project database. 2002 SECTION A 23 CANS:CANS -140+ 145+ YEARSYEARS OFOF INDUSTRYINDUSTRY Construction Association Of Nova Scotia 2003 CANS adopts its first strategic plan and vision statement. The Code of Practice is replaced by a new Statement of Ethics. 2004 CANS implements CANSNet launching a new e-commerce enabled website that provides construction project information for Atlantic Canada. 2005 CANS launches its continuing education program. 2006 CBIBE changes its name to CANS. 2007 CANS partners with the Nova Scotia Community College Foundation to launch CANS Office in Dartmouth (1997) 150th anniversary scholarship campaign. 2008 CANS partners with the Department of Education and NSCC to launch Building Futures for Youth, summer co-op education program for grade 11 students Martello Tower 2004 CANS:CANS -140+ 145+ YEARSYEARS OFOF INDUSTRYINDUSTRY 4 3 SECTION A MILESTONES Reprinted from CANS 1993/94 annual report with permission from Bruce MacKinnon SECTION A 45 CANS:CANS -140+ 145+ YEARS OF INDUSTRY MILESTONES Reprinted with the permisssion from The Halifax Herald Ltd. CANS: 145+ YEARS OF INDUSTRY 65 CANS -140+ YEARS OF INDUSTRYSECTION A The Brookfields No history of the building trades, or the development of general contracting, in Atlantic Canada would be complete without mention of John Brookfield and his son, Samuel M. Brookfield. They were instrumental in the establishment of general contracting as an industry, and in organizing their peers into trade associations, predecessors of today’s Construction Association of Nova Scotia. An English civil engineer, John Brookfield spent eight years as a railway contractor in New Brunswick before settling in Halifax in 1860. As one of the first general contractors in Nova Scotia, he played a key role in the reorganization of the local building trades. He was one of the first “master builders” to establish a building firm that integrated diverse crafts under one roof and could contract for whole projects. Others soon emulated him, transforming the industry. By 1862, Brookfield had organized the Halifax Builders’ Society to discuss wages and working hours. Brookfield’s early projects included an engine house, several wharves, some railways and, in 1866, the new Provincial Building. These projects, however, did not prevent him from undertaking, in a series of contracts from the imperial government, what was to be one of the largest military building projects in the British Empire: the fortification of Halifax and its harbour. Totaling over half-a- million dollars (an enormous sum at the time), the building programme included Fort Clarence, York Redoubt, the defenses on George’s Island and McNab’s Island, a John Brookfield 1808 - 1870 magazine, four batteries, the Barracks at the Citadel, three other military housing projects, and a Military Hospital, considered the finest of its type in North America. John Brookfield died in 1870, leaving his twenty- two year-old son, Samuel, to take over the firm and finish building Fort Massey United Church in Halifax. The Brookfield Construction Company would remain an important part of the community for another century, with Samuel as president for fifty-four years. The younger Brookfield continued to undertake building of whatever type and scale required. In an era when city bank buildings were Palaces of Finance, Brookfield built every bank in Halifax but one. He built the Academy of Music (later the Majestic Theatre) in twenty weeks, and other local landmarks, such as the Post Office, the Herald Building, the MT&T Building, the Y.M.C.A., and the Masonic Hall. His projects included factories, religious structures (including a seminary, a monastery, and All Saints’ Cathedral), educational facilities (including Mt. St. Vincent University), and the Northwest Arm Memorial Tower (the Dingle). He built, and operated, the Halifax Graving Dock, sparking the development of Halifax’s North Old Post Office End. Unusual for his day, Brookfield also undertook 1868 CANS:CANS -140+ 145+ YEARS OF INDUSTRY 16 SECTION B Founders of CANS building projects outside the province, including the Bank of Nova Scotia in St. John, New Brunswick (1877) and a number of buildings in St. John’s, Newfoundland following the Great Fire of 1892, including the great Anglican Cathedral. Brookfield worked on highly innovative projects, as well. The Queen’s Hotel in Halifax, for example, was a showcase for new building materials. Built largely of brick, it was supported by steel girders, with its entire flooring of concrete with new manufactured tiles, and its walls of cement on expanded metal wire. Like his father, John, Samuel Brookfield also provided leadership to his peers. In 1889 he organized a new Builders’ Association, which discussed wages and working conditions with the unions. The Association continued to represent general contractors until 1914, when Brookfield was again instrumental in reorganizing the Association as the Constructive Mechanical Trades Nova Scotia Cotton Company Exchange. The Exchange would lead, following two more 1883 name changes in 1946 and 1960, to the establishment of In addition to running his construction company, Brookfield also managed the Halifax Dry Dock and established a ship salvaging and repair business. This business repaired over 400 ships in the 17 years from 1897 to 1914, the year in which he built the first steel vessel in Halifax. Brookfield also formed the Canada and Newfoundland Steamship Company, serving as its president, as well as the president of Maritime Telegraph & Telephone Co., president of Eastern Canada Savings and Loan Co., and a director of four other companies.