Page 20 - CEA-Alberta-Innovators-2025-webmag

As industries across the province face
increasing demands for efficiency and
cost savings while maintaining quality
in construction, both of these methods
have emerged as innovative solutions.
APPLICATIONS
Alberta has seen a surge in modular
and prefab projects across various
sectors, especially housing, education,
health care and transit infrastructure.
“We’ve used modular construction
most recently on five supportive
housing projects for Edmonton —
under the federal Rapid Housing
Initiative — where each unit was
a volumetric module built off-site
and assembled on-site to address
constrained schedules,” Osborne says.
Derek Ciezki, a partner with SMP
Engineering, emphasizes modular
construction’s effectiveness in projects
with repeatable designs, such as
dormitories and units of hospital wings.
“The biggest feature of modular
construction is flexibility — it’s like
working with Lego,” says Ciezki.
Prefab classrooms, or “portables,”
are a common sight in Alberta’s
schools, enabling flexible expansion
to accommodate growing student
populations. William Johnston, WSP’s
regional Market Leader, thinks there
are even more opportunities for schools
beyond portables, especially with
the Government of Alberta’s School
Construction Accelerator Program
and commitment to building up to 90
schools in the next seven years.
“There are many misconceptions in
this field — about what is ‘modular
construction’ and that it’s only
applicable to low-cost housing, but the
opportunity goes far beyond this. Those
leading global industry modernisation
are expanding the idea from modular
and simple prefabrication to a carefully
designed kit-of-parts, developed in
concert with the supply chain, and it's
perfect when applied to the education
or healthcare needs we have,” Johnston
says. “To really thrive, prefabrication
and kit-of-parts construction needs
scale where we can take the solution
up to a wide program level beyond a
single project. The process of building
90 schools becomes much more efficient
when you think about standardizing the
design and components.”
BENEFITS AND EFFICIENCIES
Shifting work to controlled factory
environments minimizes weather delays
and labour inefficiencies. This advantage
is particularly relevant in Alberta’s harsh
winters, where on-site construction can
be challenging.
“Anything you can do in the comfort
and climate of your own facility
before it hits the site generally helps
save time, money and addresses
potential safety concerns,” says Rob
Kisney, CEO of CDN Power Pac.
“It puts fewer people on job sites,
making them less cluttered and more
productive overall.”
Osborne says that while the overall
project timeline might remain
similar, the time spent on-site is
drastically reduced.
Talent shortages in the construction
industry also drive the adoption of
these methods. According to Osborne,
20 ALBERTA INNOVATORS