It started with the John Hart Generating Station Replacement Project and the concrete work continues for Island Ready Mix with BC Hydro’s current John Hart Dam Seismic Upgrade Project.
BC Hydro and their project general contractors have heavily relied on local suppliers and subcontractors for these massive capital projects. This ongoing relationship with Campbell River businesses has been far reaching and beneficial, the power utility says.
“These capital projects are about maintaining the safety and reliability of our Campbell River hydroelectric facilities that were built in the 1940s and 1950s,” said Stephen Watson, BC Hydro spokesperson. “These replacement and upgrade projects have been successful and that’s partly due to the local subcontractors within the Campbell River area. For critical supplies of material such as concrete, it’s so helpful that our general contractors can source it locally and have high-quality concrete that’s very precise for hydroelectric powerhouses and dams. It’s also about how these companies have responded to our safety and environmental requirements.”
The companies feel they benefit too.
“It’s been great for our company and our staff to be able to work on these large and fascinating capital projects,” says Carly Pisterzi, Chief Executive Officer, Island Ready Mix. “We installed a new and modern batch plant for this project and it provides the best results for BC Hydro, as well as for all of our other customers. The older batch plant is fully functional and is a back-up, so a strong safety net of service reliability. BC Hydro has tight requirements on mixer uniformity and this has allowed us to develop systems to keep everything in tip top shape for product quality.”
Pisterzi says working with BC Hydro has also allowed them to focus on ways to mitigate environmental hazards such as spill prevention from potential concrete truck hydraulic lines breaking around the John Hart Dam site by installing containment tents under the trucks. This has led to similar improvements for other customers and the broader community.
“I sit on the Concrete BC Board of Directors and have used learnings from the John Hart Dam project to assist other companies across the province as well as promote North Vancouver Island as an area of interest due in large part to working with BC Hydro and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. The goal is to promote education incentives to get more people from our area into our industry. We currently have about 14 people working at Island Ready Mix. These dam safety projects are helping to sustain employee retention.”
“I toured the Island Ready Mix facility in April to see the complete operation and it’s conveniently located near our construction site,” says Watson. “Some of the workers are long-time employees and it was great to meet them and personally thank them for their help in making our capital projects successful. Their contributions are really appreciated.”
Aecon Group has been involved in the BC Hydro capital projects since 2014 and have relied on local companies to support their construction activities.
“For about 10 years we’ve been working closely with Island Ready Mix and have a good working relationship with the company and their crews, and the results are paying off,” says Drew Reicheld, Project Director with Aecon Group. “We continue to engage the business community here in Campbell River and do rely on our ongoing business relationships as well as the majorprojects.ca site that was developed by BC Hydro and the Campbell River and District Chamber of Commerce for these hydroelectric upgrade projects.”