BC Contractors Looking for JV Partnerts

Hosting both the 2010 winter Olympics and Paralympic games is both good and bad news for greater Vancouver and British Columbia

It's, good news because there are projects worth $10 billion to be built in the next five years, but the bad news is there are too few contractors and skilled workers to build everything that's planned.

That's why provincial officials and builders are seeking partnerships with American firms to meet the challenges of their abundance of capital projects, they told a gathering of more than 120 Pacific Northwest builders at the Snohomish County Workforce Development Council's program in mid-March.

The labor shortages will become even worse as the province's economy becomes even better, said Manley McLachlan, president of the British Columbia Construction Association, which represents more than 1,700 non-union and union contractors.

The Olympics facilities include "villages" in Vancouver and at the Whistler skiing venues; an expanded Whistler convention center; an addition to the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre; a Whistler Athletes Centre; renovations to several curling and skating facilities; and a new Richmond Speed Skating Oval.

In addition to the Olympics facilities, billions of dollars will be spent by 2010 for rapid transit between the airport and Vancouver, port and highway projects, electric power facilities, new buildings, oil and gas projects and general infrastructure.

"But there already are anticipated projects worth an estimated $65 billion beyond 2010, including infrastructure, dams, highways, hospitals, community centers, gas pipelines, a wind-power project and revitalized coal mines," McLachlan said. "The Olympics are just a small part of what needs to be built in British Columbia."

David Beck, secretary-treasurer of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association, told the group "over the next six years British Columbia will see a quadrupling of capital projects, an exciting challenge but daunting. …I don't know if we have the horsepower to do all of that."

For American contractors being courted by the Canadians, the opportunities for billions of dollars of design and construction work in B.C. are being tempered by barriers they will have to overcome. The hurdles include Canadian regulations and taxes, workers' pay, bonding, insurance, currency exchange rates and navigating border crossings.

"There are plenty of capable engineers and architects in Canada," said Rob Widmeyer, a partner in Seattle-based LMN Architects, who is working on the new Vancouver Convention Centre for the Olympics. "You have to decide what separates your company from others and compete on that basis. Also consider whether you're looking at one project or establishing a presence in Canada for other projects."

His business has found "a lot of regulations and requirements" for working in Canada and warned businesses to realize "even though British Columbia is very familiar to us, it's not just another state. It's another country and there are real differences for those who work there."

Further information on B.C. projects and working in Canada is available on the Internet at the B.C. Construction Association, www.bccassn.com; Province of B.C. Olympic Games Secretariat, www.2010commercecentre.gov.bc.ca.