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On this episode of The Construction Record Podcast, Daily Commercial News staff writer Angela Gismondi speaks with Dara Calleary, Ireland’s minister of state for trade promotion, digital and company regulation, about the launch of the Ireland-ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Construction Network, an initiative to share products, skills, and innovations between the two nations.

Calleary said while Ireland has traditionally exchanged skilled tradespeople with ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, technological progress now allows the country to also export innovation and knowledge to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, as well as share expertise between the two construction sectors.

He said the Ireland-ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Construction Network will allow construction leaders from both countries to cross-pollinate ideas and share similar challenges and added while Ireland hit economic headwinds in 2008 and 2012 in the time since Ireland has expanded its construction footprint on a global level and has embraced technological change. Enterprise Ireland Americas regional director Aidan McKenna added over 300 of his organization’s clients export to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø at a monetary value of $2.8 billion.

We also have the latest Daily Commercial News and Journal of Commerce headlines as news editor Lindsey Cole updates us on growing concern over the number of temporary foreign workers asked to work at the planned NextStar battery plant in Windsor, Ont. Equally controversial in the Ontario construction space is a recent Supreme Court of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø appeal ruling which decided the City of Sudbury can be considered a constructor in a 2021 dispute where a pedestrian was struck and killed by an employee driving a road grader. The issues at hand are who was responsible for safety on site, quality control and site supervision. The judgment is game-changing, Lindsey said as it raises questions as to who is responsible for site safety on any given project. Lindsey also highlighted a story from the recent Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships conference examining points of failure on the Ottawa LRT project and how future projects can take different approaches to achieve clarity and avoid problems.  

From the west, a massive Saskatchewan potash mine project is making headlines with BHP setting and hitting gender targets far above the usual numbers seen in the construction and mining industry. The government of British Columbia has also issued a Request For Proposals for a new set of standardized designs for small-scale, multi-unit homes with the aim of speeding up construction and reducing costs for homeowners and builders.

You can listen to The Construction Record on the Daily Commercial News and Journal of Commerce websites as well as on ,ÌýÌý²¹²Ô»åÌý podcast section. Our previous podcast with interviews with Interact Analysis senior research director Alastair Hayfield about the downturn in the European heavy equipment market and Jacob Bros. president and CEO Scott Jacob about leadership in times of ongoing crisis are here. Thanks for listening.

Concerns emerge over NextStar’s plans to hire foreign workers for battery plant

Supreme Court Sudbury appeal ruling shocks construction industry

P3 2023: How did Ottawa’s LRT project go off the rails? Panel explores lessons learned

Massive potash mine being built in Saskatchewan breaks new ground for women

B.C. issues RFP for new Standardized Housing Design Project