BAC Journal > Major Projects in Newfoundland Benefiting Local 1 Members

Major Projects in Newfoundland Benefiting Local 1 Members

2015 Issue 1
Canada
JOURNAL: ISSUE 1 - 2015

Major construction projects in Newfoundland and Labrador have greatly expanded work opportunities for members of Local 1 Newfoundland. “We are expecting more workers to go to jobsites this spring and summer,” Local 1 NL President John Leonard said. “In order to meet the local requirements of the Project Agreements, the Local through our Masonry College has trained in excess of 100 cement mason apprentices over the past three ‎years.”  


Hebron’s GPS project in progress in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin.

Hebron GBS

More than 300 Local 1 NL members employed by Kiewit-Kvaerner (St John’s, NL) are working on the Hebron Gravity Base Structure (GBS) component of an estimated $14 billion project, the province’s fourth oil platform in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin 350 kilometres southeast of St. John’s. The GBS will support an integrated Topsides deck including living quarters and facilities.

The most critical aspect of the GBS, the 530 slip, has been completed with great success due in part to the excellent work performed by skilled Local 1 members. To date, a total of 14 million work hours have been generated at the GPS without a single lost time incident. Geoff Parker, Vice President of ExxonMobil Canada and Senior Project Manager for Hebron has publically stated that this stellar record exceeds all Exxon projects world-wide.

Local 1 NL members are currently working on the Topsides deck. The project will continue generating BAC work hours and is expected to peak at 500 craftworkers on the site, with integration taking place in 2016.

To the north, work in Muskrat Falls, Labrador continues as Italian construction company Astaldi Canada completes the Integrated Cover System (ICS) structure over the powerhouse of the Hydroelectric Generation Facility on the Lower Churchill River. The ICS is an enclosed structure that will allow Local 1 NL cement masons to pour concrete continuously over the next two years.

In addition, Local 1 cement masons will have a substantial role in construction of the province’s fifth Concrete Gravity Structure (CGS) platform, a $2.5 billion project for Husky Oil in the Argentia area of Placentia Bay. Due to falling oil prices, the project has been postponed for a year.