NEWS BRIEFS BRITISH COLUMBIA Crane climbing incident results in arrests at controversial North Vancouver project Five people have been arrested after being caught climbing Onni’s construction crane on a North Vancou- ver construction site, a local newspa- per has reported. “Alcohol was involved,” Cpl. Geoff Harder, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman told the North Shore News. “All five were arrested and re- leased on promise to appear for a court date in August – for mischief.” Harder said three of the five people arrested were employed as contrac- tors on the worksite, where Onni is converting a former Safeway into a mixed-use development, with condos and a Whole Foods store. The project had been controversial, originally turned down by North Van- couver council. However, the develop- ers redesigned it, resulting in rezoning approval for two towers with 344 con- dos, 40,000 sq. ft. of office space, a childcare facility, and a small number of social housing units, as well as the grocery store. WorkSafeBC has also started its own investigation into the crane-climb- ing incident, and Onni is co-operating, Harder said. CONSTRUCTION ACROSS CANADA BC Hydro negotiates labour stability on $8.8 billion Site C dam project BC Hydro has agreed to give union labour an edge when it chooses the contractors to build the $8.8-billion Site C dam, the Globe and Mail has re- ported. This is a partial retreat from the provincial crown corporation's original “open shop” approach. The umbrella group representing unionized B.C. buildings trades had earlier threatened to redirect skilled workers to other construction projects, if Hydro failed to agree to a project- wide labour agreement. BC Hydro has already awarded one contract to a non-union firm for clear- ing a portion of the dam site. The new deal will give a higher priority to con- tractors who intend to recruit some of their workers from the building trade unions. rate (SAAR) of construction in Calgary, based on activity in May, was 12,504 new homes, up from 8,929 in April, while the six-month trend was 11,991 units, down from April, says CMHC market analyst Richard Cho. Edmonton Arena spurring billion dollar development Edmonton's Arena District has be- come the fastest growing centre of its type in North America – a develop- ment project worth more than $1.67 billion, according to an Edmonton Journal report. ALBERTA Housing starts rise despite oil price crash Despite the oil price crash, Alberta led all provinces with the largest an- nual increase in investment in new housing construction in March, ac- cording to Statistics Canada. The federal agency recently re- ported that total investment in the province increased 15 per cent from a year ago to $937 million. “Alberta’s real estate market is cer- tainly not collapsing the way some ex- aggerated reports would have you believe,” Todd Hirsch, chief economist at ATB Financial, told the Calgary Sun. “In May, home builders began work on 34,102 new residential units. That’s up slightly from April, but still down from the average of just over 41,000 per month over the last year. The figures are seasonally adjusted at an annual- ized rate. In other words, it is the total number of new homes that would be built in a year if the current pace of construction were maintained for 12 months.” The seasonally adjusted annualized 10 – July-August 2015 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report “The Katz Group spent $100 million buying land and designing the arena district,” the newspaper quoted execu- tive vice-president Bob Black as saying. “With its partners, WAM, the Katz Group is building a $300-plus million 27-storey office tower and a $500 mil- lion 60-plus storey office and condo tower,” the report said. “The partner- ship is also building a $75 million Katz Group headquarters and casino next to the arena, a $150 million four-level below grade parkade and at-grade plaza, a $350 million hotel and condo tower and this new $200 million 50- odd storey condo tower.” SASKATCHEWAN Bird Construction consortium wins contract to build 18 schools Bird Construction Inc. has an- nounced that it is part of a consortium selected as the preferred proponent to