tributes a disproportionate amount of funds to reduce the unfunded liability. Frame says the WSIB probably thinks it can get away with maintaining the rates at the current level because there won’t be the outcry that would occur if they were increasing. As well, employers’ groups, including the On- tario Construction Employers Coalition (OCEC) generally are in favour of the initiative to reduce the unfunded liabil- ity and certainly are happy to see safety performance – and resulting claims – declining. However, Frame said that the high Ontario WSIB premiums, translated to higher overall business costs, will have an impact on project decisions and op- portunities. “It gets entered into the economic equation,” he said. “Other jurisdictions end up with an advantage when WSIB is much more expensive in Ontario.” Concrete infrastructure provider Munro Ltd. becomes DECAST Ltd. Munro Ltd., a concrete infrastruc- ture provider for the construction in- dustry, has announced that following a change in ownership, the company has changed its name to DECAST Ltd. The new name speaks to the com- pany’s core competencies of casting infrastructure products, while ac- knowledging its ownership by the TACC Group and the De Gasperis fam- ily, the company said in a news re- lease. The modernized design of the word mark logo represents the com- pany’s forward thinking and evolution. DECAST Ltd. will continue to oper- ate its 470,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility in Utopia, in Simcoe County just west of Barrie, with plans to grow. The plant is expanding in order to accom- modate a product line of heavy cast tunneling products. In addition, the plant expansion will be used for DE- CAST’s patented superior mainte- nance hole system called the IFC, which stands for Integrated Frame and Cover. The IFC is designed to reduce inflow, infiltration and road deteriora- tion. DECAST chose to redesign the con- ventional maintenance hole system in order to create a longer lasting, more durable, effective system to address the current inflow and infiltration (I&I) concerns and requirements of all mu- nicipalities. “We are particularly proud of the in- novative and newly launched IFC main- tenance hole system,” said company president Silvio De Gasperis. “The IFC is the first major innovation to mainte- nance hole systems in 50 years and warrants the attention of all stakehold- ers in this industry.” DECAST is committed to remaining the largest single combined concrete gravity pipe and concrete pressure pipe of its kind in Canada – and the only one that also produces bridge su- perstructure and substructure, tunnel segments and railway ties. “The rebranding of DECAST repre- sents the company’s evolution and di- rection,” De Gasperis said. “While we remain committed to producing infra- structure and services, we are moti- vated to provide leading infrastructure solutions.” The new name went into effect at the beginning of January and will be implemented across all of the com- pany’s products, services, and com- munications in the first quarter of 2016. Company emails and its website have also changed to the DECAST Ltd. name at decastltd.com. Two of four proponents submit proposals to NCC for Lebreton Flats redevelopment Two of four Lebreton Flats redevel- opment proponents submitted their detailed proposals to the National Cap- ital Commission (NCC) by the ex- tended Dec. 15 deadline, and both include provisions that would support an Ottawa Senators move to an arena in the area. The Senators were directly involved in one proposal, associated with Ren- dez Vous Lebreton Group, that will compete against Gatineau based DCDLS Group (formerly Devcore Group) for the opportunity to develop 9.3 acres near the Canadian War Mu- seum. Meanwhile, DCDLS has pro- posed a concept with “multiple cultural institutions.” The DCDLS pro- posal also includes provisions for an NHL calibre arena. The NCC had offered $75,000 each to the proponents, along with two oth- ers, to prepare detailed proposals. The proponents who did not submit their ideas by the deadline included Clar- idge Homes (which originally pro- posed building concert facilities) and Focus Equities (from Victoria, B.C.), which indicated it wanted to build “an international organization’s headquar- ters on the site.” The NCC had originally set a dead- line of Oct. 31 for the detailed propos- als, but two proponents (the NCC wouldn’t name them) asked for the ex- tension to Dec. 15. The NCC said in a news release that it will review the submissions to deter- mine if they meet the RFP’s manda- tory requirements. If they do, they will be presented at a public consultation on Jan. 26 and 27 at the Canadian War Museum. During the two-day event, exhibition rooms will showcase each proposal, and proponents will make presentations followed by a question and answer period for the public. The presentations will be webcast and live streamed on Periscope to allow Cana- dians across the country to view and comment on the proposals. Canadians can submit their comments by com- pleting an online questionnaire, which will be available from Jan. 26 to Feb. 8, The Canadian Design and Construction Report — January 2016 – 27