NEWS BRIEFS 2016. Comments received by the pub- lic will be provided to the evaluation committee. AECOM Canada chosen to lead planning, design and compliance team for new Toronto courthouse The new Toronto courthouse proj- ect is moving forward with the selec- tion of AECOM Canada Ltd. as the planning, design and compliance (PDC) team, Infrastructure Ontario (IO) has announced. “As the PDC team, AECOM Canada Ltd. will prepare project documents, including output specifications that will form the guidelines and perform- ance requirements the successful building team must meet when preparing the project’s design. The PDC team will also monitor construc- tion progress and provide co-ordina- tion and oversight during the project’s construction, commissioning and completion, as well as during the tran- sition to the new courthouse.” Urbantoronto.ca reports that the new courthouse will be constructed on the site of a former surface parking lot northwest of Toronto City Hall. A re- zoning application submitted to the city in the fall of 2015 suggests the building “would reach a maximum height of 135 m./483 ft. on the west side and 95 m./311 ft. on the east side of a site which includes the addresses 11 through 33 Centre Ave., and 80 through 94 Chestnut St.” “In comparison, across the street, the 20-storey west tower of Toronto City Hall is 80 m. tall, and Toronto’s City Planning Department will want to make sure that this tower will not be seen rising behind City Hall from most points in Nathan Phillips Square to maintain the purity of existing views. An archaeological dig has been under way at the courthouse site for several months now,” the website has re- ported. IO says that the courthouse, lo- cated steps from St. Patrick subway station, directly north of the Superior Court of Justice, will bring together in CONSTRUCTION ACROSS CANADA a single location several courts operat- ing across the city. Amalgamation of justice programs and services is ex- pected to reduce operational and facil- ities costs, make court administration more efficient, and providing better service to the community. Once the planning, design and compliance aspects are completed, the Ministry of the Attorney General and IO will issue a request for qualifi- cations (RFQ) this spring for a team to design, build, finance and maintain the project using IO’s alternative financing and procurement (AFP) delivery method. Under the AFP model, risks associated with the design, construc- tion, financing and maintenance of complex projects are transferred to the private sector. QUEBEC Can recycled glass improve roads? The École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), City of Montréal, So- ciété des alcools du Québec (SAQ), Éco Entreprises Québec (ÉEQ) and RECYC-QUÉBEC have released the de- tails of a major partnership they say will support research on innovative ap- plications that integrate recycled glass in road construction. 28 – January 2016 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report This common commitment will pro- vide ÉTS with $450,000 in funding over three years to conduct studies and lab- oratory tests on road infrastructures. The Mitacs-Accélération intern pro- gram will contribute $220,000 more to that amount. The research project will focus on developing materials that are more durable and environmentally friendly while giving a second life to the glass containers Quebecers place in recycling bins. Test slabs offered by the City of Montréal will allow for eval- uating the performance of asphalt mixes containing recycled glass. Michel Vaillancourt and collaborators Alan Carter and Daniel Perraton, all pro- fessors at École de technologie supérieure, will look into how post-con- sumer glass components affect the per- formance of asphalt mixes and other materials used in road construction. The research team expects that the glass integrated in asphalt will improve drainage and insulation qualities, therefore resulting in a longer service life for roads. In addition, at the end of the project, ÉTS expects that integrat- ing glass will help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated during asphalt manufacturing. Those are only a few of the points currently under study by the ÉTS research team. Charbonneau Commission tables report with 60 recommendations The commission charged with in- vestigating Quebec’s construction in- dustry corruption has tabled its report, recommending protection for whistle- blowers, reforms to political donation rules and stiffer penalties for law breaking companies and individuals. In her report, Justice France Char- bonneau concluded corruption and collusion are “far more widespread than originally believed.” She said the commission, which investigated the awarding of government contracts and influence peddling in the construction sector, found that organized crime had indeed infiltrated the industry. She said in her 1,741-page report that the government must do every-