Canada’s TOP Contractors Chamberlain leads with lean Integrated Product Delivery model, integrating collaboration and communication throughout the building process Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Hamilton Int’l Airport Millennium Trail Nursing Home, Niagara Falls Canadian Design and Construction Report special feature Established in 1978, the Chamberlain organization evolved from a different way of looking at projects and the desire to understand the construction and operational as- pects of a building while designing it. Through a collabo- rative approach to project success, today Chamberlain is one of Canada's top contractors and responsible for suc- cessful projects across a variety of industries. Beginning with a staff of three and a focus on commer- cial and private enterprise in the Greater Toronto area, Chamberlain has grown to a staff of 35 and a project port- folio that includes institutional and hospitality projects across the country. Chamberlain president Adrian Mauro says his company has always been adept at identifying and adapting to in- dustry trends. “Our projects have evolved and changed over the years as the marketplace has evolved. In the early 2000s for instance there was an expansion of hotel growth in Canada. Now that is slowing and we’re seeing an increase in the numbers of municipal projects.” Considering limited available land and current afford- ability issues, he suggests social housing and mixed use commercial/residential may be the next boom sectors. Whatever the case though, he says Chamberlain will be Blue Mountains Town Hall, Thornbury Hilton Hampton Inn/Homewood Suites Toronto Airport Corporate Centre, Etobicoke ready, both to adapt and to apply its successful construc- tion management methodologies. “Construction practices have evolved over the years to include construction management, design-build, and oth- ers. Each of these methodologies has had its ups and downs as the understanding of each changed and as the projects themselves evolved. Everyone knows the tradi- tional design-bid-build construction methods of the 60s don’t work consistently but not everyone has figured out what does.” Mauro says as projects have become more complex in timing, approvals, design and expectation, the call to do things differently has grown. He says Chamberlain, whose own methodology is modelled more after a lean, simpler version of the U.S. Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), has excelled at meeting these expectations. He says projects today require a process of collabora- tive intelligence with an architect who is open to collabo- ration and trades who are willing to voice their opinions and to share their expertise. “Construction management requires a service mentality. It requires a team with the right attitude from the owner right through to the trades and a prime consultant open and willing to tap into the ex- pertise of each member of the team for the benefit of the client.” The Canadian Design and Construction Report — January 2016 – 41