GlassTalk

At Top Glass in April, Canadian Premium Sand burst on to the Canadian architectural glass scene with an announcement that it was finalizing plans to build a float glass facility north of Winnipeg using high-quality sand from its deposit near Wanipigow, Man. Whether the new facility will produce architectural glass or glass for solar panels remains uncertain, but either way the return of primary glass production to Canada is an exciting prospect. CPS CEO Glenn Leroux recorded a in in-depth interview with Glass Canada editor, Patrick Flannery, to introduce the industry to his company and discuss their plans. The video version of this interview was originally recorded to appear on CPS’s virtual booth at Top Glass. 

Black Canadians have been part of our construction industry for as long as there’s been one, including many Black-owned contracting businesses. Now, a new organization known as the Afro-Canadian Contractors Association has come along to raise awareness of the good work they do, promote their inclusion and fair treatment and to help its members take advantage of the opportunities out there in our industry. Some grotesque incidents at Ontario jobsites last year attracted revulsion across the country, promoting construction leaders as high up as Geoff Smith at EllisDon to call for a focus on eliminating racism in Canadian construction. So it seemed like a good time to invite the president of the ACCA, Sephton Spence, to join Glass Talk to tell us all about the new association and the proud history of Black construction work in Canada.

Jay Polding of SolidCAD joins Glass Canada editor Patrick Flannery to talk about digital twinning. It’s the next iteration of building information modeling, turning the digital model of a structure into a living representation of the building including tracking of system performance, energy use, maintenance schedules, component failures and more. Building owners see their need for information about their assets’ performance growing, and the demand will shift downhill to façade fabricators and contractors in the years and decades ahead. Polding shares his knowledge of just what these systems are, how they are expected to help, and how your company can be ready for this next big trend.

Some energy markets across Canada are now competitive places with multiple providers making different offerings. But navigating these waters can be complicated and even risky without the right guidance. Energy broker Sanjana Bansal works with Anne Folomo and Schooley Mitchell to advise industrial clients on how to get the most zap for their buck when shopping for hydro and natural gas contracts. They have some great tips and some revealing perspectives on this less-understood aspect of our businesses.

Rich is probably the only person in Canada who is both a writer and a glass guy. With over 70 articles under his belt and a new gig as the back page columnist for Glass Canada magazine, Rich also has a long track record as a marketing consultant with the likes of Binswanger Glass, Hartung, Garibaldi Glass, PFG, the National Glass Association and others. He’s seen enough to have some opinions and isn’t shy about sharing them. We get into the exploding market in sneeze guards, the possible future of office towers, the dos and don’ts of marketing a glass business and the forces in this country that are preventing industrial development like Xinyi’s float glass proposal.

We pick the brain of Andrew Dolphin, general manager of glass operations at BV Glazing and president of the Ontario Glass and Metal Association, about some of the issues facing glass fabricators these days. Dolphin is looking with some concern at the city of Toronto’s proposals to require bird friendly patterns on surface #1 of all new windows. He thinks a float glass plant in southern Ontario would be nice, but not necessarily a game changer. He likes his new toys: automated IG lines and a big cutting table. He also likes golf tournaments, but has found some new ways to keep the OGMA relevant during the pandemic. And he likes how the Blue Jays are looking going into the 2021 season.

There’s a couple new CSA standards in town – A440.6 and S478 – and David De Rose is the man with the information on both. A440.6 is a new standard for high-exposure fenestration that covers the right way to install and seal punched windows, continuous windows and window wall above four storeys. We talk about the nifty sealant compatibility chart and maintenance appendix in the new standard. Then there’s S478, which is a durability standard that sets out a method for establishing the expected design life of a building and its components. That one is going to get more popular as more and more projects ask for life cycle analysis to meet embodied carbon standards. De Rose helped write both these standards, and he dishes on what’s in them and where they might be going in the future.

Bonny is back on Glass Talk with crucial information on changes to various federal and Ontario pandemic relief programs. Overall, eligibility is tightening, but some new programs are on the horizon. We also chat about how effective these efforts have been and what is likely to happen to them going forward.

Pandemic response expert Suzanne Bernier rejoins Glass Talk to tell us what we’ve learned in six months of pandemic about the virus, how it spreads and what businesses should do to combat it. We touch on some of the controversies around masks and lockdowns and whether surfaces are primary vectors for COVID-19. Suzanne looks ahead to the winter and the prospects for a vaccine – and the news is not all good.

Back in April, at the height of the first wave of COVID-19, we spoke to Jay McColl, a business representative for the International Union of Painters and Trades District Council 46 in southern Ontario and a journeyman glazier. McColl was at the forefront of the union’s efforts to keep its workers safe and react to the wildly changing situation at the time. He also reflects on his experiences in the industry and what the union is involved in these days to promote the glazing trade and support workers. McColl spent the early part of his career with the union going to job sites to renew cards, so he has some stories!