Scorpio Masonry

Project Profile - Station 6

2021-05-20T14:47:00.000-06:00

Station Square Site 6 in located in beautiful Burnaby, BC. Scorpio Foreman Jake Douglas provided some photos and Scorpio Stone Project Manager J.J. Crowder shares an overview of the project.

Station Square Site 6 is a 56-story residential high-rise with commercial space in the podium. The podium levels are almost fully stone clad with nearly 5,700 panels of varying sizes and finishes. The unique design made almost every part of the project a challenge, but with the help of 3D modelling and many spreadsheets, we did our best during the planning phase to make the process as easy as possible for the crew on site. Panels were ordered cut-to-size directly from the quarry in Portugal. Almost everything is being done on site: trimming stones to the correct size, bending stainless steel anchors to the correct length and organizing panels by area.

The crew on site is doing an incredible job of keeping themselves organized, following drawings accurately, and planning ahead to see issues before they come up.

The Stone Shop in P1 Parkade consisting of an Imer saw with slurry catchment and filtration system.

The first panels, not your average layout. Portuguese limestone splitface and honed stone panels consisting of through wall and virtual flashing channel details.

Hydro mobile setups consisting of one 45' M2 series, 84' P series twin with bearing bridge, plus four smaller single mast 20' P series setups.

A busy hydro platform.

Restart!

2020-11-05T13:24:00.001-07:00

It’s time we restarted our newsletter here at Scorpio; thanks to our Safety Officer Peter for taking the lead on this. A lot has happened throughout this past year. I am extremely proud of the team for how we have navigated our work environments throughout the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. We have dealt with the changing environment well and have behaved like good partners on our sites respecting the guidelines set out for us. As mentioned before, COVID-19 isn’t the only hazard we must deal with. We must continue to follow our Safety Program with care and diligence. Our goal is zero injuries, and for everyone to go home safely each night.

Scorpio continues to be the industry leader in Safety, Quality, and Relationships. This is a testament to all of us and how we continue to handle ourselves based on the strong values we hold in our work environment. The quality experience we provide is regularly recognized by the clients, suppliers, and consultants we work with on projects and corporately. We operate at a different level than our competitors, and will continue to focus on providing the best experience, while looking for innovative ways to continually improve.

Even with all the challenges of this past year, Scorpio has experienced healthy growth. We will continue to be guided by our values, lead the industry, and adapt to the changing environment. It’s an absolute pleasure to lead this team!

Project Profile - Manchester Square

2020-10-30T14:10:00.002-06:00

The beautiful and unique Manchester Square in Edmonton (12016-107 Avenue) was completed earlier this year. With it's distinctive look, it's quickly become a popular spot for photo sessions. Scorpio Foreman Barry Leversuch talks about his experience working on this one of a kind project.

It was once the home of the Brick Furniture Warehouse. The Owner, Anton, purchased it with a vision to create something unique and European here in Edmonton. Well he certainly managed that!

The design is a reflection of something you would find in Amsterdam. The façades are constructed of brick and stucco and are destined to be used for retail purposes.

With approximately 32 different types of brick, mixed with various colours of mortar and finishes, it was a unique challenge matching brick together so it didn’t clash, while adding the right colour of mud and finish.

Thankfully, being given permission to change brick, add a detail or a banding course as needed, (especially when we were short brick quantities) it was never a problem. Anton insisted that we have fun as we basically designed and built as we went.

Garth, the superintendent on site for Apex, was great to work with and entertaining with his old school ways.

My crew did a great job and it’s not often you get Mickey and Dan on the same job.

It was great to see masonry being used to its potential with all the arches and different designs here in our own city. Thanks to Scorpio Masonry for giving me the opportunity to lead a great crew in the construction of Manchester Square.

The only thing I would change would be the name; me being a Liverpool football club supporter, there is a big rivalry back in England between Liverpool and Manchester so being associated with the word Manchester is not my first choice!

There have been several news stories on the piece, with links below.

CTV News - Oct 15, 2020

Narcity - Sept 25, 2020

Global News - May 15, 2020

Alberta Masonry Design Awards - April 12, 2019

2019-04-16T10:53:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year! The Alberta Masonry Council hosted the Masonry Design Awards in Calgary on April 12, 2019. This prestigious event is held every 4 years and celebrates the use of masonry in design and construction.

10 categories were recognized, including:

The AMC Presidential Award
Artistic Use of Masonry
Commercial Building
Educational/Institutional
Multi Family Residential
Single Family Residential
Restoration
Structural Masonry Design
Thin Masonry Veneer – Commercial
Thin Masonry Veneer – Residential

and Scorpio Masonry won 7 awards!

Two Awards for Artistic Use of Masonry

Award of Excellence

Real Time Control Building

Award of Merit

Aga Khan Garden, University of Alberta Botanic Garden

Two Awards for Commercial Building

Award of Excellence

Edmonton Brewery District

Award of Merit

The Mayfair on Jasper

One Award for Multi Family Residential

Award of Merit

St. Joseph’s College Women’s Residence

Two Awards for Restoration

Award of Excellence

Enbridge Centre

Honourable Mention

McDougall United Church Restoration

At the awards ceremony in 2015, Scorpio Masonry brought home 3 awards, including one Award of Merit and two Honourable Mentions.

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook page. For more information about the awards, please visit the About Us page on our website, or the Alberta Masonry Council website.

All About Quality

2018-10-01T11:53:00.001-06:00

What does it mean to deliver a quality project? Quality is defined in its simplest terms as “meeting the requirements” of the specification or the benchmark set out at the beginning of the project through mock ups and submittals.

Quality at Scorpio means more than that. One of our main differentiators is the quality of project that we deliver, past and present. This allows us to separate ourselves from our competitors and provides opportunity on certain projects to negotiate based on our quality and pricing. When a project is executed with high quality, we make a great impression with our client right off the bat. It means we don’t have to spend additional resources to fix deficient work, which can led to project delays, not to mention how we look to the client.

General Contractors and Owners often tell me that they are relieved when Scorpio is on their projects. They trust that we will deliver a quality project and they don’t need to worry.

We shouldn’t take this for granted; in fact we need to continually strive to get better at delivering high quality projects. This is achieved through our project planning, daily huddles, equipment, and most importantly being engaged in our work.

As we work hard to meet productivity expectations, we need to be mindful of the Quality first mentality that sets Scorpio apart. Just recently, we were notified that we are the Consumer Choice Awards winner in the Masonry category in Northern Alberta for the 3rd year running. We have earned our reputation of being a leader in the masonry industry, and need to continue to lead by example.

Going Above and Beyond

2018-03-21T10:21:00.000-06:00

On February 11, 2018 I had the opportunity to attend an event put on by the St. Josaphat community celebrating the recent restoration of their Cathedral. Scorpio Masonry performed the restoration on the masonry and concrete elements on the building in 2016, and the project was a huge success.

Clark Builders was the General Contractor on the project and were also recognized at the event. Dan Papirnik represented the St. Josaphat congregation and spoke to the 300 or so people in attendance about Scorpio’s attention to detail and deficiency free work. One element that stood out to him about Scorpio’s performance was when Marko Woite took the time to spread out a tarp in the parking lot to batch his mortar so it wouldn’t stain the new asphalt. I was honored to accept a Certificate on Scorpio’s behalf for the efforts of our team, and am proud of Marko and the crew involved.

This got me thinking about the role of Business Development which is a fancy term for acquiring work and repeating business with General Contractors or owners that we enjoy working with. This experience with St. Josaphat is the most powerful tool we have in the Business Development space by going above and beyond in a natural way without being asked. It is much easier to sell what we do when the General Contractor remembers from the last project how Scorpio went above and beyond, and I hear this all the time. Everyone in the organization has a role to play in Business Development in how we interact with clients, how we leave our work area, by engaging in our safe work procedures, looking after our equipment, going above and beyond on the sites as per Marko’s example, and the list goes on.

This is just one example out of many where we have gone above and beyond. Moments like this are what strengthens our culture, reinforces our values, and reminds General Contractors and Owners why Scorpio Masonry is the masonry contractor of choice.

Volunteer Evening at the Mustard Seed

2018-02-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Thank you to our volunteers! On Tuesday, February 27, 2018 the Scorpio team came together for an evening at the Mustard Seed, preparing and serving dinner for the community. This was Scorpio's fourth year participating in the Mustard Seed Evening Meal Program, in which a company or group sponsors a meal and comes in to prepare and serve it. Thank you to the Mustard Seed for giving us this opportunity and to everyone who volunteered!

What is the Safety Recognition Program?

2018-01-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I have always found to be unique about safety is that when we do things right or safely, nothing happens. This is why I often say that in my world, "no news is good news". The overwhelming majority of the calls I get is when something went wrong, either an incident, near miss or a worker not following procedures. I rarely if ever get calls saying "Hey Peter, all of your guys are wearing the appropriate PPE and following the procedures to a T", it simply doesn't happen. This is why I am a big fan of Scorpio's Safety Recognition Program. The program is my opportunity to receive some good news.

For those of you that are not fully aware of the program here is a brief rundown. We are encouraging our foremen to hand out Tims cards to workers that exhibit a commitment to safety. All winners are entered into a draw for a larger prize at our summer BBQ and Christmas party.

"How do I qualify?" you may ask. Well, it's relatively easy. Here are some of the activities that may get you recognized.

Wearing the required PPE on a consistent basis

Be proactive in completing JHA's, site inspections, and other safety paperwork.

Reporting a near miss or an unsafe condition

Going the extra mile to ensure good housekeeping in your work area.

Teaching or mentoring a new hire

Offer to run a safety meeting

Now you may be thinking "Hey wait a minute. I do this stuff all of the time and I've never received a Tims card. What gives?" That's why I am writing this blog; to raise the awareness of the Safety Recognition Program. If you do something that you feel qualifies for recognition, stick a bug in your foreman's ear and remind him to stop letting the Tims cards collect dust and to award you one. You could also be the cool guy who recommends one of your co-workers for recognition.

This brings me back to my opening comment "no news is good news". Every time a foreman or myself hand out a Tims card it's good news. So lets make 2018 a banner year for good news and earn yourself some recognition.

Saskatchewan Masonry Design Awards - October 27, 2017

2017-11-10T15:46:00.000-07:00

On October 27, 2017, I had the opportunity to attend the SMI (Saskatchewan Masonry Institute) Masonry Design Awards which are held every 4 years. The last awards were held in February 2013. I was a guest of Luc Durette, our partner in Saskatchewan who leads the organization there. It was a great event attended by Architects, Engineers, and Building owners who made the choice to design their buildings with a masonry component that was featured in the design.

The Award categories are: Commercial, Educational, High Rise, Restoration, Residential, Structural, and the Presidential Award. I am really proud of the Scorpio team as they won in the categories of Residential, Structural, and also the Presidential Award, the Grand Prize of the evening, against over 100 submissions!

The Presidential Award went to the Gordon Oakes Red Bear Student Centre on the U of S campus, which was a Tyndall Stone veneer project. This project was designed by Douglas Cardinal who was previously commissioned for the Museum of History in Ottawa, Telus World of Science in Edmonton and the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington.

Gordon Oakes is an amazing project, and while it was being constructed Luc was in the shop many mornings at 5am, working on layouts and some of the challenges surrounding the constructability with his foreman John Hubbard. This reflects the dedication and engagement of the team to achieve a great result on an iconic building. Luc mentioned to me while we were tendering the project that he wanted to build a Cardinal design once in his career, and it was executed with amazing results. Congratulations!

The other winning projects were:

Award of Excellence for Ecole Monseigneur de Laval Pavillion Secondaire Renovations, Regina, SK.
Honourable Mention for Saskatoon Civic Operations Centre, Saskatoon, SK.
Award of Excellence for the Durette Residence, Saskatoon, SK.

The Durette Residence, winner of an Award of Excellence
in the Residential Single Family Category.

The Ecole Monseigneur de Laval Pavillion Secondaire received the Award of Excellence in Structural High Loadbearing, and the Saskatoon Civic Operations
Centre received an Honourable Mention.

A lot of time and effort goes into planning these Design Awards, and the purpose is to celebrate great design with a focus on the use of masonry. The recognition will hopefully encourage designers and building owners looking to design their next building with a masonry system. This all stems from having a good experience using masonry systems, and a large part of that is how we as a masonry contractor behave in terms of workmanship, timely responses, safety, and overall professionalism.

The next Design Awards will be in 2019 for Alberta projects. I am excited to see our projects submitted by designers who are proud of their work, specifically how the masonry portion helped them achieve great design.

The Design Team for the Gordon Oakes Red
Bear Student Centre accepting their award.

Luc Durette, left receiving an Award of
Excellence for the Durette Residence.

Luc Durette, left, receiving an Award of
Excellence for Ecole Monseigneur de Laval.

Celebrating a Special Bricklayer and Foreman

2017-10-13T17:35:00.002-06:00

You may have seen pictures recently on the Scorpio Masonry facebook page of Scorpio Foreman Dan Kozey competing at the Spec Mix Bricklayer 500 Competition on Friday October 6, 2017. Dan showcased his skill and won both the Top Craftsman Award and Second Place in his first competition. He laid close to 600 bricks in one hour! You can find official event photos here.

I have been thinking about writing a blog on Dan Kozey for quite a while, and it was tough for me because how do you celebrate such a special guy, that we all respect, in a short page? His success at the competition provided the perfect opportunity.

I have known Dan Kozey since I was a kid, as Dan and Gerry Ruediger were the first employees of Pockar Bros. (Northern) Ltd. which eventually became our company today. I did previously blog about the history of our company, if you want to check it out. Dan was always tough on me when I was a kid getting into the business and was like a big brother in a lot of ways. He always challenged us to be better, and quality had to be there in our work, and he was never afraid to tell guys to tear out deficient work. I always respected that about Dan. He toughened the guys up and raised the bar.

Dan started with Pockar Masonry in 1972, when he was a nineteen year old man-child. He was fresh out of a pre-employment program where he took an Introduction to Bricklaying sponsored by the Saskatchewan Government. The instructor came to the jobsite at the Plains Hospital where Mike Ambrozic was the Foreman and told Mike that he should give the kid a shot. Dan started as an Apprentice, and was performing at the journeyman level within a year of starting. In 1973, Dan, Mike, and Gerry moved to Grande Prairie to work on the Grande Prairie College. This was a Douglas Cardinal Design and the Architect wanted a rough look to the work, and the building was all radius work. Dan tells the story often that he made a deal that he would get his 8 hours pay after 2,000 units laid, and he would finish the quota by 2:00pm. In 1974 as that project was winding down, the 3 amigos moved to Edmonton to start up Kingsway Garden Mall, and this is where Dan made his home. Dan was the Foreman on his first job taking over a project in Ashmont (1975), of course with success. Since that time Dan has been the Foreman on the Whitecourt and Peace River Pulp mills, Singles Quarters at CFB Edmonton, Royal Alex Hospital (2 large phases), Grant Macewan Residence, and the list goes on....

Dan has put in over 40 years with the same company, and I have so much respect for him and what he has accomplished. Dan is one of the best bricklayers out there, but that is not the only thing that makes him special to us. It is the loyalty, integrity in his work, and the tough mentoring that he has given to so many of us that have made us better. Bonehead is his favorite nickname (especially when he gets a bit frustrated), and when you first hear him call you that its a bit intimidating, but eventually you figure out that he’s teaching in his own way.

Cheers Dan!! (from all of us Boneheads)

Safety First!

2017-04-07T17:04:00.000-06:00

I was recently at an event in Edmonton, which was a networking opportunity for subtrades and suppliers to meet with some prominent General Contractors. The 4 General Contractors had a chance to present their company to the crowd. They spoke on their company culture, the opportunities that they were looking at for future work, and why they were different than the other guys. The last General Contractor that got up to speak talked about safety and their company focus to ensure the safety of all workers on their sites.

This got me thinking about why the first 3 contractors did not mention safety and the 4^th one did. The first 3 contractors are all very disciplined with their safety program, so why didn’t they mention it in their presentation? I think that sometimes with all that goes on, we forget that this is the most important aspect of our work. The number 1 focus is that we go home safe every day without injury or incident, and that quality and productivity come after.

I also sometimes fail to mention safety as I get wrapped up in all the other stuff going on. We cannot stop thinking about safely completing our daily tasks. The tools we use in the JHA’s, tailgate meetings, inspections and pre-planning are all reminders that safety has to be in the forefront of what we do and how we accomplish our work. Please continue to engage in these areas, as we all depend on each other, whether it's building scaffold, loading work areas, or driving a forklift in a congested area. This is a reminder to all of us that the safety tools we have and use keep safety at the forefront and help us remember that this is the most important value that we hold at Scorpio.

Great Opportunities Ahead

2017-02-17T09:18:00.001-07:00

The last month and a half have been busy! We've been working extremely hard implementing our systems in BC, and integrating in Edmonton. The whole process has been challenging and rewarding, and I see that the rigor will soon pay off. I want to thank the whole Scorpio team for having a great attitude throughout this acquisition and integration period.

I wanted to share some of the great news about the opportunities and the work we have acquired. In October, we shared with the foremen in Edmonton a pretty rough picture related to the work we had moving forward in Alberta. Since that time, we have continued to focus on:

our relationships
not panicking and going after work that doesn't match our strengths
maintaining our strategy of hitting our opportunities with focus and intention to win the work

In Alberta, we have acquired Brxton’s work (which includes St. Andre Bessette School), ICE Parkade – Phase 1, Gilead Tower, Devonian Garden Islamic Garden (stone project), Granville School, and some smaller work.

In BC, we have secured Great Northern Way with Ledcor, a Walmart reno in Burnaby and YVR Departures at the Airport. These are Scorpio’s first contracts in BC. Congratulations to the team for landing this work, it's a real milestone and we are proud. These projects go along with the work already in progress from the acquisition.

The key message here is consistency. In delivering our projects safely, with quality and good project management we are in a good position for the opportunities that present themselves, even in a tough market. Just looking at the recent results, we are doing a great job of delivering. Let’s keep it up and never be satisfied, as we can always improve.

I’m very proud of what we do at Scorpio and it's what we do in the field that steers the ship to the great work that we are known for. Congrats!

Volunteering at the Mustard Seed

2017-01-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

L to R: Billy, Dan, Louis, Kyle, Barry, Rachelle, Tavis,
Chloe, Jaret and Thomas in the kitchen after the meal.

On Monday, January 9, 2017 some of our foremen and office/shop team spent the evening at the Mustard Seed, preparing and serving dinner for several hundred people. It was a great opportunity to work together and give back to the community.

This was our third year participating in the Mustard Seed Evening Meal Program and we're planning on sponsoring another meal later this year. We'll be looking for volunteers and will send out that information once we know when, most likely around the fall. A big thank you to the Mustard Seed for giving us this opportunity and to everyone who volunteered!

A recap of the Scorpio Masonry Core Values

2017-01-19T11:51:00.001-07:00

I would like to get into more detail about the Scorpio Masonry Core Values. Core values are the part of corporate culture that explain “how things get done around here.” We defined as a leadership team what is important to us as an organization so we all know with clarity what should drive our future behaviour. I first began blogging on our values in 2013 so many of you are familiar with them, and for those aren't, I’m excited to share them with you and how they fit in our company.

Act with Integrity

Our culture and our brand are built on our integrity. We must demonstrate safety, quality workmanship, professionalism and a strong work ethic on all of our projects. We must take pride in what we build together. We must follow through on our commitments and go above and beyond what is expected of us. Our focus is on doing the job right the first time, every time.

Commitment to Safety

We’re committed to providing and maintaining a safe work environment for all of our employees. We take safety seriously, and are dedicated to our goal of zero incidents. Being safe means that we look out for each and work as a team to prevent incidents. Everyone should be going home safely, every day.

Be Innovative

To be innovative, we must be industry leaders. We must embrace and drive change, while continually adapting to our environment. Being innovative means thinking outside the box and looking for creative solutions. We must be problem solvers, anticipating and exceeding the demands of our customers. It means always striving to do things better, and to be the best. Being innovative flows from our vision statement: Striving to be the most influential masonry organization.

Be Effective

Being effective means that when there’s something that needs to done, we do it. We take initiative, and can be depended on to do things right. We must be on time, organized, and effectively work within schedules and timelines to meet project demands. Being effective means that we care about the work that we’re doing and take pride in our achievements.

Build a Team Atmosphere

We’re focused on continually building a team that our employees are excited to be a part of. Being an effective teammate means being responsible and accountable to those you work with. It means leading by example and not making excuses. It means helping and teaching each other. It means listening to each other and communicating openly. It means taking the time to celebrate our successes.

Have Some Fun

Our goal is to create a positive work environment that encourages all of our employees to be engaged and involved. An environment where our employees can each contribute in a meaningful way with the work they are doing. An environment with good energy, where we enjoy the company of those we work with and can also have some fun. Working together to create this type of positive work environment allows us all to live the other values, every day.

***

As a part of the team, I really wanted to share what the values mean. Now that they are here in front of us (me), it is so much easier to communicate. This is what Scorpio is about and all our decisions are driven from these values.

Highlights from 2016 and on to 2017!

2017-01-06T17:37:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year!! I would like to welcome our new employees to the Scorpio team. We are excited to have you on board, and I am looking forward to meeting each and every one of you. Here are some of the highlights for me in 2016.

1. I would like to first celebrate our 2016 safety record. We have moved the needle in terms of our WCB rates in significant way, and are now performing better than the industry average. Our total number of reportable incidents went down by 43% and we had zero lost time incidents. This is a result of your safe work practices and our safety culture that is led by Peter Ridder, and I wanted to make mention of Peter and the strong results in 2016. We will continue this trend by focusing on our Safety value, as it is a part of our culture and ultimately we expect that Scorpio’s employees leave work without injury every day. For employees not familiar with the Scorpio Values, you can find out more here.

2. Our major projects completed in 2016 were: The Royal Alberta Museum, Kelly Ramsey Tower, The Brewery District, Mayfair Apartments, Lewis Farms School and McDougall Church restoration. All of these projects are high profile and are a big part of our community. Scorpio Masonry continues to deliver high quality workmanship in these high profile projects. Our stakeholders (the General Contractors, Architects, and Owners) recognize us as leaders in the industry with respect to relationships, safety, quality control, and productivity. This will continue in 2017, as Scorpio will deliver good experiences on all our projects.

3. Scorpio’s assumption of Brxton’s Vancouver and Edmonton operations is a big step for us, not only in the Northern Alberta market but also brings the Scorpio brand to the lower mainland BC. There are a lot of synergies between the 2 companies, and it provides us a better cost structure in northern Alberta through consolidation. I am very excited about our prospects moving forward. I would like to welcome James Borosch to the team in the Estimator/Project Manager role. He has served at Gracom/Brxton for many years and will be a great fit for our team.

The economic headwinds are strong in Alberta, but I believe we have the values and structure to succeed, and I’m looking to forward working with all of you in 2017.

Welcome to the Team, Scorpio BC!

2017-01-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Scorpio Family! That is the primary message that I want to get across to everyone. My name is Chris Ambrozic and I serve the company in the role of President. We are really excited to be in the Vancouver market, and we will lead our industry with quality, safety, productivity, and most importantly our culture.

3 years ago, our leadership team at Scorpio defined the values that we need to abide by in terms of how we interact with one another, how we hire individuals into our organization, and how we evaluate performance. These values are:

Safety

Effectiveness

Integrity

Innovation

Teamwork

Fun

These are in no particular order as they are all equally important. These are the values guiding how we behave, and I am passionate about this because it makes our work easier. Tough decisions become easier as our values drive clarity, and work is fun as we are all on the same page. You can read our first blog from August 2013 introducing and explaining our values here.

I will be in the Richmond office quite often, and I am looking forward to meeting all of you. Our team will continue to look the same with Mike Zarzycki leading the field in the role of Superintendent, Tobin Zarowny looking after the equipment and logistics, Bill Olexa serving in the role of Project Manager/Estimator, and I would like to announce the hiring of Ryan Donaghey who will serve in the role of Estimator/Project Manager. Ryan will be starting in late January and will be an excellent fit for our organization.

I like to blog as it helps me with clarity in my leadership role, and I hope you find it beneficial as well. I will be blogging regularly, especially over these first few weeks, as I want to continue to communicate about Scorpio and our values. We will then send out a monthly newsletter, which I hope you take the time to read. Thanks for choosing Scorpio, and I wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2017.

Safety: Certificate of Recognition

2016-11-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

It is external audit time at Scorpio Masonry, and I think this process is deliberately designed to stress out safety officers! External safety audits are mandatory every three years in order to maintain a Certificate of Recognition (COR), which shows that a company's health and safety management system has been evaluated and meets provincial standards. It is a requirement to qualify to work on most major construction projects.

When a company has their COR it means that they take safety seriously and go about their daily business with a safety first attitude. A Commitment to Safety is one of Scorpio's Core Values, as I wrote about in this blog from November 2013. We cannot talk the talk unless we walk the walk, and that is what external audits are all about. To borrow a quote from The Game of Thrones series, "words are wind"; we can talk safety all we want, but every three years it's time to lay our cards on the table for review. This year, due to unusual circumstances outside of our control the audit process had to be re-started, and what normally only takes a few weeks has taken quite a bit longer. While this is unfortunate, I respect the process and I am confident that our safety program will stand up to the scrutiny of the auditors. I would like to thank those of you who participated in the interview process, especially those who were interviewed twice.

Every audit concludes with Scorpio having to come up with several action items designed to improve our program and ultimately your safety. One of the action items from our last audit was to encourage more near miss reporting. I am pleased to say that the number of near miss reports has increased compared to three years ago. These near misses are similar to incidents/accidents in that they generally result from a mistake, however no one gets hurt and no property is damaged. Near misses can be used as an educational tool to prevent a re-occurrence in the future, but only when they are reported and we act on and share the information, so it is important to keep up the good work continue to report them!

The results from our latest audit should be available soon, and we look forward to sharing that news with the team. We can acknowledge the strengths of our program and also move forward with new actions items to help us continually improve our safety program and our commitment to safety.

Preserving Edmonton's Heritage

2016-09-28T12:45:00.000-06:00

Chris Ambrozic & David Meffen at the
service September 25, 2016.

I had the pleasure of being invited by the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church, in particular David Meffen, who chairs the building committee, to a church service on September 25, 2016. My wife Christine and I attended and we were presented a beautiful picture of the church in recognition of the work Scorpio has performed recently and in past years.

The church was built in 1912, making it one of the older churches in our community. The pride in ownership is evident through the efforts of David and his committee. Scorpio has performed a variety of work over the years at First Presbyterian, starting with the Bell Tower restoration in the late 90’s, to the most recent project of restoring the west stairs by removing, selectively replacing and turning over the existing stone treads, and restoring the railing, which was just completed.

Thanks to Tavis and his crew for doing a great job. We should be very proud of the fact that Scorpio is trusted with restoring these structures that really are the fabric of our community. The City of Edmonton and Alberta Heritage designate buildings like the First Presbyterian as Provincial Historic Resources they represent our past, and help put a certain pride for our citizens. Restoration work is an integral part of what Scorpio does, and as we build our teams towards successfully completing these projects, we will continue to see opportunities to restore beautiful buildings such as First Presbyterian.

The Scorpio team carefully maneuvering a tread in place.

The Scorpio team hard at work on the west stair restoration.

The New Royal Alberta Museum - That's a wrap!

2016-09-01T13:15:00.001-06:00

The Scorpio Team installs the first of
thousand of panels on June 16, 2015.

On June 16, 2015 the first Indiana Limestone panel was installed on the new Royal Alberta Museum. 409 calendar days later, on July 29, 2016 the final panel was installed. I’m sure for all who worked on this project it seemed at times an overwhelming and daunting task to install the remaining 7,683 panels, each weighing an average of 260 lbs.

As with any construction project, particularly one of this size and detail, RAM was not immune to challenges. We had a mid summer start, a demanding schedule and winter just around the corner. However, with a lot of hard work and a great team we were able to navigate our way through every challenge that got in front of us, and be one of the first trades completed and off site.

As Project Manager for RAM, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone in our organization involved with the Project. Many long hours, days and weeks were put in by many to propel us to the end. My thank you also extends to our Scorpio Stone Division, lead by Ben Gillam and his team.

Critical requests, for miscellaneous stones required for various reasons were turned around by Ben and his team promptly. Their commitment was a huge part of our success. I also have to mention and extend a thank you to all involved with recreating the 9 mosaic panels (taken down from the former main post office building in October 2012) that now adorn the South Elevation of the museum, particularly Brad Alexander with Decor Tile.

9 mosaic panels created by artist Ernestine Tahedl
line the south elevation of the RAM.

I am proud to have been involved with this project right from the beginning. As a 100 year building that is such a landmark to the downtown core, the City and the Province, it has been a pleasure to be a part of its creation and watch it come together.

The day I am able to take my family to the Museum after its public opening in December 2017, when I can show off the great work and workmanship that the Scorpio team provided will be extra special as I know it will be for all who do the same.

With the primary construction of the building complete in mid-August, media and VIP's were given a tour on August 16, 2016. If you haven't read the articles or seen the videos, you can find the links below. The artist of the 9 mosaic panels, Ernestine Tahedl was on hand for the tour and was impressed with the quality of work and how great the panels look.

CTV News Video

Edmonton Journal Article

Journal of Commerce Article

Global News Article

Once again, thank you to everyone involved for contributing to the success of this project!

The final limestone panel installed on July 29, 2016.

Thank you for all your hard work!

2016-06-27T17:24:00.001-06:00

We as an organization have definitely been stretched in the past couple of months. I am grateful that we have the work, but it has felt overwhelming at times as we work hard to complete our 3 major projects: Royal Alberta Museum, the Brewery District, and Kelly Ramsey. A huge thank you not only to the foremen and hardworking crews on those projects, but to everyone in our organization for their efforts these past couple of months and moving forward getting all of our projects completed.

I would like to give a special mention to Scorpio Stone, the stone fabrication area of the company. They are supplying our cut stone elements to the 3 major projects mentioned above and have been working tirelessly to get pieces out for us to install.

Chris & Ralph Weiskopf in the stone shop

Ben Gillam leads this division for us and has been working in these 3 projects to gather information from site to get shop ticket information to the crew fabricating. Ralph Weiskopf leads the fabrication team in the shop, and with his Cabinetmaking background is manufacturing each component with precision; a lot goes into creating a stone element from a shop ticket.

Ben and Ralph have been instrumental in making these 3 projects a success, and the Scorpio Stone team have been putting in extra time to make that happen. The Stone team is living the Scorpio value of Effectiveness, working hard to meet demanding project schedules and taking pride in the work they are doing. Some of you may not be aware of the work we’re doing with Scorpio Stone and I felt compelled to showcase what we are accomplishing with our stone fabrication.

I am excited to celebrate our hard work at the upcoming company Barbecue. Everyone is welcome for a tour of the stone shop to see first hand how the operation is functioning, as it continues to add value to our organization. I hope to see you there!!

The Brewery District

Kelly Ramsey

Royal Alberta Musem

Alberta Wildfire Relief

2016-05-05T10:02:00.000-06:00

As firefighters continue to battle the wildfire raging in Fort McMurray 88,000 people have fled their homes. As details of the devastation continue to emerge, the outpouring of support from Albertans and Canadians has been astounding. People across the country have been making donations to the Canadian Red Cross, and Albertans are opening their homes and businesses to help those who need it most. Both the Provincial and Federal Governments have announced that they will match individual donations to the Canadian Red Cross in support of the Alberta wildfire relief efforts.

“Lift where you stand” is a personal value I hold when it comes to community. To me it means taking responsibility to help make where I live a better place, through volunteering or charitable donations.

Alberta is our home, and as part of Scorpio’s commitment to community, we have made a $5,000 donation to the Canadian Red Cross to assist in the relief efforts. We’ve worked in Fort McMurray in the past, and this is just one way for us to do our part to serve our community.

If you’d like to help, please check out the links below:

Donations:

You can donate to Canadian Red Cross here, or make a $5 donation by texting the word “REDCROSS” to 30333. Every contribution helps, and both the Provincial and Federal Governments are matching donations.

Housing:

If you’re able to host people, you can check out the Fort McMurray Open Source Help Page on Facebook, or visit the YMMFire website, which helps match people with available space and properties with people in need of a place to stay.

Other donations:

Edmonton Emergency Relief Services is collecting the following items (new only please!): diapers, baby wipes, toiletries (shampoo, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, tampons etc.) and socks and underwear. Donations can be taken to the ERS office located at 10255-104 Street and will be distributed where they are most needed.

The Edmonton Food Bank is collecting food donations at any major grocery store or fire hall.

Scorpio team members are encouraged to share their stories with us of how they’ve helped, and will be recognized in our next newsletter (email values@scorpiomasonry.com).

This article from CBC provides an up-to-date list of agencies and resources to help evacuees, and this article from the Edmonton Journal is continually being updated with the latest developments.

The Stockdale Paradox

2016-03-22T10:46:00.001-06:00

One of the best books that I have read is Jim Collins “Good to Great”. It is a business book that focuses on building and transforming organizations into bullet proof companies, taking into account everything from leadership through to daily processes.

A powerful and currently relevant chapter is called the “Stockdale Paradox”. In a nutshell, this chapter is about Vice Admiral James Stockdale, an officer for the US Navy during the Vietnam War. Admiral Stockdale was captured and held as a POW for over 7 years and was tortured throughout his imprisonment. Stockdale was quoted as saying:

“I never doubted that not only that I would get out, but that also I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into a defining part of my life which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”

The paradox of this is that Admiral Stockdale went on to say that the POW’s that did not survive were the optimists. How do you figure that? He went on to say that the optimists did not take into account the brutal facts in front of them but instead thought that they would escape by Thanksgiving, or be rescued by Christmas, or the war would end by spring....you get the point. The spirit of the optimists was broken by being delusional in the sense that their expectations were not realistic with the conditions they were living in, and they ended up not surviving. Stockdale had that undying belief that he would make it through to see his family again, but understood the brutal fact that he did not know when.

Why do I bring this up? This applies to all of us at a personal level, and to Scorpio at an organizational level. We always have to keep in mind the uncontrollable factors, such as commodity prices, the new Provincial Government, the weak Canadian dollar, our competitors behaviour, etc.

On the flip side, there are factors we control, including project planning, quality work, learning, safety, engagement everyday, having fun at work and at home, and having a positive attitude.

Let’s understand that there are uncontrollable factors, but choose to focus on what we can control and continue building Scorpio into an even greater organization. The lesson from Admiral Stockdale's experience is a powerful one if we decide to put it into practice in both our personal and professional life.

What's in a name?

2016-02-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

“How did you come up with the name Scorpio Masonry?”

I was recently asked that question by an advisor to our company. I was curious as to why he would ask me that, and thought I would share the whole story on how Scorpio Masonry came to be.

Pockar Brothers Masonry started in Calgary in the 1950’s. Four brothers worked in the business after emigrating to Canada. Tony, Lojz, Emil, and Mirko Pockar worked all over Western Canada, often following clients who liked their work.

Mirko Ambrozic emigrated to Canada in 1961 and started working for his cousins, the Pockar’s. In 1975, he started Pockar Brothers Masonry (Northern) Ltd. as a minority shareholder, and the company was based out of Edmonton. The company's first projects were Kingsway Garden Mall, Dickinsfield Hospital and Ponoka Courthouse, which were all significant projects at the time.

Mirko & Chris Ambrozic at a MCAA Event.

In the early 1980’s tough economic times hit the Alberta construction scene. The Calgary Pockar group decided to bid non union (common practice in Alberta in the 1980’s) and Lojz Pockar started up Scorpio Masonry, naming it after his horoscope.

In Edmonton, Pockar Masonry continued operating under Mirko Ambrozic’s leadership. In 2001, the Ambrozic family purchased the company and part of the re-branding strategy included changing the company name to Scorpio Masonry.

Today the Scorpio Masonry brand is synonymous with quality workmanship and technical expertise. A big reason why we are sought after as experts is because of our history and the experience we have generated over the years. Scorpio Masonry is a strong brand, and this is the result of our integrity, strong values and pride in our work. I hear this often from people within our organization and outside of it. As we move forward let's continue this tradition and leave a lasting legacy.

An undated article featuring Mirko Ambrozic
from the Edmonton Business News.

Mirko Ambrozic, hard at work on another project.

The Year in Review

2015-12-23T15:04:00.001-07:00

I want to take the opportunity to thank the Scorpio team for a great 2015. This year seems to have flown by, but as a wise parent once said “the days are long but the years are short.” We at Scorpio are very fortunate to have a great group of employees who really seem to pulling in the same direction, even more so than I have seen in recent years. This is absolutely critical to our success moving forward, especially with the complexity of some of the projects we are currently working on. I am proud of everything we accomplished in 2015.

As we move forward into 2016 and into uncertain economic times, we need to focus on what we can control day in and day out. We need to continue to work together, with others inside and outside of Scorpio, to execute high quality work safely and productively. By doing this, we will continue to leave our clients with a great experience and maintain our position as the masonry contractor of choice in the market. I cannot stress enough how important this is, and it becomes more important in tough economic times. As we wrap up one 2015 and prepare for 2016, lets continue to focus on and make decisions centered on our core values here at Scorpio.

Thank you for all your hard work in 2015, and have a great Holiday Season!

A quick photo recap of 2015 at Scorpio!

A Short History of Safety

2015-11-30T11:01:00.001-07:00

Last month while writing about the amount of paperwork involved in safety, and I began to wonder how Occupational Health and Safety started.

The first mention of worker safety in Canada appeared in 1884 with the introduction of the Factory Act, legislation similar to the British Factory Act which had been around since the 1700's. The Act limited the number of hours that could be worked, mentioned some safeguards and restricted the use of women and children in factories. The problem was that is wasn't specific, making it totally unenforceable.

The Workers Compensation Act was passed into law in Ontario in 1914. The rest of the provinces adopted their own versions of WCB over the next ten years. While slightly different, each Act had one thing in common; WCB provided no fault insurance to workers. Prior to this if a worker was hurt on the job they had to sue their employer to receive compensation for injuries. Workers rarely won those suits and if they did it was often many months or even years later.

It wasn't until the Hogg's Hollow incident in Toronto on March 17, 1960 that things changed. Five Italian immigrant workers died after a fire trapped them while digging an underground sewer line. They had no emergency response plan, rescue equipment, or an alternative emergency exit. There was a tremendous outcry once the details became public, as it became apparent that Factory Act did little to promote worker safety.

This led to the creation of the Industrial Safety Act in Ontario in 1964. This was the first piece of legislation in Canada that specifically addressed worker safety and accident prevention, and defined safety as: Freedom from injury to the body and freedom form damage to health.

In 1968 the Canada Labour Code was enacted. Saskatchewan enacted their OH&S Act in 1972 and the words "right to refuse unsafe work" appeared for the first time. Laws and regulations were slowly improving across Canada.

The Westray Mine disaster in Nova Scotia on May 9, 1992 was another significant event that shaped today's safety standards. Twenty six miners were killed and the investigation revealed a total lack of oversight by the mining company and government officials. Charges were brought against the owners of the mine but no convictions. The lack of accountability for the tragedy led to the creation of Bill C-45 in 2004. This bill made it possible for an employer to be held criminally responsible if a worker is seriously injured or killed on the job.

Safety has come a long way in the last hundred years. It is worth remembering that these changes came because people died. When I think about it in that context, doing a little paperwork isn't really a big deal.

A photo from the Westray Mine disaster that occurred
May 9, 1992.