The Ottawa Construction Association hosted a special information session about career pathways in the construction industry for high-school teachers, school-board superintendents, guidance counsellors and parents on December 11.

Titled Why the Apprenticeship Pathway Matters, the event featured formal presentations from OCA president and general manager John DeVries and BuildForce Canada executive director Bill Ferreira. More than 60 people attended.

DeVries opened the session with an introduction to the association and the local construction industry. OCA’s more than 1,150 members combined build more than 90 percent of Ottawa’s $4-plus billion annual construction volume. DeVries also highlighted some of the major construction-works projects now either in the ground or which are forecast to begin in the coming years. They include the $3.6 billion Stage 2 expansion of the city’s light rail line, ongoing renovations to the Centre Block of Parliament, as well as renovations to the West Memorial Building and, on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River, to the Place du Portage and Les Terrasses de la Chaudière office complexes.

These, he added, are to say nothing of planned private developments that are tied directly into the newly expanded light rail line. These include Trinity Centre at Bayview, the Claridge Icon mixed-use development on Preston Street, the Sky Condo on Carling Avenue, and the Blair Station development.

Also planned for construction are a future mixed-use development at Tunney’s Pasture, the Zibi development, which spans both the Ontario and Quebec sides of the Ottawa River, the Lester Pearson Building on Sussex Drive, renovations to the Supreme Court of Canada Building, the modernization of Ottawa’s five district energy systems, the planned Civic Hospital development, and the renovation and expansion of the Chalk River Canadian Nuclear Laboratories facility.

Given all these planned and in-progress construction projects, DeVries told the audience the need for apprentices has never been greater in Ottawa’s construction industry. He explained not only will there be career opportunities for youth in the industry, but also that jobs are well-paying, and good people will be in demand for years to come.

Ferreira offered a more economic analysis of the region’s construction economy. He opened by explaining that Ottawa’s population is likely to rise to 1.3 million by 2029, while the GDP growth rate will remain at a constant 0.8 percent over the same period. He explained that the local construction workforce is made up of about 46,000 people, of whom more than half work in the specialty trade contractors section.

BuildForce’s data forecasts a growth in construction employment of 13 percent through 2024, with a great deal of that increase occurring in the non-residential sector. BuildForce expects growth to moderate through to about 6 percent through 2029. The organization expects about one-fifth of the construction workforce to retire in the next 10 years. In Ottawa, about 7,375 workers are expected to retire through 2029. Should labour supply not increase over the same period, the industry will need to fill more than 9,200 jobs to keep up with demand.

The session concluded with networking opportunities among the attendees as well as special guests from OCA member firms who were on hand to speak more directly to the paths they followed to obtain and grow their careers in the industry.

The OCA will conduct more sessions on youth engagement in the industry during its annual Construction Symposium on February 26 and 27.