The Shallow Utilities Consortium – made up of ENMAX Power, TELUS, Shaw Communications and ATCO Gas – hosted a successful industry information session with stakeholders on April 26, 2023. The group met to discuss ways to improve timelines and delivery in Underground Residential Development (URD). Over 100 people attended the virtual event.
The session provided an opportunity for developers, builders and municipal government representatives to review the work that is underway by the consortium, including:
- Improving the URD Shallows Workflow Process including aligning deliverables and timelines across various stakeholder groups through a review committee;
- Launching a Developer-Constructed URD Pilot in which developers can bring on their own contractor and control their own schedule (pilot construction trial planned for fall 2023); and,
- Increasing capacity of shallow utilities construction crews to meet anticipated construction demand in 2023.
“We’re happy with the results of our ongoing engagement to understand project deeps and surface status to assist with shallow construction forecasting,” said Mark Kefford, Executive Director, Shallow Utilities Consortium. “We need to come together as an industry and accurately plan for the demand and schedule project completions in a timely manner.”
The consortium is committed to looking at ways to improve URD program delivery after an unprecedented year of growth and lot development coupled with unique challenges like global transformer supply chain issues and construction resource challenges.
“The current situation definitely calls for open communication and out-of-the-box thinking,” said Kefford. “We welcome ideas from people in the industry and are looking forward to further dialogue in our June meeting.”
“We also hope developers will keep us updated on planned lot development, deep services and surface construction plans. This information is essential for several of the consortium’s initiatives,” said Kefford.
The Shallow Utilities Consortium’s next information session is planned for late June. Please contact Jacqueline Johnston at
jjohnsto@enmax.com if you are interested in attending and haven’t received an invitation already.
The Shallow Utilities Consortium is committed to keeping stakeholders informed of progress on initiatives. Starting in May, the consortium began sending monthly emails to update stakeholders on their progress – please contact Jacqueline Johnston if you would like to be added to the distribution list.
Download Stakeholder Presentation
Questions? Ideas on what information you would like to see? Please contact partnerconnect@enmax.com