June 23, 2008

Transportation ministry backs McMaster plan for chair in heavy construction

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has thrown its support behind a proposal to establish a chair in heavy construction at Hamilton’s McMaster University, pledging $125,000 over five years.

The ministry is the first government agency to commit funding to the campaign, being spearheaded by the Hamilton & District Heavy Construction Association and backed by three key industry associations and the John Deere Foundation.

“This is great news,” said Jon Brown, the Hamilton association’s president and a branch manager at Battlefield Equipment Rentals. “We’ve now raised $687,500 towards the $1 million goal.”

Thought to be a first of its kind in Canada, the chair would act as a champion for the heavy construction industry. A total of $2 million is required to create the chair. McMaster has agreed to provide $1 million in matching funding.

The Hamilton association’s industry partners in the initiative are the Ontario Concrete Pipe Association, the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association and the Ontario Road Builders’ Association.

“I’m just thrilled that they are on board,” said ORBA executive director Rob Bradford, whose association made the initial overtures to the transportation ministry. ‘We’ve been in discussions with them for the past seven or eight months.”

Bradford said the ministry recognizes that it has a vested interest in ensuring there is a pool of highly qualified civil engineers and engineering technicians to help deliver its highway construction projects.

The chair, who would be part of McMaster’s civil engineering department, would be charged with attracting students into civil engineering and producing a cohort of job-ready graduates.

The incumbent also would have teaching responsibilities in the applied bachelor of technology program, a joint venture of McMaster and the school of engineering technology at Mohawk College.

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