Transforming Quarry Park: Lafarge’s Sustainable Legacy in Calgary
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Quarry Park has a special significance for Lafarge. One of the first of its kind, the community is built on the site of a gravel pit formerly owned by Lafarge Canada. The site provided quality gravels and aggregates for fifty years, but today, it features a vibrant market, residential developments, green spaces, and corporate office spaces.
Driven by a culture of sustainability and effective resource management, Quarry Park highlights Lafarge's construction management and innovative solutions. Lafarge's scope included new roadway construction, deep and shallow utility installation, curbs and gutters, and aggregate supply and placement.
THE CHALLENGE
Lafarge was extensively familiar with the location; however, that did not remove the challenges of converting it into commercial and residential development. The $70 million project encountered several hurdles, each requiring careful consideration.
Primary Challenges:
Lafarge’s goal was to make this construction as sustainable as possible, something the client had also requested. There were some specific goals to ensure there was minimal environmental impact.
Sustainability Challenges:
THE SOLUTION
Led by a team of experienced construction professionals, the creation of Quarry Park was managed effectively from start to finish.
Our management collaborated throughout the project to ensure that the focus remained on health and safety, high-quality performance, innovative solutions, and effective, timely problem-solving. Throughout the project, Lafarge retained a focus on environmental protection and brownfield remediation. Relationship building was essential and was created by ensuring that:
- Completing development and execution of project-specific health, safety, and environmental plans, followed by regularly scheduled audits and reviews
- Schedules were designed sensibly with slack in critical paths, the coordination of specialized trades, and the flexibility to adjust to external constraints
- Project control systems were both effective and easily accessed by all levels of workers, ensuring transparency and meaningful exchange of information
- The experience and knowledge of the team helped provide innovative problem-solving and adherence to budget, timeline, and specifications
As one of Western Canada's premiere roadworks constructors, Lafarge drew upon its broad history to ensure the brownfield remediation of an aging aggregate pit resulted in a high-quality and responsibly sourced new community.
With close proximity to existing residential communities and the intricacies involved with managing changing river levels, upgraded utility corridors, and a complex industrial site, the project leaders ensured that stakeholder engagement remained a priority from day one.
The company's quality management culture covered all aspects of the project - from ensuring that everyone on site went home safely at the end of each day to providing only the highest quality materials to seizing opportunities to learn from each other. The Quality Control Plan established by Lafarge was fully ISO compliant. It included record-keeping and reporting guidelines and specified variables, parameters and means to conduct meaningful quality control testing.
Working in close conjunction with the developer, Remington Development Corporation, Lafarge helped to make the transition from gravel pit to groundbreaking new community smooth, establishing a trend of reusing and reidentifying valuable land for new use that has continued in Calgary since 2011.
A Sustainable Approach
Lafarge repurposed asphalt, concrete, and aggregates to recreate quality road base and paved surfaces. Products such as recycled aggregates, an end-of-life processing technique, divert used materials away from landfills and preserve natural aggregate reserves by using recycled concrete and asphalt - building on the concept of a circular economy.
THE RESULT
Today, Quarry Park is now home to a bustling marketplace, residential buildings, offices, and parks. Lafarge’s alignment with Remington Development Corporation in their views on sustainability, maximizing existing resources, using creative problem-solving, and openness to trying new combinations of products and solutions - led to fostering a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship.
