Contractors demand tenders for Carillion’s work in Alberta, Canada

Road contractors in the Canadian province of Alberta are demanding tenders be conducted for maintenance contracts that are currently run by Carillion, now in receivership. Carillion, based in the UK, went into receivership in January, and its Canadian operations did so as well, around a week later. The call for tenders in Alberta arose when the Alberta Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association learned that more than US$380 million worth of road contracts are likely to be handed over to Emcon, a
July 25, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Snow joke: Alberta highway maintenance contractors are serious about wanting tenders for contracts being done by failed Carillion (photo courtesy Emcon)
Road contractors in the Canadian province of Alberta are demanding tenders be conducted for maintenance contracts that are currently run by 2435 Carillion, now in receivership.


Carillion, based in the UK, went into receivership in January, and its Canadian operations did so as well, around a week later.

The call for tenders in Alberta arose when the Alberta Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association learned that more than US$380 million worth of road contracts are likely to be handed over to Emcon, a highways contractor based in the neighbouring province of British Columbia. The association says Alberta firms should be given a chance to bid for the work.

“We have nothing against competition coming in from another province. An open [bidding] process, that’s all we wanted to see come out of this,” Ron Glen, head of the roadbuilders association, reportedly said.

Carillion Canada holds three of eight of Alberta’s highway maintenance contracts amounting to around 43% of contracted work in the province. Emcon Services stands to take over the work within the next four to five years.


Emcon president Frank Rizzardo has said his firm stands ready to take up the work pending a ruling from a bankruptcy judge, likely this month. But “nothing is final”, he said.

In March, the province said it was going to pay Carillion Canada another $6.8 million to ensure it can pay its supply chain partners and subcontractors in order for it to meet its road maintenance obligations.

Carillion Canada is said to control more than 300 snowplows, around half of all Alberta showploughs. It employs about 300 workers during the winter and up to 500 in summer.

Finance & Funding

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Canada, US officials soon to settle planned Detroit bridge issue
    February 5, 2015
    An end to a thorny issue is close at hand concerning who will fund construction of a border customs plaza on the US side of a planned bridge linking Canada and the United States. US President Barack Obama’s US$4-trillion budget did not set aside any money for the plaza for a second consecutive year, further irritating Canadian officials who are overseeing construction of the bridge. It appears that the Canadian government might end up footing the entire bill, according to a report in Toronto’s Globe a
    Read More
  • Bertha ends her Alaskan Way voyage in Seattle
    December 21, 2017
    Seattle's State Route 99 viaduct is coming down. David Arminas was on site. Bertha, the world’s largest diameter earth pressure balance tunnel boring machine, with a cutterhead diameter of 17.5m, is no more. Her 2.7km journey underneath the waterfront area of Seattle finished on April 4 and the power went off for the last time on an extraordinary TBM that had finally completed an extraordinary job. “A small sidewalk job would have had more impact on city traffic than we have had,” says Brian Russell a v
    Read More
  • UK’s M6 tolled motorway for sale
    June 21, 2016
    For sale: one UK toll motorway along with operating business. Well maintained. Price negotiable. David Arminas looks at what is on offer As if right on cue, a French articulated truck starts to back up along the hard shoulder at an exit area of M6toll. The manoeuvring is watched from an office inside the nearby M6toll headquarters. Inside, Andy Pearson, chief executive of M6toll, glances over his shoulder and interrupts his presentation to World Highways. “He’s probably missed the dedicated wide-load
    Read More
  • Philipp Swarovski lays down the marker
    June 10, 2019
    Swarco’s chief operating officer Philipp Swarovski shares his thoughts on highway safety and infrastructure in an age of uncertain future needs. David Arminas reports It was in Austria in 1969 when Manfred Swarovski opened his first glass bead factory. Five years later, operations started in the US. As the years rolled by there followed acquisitions and expansion of manufacturing facilities as well as a shift into intelligent transportation systems globally. Fast forward to 2019 and the family compan
    Read More

Highlighted Content