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

  • Almost gone: Canada’s old Port Mann Bridge deconstructed
    August 14, 2015
    Three years ago a welder’s cut halved Canada’s old Port Mann Bridge. David Arminas reports from the banks of the Fraser River. By the time this issue of World Highways reaches you, one of Canada’s iconic steel arch bridges will be a shadow of its former self. It’s been a three-year demolition job since the first cut across the deck of the old Port Mann Bridge just outside the city of Vancouver on Canada’s Pacific coast. A new 10-lane 2.2km Port Mann Bridge opened in 2012 (see box). It runs parallel to the o
    Read More
  • PPRS Nice 2018: maintenance moves mountains
    June 22, 2018
    Strategic maintenance was a major theme at the second Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit in Nice, France. The world is changing, mobility is changing and so roads must change and adapt for the future.” With this brief statement, Jacques Tavernier opened the second PPRS Summit. “At the same time there is a growing awareness of poor or non-existent maintenance for highways. The question for this conference is how to adapt road maintenance in the face of this challenge,” said Tavernier, in his role as
    Read More
  • A new event is preparing the asphalt industry for tomorrow’s world
    September 11, 2018
    An inaugural event for the European bitumen industry urged attendees to look to the future - Kristina Smith reports What will tomorrow’s roads look like? Will lanes be narrower, will the road charge vehicles as they drive on them, will they collect data, will they be self-cleaning and de-polluting? All these questions and more were pondered at a two-day conference in Berlin, entitled ‘Preparing the asphalt industry for the future’. It was the first such event for Eurasphalt & Eurobitume (E&E), and set a
    Read More
  • LafargeHolcim wins Highway 1 deal in Vancouver, Canada
    January 3, 2019
    LafargeHolcim has been awarded infrastructure contracts worth more than US$73.5 million as part of a major Highway 1 improvement project in Vancouver, Canada. Highway 1 – also called the TransCanada Highway – is a vital economic link for many local, regional and provincial towns and cities across the country, from the Atlantic to Pacific coasts. For the work in the Vancouver area, LafargeHolcim will be the prime contractor as awarded by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure for the provinc
    Read More

Highlighted Content