Congratulations Andrew Hurley on receiving the AMBA Metal Building FIRST-YEAR Apprenticeship Bursary!
In 2020, Andrew graduated from high school in Lloydminster and was accepted to SAIT into the Diesel Equipment Technician program. Unfortunately, he found the online training and COVID regulations difficult to learn, so he returned to Lloydminster, unsure of his next steps.
For over twenty years, Total Combustion Inc. (TCI) has been servicing oilfield companies across the globe with innovative and environmentally responsible combustion solutions. TCI designs and manufactures specialized equipment to efficiently incinerate casing gas emissions and other harmful by-product vapors, eliminating smoke and vapor while combusting harmful greenhouse gas.
We promote metal buildings by educating buyers on the wide range of engineered metal building applications. AMBA features project profiles in our Newsletters, on our website and on all our social media platforms to target commercial, industrial, and institutional building owners – new build or retrofit.
Metal Construction News Article, New Year, New Opportunity for Metal Buildings, highlighted the challenges facing the metal building industry: supply chain and labour shortages, price volatility, finding and retaining qualified workers, rising interest rates, and uncertainty about what’s ahead.
“While we continue to grapple with the industry’s human resource challenges, we must not lose sight of influential market trends.”
Harv Friesen has decided to retire and wind down Kesho Construction, an outstanding and reputable metal building erection company that has been in business for over 30 years!
Harv served on the AMBA board since the very beginning of AMBA (1995) and for over 18 years as a board director, he worked hard to encourage both young and older metal building erectors and workers to attend all available training and apprenticeship programs. As an owner of an erection company, Harv felt that it was important to promote the metal building industry as a legitimate and certified trade – he fully supported his workers through advanced education and training programs.
Four years of dealing with COVID and almost a year of enduring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have had profound global effects. The world continues to struggle with volatile energy supply, extreme inflation, food insecurity and material and labour shortages. Central banks have aggressively raised interest rates to specifically target inflation.
Well, 2022 is now in the rear-view mirror and it certainly was eventful! From COVID, the war in Ukraine, soaring inflation, supply chain disruptions – we had it all. The Christmas Season arrived with weather that dealt North America a series of brutal winter storms, totally disrupting holiday travel and leaving people abandoned and unable to get home. What a year!
AMBA continues to be focused on supporting Metal Building Erectors and filling seats in the Ironworker (MBSE) Education Program. The AMBA membership pays for itself when members send their employees for Ironworker MBSE training at NAIT or SAIT. AMBA has increased each of the 1st and second year awards to $1,500 – these awards are presented to the applicants achieving top marks in year 1 or 2. Additionally, there is a $750 bursary available for any AMBA member employee attending 1st year or 2nd year MBSE training. If you know of Erectors that are not currently part of AMBA, please share this message. As MBSEs retire, we need to ensure that we have a pipeline of well trained erectors.
Welcome to 2023, a year that seems poised to hold good potential for Alberta in general, and our Steel Building Market in particular. Alberta has always persevered through the ups and downs of political and economic winds of change. Strong indications are that we will see increased population growth and economic activity, as we build on our oil and gas legacy and at the same time, transition into alternative energy markets and carbon capture and storage.