With a $48 million budget, Memme Construction is making dramatic improvements to an Ontario community’s road and water infrastructure. By Jamie Morgan
Memme Construction Regional
Municipality of York Project value: $48 million Location: Georgina, Ontario
Scope: Road widening, force main twinning, new water main
Peak employees: 60
When Memme Construction bids on jobs, it doesn’t shy away from the tough ones. And when it looks for subcontractors for those jobs, it finds a team that’s ready for a challenge.
“We’re pretty careful in selecting our supplier and subtrades before commencing any project,” says Leo Guarnieri, a project manager and Memme employee for 27 years. “We try to maintain good working relationships with all team members through respect, cooperation and ability to compromise when issues arise.”
Those are team qualities critical to any construction job, especially heavy civil construction in hightraffic areas. In February 2010, Memme was awarded the contract for a water main and force main construction and roadwidening project in The Regional Municipality of York, located in southern Ontario, north of the city of Toronto. As the lowest bidder with a budget of $48 million, Memme promised exceptional service at the best price. Though the project began construction last year, it has been many years in the making, according to a project manager for The Regional Municipality of York Capital Planning and Delivery Branch, Ben Pressman. In 2004, York Region updated its Long Term Water Project Master Plan, which laid out the expected growth population and coinciding water improvements needed by 2036. It examined each system in the region’s nine local municipalities, and made recommendations for longterm water infrastructure improvements. The town of Georgina is an integrated water system servicing three communities: Keswick, Lakeshore and Sutton. Memme’s project concerns the Keswick water system, which today supports water needs for more than 29,000 people and is expected to support more than 45,000 people by 2036. “Before construction began, an environmental assessment was completed,” Pressman says. “As a result, the best solution was determined for providing increased water supply and wastewater
capacity for the future growth.”
Many Project Aspects
Memme was hired as contractor for the project in the town of Georgina and the work includes widening five kilometres