BTY hosted the senior leadership of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) for a tour of Eglinton Crosstown LRT, the largest PPP project in Canada. Representatives of the professional organization were in Toronto as part of the RICS Infrastructure Across North America Project.
As increased infrastructure spending continues to be a major policy focus for governments in North America, the RICS has undertaken research initiatives to bring together industry leaders through roundtable discussions, to explore how Qualified Professionals are delivering value on infrastructure asset management, and the future vision of the profession on the continent.
On February 6, BTY’s Director of PPP Advisory Services, Marie Foley, and BTY’s Project Director Jon Bawdon led RICS President Amanda Clack and the RICS team on a bus tour of the $5.3 billion Eglinton Crosstown LRT (ECLRT), the largest PPP infrastructure project under construction in Canada.
BTY is providing Independent Certifier and Payment Certifier services on ECLRT and will be facilitating the substantial completion process of the entire project, which comprises a 19km light-rail line with 25 stations and stops as well as a 10km underground portion through one of the city’s most densely built corridors.
BTY’s Qualified Professionals rank first for Technical Advisory services on PPP infrastructure projects in North America, and sixth globally.
“The tour allowed the RICS team to see firsthand the project’s scale and complexity,” said BTY Regional Director for Eastern Canada, Darren Cash. “It also gave BTY an opportunity to demonstrate our capacity to undertake the biggest infrastructure mandates on the market and deliver crucial independent expertise.”
Following the tour, BTY hosted a welcome dinner for the RICS that also included Mr. Mark Romoff, President and CEO of the Canadian Council of Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP), Mr. John McKendrick, Executive Vice President at Infrastructure Ontario and Mr. John Hughes, RICS President-Elect.
“The CCPPP promotes innovative approaches to publicly funded complex, critical infrastructure that ensure a competitive, efficient, transparent and accountable delivery system. So we fully support the RICS objectives,” said Mark Romoff. “The Eglinton Crosstown is an excellent example among more than 250 projects of how those objectives are being achieved through the use of the P3 model in Canada.”
“The dinner allowed BTY to introduce RICS to some of the most accomplished leaders in Canadian infrastructure – and start building the personal and professional connections that make for long-term knowledge sharing,” said Marie Foley.
“With the knowledge bank we have developed as the top-ranking Technical Advisor for PPPs in North America, BTY’s Independent Certifier team on the Eglinton Crosstown project has utilized lessons learned for the benefit of our clients in the delivery of construction-phase services,” she added. “This shared foundation of services is perhaps one of the best advantages we offer for the public and private sector in the Canadian and global PPP markets.”
That knowledge sharing continued the following day at the RICS Toronto Roundtable meeting. More than a dozen people representing leading advisory firms and organizations in infrastructure delivery across Canada participated in the discussion, which took place on February 7. The RICS plans to release the Infrastructure Across North America research paper during its annual Summit of the Americas, scheduled for May 1st to 3rd this year.
Click here to see the photo gallery for this event.
