CONSTRUCT CANADA—Canada’s largest annual exposition and conference on building and interior design, housing, construction, renovation, retrofit and property management—was a huge success.

The 21st edition, conducted earlier this month, welcomes over 23,000
attendees who checked out 1050 exhibits and 450 speakers delivering 200
presentations. On top of that, 200 new and green products were
showcased at the event.

EBMag was there to check things out and report on some of the things we saw and people we met.

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We chatted with Jim Wright of the ONTARIO CONSTRUCTION SECRETARIAT, which consists of 25 organized building
trade unions and signatory contractors of industrial, commercial and
institutional (ICI) construction, as well as representatives from the
provincial government. He showed us a guide put together by The Toronto
Sun (with OCS’ help) entitled “Trade Up: Your Guide to Opportunities in
the Construction Sector”. The special publication covers unionized
trades and trades-related information, and is great reading for those
considering a career in the trades.

The ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO was
back again at Construct Canada, serving as a reminder to attendees and
exhibitors alike the importance of hiring qualified and licensed (and,
in their particular case, unionized) professionals for not just
electrical work, but fire alarms testing, too. ECAO wanted everyone to
know that it takes more than pushing the TEST button to see whether a
fire alarm works as it should.

Speaking of fire alarms, among the 200 new products shown at Construct
Canada is SDi’s (Specialized Fire Products’) TESTIFIRE, which claims to
be the world’s first multi-stimulus detector tester for smoke, heat and
CO fire detectors. It includes an array of features
that change traditional approaches to detector testing. Testifire is a
fully field portable device for functional testing of single- and
multi-sensor fire detectors. The product range enables testing of
optical/photoelectric and ionization smoke sensors, thermal sensors
(fixed temperature or rate-of-rise), and carbon monoxide (CO) fire
sensors (be they conventional, addressable or analogue addressable).

Construct Canada was not limited to just the largest of companies, but
smaller firms, too, with big ideas. Take, for example, WIRE MANAGER
from Gibson Design. We spoke with
Ian Gibson, who explained the product’s benefits. While targeting
primarily DIYers, the manager can really be used by anyone for a quick
cable mess solution. The proprietary design minimizes shadows and
affixes easily with double-sided tape.

Mark your calendars: Construct Canada returns to Toronto’s Metro
Convention Centre December 1-3, 2010. CLICK HERE for more information.