Tuesday morning, we had the chance to visit the employees at MAGIL. MAGIL is a company working in the field of construction. We went to one of their construction site and they are currently working on a 6-story condo tower in a developing Vancouver neighborhood.


Half of the students in the 2018 mission study in construction engineering. So, it was easy from the start for them to identify differences between the methods in Quebec and British Columbia. We learned more about a technique called « Shotcrete » and seismic zones. The « Shotcrete » is a method of projecting concrete on the excavated earth to prevent landslides acting as a wall of support. Seismic zones have a real impact on the structure of buildings. Moreover, as simple as it may seem, even the trailers are not located in the same place. Actually, in Vancouver, they are placed above the sidewalk as illustrated below.


We can definitely say that the highlight of our visit was when we talked about neighborhood zoning. Since the Olympic Games, a new metro line has been added, which has enabled the zoning of the district to be changed. The construction of buildings of 6 floors or less is now permitted where formally only single houses where allowed. The price of housing has since exploded, because developers are willing to buy homes already established for several million dollars without problems to demolish them and build condo towers on the land. 

We look forward to future visits, but this visit will be hard to beat! Everyone has learned a lot!

See you!