Service Spotlight: Pre-Fabrication

Modern Niagara has been serving building owners, general contractors, and our community in Alberta for many years. Modern Niagara established its first location in Alberta with our Calgary office in 2008 and with the addition of our Edmonton location six years later, our presence in the province has only continued to grow. 

One of the most notable ways in which Modern Niagara has distinguished itself in the industry is our focus and development of prefabrication capabilities. This is particularly evident with our prefabrication facility in Alberta, which is currently playing a crucial role in facilitating Modern Niagara’s work on the Capital Care Norwood project. 

Prefabrication is a fundamental aspect on Modern’s work with this project, as it allows us to maintain our schedule and ensure successful completion of the project on time. A key element in Modern’s recipe for success is to Get Ahead and Stay Ahead. Without pre-fabrication, there would be several trades and activities happening in a space that doesn’t have the capacity for us to effectively plan out, lay down, and assemble (on-site) all the systems that need to be installed. The schedule is a crucial driver on all of our projects and in the instance of our Capital Care Norwood project, a fast-tracked continuing care facility, it would be very difficult to maintain our timeline without prefabricating off-site. 

The reality is, Modern Niagara is knocking it out of the park on projects due to their pre-fabrication capabilities,” Kevin Lefever (Director, Healthcare – Clark Builders) mentioned. “This is an exciting thing to see, they’re pushing the envelope and delivering on projects.” 

Modern Niagara's Pre-Fabrication Facility in Alberta

The inside of Modern Niagara’s Pre-Fabrication Facility in Alberta

“The collaboration and knowledge they bring to site is the initiative and proactiveness that’s needed,” said Kevin. “With new and remote projects, pre-fabrications bring a level of control, efficiency, and better overall projects completed on quicker timelines.” 

As a standard, we draw all mechanical rooms and heavy mechanical areas for all major projects in 3D, regardless of whether Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a requirement or not. We do this to support prefabrication and modular construction. 

Both prefabrication and modular construction have numerous benefits, including: 

  • Reducing trade stacking on site 
  • Scheduling benefits resulting from parallel tasks 
  • Increased quality resulting from tight shop Quality Assurance and Quality Control procedures 

Modern Niagara’s Lean 5S fabrication facility consists of more than 45,000 square feet of shop space delivering sheet metal, piping, and plumbing fabrication. 

Sheet Metal Fabrication  

Modern Niagara’s pre-fabrication facility in Alberta has the capacity to fabricate more than five million pounds of sheet metal per year. This includes galvanized, stainless, and black iron sheet metal of various sizes and gauges. The facility is able to produce both galvanized and stainless spiral duct, in diameters ranging from 3” to 42”, in addition to fully welded duct systems, including in-house pressure testing as required.  

All ductwork produced in-house is wrapped prior to shipment, in order to meet LEED standards. In addition, our prefab facility houses two plasma tables for computer cut-fitting patterns. We also produce acoustic insulation on all sizes of duct. 

Piping Fabrication 

Our facility is fitted with numerous Victaulic Grooving Machines capable of producing pipe sizes 2” through 60”, as well as a Watts Electronic Pipe Cutting System for the precision production of all pipe spools. Furthermore, we also have the capability to fabricate Structural Support and Pump Skids in house, in addition to Welded Pipe fabrication for Flux Core, MIG, and TIG procedures. Our facility also has Alberta Boiler Safety Association (ABSA) Registration for ASME B31.1, B31.3, and B31.5 and CSA B51. 

Plumbing Fabrication 

Our facility is capable of facilitating Pulled Tee fabrication, as well as the assembly and installation of Mixing Valves. We are also able to fabricate Rough-ins for Sinks, Lavatories, and Urinals, in various configurations, in addition to the capacity for the uncrating and assembly of both sinks and custom racking, for delivery to site. 

Our shops can run up to three shifts to accommodate various levels of production as required to meet the needs of our clients. Full quality control is maintained through Modern’s QC process that is overseen by of our shop management personnel. 

Click the links below to learn more about our pre-fabrication capabilities and past projects out of our two Alberta shops:

Modern Niagara Alberta (Calgary)

Modern Niagara (Edmonton)