By Mark Buckshon
As the days get longer, we can anticipate an early Spring. (I’m writing this note on Groundhog Day Feb. 2, and it is indeed cloudy outside.) Hopefully, we’ll enjoy the advantages that the COVID-10 pandemic brought us in the past two years, while the painful problems it caused finally dissipate.
Advantages? Well, undoubtedly the construction industry has boomed, especially in Ottawa, where a combination of massive public sector projects and a relatively healthy private sector has fuelled more construction services demand than many other markets.
The local construction industry has adapted its operations and discovered new solutions to operating challenges, some of which will become permanent. In this context, despite the serious issues of price inflation, labor shortages and scheduling mishaps, the industry has done much better than many others, especially the entertainment and hospitality sectors.
As for Ottawa Construction News and its OCN acronym counterpart, Ontario Construction News, the Spring will see enhanced editorial coverage coupled with a much more comprehensive public sector bidding/data listing service.
When we complete building our IT backbone and testing everything out, we’ll move the daily publication behind a “leaky paywall”. That is, much content will continue to be available freely – especially the monthly Ottawa Construction News monthly electronic magazine and stories – while everyone will be able to view some stories each month, before they receive an invitation to pay for a subscription.
The subscription fee will also include significant additional content, especially the enhanced bidding opportunity data, that you can only view with a subscription.
The good news is that subscriptions will be truly economical, while advertisers, including contractors which publish their Certificates of Substantial Performance (CSP), will continue to receive totally free access. We’ll allocate the increased revenue to additional editorial resources, improving the comprehensiveness and depth of our news coverage; timely as the construction industry approaches its triennial open season for construction labour negotiations.
Mark Buckshon is president of the Construction News and Report Group of Companies, which publishes Ottawa Construction News, Ontario Construction News, and several US publications. He can be reached by email at buckshon@cnrgp.com.
