TEAMING UP FOR A LANDMARK PROJECT: FREDERICTION JUSTICE BUILDING
Led by Bird Construction, the new Justice Building continues to take shape and make its mark on the growing cityscape in Fredericton, NB. The new courthouse consists of six over-height stories, making it one of the tallest buildings in the city at just under 33 metres.
Located on King Street, between Regent Street and Carleton Street, the new 110,000 square foot building will provide the much-needed space required to meet future needs of the New Brunswick Department of Justice and Public Safety.
Ocean Steel played a vital role in this project, supplying and installing 950 tons of structural steel, 12 tons of steel joists, and 120,000 square feet of metal deck. When construction occurs on a busy main street in the heart of an urban area—especially for a building destined to become a historical landmark in Fredericton—it’s essential to have an erection team that understands the unique challenges of such an environment.
The Ocean Steel team’s expertise ensures not only precise steel installation but also careful coordination, heightened safety, and minimal disruption to local traffic and businesses. This level of professionalism is key to maintaining schedules and supporting the city’s growth while respecting its vibrant community and future heritage.
Exterior brickwork and precast concrete cladding have progressed, bringing to life the vision developed by Montgomery Sisam Architects Inc. Strescon Limited will be supplying over 100 architectural precast concrete elements, including sills, headers, columns, cladding panels, and benches. These custom-made components were fabricated using sand and stone local to New Brunswick and expertly finished at Strescon’s manufacturing facility in Saint John.
The majority of precast elements were installed during the winter of 2024. However, construction on the overall project remains in progress. The site is visible from the street for local observers.
Design Notes: “The simple, solid mass of the courthouse is designed in deference to its judicial function and was inspired by the enduring, timeless quality of the many institutional buildings – the Legislature, the Fredericton Region Museum (formerly the Garrison, part of the military compound), the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, and the Christ Church Cathedral among them – that have long distinguished Fredericton as a capital city and centre for government, education, military, art and faith. Contemporary applications of stone, brick, copper and concrete work in concert to create a mature, refined expression of traditional building materials and techniques that characterize much of the downtown core.”
source: montgomerysisam.com: Montgomery Sisam as Design Architect in collaboration with courthouse specialist Julian Jaffary, and local Fredericton firm Goguen Architecture.
Connecting futures for Affordable Housing and Community Services is too urgent to wait for winter.
Winter weather will not slow our precast installs on the largest affordable housing project in Barrie’s history. The project is progressing through this very unusually difficult winter. Even with more than 9 feet of snow this season, PreCon is pushing ahead on the Rose Street Social and Community Services and Affordable Housing Development. Precast is built for resilience.
The County of Simcoe, ON received full development approval for a $217 million mixed-use development project. This development, aka The Rose Street Social and Community Services and Affordable Housing Development, will feature two towers comprising 215 rental residential units, which will include affordable and rent-geared-to-income housing. Additionally, the project will encompass approximately 4,750 square meters of space dedicated to community, social, and health services. The Social and Community Services space will be housed on a standalone structure which includes 3 levels of parking space (213 Stalls).
Situated on a 1.9-hectare site in a central urban area with access to amenities and transit, the development aims to serve as a large-scale Ontario Works and County Social and Community Services facility, supporting diverse housing needs and community partners. Melloul Blamey Construction was awarded to be the Construction Manager of the Project in 2024. Shortly after a competitive bidding process, PreCon was selected as the precast concrete subcontractor for the Social and Community Services and Parking Structure.
Team at Breaking Ground Event: Diego Fiallo, Ozgun Dervisoglu, Asad Malik, Paul Davis, Steven Perri, and Shawn Shafiei.
The PreCon team, including Project Manager Diego Fiallo, Design Engineer Philip Dino, and Modelers led by Vivek Mohun and Richa Dave, worked diligently with the owner, the client, and consultants—including MCL Architects and Gerrits Engineering—to complete the design and detailing of the structure.
Precast components for this structure are being produced in the new PreCon’s Woodstock precast manufacturing facility. PreCon’s site crew started erecting the precast components Winter 2025.
Precast Concrete Scope The Social and Community Services and Parking Structure includes 500 precast components for 120,000 sq ft of precast deck area. Unlike a typical parking deck, the facade is made up of load bearing and non-load bearing insulated and solid precast wall panels, complete with formliners designed to imitate a brick pattern that will be stained to look like real brick.
Clear Skies Reveals Progress:
Beautiful day to hoist precast! PreCon has started erecting our newest garage for the largest affordable housing project in Barrie ON Canada. We will be installing 500 pieces of precast including columns, beams, double tees, wall panels and stair risers with pieces weighing up to 80,000 lbs. Along with a high-quality product from our manufacturing plant PreCon brings experienced crews and proven installations to every project. Paul Davis, Construction Manager at PreCon. February 12th, 2026
Stay tuned for completion of this exciting project!
Read more about our next level construction projects in our newsmagazine Connections: Fall 2025.
Have a project in mind? Let’s build it together. Speak with the experts at OSCO Construction Group 📞 (877) 320‑1138
An industrial space that delivers high-efficiency features and big tenant appeal.
A new warehouse under construction in Burnside Business Park, in Dartmouth, N.S., is redefining what industrial space can offer, combining a prime location with sustainability features that help tenants lower their environmental impact, improve energy performance, and support their ESG goals.
“This was one of the quicker projects we’ve ever moved on,” says Steve Morrison, Senior Advisor at Brunswick Brokers, Commercial Properties’ sales and leasing company, who is representing the rental listing. “It was a prime corner lot with easy access. We saw it as a piece that was enticing and wanted to do something proper with it.”
That “something proper” is a state-of-the-art, 33,000-square-foot precast warehouse designed to meet the Zero Carbon Building Standard from the Canada Green Building Council, a first for Commercial Properties. Construction began in spring 2025, with occupancy expected by year’s end.
“The decision to go with carbon-neutral was made early on,” says Carl Blanchard, a longtime OSCO Construction Group executive who came out of retirement to help oversee the project for Commercial Properties. “There’s a solar array on the roof, in-floor heating, and other features to reduce the building’s carbon footprint.”
The solar photovoltaic system is designed to power the building’s heating and supplement general electrical use, reducing reliance on the grid and supporting more stable operating costs for tenants. The building also uses Strescon’s precast wall panels, engineered with enhanced insulation and reduced thermal bridging for improved energy performance.
For Karine Petrosyan, CPL’s new Director of Engineering and Development, the project represents a forward-looking shift. “There’s definitely a big demand for buildings that are more conscious and climate-focused,” she says. “This project is part of that switch in how we use the space, how we design, how we manage.” As sustainability becomes a bigger part of how businesses operate, the demand for buildings like this is expected to grow.
“We’re seeing more tenants who want good data about their environmental impact,” Steve adds. “The building’s sustainability features aren’t just about doing the right thing; they’re becoming a real market advantage.”
OSCO Team-Member Contributions to Cutler Avenue Development
Rebar: OSCO Rebar supplied and installed 501 tons of rebar and 265 sheets of mesh. Work started in late April, with estimated completion in December of 2025.
Ready-Mix: OSCO Concrete supplied 840 cubic meters of ready-mix—all of which was pumped. Work was completed between April and September.
Structural Steel: Ocean Steel supplied 52 tons of structural steel, 134 joists, 44 tons, and 34,500ft2 of deck.
Precast: Strescon supplied and installed 71 insulated precast concrete panels and 2 solid interior precast panels. The panels had a 1% Dark Buff pigment, with a light sandblast finish.
Production started on March 14th and finished April 14th. Installation took a total of 7 days.
Read more about our next level construction projects in our newsmagazine Connections: Fall 2025.
Ready to design or build? Start the conversation with our expert team. OSCO Construction Group | 📞 (877) 320‑1138
Total precast construction is a streamlined approach with the potential to fast-track one of the Saint John Region’s most anticipated new residential developments on King St.. Inside Strescon Limited, a member of OSCO Construction Group in Saint John, concrete components are constantly in production – poured, cured, and prepared for installation well before construction crews need them on site.
Total precast concrete systems are not new. New Brunswick has seen their benefits for over 50 years, beginning when Strescon first built using the product and process. The method has been a construction staple in Europe for even longer. However, in Canada’s residential sector, its use is accelerating as developers seek solutions that combine speed, strength, and sustainability without compromising on design.
With precast, multiple phases of construction can happen simultaneously. While a foundation is being prepared on-site, structural elements are fabricated off-site, ready for delivery and installation as soon as the site is ready. In Canada’s climate – a constant challenge for the construction industry – a total precast build offers a key advantage: it allows projects to be enclosed and protected from the elements in months rather than years. That efficiency is a game-changer for urban development in the Saint John Region.
Strescon, a regional powerhouse with national and international reach, has partnered with Architects Inc. and Ostan Engineering to bring the 99 King project to life.
99 King – a 15-level, 152-unit, total precast mixed-use residential tower featuring two large floors of commercial retail and underground parking – is set to rise in the heart of uptown. Led by local developer Percy Wilbur, this transformative project is reimagining a key corner of the city’s core, promising much-needed housing while making a bold statement on the uptown skyline.
The building will include more than 2,000 individual precast components, such as prestressed hollow core slabs, stairs, interior panels, and architectural panels featuring embedded red brick at the lower levels of the structure to align with the look and feel of uptown Saint John.
From the early stages of planning, it became clear that embracing a total precast approach offered a path forward that balanced financial predictability, design ambition, and construction efficiency.
“The concept itself, especially with the windows (Kohltech) being in as you build, and it kind of almost being a finished product as you’re going up the superstructure, was very appealing,” says Wilbur. “And the cost is the cost – so you know that level going into it, which is really good, having that security.”
Precast’s speed and cost aren’t its only advantages. It also supports more sustainable construction practices, including reduced waste, fewer deliveries, less heavy machinery, and a smaller construction site footprint. That means less disruption for surrounding neighbourhoods while adding momentum to the project.
At 99 King, the total precast approach is expected to keep the project timeline on track, despite industry-wide challenges, helping ensure housing delivery remains on schedule.
“The 99 King Street project represents a bold step forward in urban revitalization for Saint John,” says Rebecca Patterson, District Manager of Strescon. “This 15-level development showcases the power of precast to transform a long-vacant site into a vibrant residential hub, with architectural finishes that respect the heritage of the uptown district while embracing modern design.”
From Saint John to projects across Canada and beyond, Strescon is setting the pace for modern construction. The work on 99 King underscores the power of precast concrete – not only for faster, smarter building, but also as a showcase of the Saint John Region’s strength in construction and manufacturing.
“We’re in a unique position to put an iconic building on an iconic piece of property,” says Wilbur. “I think we’ve achieved that working with Strescon – to design a building that fits in our community and meets the needs of our community.”
In today’s competitive construction landscape, stakeholders recognize that every minute and dollar counts. Balancing aggressive project schedules with strict budgets is a constant challenge, especially when there’s also a need to deliver buildings that are both functional and visually impressive. Fortunately, solutions like advanced precast systems are proving that smarter, stronger, and faster warehouses can be built without compromising design or quality.
PreCon recently collaborated with Cambria Design Build on the 275 Addison Hall project in Aurora, Ontario, a prime example of how efficiency and aesthetic appeal can go hand in hand. This project highlights the versatility and speed of PreCon’s precast panels, which are now synonymous with quality and innovation in the construction sector. The project was completed with exceptional speed and accuracy, requiring only seven days to erect all panels. This remarkable efficiency reflects the streamlined installation process and robust engineering behind the Flexwall panel system.
207 Precast Panels Erected in 7 Days
Project Specifications:
Panel Type: Standard Flexwall with an exterior white concrete finish and interior grey form finish
Total Panels: 207
Total Wall Area: 63,915 sq. ft.
Erection Duration: 7 days with a single mobilization
Architect: Ware Malcomb
Engineer: Gravity Engineering
Clients have conveyed high levels of satisfaction with the outcome, specifically noting the Flexwall panels’ visual appeal and structural reliability. This positive reception underscores PreCon’s dedication to providing superior solutions that consistently meet and surpass client expectations.
Addison Hall Circle is emerging as a showcase for Flexwall panels, with multiple buildings in the area featuring this innovative product. The increasing adoption of Flexwall panels demonstrates their strength, dependability, and popularity in contemporary warehouse construction. PreCon’s accomplishment at 275 Addison Hall exemplifies their commitment to excellence and their drive to partner with industry leaders. The company is eager to continue transforming spaces and setting new standards for performance and design with its Flexwall panels. When performance matters most, PreCon delivers.
OSCO companies respond to record demand for new residential units.
The Canadian housing market is hot, and the Maritimes are feeling the heat as population growth and demographic shifts increase demand for new residential units across the region.
Brunswick Brokers’ 2024 report on Saint John, N.B.’s housing market notes a vacancy rate of 2.3%. While this is a minor increase over 2023, the “overall rate remains extremely low as the increase was less than 1%.”
In May, in Saint John, 852 units were under construction, a 21% annual increase, with more than 400 units expected to be completed in 2024. As Saint John grows, so grows the region, with record-high construction in recent years to meet current needs and projected demands. As the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) noted in its 2024 Annual Rental Market Report, “It will take time before enough supply is added to improve rental market affordability.”
Across the OSCO Construction Group, companies are working hard to address the shortfall and deliver high quality housing more efficiently. This push isn’t limited to major cities like Moncton, N.B. or Halifax, N.S. The pressure is on in smaller municipalities, too.
St. Croix – Total Precast Multi-Residential in Windsor Nova Scotia
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE Andrew LeVatte, Business Development Manager for Strescon, understands the imperative to build quickly without sacrificing quality. In Windsor, N.S., his team put up the town’s inaugural apartment building using precast concrete, The St. Croix. “It was 138,000 square feet that we’ve turned over in four months,” he says. “That’s a pretty significant achievement.”
Andrew estimates that choosing precast, with its modular panels for the exterior, core, and floors, shaved half a year off the project timeline. “That’s six months less of financing, six months faster to revenue.” He compares it to other construction methods, such as cast-in-place. “Ten years ago, they could do a floor a week,” he says. “Now you’re lucky to do one every three weeks.”
In a new twist, Strescon worked on the Windsor project with a cast-in-place contractor, who laid the foundation before the precast crew moved in to install.
“That’s usually unheard of,” Andrew says. “They build for themselves. But it gives them time to go after other projects. The more we partner, the more buildings they can do.”
The company is also finding new ways to increase project efficiency, such as manufacturing architectural concrete wall panels with windows installed, a unique approach which saves times and money on site for the developer.
Strescon is a member of The Altus Group, an international collaboration of precast concrete companies working to develop the next generation window, as well as exploring other advances, such as low-carbon, high-performance insulated concrete wall panels.
“We need to be forward-thinking,” Andrew says. “If we can come up with ideas to make things stronger, simpler, that’s huge. These are really exciting times.”
Andrew LeVatte, Business Development Manager, StresconFrom left, Mark Chouinard, Dana Retieffe, Josh Fowler and Trevor Taber at the World of Concrete conference in JanuaryCorey Landry, Manager, OSCO Concrete – Moncton
BIGGER, TALLER, FASTER In the past few years, OSCO Construction Group companies have been working on increasingly large, complex, and fast-paced projects. This is nowhere more apparent than in Halifax, where record-breaking housing demand has expanded building footprints while new height restrictions have allowed them to build higher. OSCO Rebar’s Allstar Rebar plant, in Bedford, N.S. has been going full-tilt. Its projects from 2022-2026 will add an estimated 5,000 units, around a third of the Halifax market. The Cunard, a luxury residential on the waterfront, was its first mega-project, kicking off a string of ever -larger structures.
“We’re showing that Allstar can tackle the largest projects that Halifax has to offer, while still servicing all of our other work,” says Project Manager Mark Chouinard. “It takes significant effort to coordinate it all, but we are up to the task.” They’ve expanded their fabricating capacity and refined their processes, collaborating more tightly with Ocean Steel Rebar in Saint John. “We wouldn’t be able to do it without them,”
Mark Chouinard
That shop handles detailing, project coordination, fabrication, and labour. This agility is essential as rebar, the backbone of construction, is an early-stage trade in dynamic projects.
“You’ve got to navigate aggressive schedules, unfinished designs, and multiple projects co-occurring,” says Josh Fowler, Operations Manager at OSCO Rebar’s Ocean Steel Rebar plant. Amid these shifting forces, “managing customer expectations is a huge part of the job,” Mark says. “You’ve got to be a good communicator in this trade.”
This message was echoed across the group, including by Corey Landry, Manager for OSCO Concrete’s Ready-Mix branch in Moncton. “Apartment buildings are just popping up left, right and centre,” he says, including an 11-structure complex his team is working on, with nine six-storey apartments and two commercial buildings. “Having good communication with your contractors and being flexible is key,” he says. “In the past, you could call for concrete in an hour. Now, we have schedules for days and weeks out.” Just as the OSCO Rebar teams collaborate, Corey and his OSCO Concrete colleagues in New Brunswick and across the region help each other out. “We all work together,” he says.
PART OF THE SOLUTION Along with private developments, OSCO companies are also helping to add more affordable housing to the mix. Steepleview Apartments is a mixed-income project in Saint John that will add 56 apartments, half of which will be affordable housing for seniors, women and children, and Indigenous Peoples. And in Cole Harbour, N.S., Allstar is working with Lindsay Construction on a 68-unit apartment building at Millbrook First Nation. It all adds up to a significant contribution to our region’s diverse housing needs.
“I love driving around and looking at what we built and thinking, ‘I had a part in solving this problem,’” says Mark, who marked 20 years with Allstar on Jan. 5. “It’s something I am proud to be part of.”
In celebration of Earth Day, we at OSCO Construction Group are proud to highlight our commitment to sustainability as we seek new ways to decrease the use of manufacturing materials and promote eco-friendly solutions. At Strescon Limited, one of our precast concrete companies, we are thrilled to be working on an exciting project on Cutler Avenue, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. This project utilizes CarbonCast High Performance insulated wall panels, made with C-GRID® carbon fiber grid as a shear connector. This significantly reduces the amount of concrete and materials needed by reducing the required thickness of the panels. CarbonCast High Performance insulated wall panels deliver an exterior wall panel with full composite action and continuous insulation. For example, a panel with 4″ (102mm) of insulation between two 2″ (51mm) concrete wythes will behave structurally as if it were an 8″ (203mm) solid panel.
By reducing the thickness of each panel by two inches, we are able to decrease the overall material usage and production waste, demonstrating our dedication to resource efficiency. In addition, CarbonCast prevents cold spots and thermal bridging, boosting energy efficiency. It keeps a steady internal temperature, reducing the need for extra heating or cooling, thus lowering energy intensity and therefore cost. CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels are manufactured at our Strescon and PreCon facilities.
In honor of Earth Day, we want to inspire and challenge other construction and manufacturing companies to continuously think about sustainable practices. Let’s all strive to reduce, reuse, and recycle in our processes, ensuring a greener and more sustainable future for generations to come.
Together, we can make a difference. Join us in our commitment to sustainability and celebrate Earth Day by adopting practices that protect our planet.
The QEII Parkade – a Strescon Precast project – is featured in the Winter 2024 edition of Parker Magazine, a national publication by the Canadian Parking Association. The editorial, Redefining Parking: Accessibility, Aesthetics, and Sustainability at the QEII, by Stephanie Nowe-Morris, says that this project is a defining structure in “a new era in health infrastructure.”
“Parking structures are often overlooked in urban planning, especially in healthcare settings where demands are unique and multifaceted,” the editorial states. “The recently opened QEII Health Sciences Centre parkade stands as a testament to Nova Scotia’s commitment to accessibility and sustainable design, providing a new model for modern parking that balance functionality with community needs.”
The article notes that the parkade has an “eco-friendly” focus because of its design and operational features, “such as efficient lighting systems that adjust based on occupancy, locally sourced materials, and an extensive recycling program.”
In addition, it was built “using a modular, demountable precast structure. The parkade minimizes construction waste and has a lower environmental footprint.”
We are proud to have this recognition for our products and the difference they can make building forward.
This editorial explores how QEII Parkade has “transformed into a vibrant landmark, integrated part of Halifax, services patients, visitors, staff and the broader community.”
Please read the full article: Parker Winter 2024: Redefining Parking: Accessibility, Aesthetics, and Sustainability at the QEII, by Stephanie Nowe-Morris.
In total, OSCO raised 1,600 tons of structural steel and 325,000 ft2 of precast plank on this project. On a side-note, this was the single largest hollowcore project ever completed by Strescon, with 3,770 individual pieces.
Built by Engineers Construction Inc. (BBE) has mobilized to site to begin development of a 160,000 sqft manufacturing facility, for industry leading automation solutions provider, Automated Tooling Systems (ATS). The Cambridge, Ontario location, located at 1574 Eagle Street, will add yet another footprint to ATS’s growing portfolio of manufacturing, assembly, and shipping facilities in the greater Kitchener/Waterloo region. With prominent local developer, Eagle Street Industrial GP, working closely with Cambridge based consultant, Built by Engineers, plans for the building’s envelope system required superior aesthetics, durability, and construction economy.
They chose PreCon’s architectural precast & prestressed insulated wall panels. All 210 white sandblast-finished wall panels were produced at PreCon’s Brampton manufacturing facility, accounting for an overall finished wall area of over 50,000 square feet. Utilizing the precast industry’s highest rated R-value insulation, combined with superior thermal resistance carbon fiber shear ties (C-grid), the building will be an energy saving front runner.
Additionally, the interior face of the panels will be painted a brilliant white to enhance aesthetics, while reducing lighting requirements and ongoing costs. PreCon forces moved onto site in October 2024 to erect the 37-footheight wall panels in one mobilization, complete with expansion joints and colour matched caulking.
PreCon is proud to be a player associated with supporting global leader Automated Tooling Systems, a leading company employing over 7,000 people at more than 65 manufacturing facilities and over 85 offices in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.
A new industrial building in Ontario will be one of only eight in all of Canada to be certified by the Canadian Green Building Council as ‘Zero Carbon Building Design v3’—and CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels from AltusGroup member PreCon Precast Limited are contributing.
The Eagle Street Industrial Park in Cambridge will meet the ‘v3’ certification, which demands carbon reduction be 30% below the Ontario average for embedded carbon in building materials. The consortium of owners, however, has gone well beyond the minimum by melting old steel and repurposing it and using recycled concrete in the foundations, for example.
The CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels will deliver an R-value of R-30 by using four inches of Kooltherm K20 insulation between two concrete wythes (2-7/8” and 3-1/8” thick) that are connected by C-GRID carbon fiber grid trusses. The negligible thermal transfer of the CFRP grid enables the panels to offer continuous insulation to save energy on heating and cooling.
Read the entire article – which includes details on more carbon reduction initiatives — in Cambridge Today.
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