Edmonton is growing fast. In 2024, our region issued more than $4 billion in building permits, representing a 30 per cent increase from the previous year. The City’s economic updates show construction is one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy. According to Edmonton Global, it accounts for nearly 10 per cent of the GDP. Across the province, approximately one out of every 10 jobs is connected to investment in the construction sector.
The connection between the construction industry and Edmonton’s future as a major metropolitan centre couldn’t be more apparent. If we aren’t building to keep pace with growth, our economy is falling behind where it needs to be.
The Edmonton Construction Association (ECA) is the largest in Western Canada, representing over 1,000 member firms. We advocate for innovative, collaborative and sustainable infrastructure that supports Edmonton’s growth and development.
This fall, our municipal election platform is based on a straightforward premise: don’t stop building our city. Pausing capital budgets, delaying permitting, or slowing the pipeline weakens investor confidence, raises future costs and shortchanges residents who need safe roads, reliable utilities, modern civic facilities and more housing and services.
Our city has done exemplary work in building connections with the industrial, commercial and institutional construction industries that our association represents. The City of Edmonton is one of Canada’s most preferred clients in public sector procurement and is regarded as one of the best construction owners in the country.
This reputation is a competitive advantage when market capacity is tight, as firms can then choose where to focus their best teams.
This didn’t happen by accident. The ECA has put sustained effort into encouraging the City to modernize procurement, increase transparency with project scopes and to entertain collaborative project delivery models that allow for innovation and efficiency. The payoff isn’t abstract; over the last several years, the vast majority of projects in this city have been delivered on time, on budget and with shared accountability that has built a stronger willingness in the market to bid on municipal work.
Now is the time to re-invest in construction practices that work.
Planning is inexpensive—and priceless
Good projects are born well before the tender hits the street. Edmonton’s construction community consistently points to front-end planning and design as the cheapest place to solve expensive problems. Rushing to “get shovels in the ground” might look decisive, but mistakes on paper cost thousands and mistakes in concrete cost millions. Taking time up front reduces rework, claims and delays later on. That’s how you build once and build properly.
The ECA urges council to treat planning as an investment with real financial returns over a project’s life cycle—and to resist cutting corners to meet arbitrary milestones. In construction, quality can’t be retrofitted.
Disruption early is better than disruption forever
Residents of big cities can get frustrated by lane reductions and detours; it’s understandable. It’s a tricky balance for elected officials to weigh: the length of construction, project timelines and budgets. How the next council proceeds on these issues remains to be seen. The priority should be to minimize total disruption to people, commuters, communities and businesses.
The fastest way to give time back to commuters and businesses is to concentrate disruption early, work longer hours, open full project sections and complete projects faster—rather than stretching out the pain with partial closures that appear less disruptive but actually take longer. The public benefits most when projects are done once and done quickly. The measures that matter most to people are the total time we spend living among barricades, and the confidence that our finished assets are durable and will serve for decades to come.
Procurement and approvals are protection, not “red tape”
Eliminating essential steps in construction planning, in the name of speed, can backfire—opening the door to errors, legal disputes and reputational damage. Edmonton’s procurement and permitting frameworks are there to protect fairness, quality, safety and value for taxpayers. Yes, there’s always room for improvement, and the procurement system continues to be challenged by inconsistency and under-scoping. But let’s not forget that Edmonton’s emphasis on realistic budgets, contingencies and change management protects both contractors and our tax dollars.
It’s precisely why Edmonton is trusted in the market. Builders know what they’re bidding on, the applicable standards and how risk will be shared. That transparency invites competition—which yields sharper pricing and better performance over time. In a future search for operational efficiencies, city council needs to preserve the outcomes of this approach.
The city’s new infrastructure committee should be a tool to maintain momentum
Edmonton’s new infrastructure committee provides council with a platform to integrate strategy and delivery, ensuring the city’s growth can be planned, risks can be monitored, and scopes can be aligned with budgets. It’s also an essential venue for delivery partners like the ECA to offer early and frank feedback. The ECA and peer industry groups have consistently emerged as constructive voices in this work, advocating for predictable multi-year budgeting, practical phasing, fair risk allocation and permitting pathways that are both efficient and rigorous.
This committee shouldn’t be about who talks the most, or the loudest or who agitates most for the press. It must be protected to ensure high-value engagement with the industry and community before projects are finalized. Major projects mesh dozens of trades, multiple utilities, environmental safeguards and coordination with residents and businesses. A committee that treats this complexity as reality—not a failure—will steer better outcomes.
Fix now, save later: the case for asset renewal
The most expensive project is often the one that requires rebuilding because you deferred maintenance. Every city faces an infrastructure gap; the only question is whether we shrink it or let it grow. Predictable investment in asset renewal must remain a civic priority, even in tight budget cycles. Deferring maintenance magnifies costs and risks, and failures are far more disruptive and costly than planned works completed on schedule.
Think like a big city
Edmonton is not a small town. We’re welcoming tens of thousands of residents each year, and we need the roads, infrastructure, transit and civic amenities to serve our new neighbours. While zoning reform and infill can unlock housing, fundamental growth requires servicing and mobility to be genuinely successful. That’s why the ECA urges council to think big: plan for the true scale of a fast-growing major city, align capital plans with the housing agenda and ensure long-lead infrastructure—from power to stormwater—keeps pace with private investment that accompanies population growth.
Put people first
At its heart, construction is about people—the people who build it and the people who use it. Each tendered contract supports apprenticeships, careers and local businesses. Each finished facility becomes a place where community happens. The ECA’s campaign calls on the City to put people first by investing in workforce development, more transparent relationships between the City and contractors and building new civic spaces that improve the quality of life for Edmontonians and visitors to our region.
Complexity doesn’t mean inefficiency
Hindsight on the most troubled projects usually reveals a familiar culprit: unmanaged complexity. Edmonton constructors and the City must collectively acknowledge that our goals aren’t to pretend big jobs are simple; it’s to choreograph complexity so it doesn’t undo our efforts. This involves designing around utility conflicts, staging for business access, coordinating with other levels of government and sequencing construction and trades to ensure crews can efficiently enter and exit the site. Recognizing complexity, rather than denying it or treating it as a secret we’re unwilling to discuss in public, is how we deliver big projects well.
This is where Edmonton’s culture of collaboration has shown its worth. Partnership keeps projects on track, prevents molehills from escalating into significant problems and resolves issues before they become claims.
Budgeting is about predictability, not just numbers
It’s also important for council to acknowledge that the lowest price is not always the lowest cost. Edmonton’s processes for scoping, budgeting and contingency planning should be designed to minimize surprises for both taxpayers and contractors. That clarity allows firms to price risk accurately, which reduces change orders and keeps projects on schedule. The more predictable our capital program, the more the market can plan capacity and invest in people and equipment.
Building on what works
When it comes to building our city, Edmonton is already on solid ground. We have a collaborative owner reputation that attracts strong bidders. We have a planning culture that engages in problem solving early and understands that quality that can’t be retrofitted. We are witnessing a growing willingness to acknowledge disruption and complete projects more quickly for the public good. Our city has a proven track record of committing to asset renewal that saves money and headaches in the long run.
Now is not the time for complacency. A city that stops building is a city in decline. Any pause in construction is a choice to accept higher costs, deferred repairs and lost opportunities for further investment.
The ECA’s call to council
The ECA’s We Build This City campaign isn’t about handing council a wish list; it’s about sharing a proven playbook for delivering complex public projects in a fast-growing city: don’t stop, think big, put people first. Continue being the client of choice. Treat disruption honestly and finish fast. Protect the guardrails that make our projects safer, fairer and higher quality. Above all, protect and invest in both new construction and the steady, unglamorous work of asset maintenance and renewal.
If we do, Edmonton will remain what it already is becoming: the national leader in delivering major projects—open to innovation, transparent about budgets, serious about quality and relentless about value for taxpayers. That’s a reputation worth keeping and it’s a future worth building together.
