Construction with a conscience: Winnipeg's industry could do a lot more to get along with the neighbours

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a local construction industry that respected us?

In the United Kingdom, they try. Builders want to present competent management, environmental sensitivity and even (gasp) neighbourliness.

Imagine that.

In 1994, because London also had a developer-friendly mayor, big construction saw the need to improve its image.

So began the Considerate Constructors Scheme with its Code of Considerate Practice. It now monitors thousands of sites, companies and suppliers. Every year, it rewards the finest. It encourages best practice beyond statutory requirements.

Pardon my cynicism, but what a concept.

This group even asks heavy trucks to have logos, plates (gasp again) and a conscience.

That's not what we see in my century-old community of Lord Roberts. Some people might label this developer-oriented transit infill terribly insensitive and invasive. But that might not tell the whole story.

For the past decade, our entire neighbourhood has endured heavy truck and digger convoys thundering past our homes. Many have no logos. Many have no plates. Mufflers date from the 17th century.

We've learned that it's quite useless to complain to the city, to developers or their contractors. The South Osborne Residents Group, which I initiated in 2009, keeps hearing the same stories from local residents that citizens throughout Winnipeg tell us.

To thousands of us, the city chirps "Take down the licence number and call the police!" But who, on the off-chance, wants to run out in their nightie after a speeding dumpster at 2:00 a.m. in February?

The police might measure the shortest distances to the construction site from the nearest truck route but nothing happens. In fact, my experience, and that of my neighbours, has been that they have a real sense of humour about it. We've heard: "We can't ticket a moving vehicle." "We can't ticket a stationary vehicle." "Every road is a truck route." "We can't ticket a moving vehicle without a plate."

So, no help there.

We've also learned to be wary of developers who declare "We really truly care! We'll penalize truckers who don't follow our site access route! We'll measure your foundation and compensate you for our damage!"

Don't you believe it. Developers in Lord Roberts neither monitor contractors nor give your home a look-see. One promised, then didn't measure nearby homes and then — quelle surprise — once complaints came forward, reneged on that promise completely. I imagine this is the same everywhere.

'This is not considerate construction'

Remember that Lord Roberts has been under construction since 2009.

We have lived with giant vehicles speeding past our elementary school and play areas. A neighbour told us a trucker yelled at her while she was out walking her toddler near Argue Street. They were on a public sidewalk, but apparently in his way.

At the corner of the back lane between Rosedale and Beresford at Argue, one of our board members watched racing diggers wreck his side lot and public pavement.

I watched soil convoys from the Jubilee under/overpass sites try to market their wares up and down Rathgar Avenue. Also on Rathgar, a trucker sneered to a resident who asked him to slow down, "I can go wherever I like!"

A gal living on Beresford near Argue surprised a contractor using her hose four years ago. Nearby, a resident reported to us that Beresford was flooded (this was the winter of 2016) by water that spouted from drilling in historic McKittrick Park. When I investigated, no one at the city took responsibility or acknowledged knowing about it.

Our neighbourhoods don't have to be this toxic.… Imagine your life free from foundation-wrecking vibrations, migraine-inducing noise or the sickening stench of diesel.

Worst incident so far: in February 2012, at the corner of Osborne and Jubilee, a semi-tractor trailer truck couldn't see the street and hit an elderly woman. It killed her in front of witnesses trying to stop the inevitable. Witnesses told me that the driver couldn't see them either.

This is not considerate construction. This is everywhere in Winnipeg.

Far be it from me to imply that, like any adolescent, industry leaders believe nobody should tell them what to do. They have their story and they're sticking to it. To residents, it looks like the industry here respects neither their own trades nor any worksite.

In support of ungoverned trucking is Manitoba's macho Highway Traffic Act, with loopholes so big that eight-year-olds can drive threshers right through them.

A better approach

In the U.K., the results are informative. Researchers from Loughborough University found that projects went far more smoothly when the contractor took a partnered approach with both client and community.

Things really improve for those builders that hire community relations expertise and take appropriate, timely action. In the U.K., as well as here, professional training of construction project managers in how to deal with the locals would go a very long way.

Our neighbourhoods don't have to be this toxic. Imagine a respectful digger excavating the property down the block so quietly that your children sleep peacefully. Imagine semi-tractor trailers avoiding your avenue simply because people live there. Imagine your life free from foundation-wrecking vibrations, migraine-inducing noise or the sickening stench of diesel.

Imagine politicians, realtors, builders and developers that build only next to themselves.

Just close your eyes and dream that for a minute.

Then fight like hell for your quality of life.

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