Martensville business Prairie ICF was recently recognized both provincially and internationally for their contributions in the world of insulated concrete forms (ICF’s).
First opening in North Battleford in 2005, the business made the move to Martensville in 2012 and since then, has been a driving force within their industry. The focus of Prairie ICF is the distribution of Nudura Insulated Concrete Forms and related accessories. Because of this work, Prairie ICF were the winners of an ICF Builder Award at the World of Concrete trade exhibition that took place in Las Vegas from January 17-20, as well as winning the Environmental Stewardship Award and the Trade Partner of the Year Award at the Saskatoon & Region Home Builders’ Association (SRHBA) Housing Excellence Awards which took place in Saskatoon on February 12.
The ICF Builder Awards are hosted by ICF Builder Magazine each year in Las Vegas in conjunction with the World of Concrete. This year is the 17th year these awards have taken place to help recognize significant projects built with ICF from around the world. Prairie ICF self-nominated two of their recent projects, with one of them being named a finalist in the Specialty Applications Category, along with two other projects, both from the United States. Although Prairie ICF was unable to have a representative in Las Vegas, they did have a Nudura representative in attendance to accept the award on their behalf.
The project they received the ICF Builder Award for was a multi-storey construction project on Broadway Avenue in Saskatoon by Baydo Developments. Prairie ICF supplied material for this three-storey parkade, which had an excavation of approximately 30 to 35 feet. Space on site was very limited, leaving only 1-2 inches of space between the outside of the shoring to the exterior face of the parkade wall, which meant that a conventional concrete form would not work for this particular job. Prairie ICF, along with the ICF installer, Howden Construction Ltd., explored several options for solving this dilemma. “We ultimately settled on Nudura’s
One-Series product line. These unique ICF’s have a layer of EPS insulation on the exterior and a removeable form-ply on the interior. Since they are internally supported, no access to the exterior wall is needed and the plywood interior can be stripped away and panels reused. The interior surface is an exposed concrete wall that provides the desired durability and moisture resistance needed in a parkade. A peel-and-stick membrane was used for damp proofing all ICF walls. This is normally installed in full height strips after concrete has cured, but since the space at site made this impossible, the installer had to apply this to each 18″x96″ form as they were placed to ensure proper vertical and horizontal overlap is maintained,” Prairie ICF co-owner and Manager Tyler Dagenais explained.
Although ICF is a more common building technology these days, when Prairie ICF opened their doors 17 years ago, it was a different story. At that time, ICF was not widely used, and was largely an unproven technology that had not been exposed to most homeowners and builders. “This product evolution followed a similar trajectory internationally. The ICF Builder Awards are therefore more competitive with each passing year. There have been a few Saskatchewan projects that were named finalists in various categories throughout the years at this event, but I believe we are the first to be named a winner at the event. This accomplishment is a testament to the time and hard work by not only the staff at Prairie ICF, but also our manufacturing and industry partners,” said Dagenais.
The SRHBA Housing Excellence Awards are set in place to celebrate the achievements of the SRHBA members and winners are chosen by an international panel of judges consisting of Home Builders’ Association professional members from across North America. Prairie ICF have been members of the SRHBA since 2008 and although, as a supplier, do not qualify for many of the awards tailored to builders and renovators, have won the Trade Partner of the Year award for the past two years, and this year, they added the Environmental Stewardship Award, which recognizes a company for their commitment to environmentally sustainable operating practices, to their list of accomplishments. This year’s awards were held in-person following a virtual awards presentation last year. “It was great to be able to see many of our industry partners in person after several years of virtual meetings. The
local construction industry is a network of professionals that work collaboratively in many ways to share best-practices and ensure the homes being built are of the highest quality,” Dagenais said.
“Any time you have a chance to be recognized at any level it provides a great deal of pride to the team at Prairie ICF. As anyone that works in the construction industry can attest, it is a high paced industry with many long days and endless multi-tasking as you have numerous projects underway in various stages at any given time. Industry awards provide a reason to pause and reflect on both the successes of your team, as well as the challenges that had to be overcome to realize those successes.”
Learn more about Prairie ICF by visiting www.prairieicf.ca or by following them on social media.
