Location:
Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada
Building Series: Arch and Titan
Building Size: Various Sizes
Application: Salt and Sand Storage Fabric Covered
Buildings |
Residents of the Selkirk district in British Columbia (B.C.)
rely on HMC Services to salt and sand their roads in the
winter. Slippery road conditions are dangerous in the Rocky
Mountains, which is why the B.C. Ministry of Transportation
contracts out road maintenance to HMC Services. Located in
Revelstoke, a small community in the eastern corner of B.C.,
HMC Services looks after the maintenance of the Trans-Canada
Highway as well as other well-traveled roadways within the
district.
Road foreman, Bill Rear, explains, "HMC Services is a fairly
large company. We employ approximately two hundred people in
the province of BC and in three contract areas." With such a
major contract and a lot of distance to cover, HMC Services
turned to fabric covered buildings that would be portable
and large enough to store equipment. "In order to do our
job, we have to have a certain amount of equipment, large
amounts of equipment actually, as well as personnel,
buildings, and materials to carry on with this business."
"There's plenty of room for
garage operations,
maintenance operations and
storage. This fabric building
provides so many benefits."
Bill Rear
Rear sees firsthand the benefits of using fabric covered
buildings. "A great advantage with this type of building is
that you can house all your equipment inside with so much
room." HMC Services can store over two sanding trucks per
building, with a lot of space left over. Entering and
leaving the buildings is a simple process because of the
clear-span interior. Drivers do not have to worry about
poles, which increases maneuverability and allows them to
dump sand in easier. "There's plenty of room for garage
operations, maintenance operations and storage. This
building provides so many benefits."
Installation time and design were two crucial factors when
HMC Services chose their storage buildings. "The
construction of these is the basic lock block - looks like a
Lego set. But the advantage of this is when you need some
coverage or a shed in a hurry, these things go up in a
really quick time. It doesn't take a month of construction,"
says Rear. "They can put them up in a matter of a couple of
days. And to us here, out in this remote location, that's a
must."
Since 1998, the B.C. Ministry of
Transportation has relied on over 120 fabric buildings for
storage. Rear says, "We find these to be extremely valuable
in our day-to-day operations. We find these buildings useful
in extreme weather conditions when we need to work on our
equipment. It's just an invaluable tool for business."
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