A little more, and Upbrella was on the cover of Paris Match.
“A world first,” headlined La Gazette de Monaco on June 7.
The construction of Villa Carmelha, a 25-unit tower with a wooden structure, “stands out as a real technical feat thanks to the use of the Canadian Upbrella process”, we read.
A Quebec process, more exactly.
The Monegasque entrepreneur called the small Boucherville firm to the rescue to protect the building during its construction.
Upbrella has invented a system that allows you to erect a building sheltered from the weather… and from view. The process consists of first building the roof, surrounding it with a protective envelope and raising this cap with a series of enormous jacks, as a floor is built under its protection. No need for cranes.
Upbrella technology saw its first application in 2015 in the erection of a 10-storey mixed-use building, the Rubic, located at 1115 René-Lévesque Boulevard East in Montreal.
In 2019, the system found a new use with the addition of six more floors to the 17 at Le Germain Montreal.
A third type of application is underway at 600 De La Gauchetière Street West, for the renovation of the facade of the vast metal-clad building. Enclosed on the tower, a protective ring – a peripheral shelter, the company says – rises gradually, covering two floors at a time and allowing workers to remain under cover.
“We protect the building, we protect the workers, we protect the neighbors, we protect the street, describes Joey Larouche, co-founder and president of Upbrella International. We are starting to use the term “stealth construction” more and more. When people don’t notice it’s a construction site, for us it’s a demonstration of success. »
This stealth has the disadvantage of not publicizing the name of the firm. This did not prevent a Monegasque company from noticing it.
“At that time, we were doing the Hotel Germain project,” says Joey Larouche. The government of Monaco had just gone through the rather difficult episode of a crane that had fallen on its territory. »
The collapse, which left one person injured and a lot of noise, occurred in May 2019, when the principality had just launched a call for tenders for the construction of a social housing project. The government requested that bidders add a construction method to their proposal that would reduce visual and noise pollution and increase safety.
“Simonin, a manufacturer of wood structures, contacted us after finding us on Google and YouTube, where we had posted videos of our current project on the Germain hotel, continues Joey Larouche. They said, “My God, that’s exactly what we need.” »
The consortium formed by EMC and Simonin SAS added Upbrella technology to its proposal, a contribution that is all the more beneficial since wooden structures must be protected from the weather during their erection.
“Immediately, the principality asked to have a presentation, relates Joey Larouche. I went to Monaco in July 2019, and in August 2019 the media was already confirming that the principality intended to use a sheltered building system that came from Quebec. »
Upbrella was involved from the excavation and pouring of the foundations – a first for the Quebec company.
“At the time we deployed the solution to house the foundations, we were in the midst of COVID, informs Jacques Gauthier, business development manager at Upbrella. We couldn’t go to the construction site, we couldn’t travel. So we did the engineering from here. We found a partner in Rennes, who has since become an Upbrella partner, who was able to manufacture and install the equipment for us. Everything was done on Teams and Zoom. »
In December 2022, they added lifting and handling systems to this protective sarcophagus – including a real overhead crane – to build each of the floors. Each floor is assembled at eye level, then hoisted onto its columns and pillars. The outer envelope of the floor is then closed. The shelter is then raised by one floor, and a new floor is assembled on the one that has just been put in place. The first lift was made in March 2023 and the last will be at the end of September.
Upbrella is sort of the technical subsidiary of 3L Innogenie, a company that develops exportable patented products in the construction sector.
3L, like three Larouche.
The company was founded by Joey Larouche, his cousin Justin, an engineer, and his father Gilles, an industrial designer and construction project manager. “At family parties, he would tell us about all the downsides of working outside,” says Joey Larouche.
It was precisely during a family barbecue that the idea of erecting a high building as if we were still working on the ground floor was born.
“We’re not necessarily looking to be cheaper,” comments Joey Larouche. Above all, we seek to provide more safety, fewer inconveniences in urban areas, more efficiency, more durability. And we are also starting to work on adapting our solutions for deconstruction. »
So far, Upbrella has completed four projects and has three more under construction, including a crane-free facade installation project without occupying public space, in Nashville, United States.
“It’s a small project, but the client is the seventh construction group in the United States,” said Jacques Gauthier. We believe that this will lead to other major projects. »
Upbrella, which has only 10 employees, works with a network of subcontractors and partners to manufacture the jacks, structural elements of its shelters, control devices and handling equipment.
The company is supported by Investissement Québec for its financing and marketing outside Quebec.
“Our challenges for the next few months and years will be to create subsidiaries abroad and to have all the financial support necessary to be able to deploy them”, raises Joey Larouche.
Luckily, Upbrella specializes in deployment.
A surge in unemployment, in a way. Wildfires are no doubt no stranger to job losses in Canadian SMEs. The small business unemployment rate rose 0.2% in June to 5.4%, the highest level since 2022. A very keen researcher, Ufuk Akcigit, professor of economics at the University of Chicago, considers that the fires had indirect effects on employment. The agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas sectors, which recorded the largest employment decline, were particularly affected by the major fires in May and June. The wildfires have led to a credit crunch, making access to capital more difficult for small businesses, he observes. Still, Quebec isn’t faring too badly: it saw the smallest drop in small business employment in the country in July, at 0.43%, according to the small business report. ‘Intuit QuickBooks.
Hard summer: rain or shine. It is about helping small tourism businesses to float. Or pull the chestnuts out of the fire. Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx announced the launch of the third call for projects under the Tourism Industry Recovery Program (PARIT). Projects submitted must be related to access to nature, aboriginal tourism, winter tourism or gourmet tourism and agrotourism. In addition, they must be innovative and stand out from the competition, in particular by offering a top-of-the-range product, and contribute to extending the tourist season. Among the projects supported in the past under this program, note the $2.9 million in assistance for the creation of the immersive and multimedia journey Onhwa’Lumina, in the Huron-Wendat community of Wendake. Candidates can submit their application on the Financial Assistance portal of the Ministry of Tourism (https://aidefinanciere.tourisme.gouv.qc.ca/), from September 27 to October 25, 2023.
Would they work in an environment harmful to their ambitions? In 2021, women held only 37% of jobs in the environmental sector in Quebec. This is one of the conclusions of the Portrait of women who exercise a trade or profession in the environment, a study commissioned by EnviroCompétences, the sectoral committee for environmental manpower. Led by the AGÉCO Group, the main objective of the study was to identify possible solutions to interest, attract and retain more women in the various environmental sectors. Conducted with just under 500 respondents, it reveals that women’s hourly wages are lower in most trades, although they are more likely to hold university degrees than men in the same occupations. posts. There is nevertheless a slight progress: we observe a little more than 60% of male predominance in 2021, whereas it was around 70% in 2016. Nevertheless, around 40% of the women surveyed still have the impression of being hindered in their progress towards decision-making positions. EnviroCompétences represents more than 70,000 environmental workers and professionals and more than 10,000 employers revolving around the environment.
The City of Montreal is adding an additional $3 million to the Accelerate Sustainable Investment – Social Economy program, which offers social economy businesses financial assistance to acquire, build, renovate or expand buildings that allow them to offer their services in their community.
