February 24, 2010

Incoming Ontario Road Builders’ Association president familiar with new delivery models

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

For newly elected Ontario Road Builders’ Association president Paul Quinless, a career in construction was almost a foregone conclusion. “I guess it was in my blood,” says the executive vice-president of Carillion Canada Inc.

“My great grandfather ran a business in Dublin that included interior contracting. I also had uncles who were in the construction business.”

Quinless, who was born in England and raised and schooled in Dublin, came to Canada in 1980 after graduating from the Dublin Institute of Technology and working on projects in Leeds, England.

His first job was working for a pipeline contractor in the oil fields of Western Canada.

Five years later, Quinless returned to the U.K. to undertake graduate work, obtaining a master’s degree in construction from Brunel University as well as a diploma in business from Aston University.

In June 1987, he joined British construction giant Wimpey, landing a job as a senior quantity surveyor in the company’s Toronto office. His responsibilities included cost valuations and managing subcontractors on various private development sites.

After a two-year stint at EllisDon working on hospital projects, Quinless rejoined Wimpey, taking on a series of increasingly senior management responsibilities. These included establishment of the TWD road maintenance company.

Wimpey later transferred its construction and site services operations to Carillion, another U.K.-based organization.

At Carillion, Quinless has coast-to-coast responsibilities for the organization’s civil infrastructure and services group.

During his career, Quinless has had first-hand experience with evolving contract delivery models such as public-private partnerships that are expected to play a greater role in the future in the road building industry.

At one point, he had a hand in establishment of a successful joint venture between Carillion and EllisDon that won the contract to finance, design, build and commission new healthcare facilities in Brampton and Ottawa.

“Carillion, in its own right, was undertaking totally integrated P3 hospital projects in the U.K. so the synergies were good,” Quinless says.

Currently, Carillion is a member of one of the teams invited to submit a proposal to design, build, finance and maintain the Windsor-Essex Parkway project.

Down the road, Quinless expects to see a requirement for provision of more integrated services from roadbuilders in addition to performance-based specifications and longer-term warranties.

He succeeded Tom O’Callaghan of Fowler Construction Co. Ltd. as head of ORBA.

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