February 25, 2010

Dave Walden has installed a solar power system on the roof of an industrial building he owns.

Roofing contractor inducted into Grand Valley Construction Association Hall of Fame

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

Roofing contractor Dave Walden, a newly minted member of the Grand Valley Construction Association Hall of Fame, is an ardent supporter of education in the skilled trades.

He also is a major donor to Conestoga College’s Ontario Roofing Skills Institute, now under construction in Waterloo.

“I believe the roofing industry is an excellent career for anyone who wants to work hard,” says the 56-year-old Walden, who has been “on the roofs” since he was 16.

“By educating today’s students in the latest in roofing technologies, safety and workplace skills, we are developing the next generation of skilled labour.”

The fifth inductee into the association’s hall of fame, Walden is a former chair of the GVCA, southwestern Ontario’s largest construction association. He also is a past president of the Ontario Industrial Roofing Contractors Association.

A second-generation roofer, Walden got his feet wet in construction at family-owned Walden Roofing, working weekends and holidays during high school and college.

A graduate of the construction technician program at Loyalist College, Walden founded Conestoga Roofing in 1982.

“Initially, I worked on roofs during the day and quoted (jobs) at night.”

Conestoga provides roofing systems for commercial, industrial and institutional buildings across southern Ontario.

In addition to being a roofer, Walden also is an entrepreneur. He has invested in a solar power generating system that is installed on the rooftop of an industrial building that he owns in Cambridge.

The installation includes 1,326 solar panels. The system occupies 75,000 square feet.

“We had just put a brand new roof on the building,” Walden says. “The structure was strong enough to support the additional weight of the solar panels.”

The 250-kilowatt photovoltaic system is the first such installed in Ontario.

A project near and dear to Walden’s heart is the roofing skills training institute, a partnership between Conestoga College and the industrial roofing contractors’ association.

A first of its kind in Ontario, the centre is scheduled to open in May.

It will deliver all aspects of roofing-specific training including apprenticeship, occupational health and safety, skills upgrading, construction management and new technologies.

“The days of unskilled roofing labourers are gone,” says Walden. “They must have a working knowledge of WHMIS, fall-arrest safety procedures and technical specifications of new roofing products and equipment.”

Walden, who owns a number of industrial buildings in Cambridge, Guelph and Brantford, nevertheless remains “a roofer at heart.” He said it was “a great honour” to be inducted into the hall of fame.

The award recognizes an individual who has made a substantial contribution to the betterment of the construction industry and the local community.

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