Meridian Community Center
The town of Pelham is inching closer to the day the doors open at the new Meridian
Community Center, which is projected to take place in mid-September. The project’s $36.2
million price tag makes it the town of Pelham’s largest capital expenditure ever.
The town is very excited to have access to a center that will give locals access to a wide variety of amenities
like a community room, two ice surfaces, an indoor walking track and double gymnasium with
stands that can sit 1,000 people. Group 92 is ecstatic to have been a part of the construction
process of this incredible community project alongside our joint venture partner Dordan
Mechanical.
All of the mechanical systems throughout the community center, such as the Plumbing
heating, air conditioning, natural gas, and in-floor heating systems were designed and installed
by us through a collective team effort. Over the course of the project, we were both inspired by
the good nature of the project, and decided to contribute to the Meridian Community Centre with
a gift of our own! As a result, we are proud to announce that the victory deck at the community
center will be named the Dordan-Group 92 Mechanical Victory Deck!
Group 92 prides itself on embracing a strong and genuine corporate social responsibility in the
communities we operate. Currently, Group 92 and our Joint Venture partner, Dordan
Mechanical, are working on the West Lincoln Community Center, which is nearing 50%
completion. Throughout our future endeavours, we will continue to prioritize and pursue projects
that not only serve to promote organic business growth, but also strengthen and support our
local communities.
Visit the Meridian Community Center click here!
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Project of the Year Award
We’re proud to announce that the Niagara College Culinary Centre project has been awarded the Niagara Construction Association ” Project of the Year” in the $1M-5M category.
HIGHLIGHT OF NIAGARA COLLEGE CULINARY ARTS INSTITUTE EXPANSION
Description: A 4,000 sq.ft addition to the existing Niagara College Culinary Arts Institute was completed in conjunction with TR Hinan Contractors. The project included a large world class teaching and training kitchen with offices in the lower level. New ventilation systems were installed to service the large exhaust hood systems.
Highlights:
- Named 2010 Project of the Year in the $1M-5M category at the Niagara Construction Association.
- Variable supply and exhaust air in the kitchen area automatically adjusts based on usage of appliances.
- Existing kitchens retrofitted with energy saving variable exhaust systems.
Engineer: Vanderwesten Rutherford Mantecon Consulting Engineers
Architect: aTRM
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Stephen Coote, President Of Group 92 Featured In The National Post!
Stephen Coote has just completed his MBA through the Ivey School of Business at University of Western Ontario. He was featured in the National Post, check out the article!
NOT YOUR TYPICAL STUDENT
Mary Teresa Bitti, Financial Post · Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010
Stephen Coote started his mechanical contracting company with $1,500 fresh out of college when he was 25 years old. Eighteen years later, he employs between 30 and 40 people and the St. Catharines, Ont.-based Group 92 Mechanical has institutional and commercial clients throughout southern Ontario. Much to the surprise of friends and peers, last year Mr. Coote embarked on an Executive MBA program at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.
“The most frequent question I get is why, when you have already built and run a successful business, would you take an MBA?,” Mr. Coote says.
“There are a number of reasons, including my personal and educational growth. I believe education is life long. And being an entrepreneur, you get caught up in everyday business and you don’t pay enough attention to education.”
But there is another significant reason: “When you grow things entrepreneurially, that means get the sale, find the people and then complete the business,” Mr. Coote says.
“I entered the program to create a structure, establish strategy and goals and align the business. Even though I have systems in place I wanted more structure around operations.”
In hindsight, Mr. Coote says ideally he would have taken the MBA 12 years into his business, but he would not change having built up significant experience running a business before taking an MBA.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to entrepreneurship: learn by doing and arm yourself first before jumping in. The latter seems to be gaining momentum, as a growing number of MBA students go on to launch their own businesses. “There has been an awakening as to the role education can play in entrepreneurship,” says Dr. Hugh Munro, director of Wilfrid Laurier University’s MBA program.
“We have designed the MBA curriculum to provide foundational business acumen that will serve students no matter where they end up,” Dr. Munro says, “but we have also tailored the elective portion of the program into an entrepreneurship stream so they can take their idea, create a business plan and turn it into a viable business.”
Wilfrid Laurier is not alone in broadening its focus into the area of entrepreneurship. The fact is, business schools across North America are responding to specific drivers in today’s marketplace.
The days of cradle-to-grave employment with a large company are gone. In fact, large companies are taking a page from small companies, realizing that in the new economy they have to be flexible and more entrepreneurial, meaning they have to be innovative and quick to make a decision in order to meet ever changing customer needs and wants, says Dr. Bakr Ibrahim, professor of entrepreneurship at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University.
“When we look back over the past 30 years, business schools were catering to only 3% of business — the large organizations. Meanwhile, small business makes up 97% of the market. They are behind the economic growth and welfare of any nation,” Dr. Ibrahim says.
“That has driven many young people going into MBAs to look at entrepreneurship as an exciting career. The feeling of insecurity that used to be associated with starting a business is no longer there. Now starting a business is viewed as being an innovative and challenging opportunity and advances in technology have made it that much easier to go down this road. It’s not surprising, then, that we have seen a growth in the number of MBA students from liberal arts and science backgrounds taking courses in entrepreneurship to enhance their innovative and management skills.”
In recognition of this, the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University offers a graduate course in entrepreneurship open to any graduate student from all disciplines at the university.
“Science, health, business and communications students, for example, get together and form teams and guess what, those are exactly the type of entrepreneurial teams in you need in the real world,” says Dr. Benson Honig, Teresa Cascioli Chair in Entrepreneurial
1 of 2 10/26/2010 2:48 PMNot your typical student http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/your+typical+student/3726563…
Leadership at DeGroote.
“I am a strong advocate of interdisciplinary courses. I think management itself has to get out of business schools and business schools have to get out and get into other faculties in order to enhance innovation and creativity.”
As he approaches the finish line to his MBA this January, Mr. Coote says the program has affirmed much of what he has been doing but it has also showed him areas for improvement. “I realized to take the business forward I needed to expand my capabilities. For entrepreneurs there is a lot of trial and error but mistakes get a lot more expensive as the company grows. If I can alleviate that through a better understanding of strategy or finance, then that’s a good thing.”
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