PCL began operations in 1906 as Martin and Poole Construction, founded by James Martin and Ernest Edward Poole in Stoughton, Saskatchewan. Poole and Martin both returned to their homes on Prince Edward Island for the winter of 1906–07, and Martin decided to remain and retire. Poole continued the company upon his return to Saskatchewan in spring 1907, and he changed the company name to E.E. Poole Contractors. In 1913, Poole renamed the company to Poole Construction Company Limited. In 1932, the company was moved to its current corporate headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta. In 1975, the company opened its U.S. head office in Denver, Colorado. Ernest Poole's sons, John Edward and George Ernest, sold the company in 1977 to their 25 senior managers and Great West Life. Poole Construction Company Limited changed its name to PCL Construction Ltd. in 1979.
Organization
Dave Filipchuk has been president and CEO of PCL since 2016. He joined the company in 1984 as a field engineer. PCL is 100% employee-owned. It has more than 4,000 full-time professional and administrative salaried staff and more than 10,000 hourly tradespeople.
Operations
PCL’s buildings sector works on educational, institutional, residential and commercial construction projects. The civil infrastructure sector carries out water and transportation infrastructure projects. This includes water and wastewater treatment plants and pipelines, bridge rehabilitations and rail projects. The company’s industrial sector completes projects in the petrochemical, oil and gas, mining, and power and cogeneration industries.
Notable projects
Awards and Rankings
As of June 2020, PCL was Canada’s contracting organization and the in the United States. PCL was named #14 on Engineering News Record’s 2019 list. In 2020, PCL was named one of for the 11th consecutive year. In 2020, PCL was named one of Canada’s . PCL won the Large Private Sector category of the for its ability to adopt new technologies and evolve to meet industry demands.
Controversies
In March 2018, the company settled a $10.53 million lawsuit stemming from an incident in July 2017, which resulted in the loss of electrical power to more than 10,000 customers on Hatteras and Ocracoke Island. While performing construction on Bonner Bridge, a steel casing was driven into an underground transmission cable, requiring a mandatory evacuation for visitors and resulted in much of the two islands being without power for 9 days.
