Pomerleau is in the process of electrifying part of its work-site vehicles across the country.SUPPLIED
Etienne Gravel is proud that at Pomerleau Inc., environment and sustainability are more than just buzzwords.
“Our teams put in the work and get the results to back it up. We take pride in testing initiatives and deploying them before sharing the results,” says Gravel, director, environment and sustainability for the construction company. “When we release our annual sustainability report, we have concrete results that we can talk about. It’s not just about marketing and branding.”
These results include greenhouse gas emissions that are falling and a waste diversion rate that has increased for the last two years. Procurement from Indigenous-owned businesses jumped to $80 million in 2025, up by $62 million over 2024.
Pomerleau also strives to influence its industry. “The construction industry has so many players — subcontractors, consulting firms, suppliers, general contractors. It’s hard to make sure they all change their ways,” Gravel says. “One of our big achievements is that we joined forces with eight of our main competitors. We created an alliance to work on a roadmap to decarbonize our industry, to make sure that we can move the needle together. And we put aside competition for that.”
For Pomerleau, environmental compliance is embedded in its processes right from the bid phase. “Is there an opportunity to reduce the impact during the construction phase? Can we improve the schedule? Can we reduce the heating needs?” Gravel says. “We conduct regular inspections. We have metrics that we track. So, it’s really part of the performance of the projects across the board.”
Jonathan Johannesen is the superintendent for the five-year, $2.4-billion Société Québécoise des Infrastructures (SQI)-managed project, Vaudreuil Soulanges Hospital in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., says he has many examples of this, including Pomerleau’s heating optimization program. One instance is the airlocks added to each hoist skip (similar to a freight elevator) at the hospital construction site. The hoist skip creates a controlled, enclosed space with two interlocked doors between the inside and outside.
“This maintains the heat inside and doesn’t let the cold get inside,” Johannesen says. “We have about 1,500 people at the site. There is a lot of movement, a lot of deliveries and open doors. So we put a lot of effort toward protecting that weak spot.”
The company has also made sustainability easier for employees. Recycling containers are right at the bottom of the hoist skips to provide easy access, while waste containers are far from the building.
This commitment to environmental compliance and sustainability even includes staffing. The hospital site has an environmental coordinator, Charlotte Trudeau-Drolet. In the past, site environmental decisions were up to the superintendent. “This would just add to our workday, and we were also not as knowledgeable. Now we have Charlotte to make sure we maintain the standard of the company,” Johannesen says.
To protect the floor during work, for example, crews used to use cardboard or Masonite. Trudeau- Drolet helped them find a new supplier for the material, which is reusable. “We are going to use about 10,000 sheets. Now we can take those sheets to another job,” Johannesen says. “Sometimes the coordinator challenges the superintendent, and it’s better like that, because we work together and make the best decision for the job and environment.”
Gravel says Pomerleau does all it can to reduce the impact of construction on the environment. “Reducing our emissions, reducing the waste that goes to landfill, increasing the benefits for our communities — that is what drives everything we do,” he says. “That’s part of our strategy as a good corporate citizen. And we want to influence our clients and suppliers toward that too.”
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Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.