Shelter Industries Custom Modular Housing

In a remote area of Northern Saskatchewan, Shelter Industries modular units have become home to a 100-person workforce for Oilsands Quest Sask.Inc.

In the dead cold of winter, in temperatures as low as 45 degrees below zero, Shelter Industries worked with Oilsands Quest to install this major project.  The project involved a 23,000 square foot housing camp, constructed of 31 modules, including workforce housing, offices, and an 8-module kitchen-dining-recreational facility, including a 60-person dining area.

Oilsands Quest procurement manager, Gordon Weiland says, “The facility had to be installed during the winter months because the soft earth would make it impossible to navigate in any type of vehicle.  We needed to find a modular company that had the experience and the capability to meet our major needs in a very short time.  We looked at a variety of companies and finally choose Shelter Industries because they have the experience, excellent product, and the ability be responsive to our unique needs.”

This new camp was created to replace an older, 35-person work camp on the same grounds.  The old facilities had to be moved in order to install the new camp in the same site with the utilities and connections.  However, since Oilsands’ exploration work had to continue during this time and people still had to be housed in the modular units, the installation team faced a massive challenge.  Shelter Industries’ team had to work day and night over the Christmas holidays and well into February to help move the older modular units and install all the new modular units.  Some people even had to be housed in the new modular units before they were fully installed.

The whole project was completed by the end of February 2007.  The entire $3.7 million housing camp includes two dormitory buildings: (1) one dormitory building has 49 single occupancy rooms with a common washroom, and (2) a second dormitory building includes 35 single occupancy rooms with a common washroom facility.  This second building also includes 10 executive rooms with shared and private washroom configurations. The camp also includes a custom-designed office facility for base camp administration, and two 8-person sleepers and two well-site staff quarters for satellite camp use. The units were installed on steel skids to make them easy to relocate to future sites.

Oilsands Quest procurement manager, Gordon Weiland says, “We are very pleased with Shelter Industries.  This was an enormous undertaking.  They bent over backwards to help us meet our timelines and their installation people were very responsive and helpful.  One day, we even worked for 26 hours straight to haul the camp 23 kilometres! We couldn’t be more pleased!”