Construction Industry Creates Positive Impact in Edmonton Neighbourhoods

The City of Edmonton-owned Ambleside Integrated Site Phase 1 (AIS-1) project demonstrates both the potential and the complexities of embedding community benefits into construction procurement.

The AIS-1 pilot works toward targets that were co-created by Buy Social Canada, the project’s Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) team, and the City of Edmonton. Informed by the City’s Sustainable Procurement Policy and strategic goals, these targets measure employment of equity deserving groups, social procurement, and Indigenous procurement on the project.

18 months into construction, AIS-1 is far exceeding its targets for the employment of equity-deserving groups. While it has not yet met the social or Indigenous procurement targets, the team is showing best efforts and remains committed to strive to achieve these goals. The project is also gathering data and learnings that will inform future community benefit activities in the city.

For the remainder of the project until its anticipated completion in Fall 2026, AIS-1 will focus on small spends to prioritize social value suppliers, including Indigenous-owned businesses. The IPD team remains willing to adapt and collaborate, recognizing the long-term value of building relationships with these suppliers. These connections aim to build capacity and identify future contracting opportunities in Edmonton beyond the AIS-1 project.

This blog post provides an overview of AIS-1’s community benefits progress to date, including outcomes and lessons learned from implementing the pilot targets. This post also explores how community benefits in construction can be leveraged to support social value suppliers, build community networks, and transform industry procurement and hiring for positive community impact.

The following sections offer more detail on the AIS-1 community benefit project, including the pilot targets, quantitative data, and the on-the-ground impact achieved in the first 18 months of construction.

About AIS-1

The $83 million AIS-1 project will build an 11.70-hectare operations service site in southwest Edmonton. Phase 1 will support the City of Edmonton’s Parks and Roads Services and Fleet and Facility Services branches. It will house operations, maintenance, administrative and staff support facilities, as well as an operations yard with bulk storage, fleet vehicle parking, and a sand and salt storage facility. Once complete, City snow clearing, road maintenance, parks maintenance, facility repairs, and other general services will operate on the site.

The IPD team identified the project as a significant opportunity to pilot community benefits in construction, and contracted Buy Social Canada to support design and implementation.

Pilot Community Benefit Targets

The pilot community benefit targets were designed by the IPD team, Buy Social Canada, and the City of Edmonton in a collaborative process to align with the City’s Sustainable Procurement Policy and maintain relevance to the project and community.

The targets sought to be aspirational but attainable. The IPD team recognized that without an existing local baseline there was some element of risk in setting targets. In order to mitigate that risk and set reasonable expectations, the project team agreed to “strive” to achieve the community benefit targets, while recognizing “best efforts” activities for an early pilot project such as AIS-1 as a way to build longer-term capacity to achieve targets on future projects.

“Best efforts” may require project team members to build new relationships with social value suppliers, identify small contracts to test new suppliers, and provide feedback to unsuccessful bidders. These best efforts have also been reported, alongside quantitative data reporting, in order to capture the broader community benefits outcomes on AIS-1.

There are three categories of targets:

1. Employment:
   • 15% of All Employees employed by the Project Management Team (PMT) Members and actively delivering on the AIS project identify as individuals from equity-deserving groups.
   • 25% of New Employees employed by the PMT Members and actively delivering on the AIS project identify as individuals from equity-deserving groups.
2. Social procurement:
   • $10 million for goods and services will be purchased from social value suppliers[1] and certified Living Wage Employer (LWE) PMT Member labour costs.[2]
   • Aspirational Social Procurement target: $4 million[3] of goods, services, and materials purchased from social value suppliers.
3. Indigenous procurement:
   • 15 Indigenous Businesses engaged to provide project specific goods and services.

A note on the two social procurement targets

For the purposes of the AIS-1 pilot, the labour costs from the IPD team members who are certified Living Wage Employers by the Alberta Living Wage Network are reported under the broader social procurement target of $10 million. Providing livable wages on a project is an important indicator of community benefits, however, they are generally best reported as an additional reportable metric under employment-related targets.

The aspirational social procurement target was developed to reflect general best practice for social procurement reporting and to ensure the project still has a separate measure of procurement with social value suppliers as an area of specific interest for future learning and improvement.

The Community Benefits Team

All members of the AIS-1 IPD team report on procurement and employment on a monthly basis. The IPD team is made up of 11 members:

• Supporting community benefit team members include:
• Buy Social Canada, contracted by Delnor to support the IPD team as the Social Procurement Consultant.
• Nisto, the employment reporting platform which anonymizes employment data for secure reporting.
• End Poverty Edmonton participated in the target design process as a local non-profit which provided invaluable insights into the community network in Edmonton.

Buy Social Canada leads and develops training, tools, and resources, and convenes a Community Benefit Working Group (CBWG) to support the IPD team to implement the community benefit targets.

Community Benefit Outcomes in the Data

At the end of 2025, AIS-1 was far exceeding both employment targets. The project team continues to work toward meeting the social and Indigenous procurement targets.

Employment

Employment reporting on the Nisto platform shows cumulative employment opportunities: the total headcount of full-time employees who have worked on the project regardless of fluctuations in work time per month. In order for one employee to be included in the Nisto reporting system, the employee must reach a threshold of 40 hours of work on the project per week.

For the first eighteen months of the project, AIS-1 provided employment opportunities for 44 workers who self-identify as equity-deserving employees, two of which were new hires.

The percentage of equity-deserving employees across the IPD team has not gone below 43% throughout the course of the project to date, and remains at 44% as of the end of December 2025. The percentage of new hires who self-identify as equity-deserving groups has stayed at 100%.

There is general consensus across the IPD team that this baseline is relatively reflective of what could be achieved on future projects.

This presents an opportunity for more refined iterations of employment-related community benefit targets on future construction projects in Edmonton. For example, future employment targets could include sub-targets to hire specific equity-deserving groups such as Indigenous community members and individuals who face barriers to traditional employment. Targets could also measure specific pipelines into employment, including apprenticeships, entry-level hiring, and support to requalify or build relevant local work experience.

Social and Indigenous Procurement

Social value suppliers are defined on the AIS-1 project as:

• Social enterprise: A business that seeks to achieve a defined social, environmental, or cultural purpose. A social enterprise generates a significant portion of its income from selling goods or services, and the majority of net-profits are re-invested in the purpose.
• Indigenous-owned business[4]: A business which is majority owned, managed, and controlled by individuals who identify as First Nations, Inuit or Métis.
• Diverse-owned business: A business which is majority owned, managed, and controlled by individuals who identify as an equity-deserving group.
• Social purpose organization: third-party certified Cooperatives, B-Corps, and Living Wage for Families Campaign Employers.

Up to the end of December 2025, the IPD team had spent approximately $5.6 million on social value suppliers and LWE labour costs (Total Social Spend in Fig. 4 below).

Approximately $2.7 million of project-related spend was specifically with social value suppliers not including Indigenous businesses, as measured in the aspirational social procurement target.

As of December 2025, the IPD team has procured from three Indigenous-owned businesses for a total of $4,625.57 in project spend.

Challenges to achieve the procurement-related targets

While both procurement-related targets are not being met, the IPD team and the City of Edmonton have collected valuable learnings for future community benefits in construction implementation. The IPD team has also implemented “best efforts” activities to develop a better understanding of, and relationship with, social value suppliers which can serve future projects in Edmonton.

Contractors on the IPD team have long-standing relationships with trades and suppliers that are valuable to them. There was a learning curve for the IPD team to recognize that the social and Indigenous procurement targets were an opportunity to:

• Ask their current suppliers if they met the definition of a social value supplier
• Ask their current suppliers what they do to implement social and Indigenous procurement and to work with other social value suppliers
• Diversify their supply chains by identifying new social value suppliers who could be alternatives to, or close gaps in, the IPD team’s current supply chain

As a result of this learning curve, opportunities to procure from social value suppliers, including Indigenous-owned businesses, were missed in the early stages of the project.

Efforts to create opportunities for social value suppliers entail moving at the speed of trust. Identifying and building relationships with potential social value suppliers well in advance of procurement decisions can help to reduce missed opportunities, mitigate perceived risk, and allow for social value suppliers to prepare for upcoming procurement needs.

Edmonton also currently lacks an active community benefit network. Community benefit networks in other cities that implement community benefits in construction projects have played a key role to foster relationships between construction organizations and the local community. The absence of a community-led community benefit network has created a gap in community integration and engagement.

At this stage in the project, the contracts for the large scopes of work are finalized for AIS-1. Now, small spends, direct awards, and one-off contracts are the focus for social and Indigenous procurement opportunities on AIS-1. While work scopes such as general labour, team lunches, coffee, or graphic design offer valuable opportunities, these spends will likely be insufficient to meet the social and Indigenous procurement targets by project completion in Fall 2026.

For future community benefits in construction projects in Edmonton, it is important to identify qualified social value suppliers, including Indigenous-owned businesses, which can deliver on larger scopes of work well in advance.

Positive Impact on the Ground

Beyond the quantitative data collected against the community benefit targets, the ripple effect of employing equity-deserving groups and purchasing from social value suppliers should not be overlooked.

Delnor Construction, the construction manager for the project, leveraged the targets and captured lower dollar value spends for Indigenous procurement:

• IndigDesign, an Indigenous business certified by the Canadian Council of Indigenous Businesses (CCIB), designed the logo for the AIS-1 project.
• NexGen Signs and Printing, another Indigenous business certified by CCIB, was used to provide signage on the project.
• Indigenous Box, an Indigenous business certified by CCIB, provided holiday gifts for the IPD team purchased from Delnor.

While these are not large contract spends, these purchases represent the first step to initiate and nurture relationships with Indigenous-owned businesses in the context of construction projects. Long-term relationships with social value suppliers that have the potential to extend beyond AIS-1 are a desired outcome of community benefit implementation in Edmonton.

NexGen Signs and Printing

NexGen Signs and Printing is an Indigenous-owned business located in Edmonton that has provided signage services since 2020. Their work on the AIS-1 project helped to increase their visibility on large-scale projects in the construction industry:

“Supporting NexGen Signs creates a positive ripple effect benefiting not only our business, but also local suppliers and the broader community.

As an Indigenous-owned business (…) making signages for Delnor has been a significant boost to our portfolio. Being recognized and trusted by established companies reinforces the value of intentional Indigenous procurement and helps create long-term opportunities for growth and capacity-building.

We appreciate being included in a project that demonstrates how buying social can create meaningful economic and community impacts.”

EMBERS Staffing

EMBERS Staffing is a Buy Social Canada Certified Social Enterprise that has operated in Vancouver since 2008 and expanded into Edmonton in 2023. EMBERS’ purpose is to bring meaningful employment opportunities to people facing barriers to traditional employment. As such, EMBERS provides general labour for construction projects across Western Canada and facilitates temporary to permanent employment and skills training, changing lives for some of the most vulnerable populations.

On AIS-1, EMBERS has developed important relationships with Delnor’s foremen and superintendents. In one case, an EMBERS worker with extensive experience as a general labourer voiced their wish to develop their skills in the construction sector. EMBERS and Delnor were able to work together to provide this worker a mentorship opportunity from the on-site superintendent.

With more opportunities to develop relationships such as these, social enterprises like EMBERS can advance their social purpose and create real, positive impact for the lives of people on the ground in Edmonton.

Looking Ahead

AIS-1 marks an important step to shift employment and procurement systems in the construction industry. The piloting of community benefits on this project has illuminated the ways the IPD team can leverage their role to benefit the broader Edmonton community.

The remaining months of the project will focus on leveraging small spends to prioritize social value suppliers, including Indigenous-owned businesses. For future projects, the City of Edmonton intends to use the learnings from AIS-1 to inform iterations of community benefit targets and further drive forward the City of Edmonton’s Sustainable Procurement Policy.

Buy Social Canada Supports Community Benefit Projects

Construction projects impact local economies and labour markets, whether intended or not. If these impacts are considered with positive intention, projects like AIS-1 bring the opportunity to create long-lasting economic and social benefits for the communities in which they occur.

With community benefits, construction projects can align themselves with government or organizational strategic goals. For example, community benefits can support an increase in cultural diversity, social inclusion, affordability, and workforce development.

Buy Social Canada’s role as a liaison for the community benefit targets on AIS-1 has resulted in deepened understanding of community benefits in construction; the process of target implementation; new connections between IPD team members, social value suppliers; and an ongoing culture of problem-solving as the IPD team strives to achieve the targets.

Work with us to implement community benefits in construction or read Buy Social Canada’s Community Benefits in Construction Guide to learn more about our approach.

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End notes:

[1] Indigenous Procurement has been prioritized and identified with a separate target. Therefore, the Social Procurement Target does not include Indigenous-Owned Businesses.

[2] The total value is reported in aggregate by each PMT Member and individual wage rates are not verified.

[3] All spend counted for the $4 million aspirational social procurement target is also counted for the $10 million social procurement target.

[4] Since Indigenous procurement has been prioritized in a separate Indigenous procurement target, the social procurement target does not include spend with Indigenous-owned businesses.