EP 12 · 2021-06-21 · 1:08:03
How Halifax's Dexel Developments Builds Landmark Apartments: Vertical Integration, BIM, and 25-Year CapEx Thinking
Kris Skiba (Dexel VP) unpacks how a vertically-integrated Halifax developer — owning design, construction, and management — forces accountability, long-horizon planning, and niche-credible building craft.
⟶ The story, written up — a sharp read with every fact on the record. Or skip straight to the moments that matter, as clips.
// CHAPTERS — TAP TO JUMP THE PLAYER
0:04Introductions and career origin story — Dan introduces Kris Skiba, VP at Dexel. Kris recounts joining Dexel straight from Dalhousie Engineering in 2006, initially shoveling gravel, and building his entire career with founder Louis Lowen.3:30Dexel's vertically-integrated model — Kris explains Dexel's three-part structure: Dexel Architecture (5-person in-house design team focused on construction drawings), Dexel construction management (self-performed), and Paramount property management. Owning the full life cycle means they live with every mistake, accelerating learning.8:50Communication and coordination at scale — Discussion of how communication is the whole job in construction management: daily huddles, weekly 3-week-look-ahead meetings, and bi-monthly project-manager sessions. Kris frames the CM role as facilitator, not controller, of subcontractors who are each expert in their field.16:50The George — project story and community context — Dan and Kris discuss the 15-story, ~170-unit George building on Spring Garden Road, a vacant lot for 15+ years. Kris describes the community pride of turning a sore point into a landmark, and the 10+ year pre-construction approval process with HRM. Mentions shared excitement across hundreds of project contributors.23:20Approvals, bylaws, and Halifax's growth inflection — Kris discusses height, heritage, and outdated 1960s/70s zoning as the main approval friction. Centre Plan is helping. Halifax's skyline has changed dramatically in five years; Kris contrasts 2006 (barely any work) with today (labour shortage). Spring Garden West (29-30 story, full city block) is years from breaking ground despite 2015–16 start of community engagement.31:10BIM, design collaboration, and the Press Block — Dexel has worked exclusively in BIM for 18 years. For the Press Block (Granville/Barrington/George), Fathom does concept design; Campbell does structural BIM; Equilibrium does mechanical-electrical BIM — all hosted by Dexel and merged bi-weekly. Contractors brought in early for buildability input. Stacking approvals and construction phases in parallel is the key to compressed timelines.42:40Materials, envelope, and energy systems — Deep dive into The George's materials: granite from Turkey, tempio ceramic tile cladding on aluminum rail, masonry along Pepperell. Envelope: spray foam + fiberglass bat + 1.5-inch rigid insulation to reduce thermal bridging (ahead of new energy code). Mechanical: VRF (variable refrigerant flow) supported by Efficiency Nova Scotia. Suite-by-suite utility metering with Wise Metering moving to user-pay model.53:20Parking garage approach and finish quality philosophy — Dexel applies a bridge-deck membrane solution (hot-rubberized asphalt + concrete topping) to parking slabs — 20-year-old buildings still untouched. Parkades are painted white and finished from day one to set tone and reduce end-of-project crunch. White parkade = psychological signal of building quality.1:00:40Closing message: construction as a career and humility — Kris's closing message: construction is a genuinely rewarding industry with diverse paths (CM, accounting, architecture) that is under-promoted to youth. He credits NSCC programs. Key advice: have the humility to start from scratch — Kris started shoveling gravel with an engineering degree. His wife chairs CANS; Dexel is a CANS member.
// THE INTRO
Host Daniel Arsenault sits down with Kris Skiba, VP of Design & Construction at Dexel Developments, for a 68-minute deep-dive into what it means to develop, design, build, and operate apartment buildings in Halifax. Kris traces his career from shoveling gravel on day one (2006) through an MBA at SMU while working as a site super, to leading design and construction for landmark projects including The George (15-story mixed-use, Spring Garden Road) and the upcoming Spring Garden West (29–30 stories). The conversation covers Dexel's vertical integration model (in-house architecture team of five, self-performed construction management, property management via Paramount), the tri-frequency meeting cadence that keeps a cast of hundreds aligned, BIM-first design collaboration with Fathom and Campbell, VRF mechanical systems, suite-by-suite utility metering with Wise Metering, envelope detailing (spray foam + rigid insulation to reduce thermal bridging), and the 10–15-year approval timeline reality for major Halifax projects. Kris closes with a frank message to young people: the construction industry offers diverse, rewarding careers — and success requires the humility to shovel gravel first.
// THE LESSONS
See all 16 lessons ▸Vertical integration (design + build + manage) forces you to own your mistakes and compounds learning across every subsequent project.
“we're owning them, developing them, designing them, building them — you live with every mistake”
Bring in-house architectural detail capacity early; relying on craftsmen alone fails as the industry grows and labour thins.
“the craftsmen are fewer and further between as the industry grows — forcing a higher level of detail to the site”
A tri-frequency meeting cadence (daily, weekly 3-week look-ahead, bi-monthly PM) prevents last-minute resource scrambles with subcontractors.
“if you talk about it in advance they can be prepared — calling two days before you need them is because those meetings aren't happening”
Think of yourself as a facilitator of subcontractor expertise, not a controller — your job is to clear the path so they showcase their skills.
“you're facilitating them to do what they're good at — you're just trying to help make that happen”
Stack approvals and construction phases in parallel; waiting for each step to finish before starting the next doubles timelines.
“if you waited for each step to be finished before you started the next, the George would still be another 10 years away”
On major urban projects, budget 10+ years from initial concept to occupancy; the construction phase is a small fraction of the full project timeline.
“the actual construction timeline is the most intense but just a small snapshot of the entire project”
Adopt BIM early and host the federated model internally — it lets you coordinate structure, MEP, and architecture in one place and catch conflicts before they hit site.
“we really do build the entire building digitally before we build it physically”
Add 1.5-inch continuous rigid insulation outside the stud wall to break thermal bridging — still ahead of market standard but where the new energy code is heading.
“the rigid insulation reduces thermal bridging — a really big issue largely ignored — the new energy code is addressing that now”
VRF (variable refrigerant flow) is one of the most efficient multi-unit HVAC systems available and is supported by Efficiency Nova Scotia incentives.
“VRF is one of the most efficient systems you can have — efficiency Nova Scotia supports it”
Suite-by-suite utility metering (user-pay) measurably reduces energy consumption because residents respond to their own bills.
“user pay is the best way to create a more efficient building — the science is supporting it”
Evaluate capital investments on a 25-year horizon when you own and operate — upfront cost of high-efficiency systems is often cheaper over the building lifetime.
“we look at construction cost on a 25-year horizon — does it make sense to invest more capital now”
Apply a bridge-deck membrane to parking slabs from day one — it lasts 20+ years versus coatings that need annual touch-ups.
“bridge deck solution — a little more money but it's one and done, bulletproof — 20-year-old buildings we haven't had to touch”
Finish and paint the parkade white early in the build sequence — it sets tone for trades, reduces end-of-project compression, and signals quality to residents.
“we paint the parkade from day one so when everybody works in the building it's already a finished parkade — everybody treats it like a parkade”
In construction management, have the humility to start at the bottom regardless of credentials — ground-level experience is the only way to understand the whole system.
“you need the humility to shovel gravel for a while — then a year later you realize how much you learned”
Outdated zoning (written in the 1960s–70s) creates chronic friction for Halifax density projects; Centre Plan is helping but the attitude on height is still evolving.
“bylaws and zoning developed in the 60s and 70s are not relevant for Halifax in the 2020s”
// CLIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Framework · 2:58
“so we build exclusively apartment buildings with some mixed use in them”
Framework · 5:03
“yeah it's very integrated so as the architectural team works through their construction drawings we're often already building”
Story · 6:18
“really that stemmed from early days working with architectural firms wanting a higher level of detail”
Story · 8:53
“it was 2006 there was not much going on here”
Framework · 10:29
“the nba came into play a little later around the time when i was a site super”
Framework · 13:04
“fundamentally the most important thing is to align all the different parties that are involved”
Story · 18:13
“that lot was just a sore point for halifax for my entire lifetime”
Story · 23:27
“one thing that we really pride ourselves on is we do our very best to take the best from the neighborhood”
Hot take · 25:56
“height is a challenge heritage is a challenge always in halifax”
Emotional · 31:51
“the amount of no's that you get it's always no from the beginning”
Story · 39:56
“i'll give you an example with the george i had the construction permit and we broke ground about two days after”
Framework · 43:34
“the george has this idea of volumes kind of skewed on top of each other”
Framework · 53:38
“the george has this and our project before flynn flats as well we're doing suite by suite utility metering”
Hot take · 1:00:11
“there's an impression when you go in any building around town when you drive in the parking garage is clean and bright”
Emotional · 1:04:33
“if you really want to be successful in this business you need to learn all parts of it”
All 16 lessons from this episode, on one page.
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// FEATURED BUSINESSES
Dexel
Family-owned, vertically integrated design-build development firm in Halifax that develops, designs, c…
EfficiencyOne
Independent, not-for-profit energy efficiency utility that operates the Efficiency Nova Scotia program…
Fathom Studio
Integrated, multidisciplinary design firm combining architecture, landscape architecture, urban planni…
Campbell Comeau Engineering Limited
Halifax-based consulting engineering firm specializing in structural engineering for building construc…
Equilibrium Engineering Inc.
Nova Scotia-based energy services and building-performance engineering firm specializing in sustainabl…
Paramount Management
Family-owned, full-service residential and commercial property management firm and the property-manage…
Wyse Meter Solutions Inc.
Canadian utility submetering and utility-expense-management company that installs and reads revenue-gr…
// FACT-CHECKED ✓ web-verified, with sources
✓ VERIFIED
VRF (variable refrigerant flow) is one of the most efficient HVAC systems available and is supported by Efficiency Nova Scotia incentives.
Efficiency Nova Scotia has a dedicated VRF incentive program page. VRF systems are documented to be 20-30% more efficient than conventional HVAC. Claim is well-supported.
SOURCE ▸✓ VERIFIED
Spring Garden West is a 29-30 story project and the result of community engagement started in 2015-16, still years from breaking ground as of the episode (2021).
Confirmed as two 30-storey towers (438 units). Halifax council has since approved amendments enabling the 30-storey height. The long lead time from community engagement (mid-2010s) to approvals is corroborated by the approval timeline coverage. The project was indeed still in planning in 2021.
SOURCE ▸✓ VERIFIED
Halifax zoning bylaws written in the 1960s-70s create approval friction; the Centre Plan is helping.
Centre Plan is confirmed as the governing framework adopted in 2021 for Halifax Peninsula and central Dartmouth; it replaced outdated planning documents. The 2026 update process is ongoing. The claim about dated zoning creating friction for density is well-documented in Halifax planning history.
SOURCE ▸✓ VERIFIED
The Press Block is located at the Granville/Barrington/George block and uses BIM coordination with Dexel hosting the federated model.
Press Block location confirmed. Fathom Studio is documented as architect on the project. While the specific BIM hosting arrangement is not independently confirmed on public web, the project details (heritage restoration + new construction at that block) are confirmed.
SOURCE ▸// COMPANIES & ORGS ✓ verified
Dexel Developments Limited / Dexel ArchitectureLouie G. LawenKris SkibaParamount Management ▸Fathom Studio ▸Campbell Comeau Engineering Limited ▸Equilibrium Engineering Inc. ▸Wyse Meter Solutions Inc. ▸Efficiency Nova Scotia ▸The George (6016 Pepperell Street)Spring Garden WestThe Press Block (1730 Granville Street)
// PROJECTS NAMED
The George (6016 Pepperell Street)Spring Garden WestThe Press Block (1730 Granville Street)Flynn FlatsSt. Joseph SquareWaterfordW Suites22 West (Mumford Road)
SOURCE: podscope · public episode data · WVlt-fW69pw