As Demand Spikes, Hive Engineering Moves Into A Bigger Home
MONCTON – Hive Engineering has settled into its new home in downtown Moncton.
The environmental engineering firm has swapped its old home at 155 Cornhill St., in the same building as the Omista Credit Union, for an approximately 3,000-square-foot perch at 29 Victoria St.–one that is about twice the size of its previous location.
Andrea Kalafut, CEO and president of Hive Engineering, said the move was motivated by a growing list of clients, leading to the need for more space.
“I believe there is a strong demand in the Atlantic provinces for services provided by small, local businesses and I feel that Moncton’s business community is very supportive of small local businesses like what we are,” she said.
“People in all types of industry know us and have been good to us, and they’re helping us grow.”
Kalafut said Hive has seen evidence of an eastward migration in Canada, with the firm getting one-to-two calls a week from people from Ontario and British Columbia, originally from Atlantic Canada, looking to move back east and requesting property inspections.
“There’s definitely an uptick. The number of calls we’ve been getting from people out west that want to move back has gone up substantially,” she said.
The move to the Colliers-owned perch on Victoria Street has boosted the square footage of Hive’s laboratory space, providing more space to test and store soil, water, and building material samples.
“We do some dirty work back there, but it’s mostly for storage of samples and equipment,” Kalafut said.
The move went off without a hitch, with Kalafut and her staff completing their relocation in half a day. The only hitch has been furnishing the new space. Supply chain issues have slowed the movement of new desks.
“It has nothing to do with suppliers, we’re getting desks that go up and down and there are just logistical issues like everyone else is experiencing,” Kalafut said.
Along with a growing Moncton clientele, Hive’s reach is growing.
Kalafut said she plans to hire another staff member, adding to Hive’s current staff roster of six, to work at Hive’s future Halifax branch, poised to open in December.
Boat Fires, Fishery Transactions, And More
Led by Kalafut, a designated professional engineer who holds a Master’s of Science and Moncton councillor for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick, Hive carries out a wide variety of civil, environmental and geotechnical engineering projects across the Atlantic provinces.
Locally, the firm has worked with property companies such as Ashford Group and its extensive work in downtown Moncton and Thrive Properties, currently constructing an apartment complex on Coverdale Road in Riverview.
Hive has done work across the province that includes boat fires along the coast of Shediac; large fishery transactions through the province and the emergency response to a small aircraft going down in northern New Brunswick.
“Essentially, what we’re doing is providing a guarantee on the environmental condition of a property for the purposes of construction, mortgage refinancing, or the purchase of a property,” explained Kalafut.
Much of Hive’s work relates to refinancing properties.
Demand relating to refinancing is common because of low interest rates encouraging people to refinance their properties, noted Kalafut.
Kalafut explained that environmental engineering is necessary when a person wants to buy refinance existing property to get a mortgage, as the bank is not willing to accept environmental liabilities.
“So, the bank brings us there to tell them, ‘This is potentially contaminated because there were old oil tanks on the property,’ or maybe that there is asbestos in the building – and things like that.”
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].