Program directory · National Research Council Canada
Construction
- Department
- National Research Council Canada
- Program code
- BNQ04 (NRC)
- Core responsibility
- Science and Innovation
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
NRC’s Construction Research Centre (CONST) aims to be the partner of choice for government and the construction sector in Canada. It draws on its expertise and experience to bring together national programs and services to work with the construction industry for better, safer, energy-efficient, climate-resilient and more affordable construction materials and technology. The program activities includes participating in collaborative R&D with research partners and conducting research and technical services to develop new products and services.
The program serves and collaborates with a wide range of organizations in the construction sector, including SMEs, provinces and territories, other government departments and indigenous communities. Using CONST’s services, clients de-risk their R&D, bringing their technology solutions closer to market, while also enhancing their own research capabilities. CONST also supports the development of new codes, specifications and guides for industry and government adoption, and also supports the development of national and international codes and standards.
CONST expects that clients will utilize new technologies, such as low-carbon construction tools, products, and services as well as digital technologies which will lead to productivity gains. CONST also expects to play a key role in the decarbonization of federal operations and will work with federal partners to incentivize industry uptake of low-carbon technologies, tools and services. CONST works to ensure wide spread adoption and harmonization of building codes, regulations and standards across Canadian jurisdictions.
Ultimately, CONST strives to be a leader in research and technology areas relevant to Canada’s construction sector and also support its continued growth. The program also strives to ensure that Canada’s built environment is made to be more sustainable and resilient while also being safe, accessibly and healthy for Canadians.
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2018-19. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | This program | 2018-19 – 2028-29 | $344M |
No earlier or later program in the same department has a similar name.
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | Indicators added: Citation score of Construction generated publications relative to world average; Number of patent applications filed; Revenue earned from all external research clients | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2021-22 | Indicators dropped: Number of clients and collaborators working with the Research Centre annually; Number of unique intellectual assets generated by Research Centre employees; Value of external contributions to Research Centre research and development services and scientific and technological infrastructure | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2023-24 | Indicators added: Number of downloads – Codes and User’s Guides in electronic format | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | ≥ 1.19 | 2022 | 0.99 2021-22 was the end of a major initiative so the focus was on meeting key deliverables. Many of these deliverables were guides, guidelines and standards and these science-based outputs are not reflected in citation scores. | Not met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 1.25 | 2023 | 1.02 The Construction (CONST) Research Centre’s involvement in major initiatives such as the development of a new National Platform and the extension of the Climate Resilient Built Environment Initiative (CRBE) has impacted its capacity to improve its overall citation score. It is important to note that CONST continues to produce a valuable body of knowledge and that 24% of CONST’s publications were a… | Not met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 1 | 2024 | 0.84 The Construction Research Centre (CONST) focuses on working with industry on high-TRL activities and producing guidance, standards, and codes. Publications from these activities require some time to have impact and be reflected in FWCI. Many of these publications are also co-authored with industry partners, resulting in lower FWCI compared to academic collaborative papers. Additionally, there is… | Not met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 1.2 | 2025 | 0.84 The work of the CONST is primarily oriented towards higher Technology Readiness Level (TRL) activities undertaken in collaboration with industry and governments through consortia and demonstration projects. The outputs, such as guidance documents, National Model Codes and workshop reports, inform public decision making and lay the ground for further exploratory research. The resulting activities… | Not met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | ≥ 375,000 | 2024 | 332,691 The average number of downloads tends to be cyclical based on timing of the release of new Codes and Guides. As well, in 2022-23 the larger provinces started publishing their own versions of the 2020 National Model Codes editions. In the future, the NRC plans to amend this indicator to also include the download of provincial codes via Codes Canada. For 2023-24, the total number of downloads inclu… | Not met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 490,000 | 2025 | 634,248 | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | ≥ 0 | 2022 | 3 | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 1 | 2023 | 1 | Met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 1 | 2024 | 2 | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 1 | 2025 | 4 | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | ≥ $20.5M | 2022 | $19.8M Target was essentially met. | Not met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ $21.2M | 2023 | $18.6M During the last two fiscal years, the Construction (CONST) Research Centre’s focus has been on increasing the number and value of Collaborative Research Agreements with partners, which resulted in a decrease in revenue-generating Testing and Technical Services projects from other government departments (OGD) and industry clients. | Not met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ $20M | 2024 | $16.2M Several factors contributed to lower revenue in 2023-24. The revenue earned from a number of large-scale projects with other government departments (OGDs) was impacted by the timing of funding cycles, as well as by some spending reductions. Furthermore, while the number of projects with the private sector remained about the same as previous years, the scale of these projects was generally lower i… | Not met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ $19M | 2025 | $19.1M | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 149 | 2019 | 172 | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 138 | 2020 | 135 Target substantially met. | Not met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 138 | 2021 | 255 | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 46 | 2019 | 59 | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 49 | 2020 | 77 | Met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 53 | 2021 | 62 | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ $25M | 2019 | $30.5M | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ $22M | 2020 | $26M | Met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ $21.2M | 2021 | $22.5M | Met |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 1 | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 550,000 | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 1 | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ $21M | 2027 | — | Planned |
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
No targets with a later due date.
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | $25.1M | $42.7M |
| 2019-20 | $48.7M | $48.3M |
| 2020-21 | $45.8M | $43.3M |
| 2021-22 | $45.7M | $42.1M |
| 2022-23 | $45.3M | $45.5M |
| 2023-24 | $69.3M | $54.7M |
| 2024-25 | $77.6M | $68M |
| 2025-26 | $76.7M | — |
| 2026-27 | $69M | — |
| 2027-28 | $69.4M* | — |
| 2028-29 | $63M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 179 | 237 |
| 2019-20 | 250 | 256 |
| 2020-21 | 239 | 273 |
| 2021-22 | 266 | 274 |
| 2022-23 | 271 | 274 |
| 2023-24 | 324 | 306 |
| 2024-25 | 320 | 339 |
| 2025-26 | 331 | — |
| 2026-27 | 333 | — |
| 2027-28 | 336* | — |
| 2028-29 | 335* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 plan | $25,075,992 | $25,228,289 | $25,446,443 | ||||||||
| 2019-20 plan | $48,723,154 | $48,918,162 | $48,894,802 | ||||||||
| 2020-21 plan | $45,761,052 | $46,054,918 | $46,139,570 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $45,672,605 | $45,653,970 | $45,639,570 | ||||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $45,341,104 | $45,329,472 | $45,419,892 | ||||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $69,303,754 | $73,001,397 | $71,033,344 | ||||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $77,580,270 | $75,853,674 | $71,879,063 | ||||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $76,712,786 | $72,761,637 | $72,704,907 | ||||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $69,032,977 | $69,433,436 | $62,982,436 | ||||||||
| Actual | $42,673,656 | $48,306,080 | $43,285,630 | $42,067,155 | $45,487,475 | $54,696,617 | $67,955,230 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
