The Construction Source

NOVEMBER 2020 Shneur realized that he needed help. He needed someone with a background in construction management, experience working with trades, and expertise in engineering. A mutual acquaintance put him in touch with Marco Manconi, a professional engineer and an experienced construction manager with the City of Ottawa. For several years, he leaned on Marco for advice and assistance. Eventually, he invited him to join NEOTERIC DEVELOPMENTS full time. Marco, for his part, had worked with the city for 18 years, and been involved in a number of large scale and iconic projects, many valued at well over $100 million. For example, he was the construction lead on the massive Lansdowne Park Redevelopment for almost four years, and the project lead on the Ottawa Art Gallery Expansion and Arts Court Redevelopment for almost three. “I’mused to doing big things, big projects for what I consider to be the best city on the planet,” Marco says. “I love Ottawa, and I loved my time at the city. We were really transforming a pretty amazing city and making it even better.” With NEOTERIC DEVELOPMENTS, Shneur’s vision was to do the same thing – to make the city better, but from the private sector, where there is more flexibility, and companies can act faster on their ideas. That vision appealed to Marco. “Shneur was pretty inspiring in terms of what he wanted to do,” Marco says. “There are a lot of home builders here, but he wanted to bemore than that. He wants to improve the city with every NEOTERIC project. He wanted to build homes people want in their neighbourhoods. I think it’s working: we’ve won some awards, we’ve worked for some pretty high profile clients, and we’ve made an impact.” According to Shneur, he and Marco make a good team because they share those values, but they’re also very different.