The Construction Source

into a construction social enterprise. At the time, this was new in the province and within the country, as far as I know. We started Impact Construction out of the ‘Train for Trades’ program. It just grew from there.” Within the past two years, Impact has labored to grow its brand, increase the amount of youth served, and raise the number of staff and supervisors on their team. They have about 18 young people on staff. However, when discussing Impact Construction with Hanley, it is clear that the focus of this company is not on its growth; rather, the focus is on the young people who work with supervisors to make projects successful. In 2019, Impact received the Newfoundland and Labrador BERG Award for Excellence in Affordable Housing. The award- winning project was an assisted living home for young men. The home gives young people a secure place to live outside of a shelter at an affordable price. It was a major step in creating options for youth in St. John’s. More importantly, the project reflects the kind of youth involvement in each project undertaken by Impact Construction. The BERG award also sets the tone for Impact’s passion, which is affordable housing. Hanley noted, “That is one thing we want to dive into. We want to be the go-to for the nonprofit sector in Newfoundland. Right now, we build affordable housing units. We just finished our latest affordable housing project, which is five units of housing for young families. We employed 38 young people on that project.” Their work extends beyond housing too. Hanley notes, “We do snow cleaning in the winter. We run a program called Snow Busters. We service 85 seniors. We provide snow clearing services for other nonprofits in the St. John’s area. However, our niche is industrial, commercial, and residential asbestos remediations.”