And the CBN HUB Innovator Award for 2025 Goes To…

VEI Contracting Inc. staff were out in force last week at the annual Canadian Brownfields Network (CBN) conference in Toronto.  Bruce Tunnicliffe provided his thoughts as part of the “Back from the Brink: Restoring Brownfield Sites to Economic Engines” panel and Daniel Brenner presented some insights into “An Easier Way to Overcome the Extent Practicable Requirement” in relation to having LNAPL on risk assessment (RA) sites.

Bruce Tunnicliffe, Pete Craig, Kevin French and Dan Brenner at the CBN Annual Conference

To wrap up the informative and inspiring day, CBN presented the HUB (“Heroes Underpinning Brownfields”) Awards.  Kevin French of VEI was recognized with the 2025 Innovation Award!  This award acknowledges pioneers at the forefront of technical innovation and novel approaches to brownfield redevelopment.

Kevin French receiving the CBN HUB Innovator Award for 2025

“I’m truly honoured to be recognized by CBN as the HUB Innovator for 2025!  I find it a little ironic to win an award for doing something that I love – helping to remediate contaminated sites by solving tough challenges through science and engineering and returning them to a condition suitable for higher and better use.  I’ve had the great fortune to work with some incredibly smart, creative and capable people over the years who’ve pushed me to think differently.  That’s what drives real innovation – that and being stubborn enough to not give up on some of those fringe ideas.  A big thank you to all of them as well!” – Kevin French

Congratulations, Kevin, on a well-deserved award!