Strathcona County said Louisiana-based Bartlett Group has chosen the county for its Canadian headquarters thanks to an economic snowball effect that Dow's Path2Zero project is creating.
"(Bartlett is) heavily rooted in a lot of the advanced manufacturing and energy projects that are happening in this area, which I think made this area very attractive for them, with all the announcements that have happened in that petrochemical and hydrocarbon space," Sean McRitchie, director of economic development and tourism for Strathcona County, told Taproot.
Dow's presence in the region and specifically its Path2Zero project has created a sort of feedback loop of economic development, McRitchie said. Linde will supply the project with hydrogen through a new $2-billion plant, Cando Rail & Terminals is doubling the size of its Sturgeon Terminal and will have Dow as an anchor tenant, and ATCO is building a $2-billion, 200-kilometre natural gas pipeline along the Yellowhead Highway to support the project. Bartlett will serve all those new projects along with other unrelated industrial companies in the region. The company specializes in maintenance and turnarounds, and develops custom industrial scaffolding.
"These are the types of projects that companies like Bartlett and their subsidiaries get involved in, and the fact that that investment's all happening here made this a perfect environment for that business," McRitchie said.
The new Bartlett facility will create 25 temporary construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs, the county said in a release. The facility is expected to be completed in late 2024.
Bruce Bartlett, CEO of Bartlett Group, said he prioritizes creating long-term jobs. "We employ thousands of employees in our U.S. operations, with a few hundred dedicated to our fabrication services. Our goal is to have the same level of success in Canada, especially in the creation of new jobs in manufacturing and fabrication," Bartlett said.
This potential for growth is exciting for the county, McRitchie said. "Given the reason that they chose to make this investment here with the projects and the customers that are in this area, as we see further investment in the broader energy space in the Edmonton region, specifically in Strathcona County, I think you're going to see lots of opportunity for this company to really get involved and grow," McRitchie said.
Strathcona County is attractive for investment because of its proximity to Edmonton, McRitchie said, and because it has created competitive regulations and taxes. "We've done a lot of work to ensure that we are competing, not just from a low tax environment, but making sure we have utility infrastructure that can support these types of investments," he said.
This isn't the first time a company has chosen the region for a Canadian headquarters, or for a place to set up a strong presence. In the 1980s, U.K.-based Shell established the Scotford Complex in Fort Saskatchewan. Calgary-based Suncor and Imperial Oil both operate refineries in Strathcona County, which combined process 346,000 barrels of crude per day. Outside of petrochemicals, last year Ciba Health chose Edmonton as its Canadian headquarters, citing the city's strong health-innovation ecosystem. Norwegian company Green Transition Holdings established Varme Energy in the Edmonton region in 2022 and will build a waste-to-energy project in Strathcona County.