Article by Pam Radtke Russell for Engineering News-Record/Photos by BBE

October in northern Manitoba means daily dips into subzero temperatures and frequent dustings of snow. For most construction jobsites, it also might mean it’s time to start sending workers home until temperatures rise again in the late spring.But here, at Keeyask Generating Station work camp, 725 kilometers from Winnipeg and 10º south of the Arctic Circle, workers will stay through the winter, placing concrete and continuing construction of a powerhouse, dams, dikes and a tailrace for Manitoba Hydro’s latest hydroelectric facility on the Nelson River, in temperatures that will likely reach as low as -40º C with wind chill as low as -70º C (-94º F).It will be the second year in a row that the joint venture of Bechtel Barnard and EllisDon (BBE) will work through the frigid weather. “It’s not common to work through the winter,” says Bechtel’s Jacob Mumm, a BBE project manager. “Talking to other construction managers, it’s sacrilegious.”Read the full article HERE