By / par Natalie Bruckner
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone living in Atlantic Canada who hasn’t got some affiliation or story about Guildfords. Hardly surprising considering it is the oldest insulation contractor in North America.
The company’s history in the Maritimes is fascinating. Guildfords was originally founded in May 1906 by Robert Adams Guildford, who settled in Halifax and set up shop as a ship’s chandler, specializing in supplies for the steam-driven trans-Atlantic freighters. Being an entrepreneur long before the word was even invented, Guildford saw an opportunity to provide insulation for the heat-sensitive steam engines and the many valves and moving parts required to keep the new vessels crossing the Atlantic.
Over the years, through the wars and recessions, the company grew and evolved. You could say that Guildfords had a talent in staying one step ahead. Case in point: During the 1950s, Guildfords crews combed Nova Scotia’s beaches for eel-grass, which was stitched together between layers of kraft paper to make Seafelt, one of the first batt insulators for homes. The dried seaweed trapped air between its layers and kept heat from escaping through roofs. Seafelt was produced in the plant in Sable River near Shelburne, Nova Scotia, and back then, ads bragged that for only $200, Seafelt could be added to the average six-room Nova Scotian home and save between $50 and $80 a year in home heating costs. Quirky and inventive, to say the least.
While Guildfords was taken over about five years ago by a new ownership group, it is still locally-owned and retains its family feel… quite something for a company that today has between 200 and 300 employees and offices located throughout the Atlantic provinces.
And it’s this reputation and history that continues to attract a wealth of talent from across the world. “Our legacy attracts some of the most experienced people who have a combined commitment to providing the best service,” explains Malcolm Robertson, vice-president of operations in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
While Robertson may be a newcomer to Guildfords, having joined the company in 2017, he brings with him more than 40 years experience and a drive to help broaden the range of services that Guildfords offers. He has also been key to introducing a new safety and quality management system that has dramatically improved Guildfords’ safety culture.
To say that he is proud to be working with such a legacy company would be an understatement. “Prior to joining Guildfords I was working for a mechanical and electrical contractor in Scotland and got the opportunity to transfer to their insulation contractor subsidiary as an estimator,” Robertson says. “I went on to work in the North Sea offshore oil and gas industry before coming to Canada in 1994. It was then that I learned about Guildfords—virtually everyone who works in the insulation business in Atlantic Canada has worked for Guildfords at some time in their career!”
Robertson is making great waves, bringing with him a wealth of specialist insulation experience. As an example, when Robertson worked in the North Sea he was tasked to create a specification to address corrosion under insulation (CUI). “We created a robust specification, presented it to our customers, and received many contracts. We quickly learned changes were needed as we found better products and systems. After more than 40 years, I see that there are now far better ways to address the CUI issues that still exist.”
In addition, he also project managed insulation work on the first LNG facility in Canada. “I spent time working in the Middle East on an LNG Project, so I was able to bring what I had learned to Canada and put it to good use. Not only was the project a great success but I had my best learning opportunities in working with cryogenic insulation systems,” he explains.
Robertson has seen the industry dramatically evolve, and yet as he rightly says the industry has always been ahead of its time, offering energy-saving solutions before the green movement even started.
For him, however, it’s the people that truly make this industry what it is: “I get to work with some great people who are always there for each other. It’s a great community; if someone is down on their luck, they are the first to pitch in. For me, joining the TIAC Board of Directors as Director of Maritimes is a way to give back to an industry that is very giving.” ▪
