MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
A TITAN IN THE
ENVIRONMENTAL
CONTAINMENT INDUSTRY
Liner company grows from garage to North American leader
By Pat Rediger
The year was 1996 and four guys decided to start a liner company
out of a garage on the outskirts of Winnipeg, with a handful
of staff and a few connections in the agricultural industry.
Fast forward to today, and Titan Environmental Containment has offices
across Canada and even Houston, Texas and employs more than 100 people.
“We were all working in the industry and decided to take the leap and
start our own company. We did what it took to get it off the ground and
away we went. To put it into perspective, I sold my house and maxed out
my credit cards and my line of credit,” said CEO Brett Burkard, who was
one of the original founders. “Everything was at risk.”
Despite the risk, the company soon prospered. Titan fabricates, supplies and
installs high-quality geosynthetics, containment systems and specialty civil engineering
products. It has become an acknowledged expert in the selection and
installation of a wide range of geosynthetic materials, and a host of other civil
construction projects that are frequently used in heavy construction projects.
The company’s roots are in agriculture and it soon made a name for itself
by supplying and installing geomembrane liners in hog lagoons. The hog
industry was booming at that time and there was a constant stream of work
from installation projects.
Three years after start-up, Titan moved its operation to a four-acre commercial
lot with an 8,000 square foot building. This allowed the company
to grow its product lines and expand the scope of its expertise and staff to
service other sectors, including civil construction, water and wastewater,
mining, oil and gas and hydroelectric.
“As our basket of geotechnical and civil engineering solutions grew larger,
so did our customer base,” said Burkard. “We’re in an industry that was
dominated by companies in Western and Eastern Canada who serviced the
prairies, and it’s basically come full circle. We’re the prairie-based company
that now services Canada from coast to coast.”
Geotextile and geogrid supply for a road project in the RM of Fillmore ALL PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF TITAN ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAINMENT
thinkbigmagazine.ca | Quarter 2 2020 | Think BIG 21
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