Just the start
The Conrad Group builds new multi-serve standalone fueling station for public use to kick off development of historical Dartmouth quarry lands
By Kristen Lipscombe
The Conrad Group has big plans for developing its large quarry site next to Highway 107 in Dartmouth and it all starts with a brand new standalone cardlock fueling station that will serve not just the company’s own fleet but also public truckers who need to make a pitstop before getting back on the road.
“We wanted a nice, professional, clean, crisp, up-to-date facility,” Kim Conrad, president of Conrad Bros. Ltd., told Auto and Trucking Atlantic of the freshly built multi-serve station located just off Exit 14, where his family-run company has been hauling sand, gravel and stone from one of the largest rock quarries in Nova Scotia since 1956.
“We have a lot of customers that come in for gravel, so rather than have them going back to Burnside (Industrial Park) for fuel, they can come in and fuel up here,” Conrad said.
The unmanned service station features five different facilities with regular gas, premium gas and diesel, all available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for those that drive into quarry lands. Customers can use Mastercard or Visa, while drivers who are part of Conrad Transport, which was established in 1978 as the transportation industry grew, will have company chip cards to swipe at the station.
“And if the power goes out, we have it all linked to a generator set,” Conrad said, “so when everyone else is out of power, we’re still open for fuel.”
Upgrading the company’s fuelling station is also good for business, he said.
“Our facility was aging and we had to do something,” Conrad said, explaining the company itself goes through about three million litres of diesel yearly. “So we were going to build it just for ourselves and we got to thinking, maybe we can have some cost recovery (by making) it aesthetically pleasing and building it for ourselves and the public.”
For equipment and installation, The Conrad Group reached out to Multiserve Petroleum Equipment Ltd., located in Milford, N.S. That company has been in the petroleum equipment business for 25 years. “We trust their expertise to design and construct the site to our expectations,” Conrad said.
The Conrad Group is also environmentally conscious in its development. In fact, the family started Soils Remediation Technologies Ltd., in 1995 “as a need for treatment facilities increased,” according to www.conrads.ns.ca. That arm of the company “treats hydrocarbon contaminated soil using the environmentally friendly method called ‘enhanced bioremediation.’”
The new fueling station features above-ground, double-walled and vacuum-sealed tanks in order to create a self-contained system. This will protect surrounding lands from any potential oil spills and deal with them much more effectively and efficiently if and when they do happen.
For the Conrads, this service station represents all of the potential that their land presents for future development.
“It’s a flagship of how we will redevelop the land after we finish pouring,” Conrad said, adding he expects a mix of industrial and commercial projects to be constructed in the area.
Zoning has already been approved by Halifax Regional Municipality and the next step is adding water and sewer systems to the land so more projects can be constructed on site.
“We’re permitted three different designations,” Conrad said. “We can do storefronts, such as a NAPA shop, vehicle or machinery dealerships and warehousing.”
“It’s a long time coming, but this is just the start, he said. “This is just the beginning of the future as we develop our property.”
