The first modular units to create grow rooms for marijuana producer Sundial Growers have arrived in Olds.
They began arriving June 6 on the company's site in the southeast industrial park. They were split in half and each half arrived by truck from the company that produced them in Crossfield.
Two units put together makes one grow room. Eventually, 20 will be set up in Phase 1, creating one "pod." Over the next few years, three more pods will be created, with 20 grow rooms in each.
"Today's a milestone here for Sundial, and also I think for Olds, Alberta and probably the cannabis industry overall," chief executive officer Torsten Kuenzlen said during an interview with the Albertan.
"We are bringing our first purpose-built, best-in-class modular grow rooms on our site today. That's the beginning of really starting to operate the facility here in Olds."
Kuenzlen noted when put together, each grow room is 120 feet by 24 feet, "so that's a large purpose-built space."
Kuenzlen said more than 100 employees are expected to be working when the first pod is up and running later this year. He also noted the H block (so named because it's constructed in the shape of an H) at Sundial's entrance will also have employees working in it. That facility is in the final stages of construction now.
"As we scale up, we'll add more and more employees," Kuenzlen said.
The modular units were created by Modus Structures of Crossfield.
"They've been tremendous in developing with us these purpose-built modules that are really ideal for cannabis," Kuenzlen said. "It's our learning day here. Get the first ones in and see how it all works. But so far, no surprises. They're doing a good job."
"They are sealed in any which way that we can, so we'll make sure we keep everything in that we want to keep in and keep everything out that we don't want in. It also gives us a chance to grow fully indoor, without light interference, the highest-quality cannabis."
The grow rooms sit on piles above the ground. Kuenzlen said the idea behind that is to enable good air flow underneath the structures.
"It's a proven technology that Modus has done many times with school rooms and other modular buildings for the oil industry, so we're comfortable that they're going to get this right," he said.
Kuenzlen declined to say how much all these structures will cost.
"That's a bit of trade secret, obviously," he said with a smile. "Let's just say that it compares favourably with a traditional build."
By "traditional build" he cited the example of the metal-clad marijuana grow structures already constructed on-site.
Kuenzlen said originally, Sundial planned to construct 14 so-called traditional builds.
However, "as we really looked into what is the best way to grow cannabis -- how about quality, how about cost, how about maintenance as well -- we partnered with Modus and they really helped us develop what we think is probably the best solution in the industry," he said.
Kuenzlen said it took about a year from initial discussions and designs to construct the units and then begin delivering them.
About 30 workers were involved in installing the units Wednesday. Kuenzlen figured about 20 were Modus employees, with the remainder being Sundial workers.
He said the partnership with companies like Modus is another positive aspect of Sundial beginning operations here.
"I think it's an important thing to realize it's not just about the employees that we have directly on our side, but the indirect benefits to suppliers and partners in the town of Olds and Alberta overall."
Although moving the first units was a big operation, Kuenzlen said it went pretty smoothly.
He said they only had to block off Highway 2A for about two minutes as trucks carrying the units first moved onto the highway from Crossfield.
After that, he said, they only had to pull over once to let traffic by.
"I wouldn't want to drive one of those around any corner, but they did a great job; very experienced drivers that we've brought in. They've done this many times, but it's still impressive to see," he said.
Meanwhile, construction of the Sundial facilities continues. It began about a year ago. The company has said it expects its first production of product to begin as early as this summer.
It will be producing cannabis for both the medicinal and recreational markets.
Kuenzlen estimated up to 100 employees are on-site on any given day as contractors and subcontractors build the facility.
Currently, Sundial is waiting to receive a cultivation licence from Health Canada for the Olds facility. Kuenzlen said it cannot begin production in its Olds facility until that happens.
It's a detailed process, he said.
"You've got to develop your site plans, submit all of the evidence that you're ready to start growing in the facility -- and that includes security footage from every camera, showing every room, making sure that everything is up to Health Canada standards," he said.
Kuenzlen said the company anticipates receiving that licence "within days."
"We've got industry experts helping us here in the development, so we're confident that we'll get their approval very quickly," he said.
"We obviously have our cultivation licence for our Rocky View site so we've been through the process before," Kuenzlen added. "This is a state-of-the-art facility in many ways. It should be actually much easier than in Rocky View, our other facility."
