In its current incarnation, Bertram Construction & Design (BCD) focuses on updating the region's urban landscape by building structures that serve the industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) markets.

Ross' son Ted Bertram heads up the BCD team as president and works alongside his niece Lisa, who serves as general manager of the firm.

With a civil engineering degree already behind her, Lisa is currently completing her MBA studies.

Rounding out the leadership team is Don Eagles, their business partner if not relative.

Eagles is the company's sales vice president who joined BCD in 2004, bringing with him 30 years of similar construction experience from his employment at another local ICI contracting company.

"The opportunity for ownership became known to me and I felt comfortable moving ahead with it," he recalls.

Projects on the go right now include the first phase of a multi-unit residential project on Holgate Street in Barrie.

"It's our third project for the IOOF," Eagles says, referring also to the double high-rise seniors' condominiums in Barrie's south end.

Canterbury Condominiums, a 37-unit residential complex is a 35-storey on Barrie's Mapleview Avenue, is another similar project currently on the go and expected to be completed this coming summer.

Another massive example of the company's condo skills can be seen looming large on Orillia's waterfront. The Elgin Bay Club, containing 54-luxury suites, was completed in 2004.

Further south, BCD is completing a new police station in Bradford.

A variety of other projects, from new buildings for Yanch Heating and Graves Towing on the newly-constructed Rawson Road in the South Barrie Industrial Park; to a recently finished major exterior renovation for Twin Lakes Secondary School in Orillia.

"We've also done a lot of car dealerships lately," reflects Eagles, including Alliston's Boyer Chevrolet and Campbell's AutoShoppe in Barrie.

The company is also looking at the possibility of construction projects outside the local area for clients who have branches elsewhere, but who were very satisfied with the work done here and want to continue partnering with BCD, he adds.

In addition to new construction, the company is also kept busy with renovations and additions as businesses grow. Prodomax, for example, now operates from a 90,000-square-feet space, a three-phase project that BCD worked over six years.

When asked the difference between his company and a company like the Barrie-based business Aerarium Development Corporation, which also counts construction as one of its services, Eagles says the primary difference is ownership.

BCD is in the business of building, not ownership and property management, he says. "We are a general contractor and can do many different contract structures, but we don't have ownership."

Typically, these include stipulated sum contracts, design/build projects and construction management agreements, he explains.

"We do all the variations of contract forms within the industry," he says.

Regardless of the manner in which a project is handled, Eagles recognizes an increasing trend to building buildings that have a lesser impact on the environment. This is an approach BCD has integrated into their work more and more in recent years.

"Today's generation is very much in tune with ecology and green Earth and we, as a responsible general contractor, are incorporating energy efficient methods into our everyday construction," he says.

As examples, he cites the use of in-floor thermal heating, better insulation materials and techniques and better window, lighting, heating and cooling choices.

"Today's construction materials, methods and practices are conscious of conservation."

He recognizes with increasing fuel prices, energy conservation is also considered on an accounting level.

"The operating costs and staying competitive is a concern to our clients in this business climate," he acknowledges.

There are many current issues BCD now takes into consideration on a daily basis that didn't exist when Ross Bertram started out years ago, but with a diverse and skilled staff of 30, Eagles and his partners are looking ahead.

To demonstrate this focus, BCD has recently unveiled a new logo to accompany that journey.