Newton Group Corporate History | Newton Group Ltd.
Newton Group Ltd.’s President, Edwin (Ed) Newton, was born in New Zealand. This gave way to the name ‘Kiwi Newton,’ as he began his career constructing buildings on his family’s farm. In 1986, he travelled to England where he honed his skills and founded his first construction company, Kiwi Builders. Ed returned to New Zealand in 1990 to increase production on his family farm. In 1992, he moved to Canada where he settled in Guelph, Ontario. Ed Newton incorporated Kiwi-Newton Construction Ltd., now referred to as Newton Group Ltd. on October 24th, 1994.
Starting out with just himself, his tools and a truck, Ed took on increasingly challenging jobs and became known as a man with integrity and a commitment to “doing the job right”. As the jobs grew, so did the number of staff.
In 1998, Ed and a partner bought, demolished and re-built the award winning Seagram’s Lofts in Waterloo, Ontario. They also bought the old Eaton Centre in downtown Guelph, Ontario and transformed it into the beautiful, professional offices and retail facility it is today, now known as Old Quebec Street. Both projects are reflective of Newton Group Ltd.’s commitment to construct environmentally sound buildings.
Seagram’s Lofts was completed in 2001 and in 2004 Old Quebec Street was fully open. The company continued to grow, expanding into the industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) sectors, with particular emphasis on industrial buildings.
Ed is a visionary, and after visiting Germany and meeting with a company named Goldbeck, he decided there was a need for an innovative way to build parking structures and was inspired by European techniques. The method he learned was the most popular method of building parking garages in Europe. He believed this technology was needed in Canada and could be fully adapted. Ed brought his new method of construction to Canada and moved his company from its home into their present location in Guelph, Ontario. This location has provided the company with the space needed to develop the CANADACAR Parking Structure System and produce the steel and concrete at one location, right in their own plant. The 30,000sf precast plant and 50,000sf steel plant were designed to produce all the elements for the parking structures. It took several years to perfect this construction technique and for it to pass, and exceed all the required Canadian Standards. The end result, Newton Parking Structures, took patience, perseverance and a brilliant mind to achieve this success.
Newton Group Ltd. has since expanded its divisions to include Newton Parking Structures Newton Bridge Solutions, Newton Solar and Kiwi Condo. Opportunities continue to fuel the company’s growth in these sectors.
20 plus years after Ed started out with just his tools and his truck, Newton Group Ltd. houses its own plants and employs many talents ranging from welders, project managers, project superintendents, health and safety officers, project coordinators, labourers, solar technicians, skilled draftsmen, engineers and more. The client list is long and the repeat clients and exceptional relationships formed continue to be paramount to the success of Newton Group Ltd.