Montreal HVAC engineers are tops in North America
February 6, 2009
By
Canadian Consulting Engineer
Once again Quebec building engineers triumphed at the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioni...
Once again Quebec building engineers triumphed at the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ Technical Awards. The awards were announced at ASHRAE’s 2009 Winter Conference held in January in Chicago.
Three Montreal consulting engineering firms walked away with four of the top technical awards, which are given for HVAC system innovations that provide building energy management and indoor air quality.
Kenneth Sonmor of Ecovision Consulting in Montreal received first place in the existing commercial buildings category for the retrofit of a 13-floor office tower at 4200 St. Laurent in Montreal. Among the most innovative measures used was a heat recovery apparatus with a patent-pending thermosiphon heat exchanger that uses an environmentally friendly refrigerant.
Laurier Nichols, P.E. of Dessau in Montreal won first place in the New Public Assembly category for the Community Centre in Mistissini, Quebec. (The project also won a 2008 Canadian Consulting Engineering award of excellence, see CCE October-November 2008). One of its innovations is the use of heat rejected from the ice pad to heat the building. Nichols has won many technical awards from ASHRAE, including one last year for the Honore-Mercier Hospital renovation.
Jacques De Grace of Pageau Morel and Associates in Montreal won a 2009 first place in the new institutional buildings category for the Normand-Maurice Building in Montreal. This government facility has various occupants, including an indoor firing range, offices, warehouses and classrooms. Its combination of green technologies includes an innovative solid thermal energy storage system.
The fourth building winner is in the U.S. Thomas H. Durkin, P.E. of Durkin and Villalta Partners in Indianapolis won first place in the existing institutional building category for renovations to the George Washington Carver Elementary School in Indianapolis.
The achievements of the three Canadian engineers is significant, since ASHRAE represents 55,000 people and is one of the most important HVAC engineering organizations in the world.
