Features
Smart Building Operations with Building Controls
Today’s Building Automation Systems provide a host of detailed data that is useful for identifying problems, but they also require that operators receive appropriate training.
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Detection, Delay, Defence: Dominic Chevrier of Stantec on Building Security
At Stantec, a specialized group deals with the security needs of clients, headed by Dominic Chevrier.
OLEDs – Lighting’s New Wave
Organic light-emitting diodes could transform the lighting of spaces, with their flexible, thin surfaces that can be wrapped around different forms.
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The SkyDome’s Birth: Engineer Michael Allen remembers
Michael Allen recalls how he and architect Rod Robbie came up with the concept for the famous retractable roof over the Toronto Rogers Centre.
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Pan Am Prize: Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, U of T Scarborough
The centre provided a stunning backdrop for events at the summer Games. The structural engineering was complex with removable columns to provide unobstructed views in the vast aquatic centre.
Future-Proofing Hospitals
The information technology needs of health care institutions are rapidly expanding, which makes it critical that the communications infrastructure is planned strategically.
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For Hockey and Housing: Westhills Recreation Complex, Langford, B.C.
The Westhills Recreation Centre in Langford, B.C. integrates its ice rink systems with the building HVAC. It also pumps excess energy to a nearby housing development.
Delays with Infrastructure Construction Projects
Large transit and other construction projects are taking years longer than they’re supposed to — and the public want to know why. Engineers give their views on what are the causes.
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Engulfed – Warding off Floodwater in Alberta
After the 2013 flood of the century in southern Alberta, engineers are drawing up plans for dikes, dams and other large structures to save vulnerable communities from future disaster.
Changing the Model – Wandering River Regional Pipeline
A design-build team completed the Wandering River Regional Pipeline across 88 kilometres of Northern Alberta, taking just over a year.
Saving the River Thames – Vauxhall Pollution Control Plant Upgrades
Upgrades to the Vauxhall Pollution Control Plant in London, Ontario enable it to treat wet weather flows that are 10 times the plant’s everyday capacity.
Algae – Bane of Our Lakes
Algae blooms are spoiling our lakes and clogging our water treatment plants. Here are a range of techniques to deal with the problem.
Editorial: Project Delays Need a Cure
Canada’s media is also rife with stories of big infrastructure construction projects running into problems.
Who’s Responsible?
John Clague of APEGBC weighs the question of whether engineering companies as well as individual engineers should be certified to practice.
Blacklisting Bidders
In a disturbing trend, a B.C. municipality is refusing to work with contractors and consultants who have been involved in recent litigation brought against it.
How Bad Can It Be?
The amount of money that engineers and architects spend cumulatively in preparing Requests for Proposals to compete for projects comes under analysis — with disturbing results.
Trash to Treasure
A handful of “industrial symbiosis” networks are starting to take hold in Canada. The idea behind them is that the output of one industrial plant becomes feedstock for another.
Data Centres Downtown
New data centres in Toronto and Montreal have architectural exteriors that fit in with their bustling, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods. But inside the buildings are windowless spaces built to protect banks of machines.
Privatizing innovation means privatizing information
Without having non-biased, independent research results from government and academic sources, we find that if we want to tell readers about new ways of building and new technologies, we must rely increasingly on the manufacturers of those products.
Critically Complex – Data Centre Design
Data centre facilities are far from being commodity, “off the shelf” designs. They require a team that can identify HVAC and electrical systems for each owner’s precise business needs.
Teaching in Green: Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario HQ
The award-winning Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario Headquarters
in downtown Toronto combines passive and active energy saving measures to achieve over 55% savings.Solar Power: Dancing With Physics
The engineer who designed the largest BIPV solar PV system in Canada explains what makes it unique. The array is located at the University of Alberta’s Jeanne & Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre in Camrose.
The Alternative Village
Buildings formed with unconventional materials like straw bales and hemp are being monitored at a unique research site at the University of Manitoba.
Very Small Nuclear Reactors
The nuclear power industry believes that deploying very small modular reactors in Canada’s remote mines and communities will have substantial environmental and economic benefits.
Conversations: Airtight in Saskatchewan
Harold Orr, P.Eng. of Saskatoon travelled to Germany in April to receive the international Passive House Institute Pioneer Award for his work during the oil crisis of the 1970s.
Dismissed Employees: What’s Fair?
The rule of thumb for how much compensation an employee should be given upon termination is a myth that does not hold up in the courts.
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Revitalization of Union Station, Toronto
The extraordinary structural engineering involved in expanding Toronto’s Union Station using a “dig down” approach is unprecedented in Canada. The lead structural engineer explains what is involved.
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Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks – Kamloops Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade
In Kamloops, B.C., a lagoon — the most basic technology for sewage treatment — has been modified to provide state-of-the-art tertiary treatment with biological nutrient removal (BNR).
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Space for Bikeways
Engineers are finding new design tools to make space for bikeways on our roads to make things safe for everyone.
A Piece of the LNG Pie?
British Columbia has set its sights on a billion dollar LNG industry. While consulting engineers are already reaping benefits doing early preparatory work, they wonder how much work will be sent offshore.
