Features
Transit planning – just build
As an undergraduate I took a course in the history of western architecture which included studying how cities were formed. We reviewed the superbly rational, orthogonal plans of Ancient Greek and Roman cities and compared them with the higgledy-piggledy way…
Caution: Limitation Clauses May Not Apply
A decision by the Alberta Court of Appeal means that engineers and architects are not protected by a limitation of liability clause in two surprising situations.
Marital Breakdown
Engineers are not immune from the devastating impacts of marriage breakdown, but using “collaborative negotiation” can help ease the division of assets and the impact on your business.
Beakerhead
Lisa Konopski of Urban Systems helped plan the crazy “smash up” of art, science and engineering that transformed Calgary’s streets for several days last fall.
Keeping Up: Mandatory Continuing Professional Development Programs
Are mandatory continuing professional development programs necessary to show that engineers are competent? Some engineers support them, and others are passionately against.
Acquisitions
If you are considering acquiring another firm as a way of expanding your business,
here’s advice on different steps you need to consider.Continuing professional development for engineers should be more targeted
Are continuing professional development programs for engineers adequate? Should they be mandatory? Are they really measuring an engineer’s knowledge and adequacy, or are they just window dressing?
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Flipping the Classroom: Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence
York University’s engineering school is expanding and moving into an extraordinary new building. At the same time it is embarking on a radically different way of teaching engineering students.
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Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence, Engineering Highlights
Engineering the new home for engineers at York University involved heavy duty, large-scale testing labs, flexible spaces, environmental chambers and unusual architectural features.
Energy Audits
Building automation systems can be useful in diagnosing problems in a building’s HVAC systems. Here are some typical trouble spots that arise.
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High Definition 3D Laser Scanning
New tools are enabling engineers to survey and re-envision everything from vast industrial plants to civil structures with an extreme degree of precision.
Big Box Stores and Fire Protection
The sprawling precast stores and distribution centres seen across Canada present challenges for fire protection owing to the contents and equipment they contain.
Products: 2015 AHR Expo Innovation Award winners
Ten HVAC&R products have been selected as Innovation Award Winners for the 2015 AHR Expo to be held in Chicago on January 26-28, 2015.
2015 ASHRAE Winter Conference
The ASHRAE Winter Conference is on January 24-28, 2015 at the Palmer House Hilton, while the accompanying AHR Expo is on January 26-28 at McCormick Place.
Up Front
News briefs
The Quantity Surveyor
Matt Weber, AScT, PQS, is the current president of the Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors – British Columbia (CIQS-BC). He is also the vice president of Concosts Management and the general manager of Concosts Consultants in B.C., a…
Personal Tax Tips
Canadian professionals pay a lot of tax, which is why individuals — including shareholders of professional corporations — and members of partnerships are always looking for ways to reduce their annual tax burden. Luckily, there are…
Dimming Protocols
Lighting controls are readily used in commercial, industrial and residential buildings to save energy. They are also mandated through their inclusion in government building codes and encouraged through energy standards such as ASHRAE 90.1 and…
The Elliot Lake Report
On October 15 the Honourable Paul R. Bélanger, Commissioner of the Elliot Lake Inquiry, released his report on the fatal collapse of part of the parking deck roof of the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, northern Ontario in June 2012. The…
Opinion: Specialization – or Not?
Professional Enginees of Ontario (PEO) is considering making regulatory changes to create a Structural Engineering Specialist designation to ensure “… that incidents like the Algo Centre Mall collapse are not repeated.”1 PEO defines a…
Comment: Elliot Lake – a litany of neglect
Justice Paul R. Bélanger’s report on the travesty at the Algo Mall in Elliot Lake in 2012 makes for excellent — if unhappy — reading (see p. 23). Part I of the report describes the litany of bad decisions and neglect…
TRIUMF Advanced Rare IsototopE Laboratory
A recently completed building on the TRIUMF campus near Point Grey in Vancouver houses the Advanced Rare IsotopE Laboratory (ARIEL). TRIUMF is Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics. It has over 350 scientists,…
Surgical Suite at Kleysen Institute
The OR/IMRIS surgical suite located in the Kleysen Institute for Advanced Medicine at HSC Winnipeg is the first of its kind in Canada and only one of seven in the world. It is built to house a moveable inter-operative magnetic resonance imaging…
History Matters
The built environment in Canada tells a story. From the sturdy Baroque-style homes that created mini-fortresses across the country’s early landscape, to Canada’s distinct architectural variations — Château Style,…
PRODUCTS
HVAC Navien’s NPE-A series ComfortFlow technology has a built-in buffer tank and recirculation pump inside the units. They provide a zero GPM activation rate and are for commercial and residential applications. www.navien.com From Bosch Thermotechnology is a new commercial grade…
Conversations: Engineering on TV
Steve Burrows, PE, CBE, is executive vice-president and director of the U.S. buildings business of WSP. Over his 30 year career with WSP and other companies, he has engineered buildings around the world. But for the past six years he has also…
Potential Liability
When a person suffers a loss where there is no physical injury or damage to personal property, it is known as “pure economic loss. Historically, the law of negligence did not permit a person to collect damages for pure economic loss. A party…
SMALL FIRMS
For some consulting engineers, a small firm offers the independence, the hands-on work and company culture that no increase in pay or corporate prestige can match. Others, like Wojciech Remisz, P.Eng., cite a passion for…
Award of Excellence Mount Pleasant Substation
Located at 338 West 6th Avenue, the 400-MVA Mount Pleasant Substation is an integral part of the most significant investment in central Vancouver’s electrical system in 30 years. It is the only publicly-visible portion of BC Hydro’s…
