2021 might not have been the year we thought it was going to be, but we were still able to celebrate several significant milestones. We’re thankful for our clients, partners, and our people, who helped each other through these challenging times. We are wrapping up the year by highlighting project milestones, awards, notable hires, our merger with BLN and so much more.
Project Highlights
1451 Wellington
We are providing the Tarion Builder Bulletin 19R Field Review Consultant services for this luxury condominium located in the trendy Westboro neighborhood of Ottawa. When completed, the condominium development will consist of 93 luxury condo apartments in a 14-storey building. The purpose of the Tarion Bulletin 19R is to help mitigate warranty claim risks during the design and construction of new condominiums. As part of four scopes of work, we have completed on-site visual reviews and concrete testing of the below-grade and above-grade structure construction. As the project construction continues, our above-grade construction on-site visual reviews will be supplemented with manufacturing plant visits and on-site window and railing testing.
Neighbourhood Land Trust
We are working with Neighbourhood Land Trust (NLT) in developing a coordinated program of building inspections, capital planning, and energy retrofit planning for a social housing portfolio of 82 homes and buildings recently acquired from the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. The scope of work includes 82 Building Condition Assessments (BCA), 20 Energy Audits (sub-consultant), 20 Designated Substances Surveys (DSS), and Portfolio-based Capital Planning Services. The due-diligence process will be leveraged to develop a comprehensive long-term Capital Plan with a 30-year horizon to repair and maintain all buildings in a good state of repair, as well as implement coordinated energy retrofit and emission reduction measures.
Dickson Stevenson Trail Widening
We were the Prime Consultant delivering consulting services for 4.0 km of Grade Widening and ACP Overlay on Dickson Stevenson Trail from TWP RD 280A to HWY 2A. Work included the widening and ACP Overlay of 4.0 km of Dickson Stevenson Trail North of Airdrie, Alberta. To provide a safer transportation route, the road was widened from the existing 8.0m width to 9.0m. Additional safety and drivability enhancements included a slight centerline shift at the north end of the project and the removal of existing earth at the intersection of TWP 282 to improve sightlines. During construction a void was identified after stripping on the west road shoulder at an existing centerline culvert. 2 years prior to construction the culvert was exposed and partially replaced during an emergency repair. Rather than excavating the entire length of pipe to complete repairs we reviewed the evidence on-site and suggested that pumping grout into the void would offer the most economical solution. The grout work was successfully completed prior to paving with additional rehabilitation work completed at the inlet side of the pipe to bring the culvert up to spec and reduce the risk of future issues.
Development Studies for Major Convenience Store and Gas Station Chain
McIntosh Perry was awarded a three-year contract with a multinational client that owns and operates 5000+ convenience stores/gas stations/car wash facilities in North America. We were retained primarily for Environmental Site Assessment, Geotechnical and Traffic Studies. Over the past 18 months, we have also conducted legal and topographic surveys, environmental impact, slope stability and hydrogeology studies, sustainability evaluations, and more. These are all required in order to have Site Plans approved or assist in property transactions. This work has been conducted at facilities across Canada (BC, AB, SK, ON, QC and NB) demonstrating our national reach. To date, we have conducted work at over 50 sites across the country.
As the world changes our client has been keeping up by including EV charging stations at new and refitted sites. Retail businesses have changed from typical coffee shops to include cannabis outlets. Operations are more sustainable and site features minimize runoff and environmental impacts to nearby natural features.
Emission Reduction Retrofits
A combination of factors including Regulations, Investor interest in ESG, and growing public demand for social governance have resulted in many oil and gas owners undertaking projects to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and methane emissions that oil and gas facilities produce.
Our Energy team is utilizing their combination of strong technical understanding of our client’s oil and gas facilities in combination with our regulatory and environmental expertise to craft unique and practical emission reduction solutions for dozens of projects across Western Canada. In addition to designing emission reduction solutions for our clients, we are also providing support in applying for government funding to support these projects and or getting carbon offset projects registered with the Alberta Carbon Offset Market allowing these projects to be much more financially viable.
Old Ottawa South
We completed a project for the City of Ottawa the replacement of aged sanitary sewer and watermain infrastructure for 2.1 k of roads in a high-profile Ottawa neighbourhood. During construction, McIntosh Perry was the Prime Consultant for the project providing Contract Administration and Inspection services in cooperation with the City. The scope of the work includes over 2.1 km of integrated road reconstruction, replacement of sanitary sewers and watermains, protection of existing storm sewers. Our team corrected an issue by designing a safe cross ride and pedestrian signal that improves overall safety and traffic flow for the area. We also identified a legacy environmental issue that could have had a long-term impact on the surrounding environment.
Ottawa Amazon Robotic Sortation Center
Standing 5-storeys tall with a building area of 2.8M sq.ft., the Amazon Robotic Sortation Center in Ottawa is the largest of its kind in Canada. Constructed in just under 14 months, McIntosh Perry was a key player in the structural design, construction, and coordination process. McIntosh Perry added value by developing workflow automation for design tasks and Building Information Modelling (BIM) protocols.
This ensured the efficient and effective delivery of quality construction drawings while ensuring Builder and Tenant inputs and changes were addressed promptly and correctly. McIntosh Perry collaborated closely with all stakeholders and proposed creative and coordinated solutions at all stages of the project for successful completion.
Bayfield Bridge
McIntosh Perry completed the total project management and detailed design of an 85m arch bridge for MTO West Region. The new bridge is replacing the existing structure that was built in 1949 and was at the end of its service life. The 70m-long arches provide a clear span of the river, minimizing in-water work in an environmentally-sensitive waterway. McIntosh Perry’s multi-disciplinary team consisted of Transportation Structures, Transportation, Topographic Survey, Geotechnical Consultant Services, Environmental, Traffic, and others. As of December 2021, the full steel structure including arches and deck grillage have been erected, and the concrete deck, which will carry traffic, has been poured. Over the coming months, concrete barriers, a pedestrian walkway, and the approach roadway will be constructed in advance of re-opening to traffic in mid-2022.
Bronte College
Bronte College is a private International Baccalaureate (IB) World School offering Grades 9 to 12 for day and boarding students. In 2019, our Hazardous Materials/Environmental Health & Safety team assisted Bronte College by carrying out a comprehensive Designated Substance Survey and Asbestos Management Plan for the building. The team also provide Asbestos Awareness Training for operation and maintenance staff and helped guide them through various smaller projects to ensure compliance with health & safety legislation. It became more apparent that the building required capital repairs, in 2020, our Facility Assessment & Restoration team completed Condition Assessments of various building envelope components. This ultimately resulted in the need for exterior façade repairs and a complete roof replacement. The Facility Assessment & Restoration team provided Contract Administration and project supervision over the course of the project.
As a result of the ongoing pandemic and decreased student occupancy, Bronte College decided to use this opportunity to renovate their residences and update their building interior. This new project will entail the interior demolition, abatement and rebuild of 3 floors of the student residence. After reviewing the conceptual scope, we assisted the college in developing a detailed budget for the proposed renovations. Bronte College was pleased with our proposed budget and retained McIntosh Perry again! Our services will include the initial design and development of tender documents and project specifications. The team’s focus will then turn to ensure that the project is carried out in a safe and systematic manner while allowing portions of the building to remain occupied. While the initial objective is to complete the project in 2021, it is the College’s intention to continue renovations on multiple floors in the coming years.
Highlight Awards
McIntosh Perry develops world-class solutions for its world-class clients. It’s an honor to be recognized and share some good news in these uncertain times. This year the company took home the following awards: Ontario Traffic Council Transportation Planning Member of the Year Award, ITE Toronto 10th Annual Project of the Year Award, CCI Toronto Corporate Sponsor, Above and Beyond Award (Food for Kids Halton), and our requalification for Canada’s Best Managed Companies – Platinum. We appreciate that others see our team the way our clients do.
Notable Hires
Over the year we have welcomed many to McIntosh Perry including: Mark Ward, COO; Victor Louie, CPA, CA, CFO; Michelle Coghill, Director of Health, Safety & Environment (HSE); Jack Gauthier, OLS, Surveying Manager; Kevin Riewe, Manager, Peace Region Operations; Vasantha Wijeyakulasuriya, M.Eng., P.Eng., Senior Technical Director, Geotechnical; Augustin Yun, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., Senior Technical Lead, Transportation Structures and Ann Evangelista, Manager Business Development BC. These individuals bring a wealth of experience and expertise with them, helping us turn possibilities into reality. Our people are our greatest strength, we are always looking for new talent to join our growing national engineering firm.
Merging with BLN
On August 18th, 2021, we announced our merger with Beam, Longest & Neff, LLC (BLN), a leading infrastructure engineering firm headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. This partnership provides clients with a team of 800+ engineers, project managers, and technical experts focused on delivering high-quality projects across North America. Since then, we have identified opportunities for collaboration and lead and supported future joint pursuits.
Re-opening of Peace River Office
We re-opened our office in Peace River, Alberta to meet the growing demand for site work, inspections, and project meetings on location. Located about five hours north-west of Edmonton, Peace River is home to one of the regional offices for one of our largest clients in the province, Alberta Transportation. That region has some of the most used corridors for accessing remote regions, including the Northwest Territories and northern British Columbia. Re-opening our Peace River office has enabled us to provide quality Design and Construction Administration services to all our clients.
Staff Accolades
In late 2020, the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies (ACEC) – Ontario launched a new chapter, Simcoe. It is the fifth chapter and includes Bruce, Grey, Dufferin, and Simcoe Counties. On February 3rd, 2021, our own Mehemed Delibasic, Assistant Vice President, Transportation Planning & Traffic Eng., was appointed as Vice-Chair of the Chapter! McIntosh Perry has been an active member with ACEC-Ontario and other chapters. We currently have the following employees who are also involved with them: Steve Pilgrim, Vice President, Transportation, and Municipal, is currently on the ACEC-Ontario Board of Directors; Christine Shillinglaw, Manager, Transportation Structures Division Ottawa, is the Secretary on the Ottawa Chapter, and Dave Currie, Manager, Contract Administration, is a member of the ACEC-Ontario/MTO Contract Administration Subcommittee.
Alonzo Jones, Project Manager, Condominium Group, was elected President of the Association of Architectural Technologists of Ontario (AATO), which promotes and represents the art and science of advanced building technology and the role of design for Ontarians.
Core Purpose & Corporate Video
This year we asked our people, clients, partners, and communities what makes McIntosh Perry who we are. All the feedback we received described our passion for solving problems, helping others, and challenging our people to be the best in the industry.
The result of this journey was our Core Purpose: Turning Possibilities Into Reality. It represents our commitments to our clients and our people, and it’s what inspires us every day.
We incorporated our Core Purpose in our corporate video called Turning Possibilities Into Reality. Featuring our people from our offices across Canada, we showcase some of the great projects we’ve worked on, our dedication to our clients and to our communities, and how we rise to any challenge and create a better future.
