Canadian Condominium Institute | Spring 2023
Ryan Page, BSc, E.I.T
Façades comprise the majority of the building envelope of tall buildings, and are the critical component providing separation between the conditioned and unconditioned environment. Building facades continue to evolve aesthetically, in complexity, but also in efficiency. At the same time, building facades deteriorate due to environmental exposure, lack of maintenance, design and construction errors, or a combination of such factors [1]. Deterioration can result in potentially unsafe conditions, and if unaddressed, can jeopardize public safety and surrounding properties. This prompts the need for periodic inspection and assessment of building exterior façades to identify such hazardous conditions.
Canadian Property Management | April 2023
Tom Tong, MSc, P.Eng. | Associate
Recently, Canada and the world have begun to embrace mass timber as a preferred construction material for large building projects. One reason, according to Tom Tong, associate with RJC Engineers, is that there are many new examples of successful mass timber projects showcasing this substance as a safe, versatile, sustainable substitute for more carbon-intensive materials like concrete and steel.
“Working with mass timber has become a lot easier today, thanks to the growing number of fabricators and the numerous out-of-shelf connectors that have been developed and tested,” Tong said. “In addition, 3D modelling, and CNC machining have made it possible for more complicated geometry and better tolerance control.”
Construction Canada | April 5, 2023
Recently, ironworkers placed the final curved steel beam 47 storeys above downtown Toronto, crowning Cadillac Fairview’s 160 Front Street West commercial office tower, a few minutes walk away from the CN Tower.
Topping-off is typically celebrated when a building reaches its’ maximum height. In the case of a steel structure, celebrating the placement of the last beam is considered a major milestone for the ironworkers, construction team, and owners involved in erecting the building.
Construction Canada | April 5, 2023
Operating from 14 locations in Canada and specializing in structural engineering, the design consultant, RJC Engineers (RJC), has acquired the U.S. firm, Kordt Engineering Group (KEG) from the latter’s Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, offices.
The move will help RJC gain a foothold all over North America and endow its experience, capabilities, and depth of services to help KEG better cater to their clients. Both firms will continue offering services in structural, facade, structural glass engineering, and more.
Urban Toronto | March 31, 2023
Calgary's premier convention venue, the 500,000 ft² BMO Centre, is in the midst of a transformational expansion. In the first part of our look at the project, we examined how the plans evolved to create a visually distinct and structurally complex landmark for Alberta's largest city. The $500 million project, now well into construction with the main steel frame completed in November last year, was developed around the push to deliver an internationally competitive facility for conventions and events, and to expand upon the offerings of the existing building.
Urban Toronto | March 30, 2023
Every now and then, a project outside of the Greater Toronto Area comes along with the potential to grab the attention of the development enthusiasts and urbanists of this city. This time, we're suggesting a project located about 3,000 kilometres to the west in Calgary, where since 2019, planning has been underway to transform the city's premier convention venue, the 500,000ft² BMO Centre, with the goal of delivering a new state of the art facility that is both internationally competitive and visually distinct. Now, just a few short years later, the completed steel frame of the BMO Centre Expansion is primed to deliver a striking new landmark to beloved Stampede Park in Alberta's largest city.
Canadian Property Management | March 2023
Hassan Bokhary, Engineer-in-Training, BSc, EIT, CEM, LEED® Green Associate, CPHD
Building resilience is a holistic term that applies to all aspects of building design. The definition, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, is: “The ability to resist being affected by an event or the ability to return to an acceptable level of performance in an acceptable period of time after being affected by an event closing.”
Hassan Bokhary, performance Engineer-in-Training at RJC Engineers (RJC), prefers to describe it another way: “Resilience in the built environment is the process of introducing green house gas mitigation strategies while also adapting to future climate loads,” he said. “Both of these measures have synergistic benefits and by implementing one, the other is often accounted for.”
BUSINESS WOMEN OF THE OKANAGAN | February 2023
Women make up more than half of the Canadian population but are significantly underrepresented in engineering education and in the engineering profession. Over the past decades, the number of women enrolled in post-secondary engineering programs has risen, as has the number of women in the engineering profession. Yet despite steady increases in the representation of women, men still vastly outnumber women in engineering.
Concrete International - The Magazine of the Concrete Community | February 2023
Jack Poldon | Engineering Intern
Despite over 100 years of reinforced concrete research, the precise load-carrying mechanism for shear is still up for debate.1 Past researchers have characterized shear failures through empirical relations based on limited measurement data leading to design codes around the world using different approaches to estimate shear strength.
But with the emergence of distributed sensors, namely distributed fiber optic sensors (DFOS) and digital image correlation (DIC), the potential now exists to characterize the behavior of reinforced concrete with a new level of accuracy, and to find an answer to the riddle of shear.2
Canadian Consulting Engineer | January 10, 2023
RJC Engineers, reportedly Canada’s largest independent and employee-owned engineering firm to specialize in buildings, has appointed three new principals and 14 associates across the country.
Recently appointed as executive principal of RJC Engineers, Steers has been involved in restoring many parking structures in Western Canada. “There was the old Woodward’s Cordova Street parkade, work for the City of Vancouver and lots of parking structure work for mall owners including Oakridge, Metrotown and Pacific Centre,” he says.