Silvio Napoleone – H.H. Angus and Associates Ltd.

We’re delighted to announce that Chris Piché has joined HH Angus as Director of our Commercial Division. The addition of Chris to our leadership team further strengthens our operational management and experience in this sector, as well as our focus on sustainable design solutions. Chris recently completed a three-year term with the Board of Directors of the Canada Green Building Council, and clients will benefit from his expertise as the commercial sector moves to decarbonize existing building assets and explores new solutions to the greening of building infrastructure.

“Chris brings a wealth of industry experience, and he will be invaluable in leading the continued growth of our Commercial Division across the country. We’re excited to work with Chris to provide sustainable and pragmatic engineering solutions to help our clients progress towards a net zero and decarbonized built environment.”

Paul Keenan, President

With almost 25 years of MEP engineering practice in a variety of sectors, Chris has a deep portfolio of experience, spanning commercial, cultural, institutional, mission critical, healthcare, and science and technology sectors, along with project work in master planning and commissioning. Before taking on his current responsibilities with HH Angus, Chris held a variety of senior and international roles with Introba (formerly Integral) and Stantec.

Chris notes that “this is a very exciting time in our industry, with our built environment in a state of rapid transition. As we move forward in the age of zero carbon systems, the next generation of sustainable, high-performance buildings will come as a result of strengthened partnerships, embracing change, and executing technical excellence. I am proud to be a part of this era of growth at HH Angus, as we provide leadership to meet the urgent needs of our planet and our clients…together.”

As Commercial Division Director at HH Angus, Chris leads the work of 60+ technical staff who design and engineer systems infrastructure across a variety of sectors. Just a few of the team’s current and recent projects include Casino Woodbine’s $1 billion expansion and renovation (Vaughan, ON), Porter Airways’ new terminal (St. Hubert, QC), and two new airport hangars for Porter at Ottawa International Airport (Ottawa, ON), BMO Field’s renovations and expansion for the FIFA 2026 World Cup (Toronto, ON), a new Correctional Centre (Thunder Bay, ON), and a new mass timber office (Vancouver, BC).

Chris takes over the role of Division Director from Kevin O’Neill who recently moved into the position of Vice President, Operations.

For more information about how our Commercial team can assist with your next project, please contact:

Chris Piché
Division Director

Chris.piche@hhangus.com

416 434 2208

Sam Cabral
Associate Director

sam.cabral@hhangus.com

416 926 9539

Congratulations to Tim Zhu on being chosen as one of the ‘Top 10 Under 40’ on Canadian Consulting Engineers’ annual list of outstanding young engineers.

Tim is a senior mechanical engineer and project manager in HH Angus’ fast-paced Commercial Division. Since joining the firm in 2013, he has consistently demonstrated strong technical abilities and a dedicated work ethic, often putting in extra hours to ensure clients’ work is completed with the utmost quality and care. He has also been instrumental in developing calculation tools for HH Angus, including HVAC piping and ductwork sizing tools, ASHRAE 62.1 calculation tools and more. Tim is also member of ASHRAE and enjoys the distinction of being the first HH Angus WELL AP^TM-accredited staff member.

Tim expresses his passion for engineering by developing standards and protocols through his work. He is a member of the HH Angus sustainability committee, the standards committee, and the calculation tools committee. Tim is currently working on overhauling HH Angus’ drafting standards to be implemented in the REVIT platform. He is also developing template control sequences and diagrams based on the ASHRAE 36 High performance Sequences of Operation for HVAC Systems. Tim regularly provides instruction and training for colleagues, including both new and experienced engineers and designers, and volunteers in University of Toronto’s Engineering & Strategies Practice course, working with students to provide real-world context to their studies.

We warmly congratulate Tim on this significant honour that publicly recognizes his outstanding efforts and qualities – well done!

To read more about this year’s Top 10 Under 40, please click here.

“Azure’s International AZ Awards recognize excellence and innovation in architecture and design, and celebrate the world’s best projects, products and ideas.”

This international design competition annually selects winners in the categories of design, architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, experiential graphic design, interiors, concepts, student work and social good/environmental leadership. The 2022 awards saw Toronto’s Mirvish Village redevelopment project winning in the Urban Design Vision category. Click here to read more about the Mirvish Village AZ Award.

Award-winning Redevelopment

Mirvish Village is rising on the site of ‘Honest Ed’s,’ a much-loved discount store that was at the heart of Toronto’s Mirvish Village neighbourhood for almost 70 years. The redevelopment is currently under construction and spans 4.5 acres, creating nearly 1 million ft2 of purpose-built rental housing and retail space.

Mirvish Village has a focus on sustainability and affordability. To achieve this, the redevelopment is incorporating a district energy system and micro-grid that will offer a resilient means of thermal energy, power, and emergency power, enabling the project to meet LEED platinum and the City of Toronto’s Tier 2 Toronto Green Standard requirements.

HH Angus’ Role

Our Energy Division team worked closely with Creative Energy Developments to provide mechanical and electrical engineering services for the Village’s central utility plant, which includes a combined heat and power plant (CHP), a boiler plant, and a cooling plant. The CHP plant includes an 800 KW generator set with auxiliaries and heat recovery system. The generator is expected to run continuously to provide power to the complex.

Heat recovery consists of two systems: high temperature to provide heat to buildings, and low temperature to provide additional heating for a winter snow melting system and swimming pool heating. The boiler plant includes four condensing hot water boilers, with the option for two additional boilers in future. All boilers have an output of 3.1 MW.

The cooling plant includes two water-cooled chillers, operating at 1200 tons each. One is a magnetic bearing chiller with variable frequency drive (VFD), and the other is a centrifugal chiller with VFD. As well, two rooftop cooling towers at 1200 tons each have been installed.

Central distribution piping from the plant will provide hot water and chilled water to multiple energy transfer stations, with heating, cooling, and domestic hot water heat exchanges for each building within the complex.

A photo-voltaic solar system will have a capacity of 103KW, 480V. HH Angus provided direction for locating the installation, coordinated with the PV supplier for modeling the panel direction and angle for optimal PV output, developed technical connection requirements with Toronto Hydro, and identified requirements for parallel generation with the central utility plant. Our scope also included developing thermal and electrical metering strategies within a microgrid system, and design of operation for gas-fired emergency generators in electrical peak shaving mode.

Rendering courtesy of Westbank Corp

Mirvish Village - AZ Awards | AZ Awards (azuremagazine.com)

Happy Holidays!

HH Angus wishes you all the best of health and happiness for the holiday season and the year to come. While 2020 has been anything but normal, it is with confidence and optimism that we look forward to a brighter and healthier 2021.

This is such a busy time of year - why not relax for a few minutes with our Quarantine Holiday Match Game Challenge and keep your mind sharp!

Play Now!

Philip joined HH Angus in 2006 and is currently a Senior Electric Engineer and Project Manager in our Technology Division.

What’s your favourite thing about working at HH Angus?

I like the diverse projects and diverse clients. I enjoy the work. It is satisfying to see things get built. I enjoy the travel aspect – working all over the place, different clients, different things.

Where do you travel for work?

So far, I’ve traveled around North America.

How do you personally contribute to design and construction?

I am the Lead Electrical Engineer on a number of projects, responsible for design, project management, and delivery of our design to our clients. We are often the prime consultant on projects, the head consultant. We retain an architect or a structural engineer directly, or select them on behalf of the client. In those cases, the client retains them but we manage overall the process. We also manage the procurement of equipment and services for the client.

How has working here helped you grow in your career?

It was the first job I had out of school, so I’ve grown quite a bit in my career.

“I've enjoyed diverse opportunities being able to work on multiple projects, with multiple clients, with multiple diverse models.”

Why did you want to become an engineer?

I was interested in technology and, I thought it would be interesting to have a career at that field.

What project are you most proud of?

I really felt good about the Sunnybrook High Voltage Emergency Project. That was one I designed and was the Electrical Lead. It was a project where we took a completely functional hospital and rebuilt their emergency power plant without compromising emergency power to the hospital the bew plant was built within the footprint of the exisiting plant. It was a very challenging project, which involved multiple phases of construction.

What are some of the things about the company that you really like?

I like the dedication over the years to the library collection. I thought that was pretty great. Some of the people who work in Records Management have a background in library science. The company has been dedicated to the knowledge behind engineering we have books from 20s. It speaks to the longevity of the company. Over the years, people have accumulated technical standards, books, journals and things pertinent to older systems and technologies. A lot of places don’t have a comparable knowledge base.

When you started with the company, did you have a time when a senior staff member helped you along?

When I started, they used to pair the new grads with an inspector and send them to construction projects. I spent probably 2 to 3 weeks doing that. You got to see the practical aspects of construction which puts a lot of things in perspective when you are designing. For me, that had a lasting impact. Additionally, I was fortunate that I had some projects that went into construction when I started. They had already been designed and I was tasked with looking after the contract administration. Seeing other people’s designs, how they were being built, some of the issues that come up, was very useful.

What inspires you?

Family, friends and doing good work.

What trends or technologies on the horizon excite you most?

I always tell younger staff, one of the best things ever invented was the digital camera. It may not seem all that great now because it is so prevalent. Also PDFs. When I started, the majority of submittals were paper. We would receive paper submittals, we would do our reviews, we would staple our reviews to them and courier it out. You’d do a large project with a wealth of information, and you would no longer have it at your fingertips because it was all on paper, which is now stored off site. But, nowadays, it’s all PDFs. You can keep a copy and everything is readily available. Same with digital cameras. Somebody can go to site and take photos of what they are working on. You’ll always have that reference to go back to later: “oh, this is what I did on the last job. Maybe it didn’t go exactly as planned – let’s do it a bit differently this time”. Today, the technology gives you accessibility that you didn’t have in the past.

What skills or traits helped you advance in your career from the new grad stage?

I always believed in making the product you are selling better in order to be more competitive. Have diverse experience. Obviously, getting licenses and certifications speak to a broader experience and broader knowledge base. When you are selling services, you want to make sure the clients understand they are paying for experience, for somebody who does this for a living. They don’t have people on staff to do the work, so they are hiring us.