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.

A young engineer standing in a suit

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 APTM-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)

“By addressing occupant well-being, energy and greenhouse gas reductions and decarbonization targets, the AEC industry can bring existing buildings into the future.”

Akira Jones’ keynote address kicked off a recent panel discussion on Smart Buildings: Now and Tomorrow, from Canadian Consulting Engineers (CCE).

According to Akira, Director of Digital Services at HH Angus: “Understanding the intersection of technology and the built environment to deliver better business outcomes and performance will be instrumental for engineers, architects, contractors, integrators and other professionals in the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industry to be successful. This understanding presents a fantastic opportunity for owners to leverage technology to modernize their buildings and assets. By addressing occupant well-being, energy and greenhouse gas reductions and decarbonization targets, the AEC industry can bring existing buildings into the future.”

The CCE event provided attendees with a forum for information, knowledge and practical advice on making the buildings, facilities and structures they design more economical for owners and safer and more functional for occupants.

The panel spotlighted key aspects of creating and managing smart buildings in a variety of settings including office, institutional, mixed use, industrial and retail. The discussion focused on topics such as: Emissions, Energy Efficiency & Sustainability, IoT, Security, Life Safety and Buildings/Construction ROI when it comes to issues pertaining to utility/energy management, security and emergency response.

For a video of the keynote address, click here.

To see the full panel of speakers, click here.

Akira Jones, P.Eng., LEED AP
Akira is Director of HH Angus’ Digital Services team, which specializes in BIM processes and software, 3-D scanning and Scan-to-BIM, the Internet of Things (IoT), digital twinning and Amazon Web Services cloud consulting. He is also a Mechanical Engineer with well over a decade of experience in the AEC industry.

Blue balloon rising from gray background: individuality, standing out

HH Angus is honoured to once again be named one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for 2020. This is our second consecutive year being selected for this prestigious honour, and we want to thank our clients and employees for the important part they played in helping us achieve this national recognition. The award, now in its 27th year, distinguishes overall business performance and growth of best-in-class, Canadian-owned companies with revenues of $15 million or more.

Paul Keenan, President of HH Angus

“We are grateful for this acknowledgement of our firm’s forward-looking strategy, as well as the engagement of our employees and their ongoing commitment to technical excellence and innovation,” said Paul Keenan, President of HH Angus. “We were thrilled to be selected for this award in our first submission last year. Being recognized again this year is a testament to the ongoing commitment of our employees, and the confidence of our clients, who place their trust in us year over year. Our expansion to Vancouver underscores our growth strategy, with the opening of a permanent office to support our local and national clients in BC. And as a knowledge-based firm, we are investing in continuous learning for our staff, and in the emerging design and collaboration technologies that will allow us to deliver on our clients’ goals for their built environment.”

Tom Halpenny, General Manager and VP Operations

According to Tom Halpenny, General Manager and VP Operations: “Having just celebrated our 100th anniversary, being recognized as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for a second year speaks to the stability of HH Angus, to the strength of our business strategy, and the enduring relationships we have developed with clients over the years.  Those relationships are built largely on the collaborative approach and technical expertise of our staff. This is a team win, and we all share in this award.”

About Canada’s Best Managed Companies

Canada’s Best Managed Companies continues to be the mark of excellence for Canadian-owned and managed companies with revenues over 5 million. Every year since the launch of the program in 1993, hundreds of entrepreneurial companies have competed for this designation in a rigorous and independent process that evaluates their management skills and practices. The awards are granted on four levels:

  1. Canada’s Best Managed Companies new winner (one of the new winners selected each year);
  2. Canada’s Best Managed Companies winner (award recipients that have re-applied and successfully retained their Best Managed designation for two additional years, subject to annual operational and financial review);
  3. Gold Standard winner (after three consecutive years of maintaining their Best Managed status, these winners have demonstrated their commitment to the program and successfully retained their award for 4-6 consecutive years);
  4. Platinum Club member (winners that have maintained their Best Managed status for seven years or more).

Program sponsors are Deloitte Private, CIBC, Canadian Business, Smith School of Business, and TMX Group. For more information, visit:

Deloitte Canada's Best Managed Companies 2020

Canadian Business Magazine Canada's Best Managed Companies 2020

 

HH Angus Contact:
Sameer Dhargalkar | Vice President, Marketing and Business Development
HH Angus and Associates Ltd.
+l (416) 443 8200
Sameer.dhargalkar@hhangus.com
hhangus.com

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.