Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1295215
O C T O B E R 2 0 2 0 | 7 R EN D ER I N G BY W EI SS M A N F R ED I Crossey Engineering Ltd. T earing down walls may seem like an inappropriate description of what an engineering firm does, but metaphorically speak- ing it is precisely how Crossey Engineering Ltd. prefers to conduct business. Clive Lacey, president and CEO of the Ontario-based firm, explains: "Instead of accepting the traditional barriers between professionals and trades in the building sector, we take every opportunity to co-operate with everyone, and we embrace collaborating with contractors. Good relationships are vital in creating the best buildings." Tearing down walls also describes how Crossey has rejected other norms that pervade many Canadian engineering companies. "For example, we don't have a dedicated site review department," says Lacey. "We believe that if designers don't go out and see their work installed, it limits their ability to be efficient and develop solutions that deliver what clients require." The outcome of this mindset is evident in Crossey's fabulous portfolio, which ranges from high-profile Canadian projects such as the National Arts Centre and West Block renovations in Ottawa, creative projects such as the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences in Lubbock, Texas, all the way to utilitar- ian but no less important projects involving pharmaceutical manufacturers and laboratories (Sanofi and Apotex being two cases in point). Driving Crossey's iconoclastic philosophy is what Lacey (who in 1996 with Wally Eley assumed leadership of the company that Ted Crossey had founded 23 years' prior) calls "engineering first." He says, "We've always been focused on engineering first, then the business side of our profession." Andrew Pratt, Crossey's executive VP/mechanical department head, agrees. "If you do engineering from first principles first, then you can make informed decisions to come up with unique designs instead of doing the same thing over and over again – and architects require unique designs to complement their work." Prioritizing engineering has enabled Crossey to expand and fill diverse market needs. In 2000 it established Consullux Lighting Consultants, an award-winning lighting design subsidiary, followed by the Vertical Start-Up Commissioning (VSC) Group, and CEL Gruen, a sustainability design and energy efficiency group. A telecommunications department was also formed, specializing in infrastructure and design. Unsurprisingly, a lot of what Crossey has achieved has been ahead of its time: for Toronto's Bata Shoe Museum in 1995, the company's deployment of a heat recovery chiller, a dedicated outdoor air system, variable air volume, and con- densing boilers are elements that would meet the criteria for an energy efficient building today. The determination of Crossey's management to adhere to its own values instead of following convention echoes that of Ted Crossey, who Lacey remem- bers as "being very avant-garde with engineering. He put mechanical systems where other people wouldn't dare, and it's fun for us to upgrade buildings he had worked on decades prior and appreciate his handiwork." The longevity of any company depends on its ability to attract new talent, and while Crossey had a staff of about 20 people when Lacey joined in 1981, today it has over 120, largely the result of organic growth. "We much prefer hiring university or college graduates and training them," says Duane Waite, Crossey's executive VP/electrical department head. Training is of paramount importance, and it's common to see a classroom of new recruits being tutored by industry partners in Crossey's North York Toronto headquarters. "We also mix things up by sending the young guys out into the field, then back into the classroom, then exposing them to the mentorship of our engineers," says Waite. "Everybody here is a continuous learner, for the simple reason that engineering and its tools are constantly evolving. Even our REVIT program is continuously being updated." Crossey Engineering Ltd. breaks free from the norm by ROBIN BRUNET | photography + renderings courtesy CROSSEY ENGINEERING LTD. Given today's challenging construction market, it's in Crossey's best interest to maintain what Lacey refers to "as our deficiency in steering our company in specific directions. I personally love working on theatres, but if we focused on that we would be a very small firm. "Instead, we're proud to apply our knowledge to all sorts of complex build- ings. And we're grateful that in the new era of construction where the builders often decide the design teams, many builders like to work with us." That may be an understatement, considering Crossey's current workload, which includes two mammoth projects: providing mechanical and electrical engineering consulting services for Phase 2 and 3 of New Westminster, B.C.'s Royal Columbian Hospital redevelopment; and the University of Toronto, Schwartz Reisman Innovation Centre. As for issues moving forward, Lacey expresses concern over the process of selecting Consulting firms based on low fee for the design bid build process: "We have volumes we need to meet, and the reality of the market is we occasion- ally have to take jobs where the fees don't support the quality of design we would like to do." But as with everything else that Crossey has faced in its 57-year history, Lacey and his colleagues are already working on a solution. "We're looking at ways of doing things faster and better in the design bid build realm," he says. It's almost as if Ted Crossey is in his prime, and by way of conclusion Lacey says his old colleague would have thrived in the world Crossey now inhabits: "He would have loved BIM and REVIT and all the challenges we encounter today. I suspect he would have approved of how his company has evolved." A National Arts Centre, Ottawa, ON. Schwartz Reisman Innovation Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts & Sciences, Lubbock, TX.