Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/255439
Engineered To Perfection The explosive growth of Read Jones Christoffersen by Tiffany Sloan R ead Jones Christoffersen (RJC), one of Canada's largest consulting engineering firms specializing in buildings, proudly celebrated its 65th anniversary last year. What started out as a structural engineering firm has evolved to also provide structural restoration, build- ing science, parking planning and structural glass and facade engineering services. At its core, however, RJC has stayed very much the same. The company is still focused on delivering superior client service through satisfied employees, innovative engineering and technical excellence. Founded in Vancouver in 1948, the company began as a one-man show in a cramped, 20-by-20-foot sublet office with John Read at the helm. It quickly expanded to include partners Per Christoffersen, a recent immigrant from Norway, and University of British Columbia honours graduate Peter Jones. In the years following the Second World War, tim- ber and steel were harder to come by, making con- struction a more costly endeavour than ever. Yet by the 1950s, Vancouver's now-famous West End neighbour- hood was transitioning from old houses into higher- density apartment buildings. It was here that Read pioneered a new, more efficient method for construct- ing multi-storey buildings that uses flat concrete slabs and eliminates beams. Cast-in-place concrete flat- plate construction – Read's legacy – is now the norm for high-rise construction across Canada. The practice grew, piling up plaudits along the way and earning a reputation for innovative engineering solutions: Christoffersen designed B.C.'s first post- tensioned structure in 1958. The partners opened offices in Victoria and Calgary, then expanded into Edmonton and Toronto in the 1960s. In 1964, Christ- offersen and RJC principal Nils Adler developed the now-familiar "mat system" for laying out reinforcing steel in concrete slabs – a practice that has since been adopted as part of the Canadian concrete design code. In 1953, RJC was commissioned to design its first parking garage. RJC's Parking Facility Design practice grew from that point forward, pioneering modern parking facility design in Canada and helping to estab- lish the Canadian Parking Association. "Today, RJC has earned more awards for parking design than any other firm in Canada, including the Parking Industry Business Excellence Award from the Canadian Park- ing Association in October 2013," says Doug Clark, managing director for RJC. In the '80s, as Canada's modern building stock began to age, structural damage started to show, particularly in parking garages. "A typical suspended parking deck is a concrete slab with reinforcing steel in it," explains Clark. "If the concrete is not protected with some sort of membrane, then water and de-icing salts get in, the reinforcing steel corrodes and the con- crete deteriorates." RJC quickly recognized parking garage repair as a field of practice with potential and set out to make it an area of expertise. What began with parking garage repair quickly expanded to include all kinds of structural restoration, as well as preventive maintenance. Today, RJC works with many of its restoration clients from day one. "Sometimes we start work right after construction, looking at warranty reviews for the building owner, or doing depreciation reports," says Sylvie Mercier, principal. She adds that preventive maintenance can begin almost right away, and extends the life of the building while reducing the scope and cost of repairs over the long term. "Basically, we're helping clients to invest money in a wise manner at the right time." To further help clients, RJC branched out into build- ing science – primarily the design and restoration of building envelope systems. "That practice began in Edmonton and then really took off during Vancouver's leaky condo crisis [in the '90s]," says Clark. RJC built up a wealth of expertise doing building envelope ret- rofits, and soon began consulting with architects and developers on newly constructed building envelopes. In fact, RJC is currently providing prime consultant, structural, restoration and building science engineer- ing services for the City of Calgary's extension of its light rail transit (LRT) station platforms – a project that epitomizes RJC's multi-disciplinary, whole-life services, says Clark. "For many years, our restoration engineers have provided annual maintenance and res- toration for the LRT stations, and RJC was the struc- tural engineer for the original design of many of them." Since the addition of building science in the 1990s, RJC's growth has been more than steady. The firm has doubled in size in the last eight years, and now totals more than 420 employees. Clark contends that this rapid growth is not the result of a strategic plan or a directive from management. "It's organic growth," he says. "We've grown when there's been an opportu- nity to grow. Our service offerings and locations have This page, from left: RJC is providing the structural engineering team for 156 Front Street West, a new office tower in downtown Toronto. Main photo, centre: RJC provided structural engineering and building envelope consulting services for the award winning Aquatic Centre at Hillcrest Park in Vancouver. Above: The car park at Edmonton's Jubilee Auditorium is one of RJC's many parkade projects. 8/ february 2014 p08-09 RJC coverstory.indd 8 14-01-22 10:13 AM