M&R Engineering — Mechanical and Electrical Consulting Engineering Firm in Halifax, Nova Scotia — Joins the Ranks of BPA

This marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for M&R Engineering.

Halifax, January 17 ‒ BPA an engineering firm headquartered in Montreal and specializing in institutional, commercial, multi-residential, and industrial buildings, as well as sustainability, and M&R Engineering, a mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firm with a 50-year history and strong reputation in Atlantic Canada, announced today that they are joining forces.

This strategic partnership places a strong emphasis on nurturing enduring relationships with loyal, local clients, by expanding the range and depth of services provided, while simultaneously positioning both companies for success in wider markets and enabling nationwide service delivery.

“By integrating M&R and its 55 employees into the BPA team, we aim to bolster our footprint in Eastern Canada by leveraging their strong local presence, thereby positioning ourselves to provide services across Atlantic Canada,” says Patrick St‑Onge, Executive Vice-President at BPA.

M&R's wealth of expertise strengthens BPA’s position as a leader in building engineering. "This partnership perfectly aligns with our strategic goals of team expansion and ongoing enhancement of our expertise, enabling us to consistently deliver top-tier services to clients nationwide,” says Dominic Latour, CEO of BPA. M&R’s extensive mechanical and electrical experience consolidates our position as a leader in the field of building decarbonization, helping to build a sustainable future," concludes Mr. Latour.

United by shared values of integrity, collaboration, and excellence, BPA and M&R are driven by a client-centric approach to projects. This strategic move is anticipated to bolster both companies' capabilities, allowing them to maintain their commitment to quality service while broadening their impact and presence in the industry.

“M&R and BPA have collaborated to support each other on projects in Atlantic Canada and across the country. Through our work together, we have found strongly shared values toward pleasing our clients, respecting our staff and providing environmental leadership through high-quality engineering. By joining BPA now, M&R strengthens its position in the Atlantic Canadian market, gains access to expertise and resources and increases our scale,” says Denis Morris, Senior Partner at M&R. “This merger with BPA provides our team with more career development, national project opportunities and positions us to develop a new generation of leaders to continue to improve our consulting services. This is a meaningful step toward formalizing a partnership with experienced experts so that we can deliver enhanced, more comprehensive services in Atlantic Canada,” he adds. “The M&R name is well recognized, respected, and trusted. We aim to honour the legacy and history of the company, and to reflect the combination of our strengths, by transitioning to a branding strategy that identifies M&R as a member of BPA in the short-term,” he concludes.

“We have collaborated on several projects with BPA in the past and this new relationship gives us the capacity to pursue larger projects as a strong, tightly knit team. It allows us to provide niche services that we currently do not offer to our local clients and to give our established clients the confidence we have the capacity to service their projects to the same level we always have,” explains Mike Myatt, Partner at M&R.

All employees, including senior leaders of M&R and BPA will remain employed with BPA. Details of the transaction are confidential.

This is BPA’s fourth transaction following an initial investment by CDPQ in 2022 to support the company’s pan-Canadian strategic development plan and accelerate its growth.

ABOUT BPA

BPA is an engineering firm specialized in buildings for the institutional, commercial, multi-residential and industrial markets. Employees across Canada provide expertise in mechanical, electrical, and structural engineering, sustainable development, energy efficiency, building science, telecommunications, security, building automation, acoustics, food services and commissioning. To find out more about BPA, visit bpa.ca.

ABOUT M&R ENGINEERING

M&R Engineering provides consulting in the disciplines of mechanical and electrical engineering. For 60 years, they have supplied mechanical and electrical systems design and supervisory services, sustainability consulting, energy auditing, commissioning, and energy modelling. M&R has offices in Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia. To find out more about M&R, visit mreng.ca.

Aaron Smith speaks at Passive Buildings Canada - Boots on the Ground

Aaron Smith spoke at the recent Passive Building’s Canada Boots on the Ground event in Dartmouth. His topic was the deep energy retrofit of his 100 year old home where he has been able to achieve over 70% energy savings and over 50% greenhouse gas emissions savings. A video of the event is available here.

The Benefits of Improved School Ventilation

Ventilation has received increased attention over the past two years, especially in schools where our children spend a large portion of their day. One reason for this is because many schools are decades old and still rely on ventilation systems from their time of construction.

School ventilation systems in North America are designed based on ASHRAE Standard 62 which was first published in 1973. Most schools built in Nova Scotia before the 1970s do not have a mechanical supply air ventilation system, instead they either rely on exhaust fans to pull outdoor air into classrooms through windows and cracks in the walls or they rely on opening windows which are generally closed during the winter due to our climate. These systems may be called natural or passive ventilation systems. Schools built over the past 40 years largely have mechanical ventilation systems comprising of a fan, heating coil, filter and ductwork allowing a consistent amount of outdoor air to be supplied into classrooms year around. These may also be called active ventilation systems.

As ASHRAE is responsible for building ventilation standards, it was natural that they prepared Guidance Documents on how to combat the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Their Guidance for schools says:

1. HVAC systems are to be inspected for proper operation,

2. Ventilation is to be supplied based on Standard 62,

3. Supply air is to be filtered with high efficiency (MERV-13 or better) filters and

4. In-room air cleaners can be used where the ventilation and/or filtration requirements cannot be met.

   These measures can be implemented with minimal impact on building energy use at a reasonable capital cost.

In addition to mitigating the spread of airborne diseases, ventilation provides many other benefits to classrooms - these include improved academic performance, reduced asthma symptoms and reduced absenteeism. Ventilation renovations have been shown to improve math and reading test scores significantly with an improved probability of passing by 2% and 3% respectively. For each 1 L/s (2.2 cfm) per occupant increase in outdoor ventilation airflow rate, illness absence was found to decrease 1.6%.

Nova Scotia, like other provinces has added in-room air cleaners to filter out SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in older schools but in order to see all the benefits of improved ventilation, the next step is to bring our older schools up to current ventilation standards by adding mechanical ventilation systems. This will come at a financial cost but it will provide significant academic benefits and help shield us from this and future epidemics for years to come.

Meet our Team - Hayley Knowles

While not a new face to our office, we are excited to announce that Hayley has agreed to stay on with M&R after working with us while finishing her degree at Dalhousie! Welcome to the team Hayley!

Earth Day message from M&R

On this 52nd anniversary of Earth Day, we recognize the challenges that lie ahead as we strive to reduce our impact on the planet. Not the least of which is climate change. The province of Nova Scotia has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 53% below 2005 levels by 2030 and to achieve net zero emission by 2050. The following highlights some of the recent steps M&R has taken to help the province reach these goals:

1. Designed two new buildings that are targeting Net-Zero Energy Use: Fort Needham Park and Kouchibouguac Kiosk.

2. Designed two existing building retrofits to become Net-Zero Energy or Net-Zero Energy Ready: Corner Villa Manor and Antigonish Manor.

3. Performed energy models on over 70 buildings that are projected to save over 60 million kWh and 35,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year - equal to taking almost 8,000 cars off the road.

4. Designed over 30 projects that rely on Ground-Source Heat Pumps and 20 projects that rely on Air-Source Heat Pumps for heating in preparation for a clean electrical grid and deep emission reductions.

5. Performed multiple Net-Zero Energy Studies as we help clients meet their environmental commitments.

6. Designed over 400kW of Solar PV arrays, enough to power the equivalent of 40 new houses.

7. Designed over 20 LEED Certified Buildings.

Project Highlight: Dr. Carson & Marion Murray Community Centre

Dr. Carson & Marion Murray Community Centre

This state of the art community centre completed construction in 2005.  It includes an NHL sized ice surface, seating for 800 spectators, locker rooms, meeting room and a multipurpose room.  

A central ice plant chills the ice surface and recovers waste heat to warm the spectators through radiant tubing in the bleachers. The ice plant pulls water from abandoned coal mines located 200ft+ under the building.  Other areas of the building are heated and cooled with water to air heat pumps, also connected to the mine water.  Other energy savings measures include exhaust air heat recovery on the building’s air handling units and a heat pump preheats water for showers and the ice resurfacer.

M&R Engineering Featured in Daily Commercial News

Denis Morris of M&R Engineering was featured in an article in Daily Commercial News regarding the seawater heating and cooling system at Queens Marque. You can read the article here.

Celebrating 50 Years

In 1971, Denis J. “D.J.” Morris partnered with Robert “Bob” Richard to form Morris & Richard Consulting Engineers. The firm was built on the principle that enthusiasm, optimism, hard work and intelligence will breed success. During its early years the firm worked with Architects and Developers on many significant projects including the IWK Grace Hospital and the Halifax Infirmary.

In 2007, Denis A. Morris, P.Eng. successfully transitioned the company to its second generation as M&R ENGINEERING. In the years since, Michael Myatt, Aaron Smith, Daniel McIvor and Charles Nelson have become partners in the firm retaining M&R Engineering as a privately held business, wholly owned by Nova Scotians and growing to a staff of over 40 in Halifax and Sydney.  

After 50 years in practice, M&R Engineering continues to work mainly in Nova Scotia, while expanding to hold licenses and work New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland/Labrador.

ASHRAE Journal Article on Dalhousie IDEA and Design Buildings

We are excited to share that an article on the Dalhousie IDEA and Design buildings was published in the September 2021 ASHRAE Journal. This project won a first place 2021 ASHRAE Technology Award. You can read the article here and you can see our project profile here.

Dalhousie IDEA and Design Project wins 1st Place ASHRAE Technology Award

M&R Engineering Ltd. were honored to be awarded the First Place ASHRAE Society Technology Award in the New Educational Facilities Category for the Dalhousie IDEA and Design Buildings. Thank you to Dalhousie University and their Energy Team for the supporting the project.

The project has achieved over 70% savings compared to average educational buildings with 15% of energy use coming from a rooftop Solar PV array. More information on the project can be found on our Project Profile here.

Eddie Roach Co-Authors Paper on Net-Zero Energy Homes in NS

Congratulations to one of our Employees, Eddie Roach on being published in Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. He co-authored a paper entitled “Development and techno-economic evaluation of pathways to new construction net-zero energy houses in Nova Scotia, Canada”.

IWK Children's Hospital Gets New MRI

M&R Engineering were happy to work on the project that brought a new MRI to the IWK Children’s Hospital in Halifax. See a short video of the installation here.

Dalhousie IDEA Project Sustainability Features Video

We’ve been happy to work on the design of new facilities at Dalhousie University over the past 3 years. The IDEA project is helping to revitalize Sexton campus. See a video about the project here.

#solarpv #energystorage #GEOTABS

Canadian Coast Guard College Mechanical Revitalization Construction Contract Awarded

M&R Engineering has been happy to be part of the Canadian Coast Guard College Mechanical Revitalization Project which will replace the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and Sprinkler systems at the 37 year old campus. Our new HVAC system design has heat pumps that use seawater as a source of heat in the winter and a place to reject heat in the summer.

This project is projected to reduce energy use on the campus by 49% while cutting energy costs by 25%. The Campus has already been able to reduce carbon emissions by 39% since 2005 and this project will help contribute to an emission reduction target of 80% by 2050.

Along with reductions in energy use, this project will increase air quality by providing new ventilation systems and improve thermal comfort by adding air-conditioning to the 385,000 sq. ft campus.

The main project $53.6m contract was awarded to Joneljim Concrete Construction (1994) last week.

M&R Engineering welcomes Donnie Arsenault, P. Eng.

The Partners of M&R Engineering are pleased to announce that Donnie Arsenault, P. Eng. has joined the firm as a Senior Mechanical Engineering and Project Manager.  Donnie will be operating out of Sydney, NS allowing M&R Engineering to offer a greater local presence to support projects in Cape Breton.

 Donnie has 20 years of experience in mechanical systems design and project management in the commercial, institutional, industrial sectors with emphasis on sustainability and energy efficiency.

Donnie can be reached at 902-317-6447. 

Dalhousie University IDEA Project Grand Opening

We were proud to help celebrate the opening of the new Dalhousie IDEA project on October 10th. It is an amazing place for our current and future Engineering and Architecture students to become leaders in our industry.

The building has many features to reduce energy use and provide a comfortable environment. Read more about these here.

#DalInnovates #GEOTABS #solarpv #energystorage

Halifax Grammar School Progress

We have been happy to be part of the design team for Halifax Grammar School's major addition.  A time lapse video of it construction progress has been created.  Click on the image below to see the progress.

Aberdeen Hospital Emergency Department Opening Announced

The Aberdeen Hospital's new Emergency Department will be opening on October 24th.  We have been happy to be part of this project over the past 5 years.  This $32 million project includes a dedicated triage area, private treatment patient rooms, isolation rooms, a family quiet room, trauma rooms and ambulance bay.  In the next phase, the existing emergency department will be retrofitted into a new Pharmacy.

Click to play Video

Queen's Marque Announced

Queen’s Marque is the new highly touted multi-use facility to be built on the Halifax Waterfront near Queen’s Landing. The 450,000 sf facility will consist of approximately one third Commercial Space, one third Residential Space, and one third Hotel Space plus have 75,000 sf of Outdoor Public Space on the waterfront.

M&R Engineering are the Mechanical and Electrical Engineers for the $200-million development.  The cooling and heating plant for the facility will be comprised of energy efficient heat pumps that use seawater from the Halifax harbour as the heat source and heat sink to provide an extremely energy efficient and environmentally friendly cooling and heating plant. The Office component of the facility will utilize chilled beams to provide ventilation and cooling and allow for free (no mechanical) cooling throughout the majority of the cooling season. The remainder of the facility will utilize fan coil units with energy efficient ECM motors to provide ventilation, heating and cooling.

Visit the Queen's Marque Website for more information.

RBC Waterside Centre receives LEED Gold Certification

Congratulations to Armour Group for receiving LEED Gold Certification for RBC Waterside Centre.  The use of Seawater for cooling, condensing gas boilers heating and photo-sensors for control of lights based on daylighting helped the building achieve 57% Energy Cost Savings.

M&R Engineering was responsible for base building electrical design, tenant fit-up mechanical design including HVAC, Plumbing and Fire Protection as well as tenant fit-up electrical design including Lighting, Power, Communications and Security.

For more information, view our profile.