Keen Engineering Co. Ltd. was a consulting engineering firm based in
Canada and the
United States that operated from 1960 to 2005.
In the late 1950s James Keen, in association with Jerry Yost of Toronto, formed Yost Keen and Associates. The company successfully designed many projects in
Toronto, Ontario. They began to build a solid reputation within the consulting engineering industry that started bringing projects from Western Canada.
One of the Western projects obtained by the firm was located in
Regina, Saskatchewan. In order to successfully complete this project, the partners decided that an office needed to be set up in Regina. Jim Keen opened the Regina office. By 1960 the two partners agreed to split into two firms, and the Regina office became Keen Engineering Co. Ltd. James Keen and the principals of the newly formed Keen Engineering decided to aggressively pursue the growing Western Canadian market. After conducting a careful analysis of the building services market, the Directors decided to open offices in
Edmonton and
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
in Alberta and
Vancouver in British Columbia.
Due to market fluctuations in the late 1970s, they decided to close the Regina office. However, the Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver offices continued to flourish and prosper. In the late 1980s, a new office was opened in Toronto, marking the end of a round trip journey
James Keen retired in 1980 and Tom Johnston was appointed president. Tom oversaw Keen's expansion to total seven offices across Canada and began to consider international projects. After 18 successful years of growth, Tom retired from presidency in 1999. James Keen died in 2000, but the company name lived on.
Kevin Hydes was appointed president of Keen in 1998. Under Kevin's guidance, Keen Engineering quickly became a leader in the field of
green engineering
Green engineering approaches the design of products and processes by applying financially and technologically feasible principles to achieve one or more of the following goals: (1) decrease in the amount of pollution that is generated by a construc ...
. This quickly led to the formation of Keengreen - a division of Keen that focused exclusively on
Green design. This group promoted
sustainable design
Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...
across the entire company so effectively that green design became the company's philosophy. As a result of this new policy, Keen became a world leader in sustainable building design, having over 160
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a
green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...
(LEED) accredited professionals on staff by 2005, the most of any organization in the world.
In May 2000, Keen expanded its North American operations by opening an office in
Seattle, Washington, and later on in
San Francisco. In 2001, Keen opened its eighth Canadian office in
Ottawa, Ontario.
Throughout its history, Keen Engineering remained 100% employee-owned.
Some of the more prestigious projects that Keen designed include:
*
Library Square in Vancouver, British Columbia
*
UOIT
Ontario Tech University (OTU), also known as Ontario Tech, is a public research university located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is located on approximately of land in northern Oshawa, while its secondary satellite cam ...
in Oshawa, Ontario
*
Simon Fraser University West Mall Campus in Burnaby, British Columbia
*
York University Computer Science Building in Toronto, Ontario
*
C. K. Choi Building
The C. K. Choi Building is a building known for its sustainable design features. It is the University of British Columbia's "flagship environmental building" in what it calls its 'living laboratory', the campus used to showcase "innovative appro ...
,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
In August 2005, it was announced that Keen Engineering Co. Ltd. had entered into an agreement with
Stantec of Edmonton, Alberta, to merge with their building engineering division. On October 3, 2005, Keen Engineering was officially merged with Stantec and Keen Engineering ceased to exist.
References
{{Authority control
Engineering companies of Canada