Fast + Epp is an international structural engineering firm headquartered in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

, British Columbia with offices in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

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, maki ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, and

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

, Germany. The company first achieved international acclaim following the design of the roof structure for the 2010 Richmond Olympic Oval and has become a world leader in the design of timber and hybrid steel-timber structures.

Firm History

The firm was founded by Paul Fast as Paul Fast Associates Ltd. in 1985. Gerald Epp joined the firm in 1987, and in 1989 the partnership Fast + Epp was formed. In 2010, a branch office was established in Darmstadt, Germany with partner Dr. Jochen Stahl, followed by branch offices in Edmonton, Alberta in 2012, Seattle and New York City in 2016 and Calgary in 2018. In 1997, the partners also established the design-build company StructureCraft Builders Inc. in order to help the company realize a number of its more ambitious timber projects. In 2014, the business affairs of the two companies were separated with Paul Fast assuming full ownership of Fast + Epp and Gerald Epp taking over full control of StructureCraft Builders Inc.

Notable Projects

* EBCO Aerospace Centre, Delta, BC * Brentwood Skytrain Station, Burnaby, BC * 2010 Richmond Olympic Oval, Richmond, BC * Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre, Surrey, BC * VanDusen Botanical Gardens, Vancouver, BC * National Arts Centre Rejuvenation, Ottawa, Ontario * Tallwood House at Brock Commons, University of British Columbia * Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, Washington, DC * Kingsway Pedestrian Bridge, Burnaby, BC * Mannheim Gridshell Restoration, Germany (ongoing) * Walmart Home Office Campus, Bentonville, Arkansas (ongoing) * The Arbour, George Brown College, Toronto, Ontario (ongoing)

Awards

The company has been granted over 100 national and international engineering awards including the 2016 Supreme Award, the highest honour granted by the Institution of Structural Engineers based in London, England, for the design of the timber catenary roof structure of the Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre. Paul Fast was granted the R.A. McLaughlin Award in 2013, the highest annual honour accorded a professional engineer by the Engineers Geoscientists of British Columbia.

References

{{Reflist
Companies based in Vancouver Companies established in 1985 1985 establishments in Canada