Keen Engineering Co. Ltd. was a consulting engineering firm based in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

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 Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

, 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 Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city population ...

. 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 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 ...

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, maki ...

in Alberta and

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 ...

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 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 ...

. 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, constructio ...

(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 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 later on in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. In 2001, Keen opened its eighth Canadian office in

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. 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 in Oshawa, Ontario *

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

West Mall Campus in Burnaby, British Columbia *

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and staf ...

Computer Science Building in Toronto, Ontario * C. K. Choi Building,

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

, Vancouver In August 2005, it was announced that Keen Engineering Co. Ltd. had entered into an agreement with

Stantec Stantec Inc. is an international professional services company in the design and consulting industry. The company was founded in 1954, as ''D. R. Stanley Associates'' in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Stantec provides professional consulting servi ...

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