Terrapex is very pleased to welcome Zara Hafid to our team as Health and Safety Manger. Zara holds a Bachelors degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Masters in Business Administration from Laurentian University. Zara is a certified health and safety consultant with over eight years of experience in the private and government sectors including the environmental, mining, and construction industries.

Zara is a certified lead auditor for ISO 45001, 14001 and COR internal auditor. She has experience writing and reviewing policies, procedures, risk assessments and contractor management. In addition, she brings a broad base of experience in implementing and auditing Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems and advising on safety standards, regulations, and legislative compliance, as well as making recommendations to improve workers’ health, safety, and wellbeing.

Zara is an active member of the Ontario Municipal Health and Safety Professional’s Association, Women in Occupational Health and Safety and the International Health And Safety Knowledge Network.

Zara will be overseeing Terrapex's health and safety management system, advising on standards and best industry best practices, and assisting clients with occupational health and safety and/or industrial hygiene services.

Please feel free to contact us with any inquiries on how we can assist and/or support you in improving your health and safety program.

 

Terrapex is very pleased to welcome Meysam Najari to our team as Vice President of Geotechnical Services. Meysam holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from McGill University, specializing in Geomechanics, and is the co-author of numerous academic papers.

In addition to his management expertise, Meysam brings a broad base of experience in geotechnical design work and recommendations, including low-rise and high-rise developments, water/sewer services, tunnels, pavement design, slope stability assessment, slope stabilization design, and geotechnical instrumentation & monitoring.

Meysam will be overseeing the operations of our geotechnical service line, including investigations, inspection and testing work, monitoring, and the laboratory. Please feel free to contact us with any inquiries on how we can assist and/or support you in completing your geotechnical projects.

 

Terrapex environmental scientists Samantha Beatty and Nick Settecase were pleased to see a project in which they have invested many long hours win the REFOCUS award.

Terrapex was extremely pleased to accept, on behalf of the entire project team, a much‑coveted “Brownie Award” for the 150 Harrison Street Modular Housing Initiative project at the 2021 Brownfields Awards Gala in downtown Toronto on November 23rd. The award represents Terrapex’s third “Brownie”, following previous wins in 2017 and 2020.

The Brownfields Awards (brownieawards.ca) are an annual presentation by Actual Media and the Canadian Brownfields Network (CBN) to recognize and promote brownfield redevelopment projects across Canada in seven different categories. The 150 Harrison Street Modular Housing Initiative project was the winner in the brand-new REFOCUS category established to recognize projects that:

• Demonstrate alignment with broader social initiatives and mandates;
• Demonstrate significant improvements towards GHG reduction, climate resiliency, affordable housing, healthy communities, and/or diversity and inclusion;
  or;
• Use alternative lenses to see remediation and redevelopment from different perspectives other than economic and environmental ones.

The 150 Harrison Street project was part of the City of Toronto’s commitment to construct 1,000 new homes for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, with a plan to employ modular construction techniques to rapidly construct 44 studio units (11 of which were built to accessibility standards) at the 150 Harrison Street site. Terrapex provided geotechnical, hydrogeological, and environmental consulting services (including two Risk Assessments completed under Ontario Regulation 153/04) for this project, all under an extremely tight timeline – the project was approved by Toronto City Council on April 30, 2020 and the modular housing facilities at 150 Harrison Street officially opened less than nine months later!

Terrapex is extremely grateful to the City of Toronto and its real estate agency CreateTO for the opportunity to be involved in a unique and very challenging brownfield project, and one that also contributes to addressing a pressing social ill in the wider community. Congratulations to all of our staff who made Terrapex’s contributions to this project a success. We’d also like to congratulate the rest of the 150 Harrison Street Modular Housing Initiative project team: Montgomery Sisan Architects, Baker Turner Landscape Architects, Design Works Engineering, Nextrans Consulting Engineers, NRB / Horizon North, and Husky General Contracting.