HGC Engineering: Global Acoustical, Noise Control & Vibration Isolation Expertise

HGC Engineering is a Toronto, Canada based acoustical consulting group that was founded in 1994 when three respected acoustical engineering veterans — Brian Howe, Bill Gastmeier and Brian Chapnik — came together with a common vision, a shared purpose and a diversified, complimentary skill set.

Addressing An Evolving Regulatory Environment
At the time, the regulatory environment for noise, vibration and acoustics in Ontario was rapidly evolving and growing ever more stringent (a scenario that still holds true today). The province was one of the first jurisdictions in North America to designate Noise as an environmental pollutant with the potential to impact community health and well-being.

As a result the Ontario Ministry of the Environment put industry and developers on notice that the regulatory status quo would no longer be tenable with respect to noise and vibration. The potential consequences for business and industry? Costly assessments and mitigation requirements; project delays; unwelcome legal disputes and conflicts.

Company Principals Left to Right:
Bill Gastmeier, Brian Howe, Rob Stevens, Brian Chapnik

Delivering Value, Service and Expertise
The three collegues recognized that in this shifting noise and vibration compliance environment, industry and developers would now, more than ever, require knowledgeable partners who could help them navigate through a sea of confusing and sometimes conflicting regulations, and who could also provide expert assessment and mitigation solutions that minimized costs while streamlining the compliance process without compromise. It was this value proposition to clients on which HGC Engineering was founded.

Meeting Acoustical Engineering Needs Across North America and Around the World
Almost immediately this support model met with success, and as the company quietly went about its business solving noise, vibration and acoustical challenges on an ever-widening rage of projects across North America and around the world, HGC Engineering slowly but assuredly grew, over the years, to become Canada’s largest acoustical engineering group. Our client base today includes developers, owner/operators, architects, planners, engineers, environmental consultants, governments, industry associations and the community at large.

Approaching our 20^th Anniversary: New Global Noise and Vibration Challenges
As we approach our 20^th anniversary we continue to invest in our people and our technology toolkit as we grow to meet new demands in jurisdictions across North America that are beginning to legislate to the same high regulatory standards as those found in Ontario.  And we also continue to invest, learn and evolve to address ongoing concerns globally in both traditional and burgeoning new markets such as Wind Energy, where we are pioneering and leading in the adoption of new acoustical measurement standards and techniques related to wind turbine noise.

To that end, we also continue to ensure that the majority of our staff remain professional engineers, drawn from a wide variety of technical niches and market areas. In fact, we are proud that many hold advanced degrees in the science of acoustics and vibration. Furthermore our acousticians not only apply interdisciplinary proficiency to solving our clients’ noise and vibration challenges, they also deliver strong project management capabilities to each assignment, ensuring project milestones are completed within the committed time frame and budget constraints.