Biography
Richard Perry
graduated from Wanganui Collegiate in New Zealand in1941 and immediately
joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force, training as a Pilot.
In
1946, after returning from overseas, he joined the firm of Anderson’s
Ltd. in Christchurch, New Zealand, designing machinery for the Dairy
Industry.During this period he
obtained membership with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in Great
Britain and completed their exams, recognized in Canada as equivalent to
B.Sc. He
and his family came to Canada from New Zealand in 1952 and, with his background
in machine design, was immediately offered a position as designer with
the firm of D.W. Thomson Ltd. This firm had just started up and was headed
up by Daniel Thomson, a University of British Columbia Professor and an
ASHRAE Member. From
1952 to 1964, Richard was involved in the design of Mechanical Systems
for a wide variety of projects, initially using coal and steam as the heating
medium, and then on into hot water, oil firing and later, natural gas. During
the period 1952/64, the major projects for which he designed Mechanical
Systems were: Prince
George and District Regional Hospital Maple
Ridge Hospital Charles
Tupper Secondary School Sir
Winston Churchill Secondary School CTV
Television Station (Vancouver’s first air source heat pump) United
Kingdom Building (Vancouver’s first induction system) Bank
of Canada Building (an air source heat pump system) Capilano
Winter Club (Vancouver’s first indoor Skating & Curling Rink. Used
waste heat to heat the Swimming Pool)
In
addition to the above, he designed systems for many other Commercial, Industrial
and Residential Building.
In
1964 he formed the company, Perry Engineering Ltd, with a contract to design
the mechanical systems for the new Vancouver International Airport. He
joined the firm of Phillips, Barratt & Partners, Prime Consultants
on the Airport project, as Partner and Senior Mechanical Engineer.He
proceeded to build up the Mechanical Engineering Department and, when he
left the firm in 1974, it had a staff of 75 Engineers and Draftsmen working
on many multi-million dollar projects.
During
the period 1964 to 1974, he designed mechanical systems for a wide variety
of Commercial, Residential and Industrial buildings, the major projects
being:
Vancouver
International Airport
Canadian
Airlines Maintenance Base
Air
Canada Maintenance Hangar Complex and Air Cargo Building
Kamloops
Pulp and Paper, Paper Mill
B.C.
Packers Cold Storage & Fish Processing Plant
Prince
Rupert Co-op Cold Storage & Fish Processing Plant
Dairyland
Milk Processing Plant
Panco
Poultry Chicken Processing Plant
Meat
Processing Plants for Canada Packers
Tree
Island Steel Complex
Apple
Storage Plants for B.C. Tree Fruits
Department
Stores for Hudson’s Bay Co. (Richmond Store had co-generation system using
waste heat for building A/C systems)
In
addition to the above, Richard designed systems for many other Commercial,
Industrial and Residential Buildings.
In1967
Richard designed and supervised construction of a Central Heating Plant
for Downtown Vancouver complete with 2 miles of underground piping and
connected up a number of the existing hotels and office buildings to the
system.Many more buildings have
been connected to the system in the intervening years.
In
1974 Richard sold his interest in Phillips Barratt in order to devote more
time to his ASHRAE work.He still
retained all of his clients and continued to work as Consultant on a number
of projects, notably the new Hudson’s Bay developments, using Perry Engineering
Ltd as the Consulting firm.
Under
Perry Engineering Ltd, he incorporated, staffed and ran the following along
with the Consulting Engineering practice:
Raeco
Building Maintenance Ltd.- Maintenance
of a number of Downtown buildings.
Cadco
Graphics Ltd.-Vancouver’s
first commercial computer drafting company. This firm did much of the early
computer drafting work for Architects and Engineers in B.C.
Perry Engineering Ltd had its own staff of air and water balancing personnel and balanced all of the systems that it designed.
In
1974, he developed a computer program for the hydraulic design of sprinkler
systems. The Contractor who financed the work, Bur-Mar Mechanical, practically
cornered the sprinkler system installation market using this program, during
the years 1974 to 1980.
In
1985 after serving as ASHRAE President, he negotiated a $750,000 contract
with the Federal Government, Energy, Mines and Resources Department, to
provide Energy Audits for Commercial, Industrial and Residential Building
throughout British Columbia.He had
three teams working on energy audits and recommended energy saving measures
for more than 1500 companies.The
energy analysis work was done using the modified Meriwether program. In
1991 he, was approached by the B.C. Unemployment Commission to start up
a school to teach Engineers and Architects from overseas in the use of
the computer and associated AutoCAD Drafting Programs. He and the staff
of Mantisssa Technical College were responsible for training over 500 overseas
students before the Commission ceased funding the project. In
1996 Richard became a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and during
the years 1996 to 1999 analyzed and recommended several hotels for awards
under the LEED Green Building Rating System.Analysis
was accomplished using the DOE-2 Energy Analysis Program. The largest
project was the Kandalama Hotel in Sri Lanka, a U.S. Green Building Council
Pilot Project. A Green Building
analysis was carried out for the City of Vancouver on the 49 Storey Wall
Tower in Downtown Vancouver to determine its rating under the LEED System. Until 2009, Richard
was working with a successful local engineering firm, Alexander
Boome Consulting Engineering Ltd. They designed and supervised
construction of the Olympic Flame for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt
Lake City. the new Marriott Renaissance Center in Denver, and a number of High Rise Towers in San Diego.
Currently, Richard is working as a member of the firm, DEC Design Mechanical Consultants Ltd. with the title
of Senior Engineer (Emeritus). This firm has designed a number of District Heating and Cooling Plants using their revolutionary "District
Energy Sharing System (DESS)".
Richard has had a long history as a Member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning
Engoneers, Inc. (ASHRAE). He joined the Society in 1952 and rose through the Chairs to become Presiden in the 1982/1983
year. In 2011 he was the recipient of ASHRAE's highest award, the F.Paul Anderson Award, which reads "This Award is
given for notable industrial achievement and exceptional leadership in the HVAC&R industry, for contributions to ASHRAE and for oustanding service to the Society". He is still heavily involved in ASHRAE contributions.
ASHRAE HISTORY