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The high-rise lights that make up Vancouver's skyline offer glowing
testament to a familial dedication to service, quality and ingenuity in
electrical engineering. For many years the name Nemetz (S/A) & Associates
Ltd. formerly known as Arnold Nemetz & Associates
has been connected with the electrical systems and lighting design found in
many of the city's most prominent buildings. This legacy continues today not
only in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland but has also expanded to include
sites in the United States and Asia.
The spark that is now some 10,000 completed electrical engineering projects
began with William Nemetz and his electrical contracting firm Domino
Electric, then continued when his son Arnold Nemetz, founder of Arnold
Nemetz & Associates, opened his first electrical engineering firm in
Vancouver in 1960. The company became a leader in designing functional and
original systems for residential, commercial and industrial projects in the
Lower Mainland. |
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Steven Nemetz joined his father's firm as an engineer in 1983 and currently
serves as President of Nemetz (S/A) & Associates. Under his direction
the business has expanded to offer a variety of specialized services in
conjunction with basic power design and electrical installation. While
high-rise residential projects were once the backbone of the business, NSA
has now also developed considerable versatility by utilizing electrical
engineering expertise in the construction of hotels, food stores, community
centres, office towers, shopping centres, film studios, schools and resort
projects.
"The company has evolved through the same fundamentals - the designers
and technicians have sound electrical field experience," explained Steven Nemetz. "What has changed is a growth in the
services that are provided in today's company. In the past you'd get one
designer and the one designer would do the electrical, the lighting and
anything to do with security and communications.
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"Today, we provide services with specialists in power design, communication,
security and lighting design. This is a great attraction to a lot of
builders and architects, this ability to get these specialized services
within one office, thus ensuring a better coordinated set of documents."
In
1995 the firm introduced a new division to meet the burgeoning demand for
comprehensive lighting design. Light Art Concepts Ltd offers creative and
practical lighting solutions with designers Clarissa Raymundo, Joni Persad and Doug
McMillan dedicated to devising a look that meets both vision and budgets
of individual clients.
"What started as a one-person division developed in just a few years into a
three-person, full-time lighting design department," said Steve Nemetz. "It
was a needed service, something people were looking for and as such it has
expanded rapidly."
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What will not change, however, is the commitment to service and quality.
Over the years Nemetz (S/A) & Associates has been involved in a myriad of
developments, each presenting a unique test. One of the company's strengths
has been the utilization of designers with a background in electrical
contracting, providing a valuable resource not only to builders but also to
electrical contractors in solving on-site problems.
"Today we have certainly expanded the horizon of the work that we do and
each project brings its own interesting set of challenges and requirements,"
noted Steve Nemetz. " In terms of design expertise we are very proud of what we
did at the Bank of Hong Kong building. Wall Centre Phase 2 was the
highest building at the time in Vancouver and there were some specific
challenges there, as there are with the Shaw Tower, a mixed use building of
offices and high-end resident condos.
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"Probably one of our most challenging jobs was a project in Hong Kong, which we
were involved in through the design phase. They have very rigid rules and
practices in Hong Kong and we were able to get some major design changes
accepted by local authorities."
So it is that Principals Steve Nemetz and Arnold Nemetz, in addition to the
firm's staff of 44 designers, CAD experts, lighting design specialists and
office staff, remain dedicated to the task of bringing power and light to
future projects. Together they offer a shining example of what can be
accomplished with the basic tenets of service, quality and ingenuity.
"We're proud of our company and proud of the people who work here," declared
Steve Nemetz. "This combination of detailed documents, multi design
features and site-field prowess -- you won't find it in any other company."
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