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John H. Read, Consulting Engineer was the professional practice of structural engineer John Hiram Read.

After arriving in Vancouver from Alberta, John Read was employed by Burrard Dry Dock in North Vancouver 1943 to 1945 or 1946. After a brief stint as in-house engineer at Marwell Construction, John Read opened his own consulting firm in 1947 or 1948.

The firm continued under his name until 1954, when he went into partnership with two of his employees, Claude Jones and Per Christoffersen in the firm Read, Jones, Christoffersen, Consulting Engineers.

The structural engineering consulting firm Read, Jones, Christoffersen was an outgrowth of the consulting engineering practice of John H., Read’.

Between 1950 and 1954, Claude Jones and Per Christoffersen were employees in John H. Read's office. in 1954 or 1955, they were made partners and the firm's name was changed to reflect the new structure.

John Read was President of the partnership from its founding until 1980, after which he was listed as Chairman until 1995. During these years, Per Christoffersen was the company's President. This continues until 1994 or 1995, from which point Norm Webster was President of the firm. It is not known when Read, Jones Christoffersen closed or ceased trading under that name.

Dominion Construction was founded as a construction materials supplier and general contracting firm in 1911; its founding president was E.B. Morgan and Managing Director was Thomas J. Madlen. In 1913 the firm focused on the design-build side of the business, providing both architect/design engineer and general contractor services.

Some time in 1912 or 1913 Charles Bentall, a structural engineer, was hired as Chief Engineer; in 1920 he bought a controlling interest in the company. The company operated for decades as one of the city's premier general contractors. The company continued operations until at least 2000.

McCarter, Nairne and Partners was formed as McCarter & Nairne, Architects and Engineers in 1921 as an architectural and engineering services company formed by the partnership of architect and engineer J.Y. (John Young) McCarter and architect George Colville Nairne. Both McCarter and Nairne had apprenticed a decade earlier in the Vancouver office of architect Thomas Hooper.

The firm continued as an partnership between its founders until the late 1940s, when other partners Maurice Helyer and J.B. Porter were added. Growth of the firm resulted in changes to the structure from a partnership to a corporate structure with more partners. G.C. Nairne retied from the firm in 1951 and J.Y McCarter in 1956.

After retirement of J.Y. McCarter, leadership of the firm passed to George Nairne’s son, Ron S. Nairne, who led the company until its closure in 1982.

In the last twenty-five years of the firm’s existence, a number of architects and engineers were associated with the firm including John H. Swerdfeger, William G. Leithead, W. Bruce Scott, K.E. Robert Kerr, Ralph E. Cole, Thomas M. Kirkham and Graham Tudor.

J.Y McCarter was an architect practising in Vancouver in the early to mid-20th century.

He interned in the practice of Thomas Hooper, then briefly worked as an architect at Dominion Construction. He opened a sole practice in 1913. After active service in World War II, McCarter returned to his architecture practice. In 1921 he joined with George C. Nairne to form the firm McCarter and Nairne, where he spent the remainder of his professional practice until his retirement from architecture in 1956.

Victor Thorson was a structural engineer practising in Vancouver in the midele decades of the 20th century.

Victor Thorson was born in 1919 and graduated from the University of British Colmbia School of Engineering in 1941 or 1942. After World War II, he briefly established a sole practice and later entered into a partnership with R.J. Cave. From ca. 1952 to 1955 he returned to sole practice. In 1955 he entered into a partnership with his younger brother, Allan Thorson, to form the firm Thorson and Thorson.

The Department of Public Works was established in 1908 through the enactment of the Department of Public Works Act, which formalized the division of the former Department of Lands and Works into two departments.

The Department was responsible for design, construction and maintenance of government offices and buildings used by various provincial agencies; public highways, bridges, wharves; river-bank protection; and maintenance of ferry and steamboat services.
In 1975 the Department of Public Works and the Department of Highways merged to form the Department of Highways and Public Works.

TPL Industries was formed under the name Timber Preservers Ltd. in 1931 or 1932. The plant was located in south-east Burnaby, at Meadow and Trapp avenues.

The firm manufactured glued laminated building timbers, as well as pressure-treated and creosoted timber for bridges, wharves, railroad ties and other uses requiring fire-retardant wood products.

In 1967 or 1968, the firm's name was changed to TPL Industries. In about 1974 the firm either ceases to trade is untraceable due to name change.

F.W. Urry, Structural Engineer was the professional practice of Frederick Wavell Urry, a Vancouver based consulting engineer.

Urry was born in England in 1897 and moved to Canada with his family in 1903. After a nineteen-year career employed by a number of firms as an engineer, including stints at Sharp & Thompson and Burrard Dry Dock, Urry set up his own practice in 1945. His practice continued until his retirement in 1969.

F.W. Urry died in 1970.

Neon Products was a Vancouver-based neon and outdoor display signage manufacturer. The company was founded with 1927 or 1928 and was located at 260 Terminal Avenue. For its early decades, the firm was headed by G.W. Sweny.

Though the firm was best known as a neon signage designer and manufacturer, for a period in the 1930s they also advertised themselves as air conditioning installers. Some time between 1955 and 1960, the firm relocated to 1855 Clark Drive. in 1968, the Jim Pattison Group acquired Neon Products, though the firm continued to operate under its original name until 1994. The company's operations appear to have been amalgamated into the Pattison Sign Group at that time.

William Dodd & Company was founded on the practice of William Marshall Dodd, an established Calgary architects who opened an office in Vancouver in 1911.

Before establishment of the Vancouver office, the company had had a decade of successful practice in Calgary, having designed projects across the west, from Saskatchewan to British Columbia Interior towns, such as Revelstoke and Fernie. The Vancouver office continued operations until Dodd's death in 1948.

D.W. Thomson & Co. was a mechanical engineering firm operating in Vancouver in the middle decades of the 20th century.

The firm originated in the consulting engineer practice of Daniel William Thomson, a Scottish engineer who arrived in Vancouver in 1941 or 1942.Thomson was employed with Vancouver Ice and Cold Storage, General Equipment and as an instructor at the University of British Columbia before founding his practice in 1945 or 1946.

Thomson continued to operate under his own name until 195__. After this, the practice operated under the name D.W. Thomson & Co. with Thomson as President.

The firm appears to have been wound up in 1975 or 1976, at the time Thomson presumably retired. D.W. Thomson himself died in 1986.

Harold Kalman and Associates Limited (HKA) is a corporation wholly owned by Harold Kalman, used by Kalman for his consulting practice. HKA formerly did business as 'Commonwealth Historic Resource Management (Vancouver)' and it did marketing as 'Commonwealth Historic Resource Management Limited'. Since 2015, it has done business as 'Harold Kalman: Heritage Conservation and Architectural History.'