David L. Cunliffe,
P. Eng.
Founded by David L. Cunliffe, P. Eng., Cunliffe & Associates is a Canadian consulting structural engineering firm serving the Ottawa region for more than three decades (1989). Cunliffe & Associates and its team have designed countless schools, high rises, and other buildings throughout Eastern Ontario.
From day one, our mission was to bring the architect’s vision to life while staying rooted in pragmatism. Both practical and creative, we are a group of professionals looking to find the building solutions that deliver the design’s intent. Cunliffe & Associates prides itself on culminating the architect’s vision while guiding the construction companies to build a safe, practical and economical building.
In the beginning, founding members David Cunliffe, Ron Waghorn, and Rick Cunliffe found the rapid growth of both Newbridge Networks and Kanata Research Park excellent partners to help establish Cunliffe & Associates as a leading local structural engineering firm.
David Cunliffe’s expertise in reinforced concrete design was a foothold for the firm as it produced great structures including the campus for JDS Uniphase (currently the national headquarters for the RCMP) and numerous reinforced concrete mid to high rise structures.
While Cunliffe & Associates quickly became a preferred structural engineer in the region, its influence on the local landscape extends beyond its own contract work. Rick Cunliffe is a member of Consulting Engineers Ontario, Ottawa Chapter Building Engineering Sub-Committee and the OAA–CEO–City of Ottawa relations group. Rick was a lecturer on Structural Analysis and Design for the Carleton University Architecture Department for several years in the 1990’s and frequently enjoys working with former students.
Cunliffe & Associates’ expertise has grown over the past thirty years as building heights have continued to grow, requiring intensified earthquake resistant designs. Meanwhile our analysis which began with hand calculations now includes detailed models of the proposed structure with finite element analysis to accurately analyze and design the seismic force resisting system and the overall structure.
You will find Cunliffe & Associates’ projects all over Eastern Ontario and Ottawa as our work is intertwined in the fabric of the region’s growth. It is gratifying to live in a City where every day we regularly pass by building structures that we have designed. Where here our own children attend schools designed by our firm. We have been involved with new buildings and schools, additions, and renovations of every size.
While our work is largely local, the firm’s expertise has been sought internationally. Overseas our projects include the Celtic Manor Hotel and Convention Centre in Wales – a 350 bed, 14 story, horizontal addition to a 50-bed heritage building on a hillside. Additionally, Cunliffe & Associates partnered with Cuban engineers to model, design and build the Havana Terminal III Airport.
Today, our firm has grown to nearly doubling in the past five years to meet demand and increase capacity. In 2020, Cunliffe & Associates relocated to 200 – 1550 Carling Avenue to support our growth, increase our accessibility to our clients, and improve our facilities to accommodate needed meeting space.