Published in the Journal de Montréal

Impactful Values

Valérie Aubé, Head of the Infrastructure Department

Thoroughness and attention to detail play an important role in Valérie Aubé’s professional practice. This engineer and project manager is interested in projects driven by innovation and sustainable development.

“We design, build and supervise projects for the public,” explained Aubé. “We make sure that they are safe, optimal, sustainable and reliable, and that they meet clients’ expectations, mainly by carrying out thorough analyses and comprehensive studies.”

She believes that engineers have a major responsibility when it comes to innovation and sustainable development and that they shouldn’t hesitate to promote these values. The Curé-Paquin School in Saint-Eustache is a perfect example.

“We proposed building a carbon-neutral building, and, even though it wasn’t the initial plan, our clients were interested,” stated the engineer. Result: the school became the first carbon-neutral elementary school in Canada and the first building of its kind in Quebec. This innovative project has also won many awards.

Three questions for Valérie Aubé

Can you describe your profession in one sentence?

It’s a source of motivation to be able to participate from beginning to end in innovative projects that address climate change and that have an impact on society, while collaborating with other professionals, partners and clients.

What should we be looking out for in the industry?

It’s a term that comes up often and that is central to all of our projects: sustainable development.

Tell us about a project you were involved in.

The Verdun Beach project, completed in 2019, was Quebec’s first urban beach. So we had to demonstrate both innovation and perseverance, especially when obtaining government permits and approvals, both at the provincial and federal levels. There were other challenges, such as decontaminating the site and coordinating work in water during winter, because we were unable to work from March to August, the spawning season for certain species of fish.

NB: This text is from a special issue of AFG on consulting engineering published in the Journal de Montréal’s March 30, 2022, paper edition.