Our History
Strum Consulting was founded in early 1995 in Bedford, Nova Scotia when Bruce Strum identified a niche for environmental consulting of domestic oil spills. At that time, Strum Environmental (as we were known then) catered to a host of insurance companies and developed strong relationships with individual clients, and guided them through the technically demanding, as well as the sensitive, process of a domestic oil spill clean-up.
Within a few years, the Company diversified into other services including;
- Phase I, II, and III Environmental Site Assessments (ESA)
- Underground Storage Tank (UST) Assessments
- Remediation (Phase IV)
- Risk Management
- Auditing
- Environmental Management Systems (EMS)
Increasingly, Strum Environmental fostered the capabilities to service commercial, institutional, industry, and government clients in a range of environmental service areas with the same thorough, technically sound, and cost-effective solutions focusing on personal client relationships, that was first established with Strum’s original insurance clients.
The last few years have been a period of significant growth at Strum. In order to meet the ongoing demands of our clients, we were required to grow and add additional services to our Company. We began to offer Civil Engineering services and Land Development services. We also acquired a Survey and Engineering consulting firm (HJS Consultants Ltd.) and a Civil Engineering firm (Mac Williams Engineering), a Mechanical Engineering firm (Barber Engineering Services) and most recently, (McCallum Environmental Ltd.). We now offer legal land surveys, construction surveying, civil engineering, land development, and mechanical engineering services to our existing and new clients. Even through this period of growth and expansion, the focus was always on adding new complementary services to better meet our client’s needs. To increase the awareness of our broader capabilities and services, we also underwent a name change. The change from Strum Environmental to Strum Consulting is a reflection of the broad range of services we now offer.
We also took the historic step of opening up the ownership of Strum, to include a larger number of Shareholders who are also senior leaders within our organization. By broadening the ownership to the current eleven shareholders, we now have created a Company that has strong and diverse leadership to create a sustainable corporate structure for our continued long-term growth and success. As part of a long-term succession plan, Bruce Strum stepped down as President in January 2021 to assume a senior role focused on Special Projects. In 2024, Shawn Duncan, a 30-year veteran in the consulting industry, stepped down as President and assumed the role of Executive Director and will be spending his time working on business development and strategic growth. Chris Boudreau (former VP Engineering) was appointed President of Strum Consulting in early 2024, focusing on the day-to-day operations and growth the organization.
Today, Strum Consulting has grown to over 150 employees, with the intention of growing further in the coming years. Our staff team is multi-disciplinary, consisting of certified site professionals (certified across multiple provinces), engineers, geologists and hydrogeologists, biologists, technologists, legal land surveyors, and masters level environmental specialists.
Throughout its success and growth, Strum Consulting has never lost sight of what made the company so successful in its early years: communicating solutions effectively to clients and ensuring their involvement and comfort throughout the process.
2012
HJS Consultants Limited
HJS Surveys Limited was incorporated in 1975 by Hugh Sullivan. Hugh worked actively in the survey industry in Eastern Nova Scotia for many years, gaining a reputation as a trusted advisor for many clients in and around the Antigonish Area. Following years of practice, Hugh grew his practice and eventually was joined by his son Cory in 2004. Cory brought training in Civil Engineering to HJS and eventually the business grew to include 8 staff providing surveying and engineering services in Eastern Nova Scotia, with a reputation for responsiveness and industry knowledge.
2012 marked a significant milestone for HJS when they merged with Strum Consulting. The staff at HJS helped Strum establish our presence in the survey market in Atlantic Canada, and helped to bolster our engineering service. The staff at HJS joined Strum, and have worked collaboratively with Strum to grow our service offerings in Land Surveying, Engineering, and Environmental Consulting, with many of the original HJS employees remaining with Strum a decade after this merger, and an increased staff presence in Antigonish of almost 20 individuals. Strum is proud of the legacy forged by Hugh, Cory and the other HJS employees, and the history of their long-standing Antigonish-based business.
2015
Mac Williams Engineering Limited
Mac Williams Engineering Limited (MWE) was incorporated in December of 1984 by Mac Williams and his sons, Don and Steve. After over 50 years of distinguished practice, Mac Williams retired from active practice in the late 1990’s, but continued in an advisory role for several years after this.
Following Mac’s retirement in the late 1990’s, Mac Williams Engineering was led by Steve and Don Williams. Both Steve and Don have garnered widespread respect based on their contributions to the engineering and development industries in Nova Scotia.
Since its incorporation in 1984, MWE specialized in development-related projects. This has included the design of all the road networks, storm drainage systems, soils evaluations for lot sizing and layout in excess of 2500 rural lots and more than 800 on-site sewage treatment and disposal systems. Within the urban environment, MWE has led numerous subdivision design projects, including fully serviced sub-divisions in the Parks of West Bedford, Clayton Park West, Portland Hills, Russell Lake, Kidston Estates, Colby South, Carlisle Park in Dartmouth and Kozy Hills in Enfield. MWE also completed many commercial, institutional and industrial projects, providing expert site engineering solutions.
In addition to MWE’s contribution in completing projects for clients, Steve, Don, and Mac actively contributed to professional associations in Nova Scotia. This has included volunteer roles with Consulting Engineers Nova Scotia, ACEC, Waste Water Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia On-Site Services Advisory Board, UDI, and the Nova Scotia Road Builders Association.
Late 2015 brought a significant milestone for Mac Williams Engineering – the joining of their company with Strum Consulting. Steve, Don and the rest of the MWE staff joined Strum Consulting on November 1, 2015. On January 1, 2016, MWE staff relocated to the Strum Office in Bedford, and have been working side-by-side with Strum staff since. Strum is proud of the history and achievements of Mac Williams Engineering prior to their merger with our firm. Their history has become part of our history. Together, we look forward to providing services to our clients for decades to come.
2021
Barber Engineering Services
Barber Engineering Services (BES) was incorporated in 1984 by Rick Barber, and quickly developed a reputation for excellence. BES grew to a staff of three and specialized in providing mechanical engineering services related to multi-unit residential developers as well as other commercial and institutional building owners. Rick maintained involvement in each and every project, leading to primarily repeat clientele.
July 2021 marked a significant event for BES when they merged with Strum Consulting. Rick and his staff joined the Strum Team to add to our existing mechanical engineering services.
Strum is proud to have merged with BES and to work collaboratively with Rick and his team to grow our combined skill set and deliver excellent service and designs to our clients
2024
McCallum Environmental Ltd.
McCallum Environmental has been at the forefront of regulatory approvals and environmental assessments through Nova Scotia and across Canada since 2001. McCallum has developed a strong reputation for their service through personal involvement of the owners Robert McCallum and Meghan Johnston (formerly Milloy).
This adds extensive additional technical expertise and resources to the Strum, with an additional staff of around 30 joining the Environmental Assessment and Approvals team.
The acquisition took place in February 2024, with the Robert McCallum taking on a senior advisory role, and Meghan Johnson joining the Senior Management and Ownership team a Strum Consulting.