The Team

Spheratest is an environmental consulting and services firm with a professional multidisciplinary team with more than 25 years experience. These talented professional and experienced people in the environmental field will guide you in decision making and hence help you protect your investments.

Menno R. Speyer, M.Sc., EESA®, CEAS, SEAC

Menno Speyer graduated in 1975 at Concordia University. He is an expert in ecotoxicology particularly in aquatic toxicology. He worked in the fields of industrial mining and forestry and gained a strong reputation in environmental impact assessment studies. His competences extend, amongst others, to environmental site assessments as well as to residential, commercial and industrial site remediation. Menno is experienced in environmental permitting (certificates of authorisation) required by various levels of government. He implemented Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and he realised environmental compliance auditing as well as environmental risk analysis for numerous companies.

Menno Speyer worked at senior management levels as Vice-president for Technitrol ECO and for Bodycote Technitrol. He was also General Director for Gartner Lee. Since then, Menno set up his own environmental consulting firm, MRS & Associés. As an environmental coordinator for several small and medium enterprises, he assists clients with the preparation of application for certificates of authorization; he negotiates and liaises with different ministries and, in some cases, acts as arbitration expert witness for litigious environmental dossiers.

Menno is involved with numerous projects within Spheratest Environnement thus upgrading continually our capabilities through his high technical skills, his competences and his vast experience in the environmental field.

Frédéric Clair, B.SC., M. Env., EESA®

Frédéric Clair is a certified environmental site assessor (EESA®) approved by the AQVE. He graduated in biology and has a Master's degree in Environment from the University of Sherbrooke. Once he completed the microprogramme de deuxième cycle en vérification environnementale, he specialised in environmental site assessments and gained the respect of our team and a strong reputation with our clients.

Frédéric is a founder member of Spheratest Environnement. Thanks to his strong experience, he is in charge of Phase 1, 2 and 3 projects as well as work related to contaminated site remediation.

Véronique Poulin, M.A., DGE, SEAC, EESA®

Véronique Poulin is a certified environmental site assessor (EESA®) approved by the AQVE and a Canadian Certified Environmental Practioner (C.C.E.P.) approved by the Canadian Environmental Certification Approvals Board (CECAB) in the sectors of soil protection. She as a postgraduate formation in Environment Management from the University of Sherbrooke (DGE) and in Education Relative to Environment (ERE) from the University of Quebec. She also has specialised in waste management at the Collège de Rosemont. Through her experience in the media field as well as in the field of education, Véronique contributes to the development of environmental training designed for employees as well as decision makers in the real estate and industrial fields.

Véronique, who is also a member founder of the enterprise, has extensive experience in the environmental site assessment field and has realised Phase 1, 2 and 3 site assessments as well as residential, commercial and industrial sites remediation.

Christine Lacas, B.Sc., M. Env.

Christine Lacas graduated in Environmental Sciences at the University of Calgary in 2000. After her studies, Christine realised several projects related to environmental impact studies. Her experience includes, among others, laboratory and field data sampling.

Christine Lacas completed a Master's degree in Environment from the University of Sherbrooke. Christine realises environmental site assessment studies and carries out field sampling work for soil and underground water characterization projects. She has also a postgraduate degree in education and has lectured on Ecology for several years.

Marc Le Jossec, geologist

Marc Le Jossec graduated in applied geology at the University of Quebec in Montreal in 2001. He started his career in the field of mineral resources exploration and has now taken up the environmental protection challenge.

Marc was responsible for soil treatment certificates of authorisation, estimates and environmental studies related to the removal of petroleum products tanks and the enforcement of the Soil Protection and Rehabilitation of Contaminated Sites Policy at the Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs of Quebec. Thanks to his strong fieldwork experience in environmental and geotechnical soils characterisation, Marc is now involved in Phase 1, 2 and 3 environmental site assessments as well as residential, commercial and industrial sites remediation.

Environmental Compliance Audit (ECA)

Environmental auditing (Environmental Compliance Audit) is a process used to assist clients in establishing and maintaining regulatory compliance as well as showing due diligence. In some cases, corporate executives or administrators of an organisation must demonstrate that all precautions and means have been undertaken to comply with environmental regulations. The ECA is "a systematic and documented verification process of objectively obtaining and evaluating evidence to determine whether an organization's activities conform to applicable federal, provincial and local laws" (continued).

Environmental Site Assessment (ESA)

The ESA is a systematic process whereby the environmental site assessment expert establishes the presence of real or potential risks of contamination on a property (continued).

The Phase 1 environmental site assessments must be carried out according to the general principles outlined in the Canadian standard CSA Z768-01. To make sure the Environmental Site Assessment is in conformity with this standard and to ensure it is accepted by your lending institution, it is essential that you hire an independent and competent consulting and services firm whose team includes certified assessors approved by organisms such as the association québécoise de vérification environnementale (AQVE) or the association canadienne de vérification environnementale (ACVE).

The environmental site assessments realised by Spheratest Environnement are all verified and approved by an expert certified by the AQVE (Évaluateur Environnemental de Site Agréé - EESA) and the ACVE (Certified Environmental Assessor of Sites - CEAS).

Environmental Characterisation - ESA Phase 2

Should an environmental site assessment Phase 1 establish a risk of environmental impact that may be real or potential, a Phase 2 environmental site assessment is recommended. The objective of the Phase 2 is to confirm either the presence or the absence of contaminants exceeding the site specific criteria. (continued)

Storage Tank Removal

The presence of petroleum product underground storage tanks constitutes a risk of soil contamination for the site. Environmental regulations require the removal of abandoned petroleum equipments underground tanks as defined by the regulation. Financial institutions require the removal of all abandoned tanks as a requirement for re-financing a commercial property. (continued)

The Environmental Risk

Lending institutions are cautious when dealing with the financing of enterprises or individuals who mortgage a property that could likely be contaminated. In the past, financial institutions became the owners of properties whose decontamination cost exceeded their value property. As a consequence, these institutions made environmental site assessments a requirement and a condition prior to any property financing or re-financing(continued).

The selection of a Consulting and Services firm

The Phase 1 environmental site assessments must be carried out according to the general principles outlined in the Canadian standard CSA Z768-01. To make sure the Environmental Site Assessment is in conformity with this standard and to ensure it is accepted by your lending institution, it is essential that you hire an independent and competent consulting and services firm whose team includes certified assessors approved by organisms such as the Association Québécoise de Vérification Environnmentale (AQVE) or the Association Canadienne de Vérification Environnementale (ACVE).

The Environmental Site Assessments realised by Spheratest Environnement are all verified and approved by an expert certified by the AQVE (Évaluateur Environnemental de Site Agréé - EESA) and the ACVE (Certified Environmental Assessor of Sites - CEAS).

Experience, integrity and reliability

Spheratest Environnement is a firm approved by most of the financial institutions and is made up of a multidisciplinary professional who have conducted more than a thousand environmental site assessments.

Our address

5000, rue Iberville
Bureau 315
Montréal (Québec)
H2H 2S6

info@spheratest.com
Tel: (514) 522-5005
Fax: (514) 522-1397