ACEC awards honour diverse engineering projects

OTTAWA—Twenty firms received top honours for engineering excellence Oct. 23 at the 2015 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards Gala held in Ottawa.

The awards are presented jointly by the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada (ACEC) and Canadian Consulting Engineer magazine. Among the winners were the following projects:

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS:

ENGINEERING A BETTER

CANADA AWARD

— SNC-Lavalin, Halifax Central Library, Halifax. Construction period, 2011-2014; opened December 2014; architect team — Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects (design architect), Fowler Bauld & Mitchell (prime consultant architect); client — Halifax Public Libraries; engineers — structural and civil, SNC-Lavalin, Ove Arup (concept design, structural), mechanical and electrical, CBCL Ltd., Ove Arup, (concept design); landscape architect — Gordon Ratcliffe Landscape Architect; construction manager — EllisDon Corp.

SCHREYER AWARD

— technical excellence and innovation:  Stephenson Engineering Ltd. with Cast Connex, Queen Richmond Centre West project, Toronto. The project involved adaptive re-use of two existing heritage buildings in the construction of a new 11-storey office building.

The new tower rises from a tabletop that spans over both buildings 21 m  above street.

TREE FOR LIFE AWARD

— outstanding environmental stewardship: Hatch, Forrest Kerr Hydroelectric Power Project near Stewart, B.C. Hatch designed and constructed a 195 MW hydroelectric plant applying innovative design concepts at both the headworks and underground powerhouse, co-ordinating with the local First Nations.

OUTREACH AWARD

Golder Associates Ltd., Caring for the Past: Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, Siksika Nation site near Cluny, Alberta.

AMBASSADOR AWARD

— executed outside of Canada, showcasing Canadian engineering expertise: Buckland & Taylor | COWI, Milton-Madison Bridge Replacement Project, Kentucky to Indiana. Owners Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Indiana Department of Transportation required a replacement for the existing Milton-Madison Bridge. The solution interrupted traffic only a few weeks and culminated in the world’s longest lateral bridge slide.

AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE

Buildings:

Aercoustics Engineering Limited, Courthouse Acoustics, Thunder Bay Consolidated Courthouse, Thunder Bay. The vision was to revitalize the courthouse design. Aercoustics’s role was to optimize the space to enhance the natural acoustics in the courtrooms equal to concert halls.

Blackwell, University of Toronto Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport, Toronto. A $58-million centre for sports research, sports medicine and recreation. The 14,000-square-metre four-storey complex features teaching labs, a fitness centre, strength and conditioning centre, a sport medicine clinic and a 2,000-seat fieldhouse for varsity basketball and volleyball.

Fast + Epp, Mountain Equipment Co-op Head Office, Vancouver. New 4-storey head office for Mountain Equipment Co-op, constructed with over one-million board feet of timber.

Transportation:

Associated Engineering and CH2M, Calgary International Airport Runway and City of Calgary Airport Trail Tunnel, Calgary. Calgary’s runway is the longest in Canada and required expanded capacity. The City of Calgary’s Airport Trail Tunnel, built underneath the runway, improved connectivity to the northeast quadrant of the city. Project team collaboration involved Associated Engineering, CH2M, AECOM and Hatch Mott MacDonald.

Dialog, Edmonton International Airport Office and Control Tower, Edmonton. Dialog designed a new combined office and control tower atop the main terminal that would serve as a distinctive landmark for the Edmonton region.

WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff and RFR, George C. King Bridge, Calgary.  The bridge spans the Bow River in Calgary’s East Village; it’s a three-span, 182 m long network arch structure that resembles stones skipping across water.

Environmental Remediation:

Knight Piésold, Kokish River Hydroelectric Project, near Port McNeill, B.C. The project is a 45 MW run-of-river facility. Knight Piésold worked closely with owner Kwagis Power Limited Partnership and EPC Contractor Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Co. to meet fisheries requirements by addressing migrating salmon and steelhead trout concerns during construction and commissioning through to operation.

Dillon Consulting Ltd., Outboard Marine (OMC) ‒ In Situ Environmental Remediation, Peterborough, Ont.  Dillon completed the remediation using the first full-scale Canadian application of a new remedial technology, significantly reducing environmental liabilities.

Natural Resources, Mining, Industry & Energy:

Golder Associates, Giant Mine Remediation Project ‒ Mine Support Services, Phase 1, Yellowknife, NWT. Golder Associates was retained to assist with the stabilization of underground openings at Giant Mine in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Mitigation focused on backfilling to address risks to public and worker safety and the environment.

Special Projects:

Pinter & Associates, First Nation Land Management Regime: Environmental/Engineering Challenge First Nation Reserves, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Addressing the First Nation Land Management Regime, Pinter applied technical engineering expertise for an environmental site assessment and remediation, an innovative, Nation-specific environmental management and protection program and environmental law system development.

International:

R.J. Burnside International, Water Supply in Northern Mozambique, Africa. Burnside developed 20-year master plans for water infrastructure in eight underserviced cities, overcoming technical and cultural challenges unique to this seasonally dry, remote environment in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Other winners at the ACEC Awards are as follows:

Outreach Award — presented for a company’s role in donating their time and/or services for the benefit of a community or group either in Canada or on the international stage: Hatch and Hatch Mott MacDonald, Hatch and Hatch Mott MacDonald Canadian Outreach Program, Mississauga, Ont.

Water Resources

Golder Associates Ltd., Recovery and Resilience: Flood Mitigation Innovation, Calgary.

Golder Associates Ltd., Ruskin Dam ‒ Right Abutment Seepage Control Upgrade, Mission, B.C.

Stantec Consulting Ltd., Orleans Watermain Link Horizontal Directional Drilling, Ottawa.

Community Outreach and In-House Initiatives

Beaubien Award —  for exceptional service to ACEC and the consulting engineering industry: Dale Craig, P.Eng. The Beaubien Award recognizes individuals for their lifetime contributions to ACEC and to the advancement of the consulting engineering profession and industry.