It’s time! 2012 Canadian Consulting Engineering Award winners are announced

The 2012 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards were presented on October 23 at the Ottawa Convention Centre. The gala celebration was held in a ballroom overlooking Canada’s Houses of Parliament, with approximately 200 people  in attendance.

The Schreyer Award for the most technically innovative project went to engineering company exp for developing a groundbreaking technology to destroy VOCs during the manufacture of wood panels.

The company developed the new process, called Photocatalytic Gas Treatment, for a wood panel manufacturing plant constructed by Uniboard Pfleiderer in Moncure, North Carolina. The advanced oxidation process destroys several different types of volatile organic compunds (VOCs), which are produced during the plant’s pressing and drying operations. The new process is effective, economical, compact and energy-efficient, and it does not produce greenhouse gases.

Experts from exp, led by the company’s Quebec City office and using exp’s own laboratories, guided the development of the new treatment from concept to implementation. Exp is a large engineering firm with offices around the world. Its corporate office is in Brampton, Ontario.

Another special award, the Tree for Life Award for outstanding environmental stewardship, went to the AME Consulting Group Ltd. of Vancouver for a building at Okanagan College in Penticton, B.C. — the Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation. The 73,000-sq.ft. building is being used as an interactive teaching tool for the student tradespeople who attend the college. Targeted for LEED Platinum status, the building is also part of the Living Building Challenge, which means that it aims to eventually generate all its own energy on site.

The jury also selected 12 projects for Awards of Excellence. Six of these awards are for buildings, and the remainder are for water infrastructure, environmental remediation and mining and energy projects. An outreach project where consulting engineering firms banded together to help rebuild schools in Haiti was also a winner.

Held annually for 44 years, the awards are the highest recognition for the Canadian consulting engineering industry. The program is a joint initiative of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Canada (ACEC) and Canadian Consulting Engineer magazine.

Following is the complete list of the winners.

SCHREYER AWARD (for most technically innovative project):

Photocatalytic Gas Treatment (PGT), Moncure, North Carolina, U.S., by exp

TREE FOR LIFE AWARD (for outstanding environmental stewardship)

The Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation – Okanagan College, Penticton, B.C., by The AME Consulting Group Ltd.

AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE:

Buildings:

The Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation – Okanagan College, Penticton, B.C. by The AME Consulting Group Ltd.

Biodiversity Centre, Université de Montréal, Montreal by Bouthillette Parizeau & Associés inc.

VanDusen Botanical Gardens Visitor Centre, Vancouver by Fast + Epp

BC Place Revitalization, Vancouver by GENIVAR and Geiger Engineers

Vale Living With Lakes Centre, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario by J. L. Richards & Associates Limited

La Maison symphonique de Montréal, Montreal by SNC-Lavalin Inc.

Water Resources:

Eastern Wastewater Treatment Facility, Saint John, N.B. by CBCL Limited, Consulting Engineers

Sherbourne Common, Toronto, Ontario by The Municipal Infrastructure Group Ltd.

Environmental Remediation:

Burnaby Lake Rejuvenation, Burnaby, B.C. by Associated Engineering

Natural Resources, Mining, Industry & Power:

Vancouver City Central Transmission (VCCT), Vancouver by Golder Associates Ltd.

Innovative Tailings Management – Greens Creek Mine, Admiralty Island, Alaska by Klohn Crippen Berger

Community Outreach & In-House Initiatives:

Haiti Prototype Schools, Haiti by Blackwell Bowick / Halsall Associates / Quinn Dressel Associates / Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd.

The distinguished jury of 12 people was chaired by Maud Cohen, ing., past president of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ). The jury included eminent professional engineers and others from the construction industry and academia.

The winning projects are featured in detail in the October-November issue of Canadian Consulting Engineer. Visit www.canadianconsultingengineer.com and click on Current Issue, Digital Edition.

A Showcase of  Entries, with the full entries on view in PDF format is also available on Canadian Consulting Engineer’s website. See www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/awards

Beaubien Award goes to Neil A. Cumming

At the awards, ACEC also presented the Beaubien Award to Neil A. Cumming of B.C. The award is given to an individual for exceptional service to the association and the consulting engineering industry. Mr. Cumming is a recognized expert in the field of construction materials engineering and concrete technology. He joined Levelton Consultants Ltd. in 1977 and has held a number of management positions within the firm, including president and chief executive officer. In 2007, Neil took on the role of executive vice president, the position he holds today.

ACEC represents companies in Canada that provide professional engineering services to both public and private-sector clients. These services include planning, designing and executing all types of engineering projects, as well as providing independent advice and expertise in a wide range of engineering and engineering-related fields. For more information about ACEC, please visit www.acec.ca.

Canadian Consulting Engineer is a bi-monthly magazine for engineers in private practice. It is a division of BIG Magazines LP of Toronto. www.canadianconsultingengineer.com