CANADIAN CONSULTING ENGINEERING AWARDS

We are pleased to present exclusive detailed coverage of the winners of this year’s Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards.

Now in their 46th year, the awards are the highest mark of recognition for completed projects by Canadian consulting engineers.

The program is a joint initiative of this magazine with the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada (ACEC/AFIC).

The Schreyer Award for technical excellence and innovation goes to CH2M HILL for their expert structural engineering for the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg.

The Tree for Life Award, given for outstanding environmental stewardship, goes to CBCL of Halifax for the New Victoria Mine Water Treatment Plant in Cape Breton, N.S.

For the second year, three additional special achievement awards were given:

The Ambassador award for a project demonstrating Canadian expertise outside Canada goes to MMM Group of Toronto for the New Quito International Airport in Ecuador.

The Engineering a Better Canada Award is given to BBA of Quebec for the Detour Lake Gold Mining Project in Northern Ontario. The award is for a project that enhances the social, economic or cultural quality of life in Canada.

The Outreach Award goes to Dillon Consulting of Toronto for its Environment and Community Investment Fund.

Also presented are 15 projects that won Awards of Excellence. They display extraordinary achievements in a range of construction sectors, everything from buildings, to transportation and water infrastructure, environmental remediation, mining, energy, and more.

Finally, the people behind the projects — or at least those members of the teams who could be gathered together for snapshot photographs — appear on pages 72-74. Congratulations to all involved!

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CHAIR’S COMMENTS

 By Christophe Guy, Eng., PhD, FCAE, O.Q., Jury Chair

It was a great pleasure to participate in the selection committee that evaluated the accomplishments of our Canadian consulting engineering companies.

It was also a very difficult responsibility as the entries were of such a large diversity and quality. Fortunately, my juror colleagues were up to the task and we succeeded in choosing the 20 best for Awards of Excellence, and among them, five received special awards.

As an engineer, and also as an educator, I am proud of our profession that designs great infrastructure, builds impressive landmarks, puts forward innovation, reinvests time and money in communities, and showcases Canadian engineering around the world.

At a time when our profession is looked upon quite critically, it is more than reassuring to see those award-winners that were able not only to excel in their own field of expertise, but also to incorporate environmental, ethical and community concerns in their work.

Let me thank ACEC and Canadian Consulting Engineer magazine who support these awards, as well as my fellow jurors. Congratulations to all the winners. And best of success to our Canadian consulting engineering companies.

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The Scoop

Gala Dinner

The 2014 winning projects were presented at the
Ottawa Convention Centre
on October 23.

Showcase

of Entries

See full portfolio submissions of the winning and non-winning entries from 2014 and previous years in the Awards section of Canadian Consulting Engineer’s website
https://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/awards/showcaseOfEntries.aspx

Number of entries

(last year in brackets)

Total 60 (61)

Entries per category

Buildings 14 (10)

Transportation 14 (15)

Water Resources 9 (7)

Environmental Remediation 5 (6)

Natural Resources, Mining,

Industry & Energy 5 (10)

Special Projects 6 (7)

Project Management 5 (3)

International 0 (2)

In-House Initiatives &
Community Outreach 2 (1)

Province of
entering firms

British Columbia 12 (13)

Alberta 15 (13)

Saskatchewan 1 (1)

Manitoba 0 (3)

Ontario 22 (18)

Quebec 7 (8)

New Brunswick 1 (1)

Nova Scotia 1 (4)

P.E.I. 1 (0)

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2014 CANADIAN CONSULTNG ENGINEERING AWARDS JURY

CHAIR

Christophe Guy, P.Eng., Ph.D., FCAE, O.Q. , is chief executive officer of Polytechnique Montréal, one of the largest engineering schools in Canada. He is a professor, researcher and expert in environmental and chemical engineering. The author of eight invention patents, he has helped establish several Quebec firms that emerged from university research. He is on the boards of the new Consortium for Aerospace Research and Innovation in Canada (CARIC), the Montreal Science Centre, and Technopole Angus.

JURORS

John Anderson, P.Eng. is a retired vice-president of CH2M HILL Canada (formerly of Gore & Storrie). During his 47-year career he provided consulting advice to numerous municipalities across Canada, in the U.S. and overseas. He served on the board of directors of ACEC, is a past president of Consulting Engineers of Ontario, past president of the Ontario Water Works Association and past treasurer of the American Water Works Association.

Denis Beaulieu, Ph.D., Ing. was a researcher and professor at Laval University from 1978-2009, acting as associate dean of research and technology transfer from 1993-1998. He was also vice-president for development of technology at the Quebec Industrial Research Centre (CRIQ), from 2004-2008. He has authored textbooks on the design of steel and aluminum structures, and he is a past president of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.

Bill Birdsell, B.E.S., B.Arch., OAA, FRAIC, is president of the Ontario Association of Architects. He is also the principal of J. William Birdsell Architect in Guelph, Ontario which is a full service architectural firm. In addition to an architecture degree, he has a Bachelor of Environmental Studies. He is a member of the City of Guelph Committee of Adjustment, and contributes to several publications.

Constantin Christopoulos, Ph.D., P.Eng., is a professor of civil engineering and the director of structures laboratories at the University of Toronto. He is also the holder of the Canada Research Chair in Seismic Resilience of Infrastructure. His current research focuses on high-performance damping devices and systems for buildings. He is the author of more than 100 technical papers, two textbooks and the co-inventor on several international patents. He has lectured and practised seismic engineering all over the world.

Tom Eichenbaum, P.Eng.DPA, is the former director of engineering at the City of Burlington in Ontario, a position he held since 1996 until retiring this year. He has helped in the planning and development of the city and has been Burlington’s lead representative on regional and provincial working groups for the Greater Toronto Area’s western region. In 2013 the Ontario Public Works Association selected him for their Public Works Leader of the Year Award.

Darin Lamont, P.Eng.is manager of engineering and operations with Saint John Energy in New Brunswick. He is currently responsible for engineering, operations, metering and information technology with the utility. A graduate in electrical engineering from the University of New Brunswick, he is a member of the Saint John Emergency Management Organization and sits on the planning advisor
y committee for the town of Quispamsis, N.B.

Alistair D. MacKenzie, P.Eng., FCSCE, FEIC, is a professor emeritus at Ryerson University in Toronto. He was previously chief engineer at George Wimpey in Canada where he worked on civil and oil and gas projects. He is a past president of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and chaired its national history committee for several years. He is also the author of scores of conference papers and magazine articles.

MaryAnn Mihychuk M.Sc., P.Geo., is principal of CR Services in Winnipeg, a business consulting firm for mineral project development. She has 35 years’ experience in the mineral sector and was previously director of corporate relations for HudBay Minerals. From 1999 to 2004 she was the Manitoba Minister of Mines, and served as a member of the Manitoba Legislature for nine years. She has also been director of regulatory affairs for the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

Tarlachan S. Sidhu, Ph.D, P.Eng., has been dean and professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa since January 2012. Before that from 2002 to 2011 he was chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the University of Western Ontario in London. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (U.S.) and of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Clive N. Thurston, CBCO, GSC, has been president of the Ontario General Contractors Association since 2002. Previously he operated a construction company in Toronto for 12 years and has wide experience in the construction industry. He is former chief building official for Prince Edward County. He also helped found the Building Advisory Committee at the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Chan Wirasinghe, Ph.D., P.Eng., is a professor at the University of Calgary’s Department of Civil Engineering, a position he has held since 1976. He served as the university’s dean of engineering for 12 years and was the founding dean of the Schulich School of Engineering. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Ceylon, he has over 40 years of experience and research in transportation engineering and planning. He is the co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Advanced Transportation.