People: ACEC presents Norm Huggins with Beaubien Award

At the 2013 Canadian Consulting Engineering award gala held in Ottawa the night of October 22, the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada presented the Beaubien award to Norm Huggins, P.Eng.

The Beaubien Award is given for exceptional service to ACEC and the consulting engineering industry. Mr. Huggins joins a list of over 30 individuals who have been given the award, which was created in 1984 in honour of Dr. James de Gaspé Beaubien, who founded ACEC in 1925.

Mr. Huggins is known for his outstanding leadership and contributions to the consulting engineering industry. He is highly regarded by the many colleagues who have developed their careers under his tutelage as well as the communities that have benefited from his expertise.

Norm started his career at CH2M HILL, formerly known as Gore and Storrie, as a summer student in 1966. He joined the company full-time upon graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering from Queen’s University and this year, as senior vice-president, he celebrates his 45th year with CH2M HILL.

He has given a lifetime of service, since 1972, to ACEC and Consulting Engineers of Ontario, advocating in the interest of engineers to governments, clients and the public. Throughout his career he has also dedicated time and effort with the Toronto and Ontario chapters of the Engineering Institute of Canada and the Pollution Control Association of Ontario.

During his tenure on the Board of ACEC-Canada and as Chair, Norm was a strong advocate for the use of Qualifications-Based Selection for the procurement of professional engineering services. During this time, ACEC collaborated with the National Guide to Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure, also known as InfraGuide. As a result, when InfraGuide released its best practice for selecting a professional consultant, Qualifications-Based Selection was the recommended procurement method. This is one of the most important achievements of the consulting engineering sector in recent memory. To this day, ACEC continues to promote InfraGuide and Qualifications-Based Selection.

One of Norm’s greatest interests has been to encourage more young people to enter the consulting engineering industry. He identified building human capital as one of his goals as Chair of ACEC-Canada and is known as a great mentor and model to other engineers for his quiet leadership, ethical behaviour, and strength in bringing groups together to accomplish common objectives.