Engineers win top award for stunning structure in Ottawa

Consulting Engineers of Ontario celebrated the 2013 Ontario Consulting Engineering Awards on Saturday, April 20. Glen Murray, Ontario’s Minister of Infrastructure and Minister of Transportation, who spoke at the event held at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, called engineers “geniuses.

The top engineering award, known as the “Willis Chipman Award” went to what is probably the most striking contemporary building in the heart of Ottawa. Adjeleian Allen Rubeli won the award for their structural engineering of the Ottawa Convention Centre. The four-level glass and steel ovoid structure sits on Colonel By Drive, close to the Parliament Hill.

Adjeleian Allen Rubeli’s design for the convention centre was made more complex by the fact the structure was built on top of the old convention centre and it had to take into account seismic risks.

CEO organizes its awards of excellence according to the size of the firm.

Following are the five awards of excellence.

– R. E. Poisson Engineering for the Acton Wastewater Treatment Plant Inlet Works, in Halton Hills. (category: firms with 1-25 employees). The project involved overhauling an existing plant, including new headworks and equipment to stop spillages.

– The Municipal Infrastructure Group (TMIG) for its Elm Drive West project, in Mississauga, Ontario. (firms with 26-50 employees). Addressing flooding issues in the Cooksville Creek watershed, the project uses bio-retention planters instead of traditional curbs and gutters along a 200-m section of Elm Drive.

– Associated Engineering (Ont.) for the Avenue Road Watermain project in Toronto (firms with 51-100 employees). The engineers installed new infrastructure along a 5.6 kilometre section of a busy artery using trenchless technology to avoid traffic disruptions.

– R. V. Anderson Associates for the West Don Lands Stormwater Conveyance System in Toronto (companies with 101-350 employees). The project is part of the work being done to revitalize the waterfront for the 2015 Toronto PanAm/Parapan Games. It includes diverting stormwater away from the site and treating it before releasing it into Lake Ontario. To read the engineers’ detailed article about the project in Canadian Consulting Engineer’s June 2012 issue (p. 12), click here.

– Stantec Consulting for the Retention Treatment Basin in Windsor (companies with 351+ employees). This project reduces the combined sewage overflows and pollutants into the Detroit River. Thanks to a chemical process Stantec developed with the University of Windsor, the retention basin was able to fit on a site one-tenth of the size originally envisioned.

Six companies won awards of merit, which are allocated according to project type:

– Halsall Associates for the Rideau Canal Skateway Chalets in Ottawa (building engineering and building science category).

– AECOM for Sydney Tar Ponds and Coke Oven Sites Remediation in Sydney, Nova Scotia (environment).

– Enermodal Engineering, a member of MMM Group for the Off-Grid Generating Station Renewal and Solar RV Retrofit in Wawakapewin First Nations community (industry, energy and resources).

– Hatch for the Pueblo Viejo Project: The World’s Largest Autoclaves, in Dominican Republic (project management).

– Morrison Hershfield for the Standardization of the Design and Construction of Aquatic Compensation Measures in Ontario (studies and research).

– Dillon Consulting Limited for the Terry Fox Drive Extension, Kanata (transportation).

CEO created a new award this year for an individual. William Goodings won the “Consulting Engineers of Ontario Chairman’s Award for Career Commitment,” for his 55 years as an engineering consultant working in solid waste management, including years working with poor communities in South America and Asia.

Ottawa Convention Centre, winner of CEO’s 2013 Willis Chipman Award. Courtesy Adjeleian Allen Rubelli.