Grands Prix of consulting engineering in Quebec

Visionary Award winners: (l-r) Réal Laporte, president of Hydro-Québec innovation, equipment and shared services (presenter); Jean Gauthier, director of the water resources division, Tetra Tech; Marc Chrétien, project manager, Tetra Tech; Ghyslain Pitre, director of planning and development, City of Percé.

The winners of the 2019 Quebec Association of Consulting Engineering Grands Prix were honoured at a gala held on Monday, May 27th in Montreal, an event attended by 300 executives, professionals, clients and partners of the consulting engineering industry.

Visionary Award winning project by Tetra Tech, the protection and rehabilitation project on the South Cove of Percé.

The theme of the 17th annual gala, “Innovation in our nature”, was reflected in several of the project entries, including the Visionary Award winner, the top prize, which was presented to Tetra Tech and the City of Percé for the protection and rehabilitation project on the South Cove of Percé.

In order to combat coastal erosion, which has been steadily increasing since 2000, a sustainable and innovative solution included reloading the beaches with pebbles. Beach reloading involved adding large volumes of sediment from external sources (quarries, underwater banks) to compensate for natural losses from marine erosion. The life of the project is estimated at 50 years, considering maintenance refill work.

In addition to the Visionary Award, 12 projects won honours in as many categories:

• Buildings – Mechanical/Electrical – SNC-Lavalin / Bouthillette Parizeau, transformation of the Wilder building in Montreal
• Buildings – Structure – Tetra Tech, reconstruction of the Voltigeurs Armory of Québec
• Energy – Tetra Tech, Upper Lillooet and Boulder Creek Hydroelectric Project
• Environment – BBA, capture and recovery of CO2 in Saint-Félicien
• Project management – WSP, Turcot project – decommissioning existing interchange
• Industrial – Tetra Tech, filtration of emissions from a copper smelter
• Transportation infrastructure – Norda Stelo & SNC-Lavalin, construction of the new Route 112 in Chaudière-Appalaches
• Urban infrastructure – AXOR Experts-Conseils, microtunneling of a sanitary collector
• International – AECOM, map of hydropower potential for the Republic of Guinea
• SME consulting firm – SDK and Associates, conversion of the DOW Planetarium
• Mentor of the Year – Hélène Brisebois, ing., SDK and Associates
• Young Professional – Charles Ormsby, ing., Arup

More details on the event and the winning projects can be found on the Quebec Association of Consulting Engineering Firms (AFG) website.