Features
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On the Rebound – How Recent Events Are Affecting Consulting Engineers across Canada
Canada’s consulting engineering sector is facing repercussions from some dramatic events recently, including two engineering failures, an economic downturn in the oil patch, and scandal in Quebec.
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Parliamentary ‘Digs’
A heritage building at 180 Wellington Street in Ottawa has been hollowed out to provide temporary space for the federal government while the Parliament buildings across the street are being renovated.
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Controlling Legionella
Legionella bacteria can be very persistent in building HVAC and water systems, as recent tragedies have shown. In order to avoid such problems, designers need to consider not just a system’s functionality, but also how it can be maintained.
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Chilled Beam Systems
ASHRAE has issued a guide to help engineers design an energy efficient technology that can both heat and cool individual building zones.
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Company Cars
When staff travel on company business there are different tax consequences
for the company and the employee, depending on who owns the vehicle. -
No Little Plans
An exhibition in Toronto shows that things haven’t changed much since 100 years ago
when it comes to planning large infrastructure projects. -
Comment: Heroic buildings and hope for First Nations
The awards allow us to profile excellent projects, but at a deeper level they show directions in which engineering is going.
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2015 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards Prix canadiens du génie-conseil
Introduction, Chair’s Comments & Jury Members for the 2015 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards. A joint program of ACEC-AFIC-Canada, and Canadian Consulting Engineer Magazine. Now in its 47th year.
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Schreyer Award: Queen Richmond Centre West
“We were totally amazed by this project. The engineers were able to put an 11-storey tower on a “tabletop” above two heritage buildings and develop special frame systems to take the loads. The huge joints a metre thick are unique and very difficult to cast — completely innovative.” – Jury
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Tree for Life Award: Forrest Kerr Hydroelectric Project
“At this remote dam project in Northern B.C. the engineers used innovative and sustainable techniques, such as carefully
protecting the fish habitat downstream with a creative use of turbines to quickly offload the power when necessary. The project involved First Nations and produces 195 MW of clean energy with minimal impact on their ancestral lands.” – Jury -
Ambassador Award: Milton-Madison Bridge Replacement
“This was an outstanding project. It was remarkable that the engineers came up with an alternative design that didn’t require the U.S. crossing to close. They used the existing piers and slid the new bridge onto them. We thought it was really innovative, creative and courageous. We gave it the Ambassador award for international work. The ultimate beneficiaries were the people who live in the area.” – Jury
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Engineering a Better Canada Award: Halifax Central Library
“This project is a combination of dramatic architecture with a complicated structural design to accommodate it. We gave it the special award for “social, economic and cultural benefits to the community.” The library serves as an important focal point that attracts people to Halifax. It also enhances the urban site.” – Jury
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Outreach Award: Hatch and Hatch Mott MacDonald Canadian Outreach Program
“This is a tremendous effort on the company’s part to reach out to their neighbourhoods and the wider world to show the value of engineering and to encourage others to take up engineering as a career. It’s not about the money, it’s about the time. It’s making the effort. That’s a big deal.”– Jury
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Award of Excellence: University of Toronto Goldring Centre
“The tight urban site for this sports research and recreation complex necessitated a top-down built structure, in which
the lower floors were suspended from a large truss. We admired this unusual arrangement which required complex detailing to deal with load deflections in the truss and movement in the lower levels.” – Jury -
Award of Excellence: Mountain Equipment Co-op Head Office
“This mid-rise commercial building in Vancouver is a hybrid timber and steel structure, with an extensive use of wood. It seems relatively simple construction, but the engineers had to work from first principles. The interface of the floor diaphragm with the steel lateral system, for example, needed careful design to meet the intent of seismic requirements in the code.” – Jury
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Award of Excellence: Edmonton International Airport Office and Control Tower
“This was visually a very impressive project. Combining the control tower with an office building above the terminal was challenging. The steel shear walls were innovative.
A lot of the solutions are partly driven by the structure, partly driven by the architecture, which means it’s a truly
integrated solution.” – Jury -
Award of Excellence: Thunder Bay Courthouse – Acoustic Design
“What was interesting about this building in northern Ontario was the close integration of the acoustic design with the construction. The acoustic engineers’ expertise provided natural acoustics inside courtrooms that are open and daylit, unlike the typical heavily insulated “black box” environments.” – Jury
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Award of Excellence: Calgary International Airport Runway and Tunnel
“The complexity of designing a runway on top of a tunnel to accommodate the new large aircraft was impressive, especially as there were no Canadian codes or standards for it. They also introduced LED lighting for the Category IIIA runway — a first in North America.” – Jury
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Award of Excellence: St. Patrick’s Bridge
“The bridge is very elegant, very light and transparent, with an efficient structure that minimized its use of materials. It is also
an innovative design that allowed much of the structure to be prefabricated. Despite the setbacks of the 2013 flood, it was completed on budget and for half the cost per square metre of other signature bridges in Calgary.” – Jury -
Award of Excellence: Ruskin Dam, Right Abutment Seepage Control Upgrade
“This was a challenging rehabilitation of a 1930s dam in Mission, B.C. It had suffered seepage issues that compromised its integrity. To address the problem the engineers basically had to cut a 25 metre deep slot in the existing dam and seal it with a mastic asphalt membrane. It required precise drilling techniques in challenging site conditions.” – Jury
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Award of Excellence: Orleans Watermain Link
“The City of Ottawa needed a large 900-mm diameter watermain to cross two environmentally sensitive creeks and the Rockcliffe Parkway, a key recreational area. Like several other award-winning projects this year, the project saved money and time by being innovative.” – Jury
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Award of Excellence: Flood Mitigation in Calgary
“The flood situation that Calgary dealt with in 2013 was unprecedented. The engineers developed a creative modelling technique for mapping the changed conditions on the Bow and Elbow Rivers, which allowed the city to better plan its responses to future events. A lot of future resources will be tied to this activity.” – Jury
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Award of Excellence: Outboard Marine In Situ Environmental Remediation
“This old small engine manufacturing facility site in Peterborough, Ontario was contaminated with DNAPLs like lubricating oils and degreasing fluids. To remediate the land the engineers applied an in situ thermal process that has not been used in Canada before, called electro-thermal dynamic stripping.” – Jury
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Award of Excellence: Kokish River Hydroelectric Project
“This 45 MW run-of-river project in Port McNeill, B.C. has innovative features to provide safe passage for both adult and juvenile steelhead trout and salmon. We also liked the fact that the local First Nation was part of the development team and were able to contribute their in-depth traditional knowledge of the site.” – Jury
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Award of Excellence: Giant Mine Remediation
“As part of the remediation of one of the worst contaminated mining sites in Canada, this project in Yellowknife, NWT involved stabilizing underground voids and openings that were posing a safety hazard. The really impressive aspect was the creative use of the tailings materials on site to fill the voids and create barricades.”– Jury
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Award of Excellence – First Nation Land Management Regime
“The engineers worked closely with individual First Nations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba to provide environmental site assessments and remediation plans for their reserves. We appreciated how this work was then integrated with individual frameworks for future land management. These policies included social and economic factors specific
to First Nations.” – Jury -
Award of Excellence: Improving Water Supply in Mozambique
“We liked the fact that the funding clients used Canadian engineering expertise for this project in a struggling sub-Saharan country. The engineers provided eight cities with master plans for their water needs for the next 20 years, and they oversaw construction of one system. The solutions were appropriately designed to be low-maintenance.” – Jury
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Award of Excellence: Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park
“The consulting engineers donated financial support and their professional knowledge and personal time to an archaeological excavation at the Siksika Nation Site in Alberta. We found that this project was an interesting way of building relationships between the public and First Nations. And it provided valuable experience for the university students.”
– Jury -
Court Appointed Receiver
After a manufacturer went bankrupt and left behind a contaminated site, consulting engineers took on an unusual role in the environmental remediation.
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Newsjacking and Trendspotting
Advice on how consulting engineers can borrow the latest marketing techniques to develop strong relations with clients.
