Calgary International Airport East Deicing Apron wins Schreyer at 54th annual Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards

Calgary International Airport East Deicing Apron. Photo courtesy Stantec.

Canadian Consulting Engineer and the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Canada (ACEC-Canada) handed out the 54^th annual Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards at a celebration in Ottawa on Thursday, Nov 3. The top prize, the Schreyer Award, went to Stantec for the Calgary International Airport East Deicing Apron.

The awards program is jointly produced by Canadian Consulting Engineer and ACEC-Canada. Each year, the Schreyer recognizes the project that best demonstrates technical excellence and innovation.

The jury called Stantec’s project “exciting” for its dynamic approach, which allowed the firm to make changes quickly during modelling and construction, and praised its used of carbon injection in concrete to reduce emissions.

Three other special awards were announced at the celebration for four projects. (Note: While there are potentially five special awards, no project this year won the Outreach Award for donating services to benefit a community.)

The Engineering a Better Canada Award, which honours the project that best showcases how engineering enhances the social, economic or cultural quality of life of Canadians, was presented to Hedgehog Technologies for the Fort Severn First Nation Solar Array in Northern Ontario, which stood out to the jury as a small but complex project that achieved a positive legacy for its community.

Fort Severn First Nation Solar Array. Photo courtesy Hedgehog Technologies.

The Tree for Life Award, presented to the project that best demonstrates outstanding environmental stewardship, went to Associated Engineering (AE) for Phase 1 of the Blatchford District Energy System in Edmonton. The jury called this project “a fantastic idea” for “the neighbourhood of the future,” praising its vision for urban living and, especially, its modular and scalable nature.

Blatchford District Energy System plant. Photo courtesy AE.

Finally, there was a tie for the Ambassador Award, which honours projects outside Canada that best showcase Canadian engineering expertise. AECOM was recognized for the Gordie Howe International Bridge Environmental Management Program, which had to integrate Canadian and American regulatory requirements in a cross-border initiative; and Entuitive won for the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences in Lubbock, Texas, which the jury called a “beautiful, light and artistic building.”

Gordie Howe International Bridge site. Photo courtesy AECOM.

Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences. Photo by Casey Dunn, courtesy Entuitive.

These entries were singled out for the highest honours from among the Top 20 Award of Excellence winners, the rest of which are listed below.

Buildings

• Wii Gyemsiga Siwilaawksat Student Building – Morrison Hershfield.
• St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church Heritage Conservation and Seismic Upgrade – RJC Engineers.
• Unité de Stérilisation Mobile pour le CISSS des Laurentides – gbi.
• Fast + Epp Home Office Building – Fast + Epp.

Transportation

• Crowchild Trail Bow River Bridge Widening and Rehabilitation – AE.
• Adapting Infrastructure in the Face of Extreme Weather – Tetra Tech.
• Highway 1 Keith Road / Mt. Seymour Parkway Interchange – McElhanney.

Water resources

• Combined Sewage Storage Tunnel – Stantec.

Environmental remediation

• United Boulevard Recycling and Waste Centre – Morrison Hershfield.

Natural resources, mining, industry and energy

• Alberta’s First Grid-scale Battery Energy Storage System – BBA.
• Region of Waterloo Cogeneration Facilities – Jacobs.

Project management

• Wanuskewin Heritage Park Bison Facilities – AE.
• Process Gas Project and Particulate Emissions Project – Hatch.
• Drayton Valley Raw Water Pump Station – ISL Engineering and Land Services.
• Stantec Inclusion and Diversity Program – Stantec.

Also at the celebration, ACEC-Canada presented the 2022 Beaubien Award to Richard Tiller, CEO of Tiller Engineering, for his lifetime contributions to consulting engineering; and the 2022 Allen D. Williams Scholarship to Tia Hill of AE.

For more details about all of the winners, check out the digital edition (DE) of the special September/October 2022 issue of Canadian Consulting Engineer magazine here and the print edition coming soon to subscribers. Throughout November and early December, ACEC-Canada’s #20DaysofExcellence campaign on Twitter and at www.acec.ca/20daysofexcellence will feature videos about the winning projects.