Big crowd celebrates Consulting Engineers of Alberta awards

Consulting engineers and their friends gathered on February 5 at the BMO Centre, Calgary Stampede, to celebrate the 2010 Consulting Engineers of Alberta annual awards. About 500 engineers, friends and business associates were there to enjoy the occasion, which this year had “A British Rock n’Roll Invasion” as the theme.

The Alberta Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Distinguished Achievement was given to Dr. C. James Montgomery, P.Eng. who is a principal at Cohos Evamy Integratedesign. He began his career in academia, as an associate professor teaching structural engineering and doing research at the University of Alberta. He left U of A to become a consulting engineer in 1981, but continues to support the university, publishes academic papers, and is a guest lecturer. He left his university teaching to join Lamb McManus Associates in 1981 and joined Cohos Evamy in 1988. Among the many projects he has contributed to are the Alex Fraser Bridge in Vancouver, the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, and the Francis Winspear Centre for Music in Edmonton.

The following firms won CEA Showcase Awards of Excellence for their projects:

– Hemisphere Engineering for the Calgary Courts Centre (building engineering category);

– Progressive Engineering for the East Village Redevelopment in Calgary (community development);

– Stewart Weir for its Quality Management System (community outreach and in-house developments);

– AMEC Earth & Environmental + Progressive Engineering for the Currie Barracks Brownfield Project in Calgary (environmental);

– AECOM Canada for the Giant Gold Mine Dewatering Project (natural resources, mining & industrial);

– Stantec Consulting for the Health Research Innovation Facility at the University of Alberta (project management);

– ISL Engineering and Land Services for the Zama Water Treatment Plant NavIS O&M (studies, software and special services);

– CH2M Hill Canada for the Elbow River Bridge in Calgary (transportation);

– Stantec Consulting for the Lendrum Dual-Use Stormwater Management Facility in Edmonton (water resources and energy production).

For the second time, CEA also gave an Annual Rising Young Professional Award. The award went to Alana Getty Somers, P.Eng., who is a project manager with CH2M Hill Canada. She graduated in civil engineering in 2000 and since then has played a key role in the improvements to the Glenmore Trail, including preliminary design of $250-million worth of improvements to the busy road in the city’s industrial southeast. Somers is also the main contact at CH2M Hill for the city of Calgary.