Winnipeg airport and correctional healing centre win awards in Manitoba

The top winner among consulting engineering projects in Manitoba was SMS Engineering for their work as mechanical-electrical engineers on the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International New Air Terminal Building and Central Utilities Building.

The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Manitoba (ACEC-MB) agave out its awards on April 17, handing SMS Engineering the Keystone Award as “overall winner” for the Winnipeg airport project. While maintaining the architectural elements of ‘an iconic building, the engineers incorporated a variety of unique and innovative systems. These included a complex cascading heating and cooling system using energy recovery and a robust, fully redundant electrical system. To see the engineers’ article describing the project in Canadian Consulting Engineer’s August 2012 issue (p.20), click here.

An award of excellence in the buildings category went to:

– Rankin Inlet Mens’ Correctional Healing Centre by Accutech Engineering. This 48-person, 3,000-sq.m facility in Nunavut is for low, medium and high security inmates. Constructed for $30 million it includes accommodation and educational spaces. Special high efficiency correctional grade windows and security systems were developed for the project.

Awards of excellence in transportation went to three projects:

– Winnipeg’s First Rapid Transit Corridor, the Southwest Transitway by Dillon Consulting. Opened in April 2012, this high-speed roadway for buses is physically separated from the regular street system. It includes a 3.6 km grade-separated busway, three highly-developed stations, a tunnel beneath the CN main-line and a bridge over a major arterial roadway.

– Disraeli Bridges Project, Winnipeg, by Tetra Tech. As part of the Plenary Roads Winnipeg design-build-finance-maintain team, Tetra Tech with PCL Constructors were the primary consultant and design team lead for a project that included reconstructing 2 kilometres of major urban arterial roadway and 20 vehicular bridges.

– Red River Floodway Inlet Control Structure Trunnion Anchor Replacement, by KGS Group and SNC-Lavalin. This project to extend the life of control gates on the floodway was to replace the anchors that secure the gate trunnions (hinges) to the concrete. The work involved replacing and tensioning 44 anchors with a total load of 11 million pounds and precise 3D drilling and machining within confined spaces.

In the industrial category an award of excellence went to:

– GE Aviation Engine Testing, Research and Development Centre, Winnipeg, by KGS Group and MCW/AGE. The engineering team provided structural, electrical, mechanical and project management expertise for a state of the art engine testing centre. A highly collaborative 3D model was developed to coordinate the project and combat an aggressive project schedule.

Awards of merit went to the following:

– Richardson College for the Environment, University of Winnipeg, by SMS Engineering (buildings).

– Osborne Street Bridge Rehabilitation and Widening, Winnipeg, by Tetra Tech (transportation).

– Red River Floodway Inlet Control Structure, Mechanical & Electrical Upgrades by KGS Group and SNC-Lavalin (transportation).

– Headlingley Wastewater Treatement Facility, by Stantec Consulting (environmental).

– Lake of the Prairies Spill Response, by AMEC (environmental).

– Pointe du Bois Spillway Replacement, Eco-Hydraulic Studies, by KGS Group (energy resources).

– Colonsay and K3 Greenfield Substations for Mosaic Potash: 230 kV GIS and 15 kV Distribution Systems, by Hatch (industrial).

– Vanscoy 138kV Power System, for Agrium Vanscoy Potash Operations, by SNC-Lavalin (industrial).

The 2013 Rising Star Award went to Kimberly Yathon, P. Eng. Yathon graduated from the University of Manitoba’s civil engineering program in 2002 and now works for TetraTech where she has worked on more than 13 bridge projects. She “demonstrates her strong work ethic and no-nonsense attitude as a resident construction site engineer and construction coordinator.” She has a “tenacious attention to detail [which] has landed her with more leadership-specific roles of contract administration, construction coordination, and detailed design coordination.” She also sits on several committees and awards, including the ACEC-MB Young Professionals committee and has been an ambassador of consulting engineering at school presentations and career fairs.

The second special individual award, the Engineering Action Award that recognizes dedication and service to ACEC-MB, the profession and the community, given to an engineer who is actively practicing in the industry, went to Ron Typliski, P.Eng. Typliski is vice-president, district business line leader for Environment – Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and geopolitical leader for AECOM.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Tim Stratton P. Eng., senior associate at Stantec Consulting. He has been active on many committees and is a previous president of Consulting Engineers of Manitoba. He received the Certificate of Fellowship; Engineers Canada in 2009.