Quebec consulting engineers celebrate first awards

The first awards dedicated to honouring consulting engineering in Quebec were given out in Montreal last week. The presentation of the “Grands Prix geni-conseil quebecois” drew a crowd of 350 people at the Montreal Science Centre.
Organized by the Association of Consulting Engineers of Quebec/ l’Association des ingnieurs-conseils du Qubec (AICQ), the awards recognize projects found to be particularly successful by their clients. The prizes are therefore given jointly to the consulting engineering company and their client.
At the ceremony, Mme. Johanne Desrochers, president-director of AICQ, noted that the awards were an occasion to celebrate the knowledge and skill of consulting engineers in all the spheres of activity in society. She said that they served to promote consulting engineers and gave those in the industry a chance to share their passion for the profession with young people.”
The awards are named the “Leonards” in reference to Leonardo da Vinci, the renaissance artist and engineer. The jury was a multi-disciplinary team, presided over by M. Paul Saint-Jacques, president-director general of the Montreal Congress Centre. The projects had to have been completed between January 1, 2000 and September 30, 2002. Twenty-nine were entered.
The eight prize winners are:
Pasquin St-Jean & associes and Ivanhoe Cambridge, for the Eaton Centre-Ville renovations (buildings category).
Cegertec Experts-conseils and Groupe Alcan Primary Metals for the Centrale Isle-Maligne et poste 161 kV modification (energy category)
SNC-Lavalin and Public Works and Government Services Canada for the St. Ours migratory pass (environment category)
AMEC E & C Services and Solvay Paperboard for the Solvay Paperboard Machine and Paper No. 3 (industry category)
SNC-Lavalin and Les ponts Jacques-Cartier et Champlain, for the replacement of the Jacques Cartier Bridge deck (transportation category)
CIMA + and city of Longueuil for the Vincent-d’Indy Park, Urban Lake (urban infrastructure category)
SNC-Lavalin and Mozal S.A.R.L. for the Mozal Aluminerie I (international category)
Genivar and the Ministry of Transport of Quebec for the Information Evaluation of the Montreal Region Road Network (telecommunications and new technologies category).
The awards also gave a special personal “Leonard Hommage” award to Mr. Bernard Lamarre in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the consulting engineering industry and engineering profession.
The Association of Consulting Engineers of Quebec represents over 100 engineering companies employing 12,000 people in the region. About 50% of Canada’s exports in engineering services are by Quebec consulting engineering firms.