INNOVATION July-August 2012

Vancouver Island and Coast Discovery Centre The Comox Valley Economic Development Society received funding for the construction of a new tourism centre to highlight and promote the North Vancouver Island economic zone. The facility was located in Cumberland, BC, on lands adjacent to a sensitive stream habitat. The project was $3.75 million on donated lands that had to be raised 2 m with fill. The building was designed to be iconic and attention-getting for tourists and incorporated many sustainability features such as green roof, solar power and electric car charging station. The project consists of a visitor reception and tourist information hall with retail and promotional/meeting room and an oval exhibition hall highlighting alpine, seaside, agricultural, forest hiking and biking. Project Manager: Fletcher Pettis Consultants (Blair Pettis PEng). Consultant team: Stantec Architects and Engineers. Construction Manager: Kinetic Construction.

Mobile ElectrocoagulationWastewater Treatment Plant Ledcor Environmental Solutions, a part of Ledcor Group of Companies, recently installed a unique, small footprint wastewater treatment technology in Kingman, Arizona that uses electrocoagulation to treat septage wastewater for sanitary sewer disposal. The system is effective at reducing concentrations of biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, total phosphorus, and several types of dissolved metals, as well as, fats, oils and grease. The effluent meets or exceeds sanitary sewer discharge requirements. The system is compact and requires minimal retention time, with the treatment process taking less than 20 minutes. As a non-biological process, the system is better able to withstand chemical shocks that can disable biology-based treatment processes. The sealed, enclosed flow ensures there is no odor for the surrounding residents. Professionals involved: Carl Stewart PEng, Voya Djordjevic PEng, Kevin Cafferata PEng.

Geohazard Assessment for Residential Development

GES Geotech, working together with Parkland GEO International, carried out a geophysical investigation for karstic limestone setting and subsurface cavities for a residential development in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, over a period from 2009 to 2011. The work included applying a suite of geophysical techniques over an area of 13 km 2 . GES conceptualized four stages of systematic investigation comprising electrical resistivity tomography survey, capacitive coupled resistivity imaging, GPR Survey, Microgravity Survey, Seismic Refraction Survey, 3D Cross-hole Seismic Tomography and confirmatory Borehole Investigation. GES Geotech and Parkland GEO International proved that a combination of geophysical survey techniques was necessary for successfully detecting voids in karstic limestone setting. Owner: Al Ain Municipality. Geotechnical Consultants: GES Geotech (Dr Mahmoud Mahmoud PEng), Parkland GEO International (Mike McCormick PEng).

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