INNOVATION May-June 2015

f ea t u r e s

2015 ACEC-BC Awards for Engineering Excellence BUILDINGS Award of Excellence Kin Centre Complex Consultant: Fast + Epp Structural Engineers • Client/Owner: City of Prince George The City of Prince George needed to upgrade the Kin Centre Complex for the 2015 Canada Winter Games. The Complex also needed to easily convert the ice surface from Olympic- to NHL-standard and host non-sporting events such as concerts and tradeshows. Structural challenges included demolishing and reconstructing a new ice rink within a tight timeframe, addressing significant structural/seismic deficien- cies, and incorporating wood as part of the City’s BC Wood First Policy. Award of Merit York House School Senior Building Consultant: MCW Consultants Ltd. • Client/Owner: York House School The new building at this private girls’ school in Vancouver includes a dedicated outdoor air system com- bining ceiling-mounted chilled beams; all classrooms featuring thermostats, CO 2 sensors and occupancy sensors; occupancy sensors that turn lights off and reset temperatures to reduce energy consumption; two 20-ton air-to-water heat pumps in the basement mechanical room to meet the building’s peak cooling load; and a ventilation unit equipped with a heat recovery coil and a single heating and cooling coil. Growth and changing regulations led to an examination of ways to upgrade Kamloops’ sewage treatment centre. To challenge the BC regulation of an effluent criteria of 0.75 mg/L for total phosphorus, a scientific environmental impact study concluded 1.5 mg/L is an ecologically appropriate level, estimated to save $42.5 M, based on a 20-year life cycle analysis. Upgrades planning and design extended over 14 years, and includes the combination of lagoons (the simplest method of treatment) with biological nutrient removal (the most complex method of treatment). Award of Merit Williams Road Drainage Pump Station Upgrade Consultant: Aplin & Martin Consultants Ltd. • Client/Owner: City of Richmond Aplin & Martin headed up a multidisciplinary team to develop cost-effective engineering solutions to meet the City’s objectives including upgrading the pump station, integrating with the City Parks Trail Strategy, incorporating public art, raising the dyke, providing for mobile/onsite standby power, protecting the existing ecosystems and enhancng views of the ocean and access to the dike fromWilliams Road. The objectives were met and the area transformed into an outstanding architectural feature. This project was intended to provide the community with high quality drinking water and recover energy from the water supply through commissioning of the new South Fork Water Treatment Plant and resulting Reservoir No. 1.A low‐cost and effective energy recovery system using Pump as Turbine technology and other standard water supply equipment was developed that produces enough clean electrical energy to power 100 homes, providing additional revenue through BC Hydro’s Standing Offer Program. Award of Merit Kokish River Hydroelectric Project Consultant: Knight Piésold Ltd. • Client: Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Co. The 45 MW facility east of Port McNeill will deliver clean renewable energy to the BC electrical grid, with an annual energy production capacity of roughly 140 GWh, enough electricity to power close to 13,000 homes. Challenges centred on the presence of migratory salmon and steelhead trout throughout the diversion reach of the project. Design solutions included possibly the world’s largest capacity Coanda screen, a vertical slotted fish ladder allowing continuous migration around the diversion weir, hydraulic model testing of the entire diversion and intake structure, buried penstock, turbine-generator units capable of long duration flow ramping rates and tailrace channel fish fence to prevent fish migrating upstream from entering. MUNICIPAL & CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE Award of Excellence Kamloops Sewage Treatment Centre Upgrades Consultant: Urban Systems Ltd. • Client/Owner: City of Kamloops ENERGY & INDUSTRY Award of Excellence Nanaimo Reservoir No. 1 and Energy Recovery Facility–A Clean Energy Project Consultant: Associated Engineering • Client/Owner: City of Nanaimo

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