Canadian Consulting Engineer October November 2009

For professional engineers in private practice

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2009

Site Clean-Up in Gladstone, Manitoba wins Tree Of Life Award Hockey arena wins the Schreyer Plus - 10 Awards of Excellence

2009

Small Firms The Business Challenge

awards w ww. ca na d i a n c on s ult in g e n g in e e r. co m

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contents

October/November 2009 Volume 50, No. 6

Cover image: site in Gladstone, Manitoba remediated by AMEC, winner of Tree of Life Award. See story page 22.

On Your Own. See story page 45.

departments

features 2009 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards Confirmed: Engineers Are Making the World a Better Place.

Introduction, jurors, facts and figures.

17

Schreyer Award South Interlake Recreation Centre.

20

Tree of Life Award In-Situ Bioremediation in Gladstone.

22

Awards of Excellence Residences, École de Technologie supérieure.

25

Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion - Structural Engineering.

27

Walmart - Burlington.

29

CÉROM Grain Research Centre.

30

William R. Bennett Bridge.

32

Eagle Lake Membrane Filtration Facility.

33

Comment

4

E.L. Smith Water Treatment Plant Upgrade.

35

Up Front

6

Cavendish Farms Bio-Gas Facility.

36

Small Hydro on the Welland Canal.

38

Whistler Low Temperature District Energy System.

39

Winning Teams Faces behind the award-winning projects.

41

Business On Your Own. How micro-firms are breaking ground – and breaking even – in the competitive world of consulting engineering.

By Nerys Parry

45

ACEC Review

11

Engineers & the Law

47

Finance

48

Advertiser Index

53

Human Edge

54

Next issue: innovative structures; retail buildings go green; engineering firm profile.

October/November 2009

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Canadian Consulting Engineer 3

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engineer FOR PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS IN PRIVATE PRACTICE

comment

C A N A D I A N C O N S U LT I N G

Editor

Bronwen Parsons E-mail: bparsons@ccemag.com (416) 510-5119 Senior Publisher

Maureen Levy E-mail: mlevy@ccemag.com (416) 510-5111

Awards show engineers in green light

Art Director

Ellie Robinson Contributing Editor

I

n his introduction to the 2009 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards, Professor Ron Britton, P.Eng., concludes, “I believe we [the jury members] all went home with the reinforced conviction that our colleagues in the consulting world are, in many different ways, making our world a better place” (p. 23).

We could just as well say that engineers today are concerned about “keeping” the world a better place -- i.e. keeping it as ecologically intact and healthy as possible. Indeed, it’s a mark of our times that we are so concerned about the health of our planet that green design should receive special recognition.

This year we are excited to announce the second Tree of Life Award. This special award was launched last year specifically to honour a project that demonstrates outstanding environmentally responsibility.

What is striking about both the Tree of Life Award and the Schreyer Award winners is that the engineers have designed the projects almost organically, that is, they use one system to feed into another, creating an ecological package that reduces the need for external resources and reduces emissions. For the Interlake Recreation Centre in Warren, Manitoba that won the Schreyer Award, for example, Tower Engineering have orchestrated the geothermal systems, building envelope, refrigeration and HVAC systems to work together for energy efficiencies. The winner of the Tree of Life Award, a project by AMEC to bioremediate an agricultural-petroleum storage site, has actually used one of the sources of contamination to treat a second contaminant. We see a similar synergetic approach in most of the other award-winning projects.

On another subject, we’re happy to hear that ACEC has reclaimed the term “Consulting” in its name (p. 18). Two years ago the association known since its inception as the Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada became the “Association of Canadian Engineering Companies.” However, it is now to be called the “Association of Consulting Engineering Companies.”

One of the reasons ACEC had given for dropping “Consulting” was that the term had fallen into disrepute in Canada thanks to scandals over consultants taking advantage of the public purse. The current E-Health scandal in Ontario hasn’t improved things, with the media blasting outrage about private consultants being paid $3,000 a day yet charging on top of that for biscuits and tea, about contracts being awarded to consulting firms without competitive bidding, and about a lack of concrete results despite the hefty fees charged.

Nevertheless, the term “consulting engineer” is a distinguished one and has been proudly carried by this magazine as its title for 50 years, and by the awards that we have co-sponsored with ACEC for 41 years. Continuity is important for building public awareness, and we maintain that if there has been confusion over what consulting engineers do and who they are -- which was another reason given for dropping “consulting” -- then we just have to do a better job of promoting the name and the value of the work in all quarters.

The Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards are one of the best ways of achieving that public relations goal.

Bronwen Parsons

4

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Rosalind Cairncross, P.Eng. Advertising Sales Manager

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October/November 2009

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up front

INTERNATIONAL

Dessau cleans up sewers in Dominican Republic Open air canals in Santo Domino in the Dominican Republic were being used as dumping grounds and sewers by 250,000 residents of the urban area. The canals became blocked, and during heavy rainfall, the waters were badly polluted.

To alleviate the wretched conditions, Montreal consulting engineers Dessau are building a new canal, a network of underground sewers 56 kilometres long, and a new wastewater treatment plant for 150,000 people.

Another part of Dessau’s work is building 1,700 new apartments to relocate the families whose dwellings are being demolished in the clean-up works.

NOTES

Crystal Garden and addition in foreground, Victoria, B.C.

to the east to accommodate food services. The design of the addition echoes the historic glass enclosure.

INFRASTRUCTURE

4,000 of 7,500 projects under way Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in New Brunswick on September 28 that work has begun on 4,000 of the 7,500 infrastructure and housing projects earmarked for funds, all in the first six months of the 24-month economic stimulus period.

New Guajimia Canal in Santo Domingo, Dominion Republic

The $300.5-million project will be completed in 2010. Dessau is providing engineering and construction management, and it organized the financial structuring. René Bourdages, ing. is project manager for Dessau.

BUILDINGS

Victoria landmark transformed A historical landmark in Victoria, B.C. has been rehabilitated by Stantec and won an award from Heritage B.C. The Crystal Garden was built in 1925 as a salt-water swimming pool but is now a banquet facility seating 1,000 people for the Victoria Conference Centre. The $6.8-million transformation included converting the deck and mezzanine and adding a separate three storey structure 6

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper with Peter Jones of Morrison Hershfield (left).

Opposition Liberals reported that only 12% of the billions promised had actually flowed through to construction activity, but the government replied that a lot of the funding was already being spent in preparatory stages of construction such as engineering.

The Prime Minister recently visited the site of a $70-million project being done by Morrison Hershfield consulting engineers to reconstruct Highway 8 near Cambridge, Ontario.

Water footprints Household use of potable water accounts for a fraction of the amount that is used in producing food and products. Examples: 1 almond = 1 gallon. 1 1b. beef = 1,900 gallons. 1 ream white paper = 1,300 gallons. 1 pair jeans = 2,900 gallons. 1 car = 39,000 gallons.

The United Nations has begun an initiative to calculate the “water footprint” as the total direct and indirect use of water by individuals, products and organizations. — CWQA Canada Line takes off Commuters on Metro Vancouver’s Canada Line had standing room only when it began operating in early September. Morning trains arriving from Richmond and Vancouver International Airport to downtown were full and there were long line-ups at some stations. The $1.9-billion line was designed, built and is being operated by InTransit B.C./SNC-Lavalin.

IT vulnerability According to a study by Telus and the Rotman School of Management, IT security breaches, including viruses and intellectual property theft, have doubled in 2009 since the study for the previous year. About one third of the security breaches came from within companies.

continued on page 8

October/November 2009

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up front

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MAILBOX

Education drives excessive calculations Wow! The article, “Piling It On: Engineering Calculations Today,” by Robert Mote (CCE August-September, p.

29-30) is marvelous. I also feel a bit guilty given that the fault was focused on the programs and programmers, not on the educators. The “young folks” who can manipulate the most recent programs (i.e. do the excessive and unexplained calculations) are driven by the education/training they receive. They are very good at getting “answers” out of complex analysis programs. They deal with those “answers” as they have been taught to do.

Clearly Mote is looking for solutions to problems, not answers to questions.

I intend to get to the bookstore to order Mote’s two books. I’d sure like to share a couple of beers with him. I

think we are on the same page.

Professor Ron Britton, P.Eng. Associate Dean (Design Education) Faculty of Engineering, University of Manitoba Re: “Piling It On: Engineering Calculations Today.” The point of the article was made very well. Too many of us have been caught up in not seeing the forest for the trees. I sense that a lot of design engineers and reviewers, in all disciplines, are comforting themselves with a safety net that’s made up of building codes, regulations, standard details, procedures, etc. and not taking on a critical thinking role in developing or presenting solutions.

I think this quote is relevant to the topic: “Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.”

John Leonard, P.Eng. Hatch Mott MacDonald, St. John’s, Nfld.

New Construction Foundations

Consultants’ impartiality is compromised Re. “But the Client Pays the Bills,” Comment, CCE August-September 2009, page 4.

You highlighted an issue that consulting engineering firms must address. The problem you identified has much wider implications.

For example, in the standard Canadian construction contracts endorsed

by ACEC, there is one pillar of the contract that is often misunderstood by engineers. The owner and contractor agree that the owner’s consultant has the professional integrity to impartially interpret the contract documents during construction and not to act as the owner’s advocate. However, the attitude of “the owner pays the bills” has compromised the ability of the profession to meet this obligation.

There is a need to write a couple on articles based on your Comment.

David P. Thompson, P.Eng. KTA Structural Engineers, Calgary I read your article “But the Client Pays the Bills” with great interest this morning. It has an excellent message -- and not just for engineers.

John Armstrong, P.Eng. Armstrong Engineering & Land Surveying Cranbrook, B.C. Send Letters to the Editor to e-mail bparsons@ccemag.com BUSINESS

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The Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) came into force in April this year as a measure to remove trade barriers between continued on page 10

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the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. It means that for the first time consulting engineering companies are free to bid for work in both provinces.

Cooper explains that before TILMA came into force, many -- not all -- municipalities would have a preferred consultant. But now they have to solicit proposals from far and wide, and they don’t always have the experience or resources to handle the complexities of the procurement process.

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ACEC review

CHAIR’S MESSAGE

Driving With Purpose

I

am honoured to be the 2009-10 Chairman of the Board of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies.

One of the first things you will note is the use of our new name. As a result of a membership consultation earlier this year, the members of the association voted at the Annual General Meeting in June to change the name of the association to reflect our role as consulting engineers, but to retain the concept that we represent firms in our industry. This we feel will resonate with a broader base of our membership.

Over the next year, a number of initiatives remain of important focus at the association. One key priority will be advocating for the implementation of infrastructure spending measures that will ensure predictable, sustainable infrastructure funding over the long term. There is a well documented massive infrastructure deficit which must be addressed by all levels of government. For the social and economic wellbeing of all Canadians, as well as for the benefit of our members, the focus on upgrading our infrastructure must not waver with the end of the current stimulus funding.

Another initiative that has gained significant momentum is the official roll-out of the student promotional video.

The campaign entitled “Engineering Legacies” was created in order to address the recurring problem of labour shortage and supply that persists in our industry. The video has received positive praise from students who are gaining awareness of the exciting and rewarding opportunities that exist for them in consulting engineering. ACEC has visited a number of universities across the country over the course of the last year, and will continue in full force with its “Cross Canada Tour” slated for 2009-2010.

The persistent promotion of Qualifications-Based Selection is another top priority with a number of activities taking place, including lobbying key government departments and the creation of an InfraGuide Best Practice-QBS course to teach government officials how to implement a QBS procurement system.

ACEC will collaborate again this year with CCE magazine to honour and celebrate the best the industry has to offer this November 3, 2009 in Ottawa. We hope to see you all there!

ANDY ROBINSON, P.ENG., CHAIR, ASSOCIATION OF CONSULTING ENGINEERING COMPANIES (ACEC)

MESSAGE DU PRÉSIDENT DU CONSEIL

Avancé avec un but

J

e suis honoré d’avoir été nommé président du conseil d’administration de l’Association des firmes d’ingénieursconseils du Canada pour l’exercice 2009-2010. L’une des premières choses que vous constaterez est l’utilisation de notre nouveau nom. C’est à la suite d’une consultation auprès de nos membres plus tôt cette année que ces derniers ont voté, lors de notre assemblée générale annuelle en juin, de changer le nom de notre association pour mieux refléter notre rôle en tant qu’ingénieurs-conseils, tout en retenant la notion que nous représentons les firmes de notre industrie.

Pour la prochaine année, plusieurs de nos initiatives existantes restent des objectifs importants pour l’association.

L’une de nos priorités clés sera de promouvoir la mise en oeuvre des mesures qui assureront un financement prévisible et à long terme des projets d’infrastructure du pays.

Nous faisons face à un déficit d’infrastructure énorme et bien documenté auquel tous les paliers de gouvernement doivent s’attaquer. Pour le bien-être social et économique de tous les Canadiens, ainsi que pour le bénéfice de nos membres, les projets de réhabilitation de l’infrastructure ne doivent pas ralentir après la fin du programme actuel de stimulants économiques.

Une autre initiative qui a pris un élan important est le lancement officiel de la vidéo promotionnelle produite

pour encourager les étudiants en génie à se joindre à notre industrie. La campagne, qui a pour thème « Le patrimoine de l’ingénierie », a été créée pour s’attaquer au problème de pénurie de personnel qui persiste dans notre industrie. La vidéo a reçu de nombreux éloges d’étudiants qui ont constaté les possibilités de carrière passionnantes et enrichissantes qui leur sont offertes dans l’industrie du génie-conseil. L’AFIC a visité des universités partout au pays au cours de l’année dernière et poursuivra sa campagne en force avec sa « tournée pancanadienne » en 2009-2010.

La promotion continue de la sélection basée sur les compétences est une autre priorité de l’AFIC, avec un certain nombre d’activités dont le lobbying des ministères clés et la création d’un atelier sur les meilleures pratiques d’InfraGuide-SBC pour informer les représentants du gouvernement sur la mise en œuvre d’un système d’approvisionnement SBC. Cette année, l’AFIC collaborera encore une fois avec le magazine Canadian Consulting Engineer pour honorer et célébrer les meilleures réalisations de notre industrie le 3 novembre 2009, à Ottawa. Nous espérons que vous serez tous des nôtres!

ANDY ROBINSON, PRÉSIDENT DU CONSEIL ASSOCIATION DES FIRMES D’INGÉNIEURS-CONSEILS (AFIC)

October/November 2009

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

11

05/10/09 4:24 PM

ACEC review

ACEC Welcomes New President, John Gamble, P.Eng.

T

he Association of Consulting Engineering Companies is very pleased to introduce John Gamble, P.Eng. as the new President and Chief Operating Officer of ACEC. John will be joining the ACEC team on October 4, 2009.

John Gamble has been president of Consulting Engineers of Ontario for nearly eight years where he has been an effective association manager and a well respected advocate of the industry.

His strong support of ACEC and his collaborative approach with the member organizations has been evident over the past several years.

When called upon, he has enthusiastically taken on many initiatives on behalf of ACEC including the procurement task force and ACEC relationship manager for organizing

the 2008 FIDIC conference in Quebec City. The Board has previously recognized John’s contributions by making him a co-recipient of the first ACEC Chairman’s Award in 2006 for

his leadership in promoting QBS. John’s background prior to joining CEO is quite unique — blending government affairs and association management with nearly 10 years experience as a practising engineer in the consulting engineering sector.

Following is a brief summary of his career: • Environmental Engineer with Gore & Storrie Limited (now CH2M Hill Canada) - 1987 to 1996 • Policy Advisor and Special Assistant to the Ontario Minister of the Environment - 1996 to 1999 • Manager of Government Affairs, Professional Engineers Ontario - 1999 to 2001 • President, Consulting Engineers of Ontario - 2002 to 2009 Please join us in welcoming John to the leadership of ACEC.

ACEC Changes Its Name

A

t the Annual General Meeting in Whistler, B.C. earlier this summer, the ACEC membership supported a proposed name change for the association. Effective June 27, 2009, the association name will be the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies with the acronym remaining ACEC. The membership also voted in favour of a new tagline: “Shaping tomorrow’s world”.

The initial intent behind the name change was to create a consistent (though flexible) brand for ACEC and the Member Organizations (MOs) across the country. Harmonizing names and branding with ACEC is intended to allow ACEC and the MOs to leverage each other’s profile and to more readily share resources. Each association can adopt the ACEC acronym, incorporating their own province or territory (e.g. ACEC – New Brunswick). To date, several provinces have adopted the harmonized name

12

Canadian Consulting Engineer

p11-16 CCE OctNov_09 ACEC.indd 12

approach. It is hoped that, in time, all MOs will consider the merits of adopting a consistent brand across the country, although the decision of each MO will be left entirely up to its own membership.

Another reason behind the change was to re-incorporate the term “consulting” into the association name.

The term consulting was dropped from the name two years ago when it was thought to be confusing to external audiences. However, it was later felt that the term consulting was necessary to distinguish the ACEC membership from other types of engineering businesses such as manufacturing.

It was also felt that the Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada created a mistaken impression with many stakeholders that ACEC represented individual engineers rather engineering companies.

Now that a second round of consultations has taken place, the con-

sensus is that the new name, the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies, is a compromise which maintains both the term “consulting” and the term “companies.” It is hoped that external audiences will no longer have any questions about who the ACEC represents.

ACEC is now in the process of undergoing a re-branding exercise to accompany the name change. This re-branding will involve significant consultation with and input from the MOs. Implementation will not likely occur until the spring of 2010.

October/November 2009

05/10/09 11:10 AM

ACEC review

ACEC Releases Document 31 – Prime Agreement Between Client and Engineer

A

CEC is pleased to announce the release of its newly updated Document 31 - Prime Agreement between Client and Engineer. During the promotional period, the document will be free for both ACEC members and non-members. The document can be accessed on the ACEC website (www.acec.ca) under publications.

The ACEC Document 31 outlines the key elements of the commercial relationship between a consulting engineering company and its client that is necessary for both a successful engineering consulting practice and a satisfied client.

Over the past six years, Document 31 has undergone an extensive revision by some of the most respected

legal, insurance and managerial people in the engineering business. It carefully sets out the obligations of both parties to a consulting engineer assignment in Canada today. It avoids all-inclusive language. It defines the kind of liabilities and warranties that should reasonably be expected of an engineering company.

Information sessions on Document 31 are expected to take place in collaboration with our Mem-

ber Organizations throughout the year to get the document known and used.

The ACEC Contracts Committee has also developed a Guide for Document 31. It can be viewed free of charge on the ACEC website.

The French version of Document 31 and the Guide will be available in the early fall.

For questions concerning the document, please contact the ACEC office at 1-800-565-0569.

ACEC Officially Kicks Off its “Engineering Legacies” Campaign!

A

CEC is proud to announce the official kick-off of its much anticipated video campaign entitled Engineering Legacies!

The Task Force has worked very hard over the last month to finish the French portion of the video website, which can now be viewed at www. legeniededemain.com. With the help of ACEC’s Member Organization, L’association des ingénieurs-conseils du Quebec, ACEC was able to successfully capture some most impressive projects in the province of Quebec, and in Algeria. A French highlight reel was also completed as a teaser for the entire series. Promotional material is also now available in both official languages and will be used extensively to promote the project over the coming months.

Also new on both sites are links to three major social networking sites: Facebook, YouTube and Twit-

ter, where ACEC has established a presence for students to participate in forums, network with fellow engineering students and ask questions pertaining to our industry.

The Engineering Legacies campaign began touring the country this September when it stopped in New Brunswick to speak to first year engineering students.

“This was the first video I’ve seen coming out of high school that gave me a real visual about engineering and more importantly what consulting engineering is all about,” said Sean Carson, a first-year engineering student at the University of New Brunswick.

The tour will continue through the Atlantic provinces this fall with stops in St. John’s, Newfoundland at Memorial University and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

ACEC Member Organizations from

Central and Western Canada will also be participating in a variety of university events this fall, namely career fairs and information sessions.

By means of the Engineering Legacies campaign, ACEC hopes to reach and inform every engineering student in Canada about the amazing opportunities our industry has to offer for young people and to make it their number one career choice right out of university.

Once again, ACEC would like to thank its valued sponsors for their generous support and belief in this project. Sponsors can be viewed at www.engineeringlegacies.com under “Sponsors.”

For more information about the Engineering Legacies campaign, please contact Susie Grynol, Director of Public Affairs and Business Practices at sgrynol@acec.ca or 1-800565-0569.

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ACEC review

QBS Gains Momentum in Canada Canadian Standards Association developing procurement training based on InfraGuide The Canadian Standards Association (CSA), under the auspices of its Infrastructure Solutions Program, recently accepted a proposal from ACEC to work collaboratively on the development of a course for procurement officers on how to implement a qualifications-based (QBS) procurement system for selection of professional consultants. The course will be based on the recommendations contained in the InfraGuide Best Practices document on Selecting a Professional Consultant, but will go much further than the InfraGuide document by providing instruction on how to prepare proper requests for proposals, determining quality evaluation criteria and scoring systems, incorporating sustainability and lifecycle costing into the evaluation, and negotiating equitable fees and remuneration.

Parliamentary Committee recommends adoption of QBS The House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates has issued a report to Parliament entitled “In Pursuit of Balance: Assisting Small and Medium Enterprises in Accessing Federal Procurement.” The report called for five goals to be incorporated into PWGSC procurement practices. One of these goals is stated as follows: “Allowing innovation and quality to be key selection criteria.” The report goes further, recommending that PWGSC “consider the merits of legislating the use of Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) as the required procurement process.”

During the Committee’s consultations, the consulting engineering sec-

tor was represented by former ACEC Chair Andrew Steeves and CEO President John Gamble, who had urged the Committee to recommend QBS as the preferred procurement system for professional consultants procured by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). Given that federal departments directly procure billions of dollars worth of infrastructure and building services, it is in the best interest of the federal government to ensure maximum value, including lifecycle value, for those dollars it spends.

The full text of the report can be found at http://www2.parl. gc.ca/HousePublications, or obtained by contacting the ACEC office at 1-800-565-0569.

APWA Study confirms QBS works: Provides best benefit to owners The results of a recent study conducted for the American Public Works Association (APWA) and the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC-US) clearly demonstrates the substantial benefits to taxpayers and to both public and private sector clients of using QBS to select engineering and architectural consultants.

The study was conducted for APWA and ACEC-US by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Colorado. The researchers reviewed over 200 proj-

ects representing a variety of procurement and delivery models.

Not only does the study show increased client satisfaction when using QBS, it also proves that QBS results in fewer change orders and delays on projects, which lowers overall cost, litigation, and delays. For instance, the study found that cost growth during construction is typically around 10% of a project; while on QBS procured projects, this cost was reduced to 3%.

These findings, when extrapolated to a project with a $10 million construction budget, demonstrate a potential savings of $700,000 when using QBS. The APWA study also demonstrated that risk was lowered for both owner and consultant — particularly for more complex projects. Furthermore, QBS encourages greater innovation in design. Perhaps more importantly, QBS provided greater opportunity to accommodate local sensitivities and societal needs.

This study supports ACEC’s contention that QBS allows projects to be planned and designed in a much more sustainable fashion, where the environmental footprint and lifecycle cost is much lower. Lifecycle costs are an extremely important consideration when one considers that engineering and design represents 1-2% of a project’s total cost, while operation and maintenance represents 80 to 93% of the total project cost.

ACEC CO-ORDINATES

eng

The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies’ national office is located at 130 Albert Street, Suite 616, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5G4, tel: 1-800-565-0569; 613-236-0569; e-mail: memserv@acec.ca. website: www.acec.ca

relax the

retir

low

ACEC Member Organizations: Consulting Engineers of British Columbia, Consulting Engineers of Yukon, Consulting Engineers of Alberta, Consulting Engineers of Northwest Territories, Consulting Engineers of Saskatchewan, Consulting Engineers of Manitoba, Consulting Engineers of Ontario, Association des Ingénieurs-conseils du Québec, Association of Canadian Engineering Companies of New Brunswick, Consulting Engineers of Nova Scotia, Consulting Engineers of Prince Edward Island, Consulting Engineers of Newfoundland and Labrador.

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2009 AWARDS AWA R D O F E X C E L L E N C E

engineer C A N A D I A N C O N S U LT I N G

41st Year

Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada Association des firmes d’ingénierie-conseils-Canada

2009 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards Co-sponsors: Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada (ACEC)/Association des firmes d’ingénieurs-conseils-Canada (AFIC) and Canadian Consulting Engineer magazine CHAIR’S COMMENT

Confirmed: engineers are making the world a better place

By Dr. M.G. (Ron) Britton, P.Eng.

Early on June 12, nine engineers from across Canada, the jury for the 2009 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards, met at the Albany Club in downtown Toronto. After introductions and a brief explanation of the task before us, we began consideration of the 60 entries. It was interesting how quickly the room became quiet.

As in years past the process was guided by a reasonably complete set of criteria. But even with those guidelines, it still boiled down to making value judgments. Each juror had previewed all the entries and after some hours that morning had identified about a third of them for further detailed assessments. The pace slowed as the jurors ranked each of these selected entries, but eventually by mid-afternoon the data had been assembled into a group opinion.

Given the diverse backgrounds of the jury members, it was surprising how little variation existed in their rankings. Finally, with the numerical data as a base, the jury discussed the validity of the decisions that the numbers would suggest. Once consensus was reached, it was time to face Friday traffic to the airport, as the members of the jury headed home.

Viewed from the perspective of the process, this all seems rather routine.

For the nine jurors however, it was a day of exploring the details of our

profession’s input to the environment around us and of attempting to find ways to compare bridges with roads, and energy conservation with environmental protection. Studying the originality and creativity that was a part of every project instilled a feeling of pride in the work engineers do. Ranking one project over another was a judgment call that wasn’t easy to make.

On the flight home, I found myself wondering why these jurors would take the time to volunteer to sit on this sort of judgment panel. Selecting 12 “winners” from among the 60 submissions wasn’t easy, and our

collective judgment will, no doubt, be questioned. However, serving on the panel provided an opportunity to get a close-up look at recent outstanding work done by members of our profession. It was apparent to me that each member of the jury takes great pride in the work of our “engineering family.” I believe we all went home with reinforced conviction that our colleagues in the consulting world are, in many different ways, making our world a better place, Engineering awards focus attention on engineering contributions. It was a privilege to be able to contribute to that focus. And it was a privilege to share a day with eight engineers who were willing to make difficult judgments so that our best can be recognized.

Above: decision time — the judges discuss the finalist projects round the table at the Albany Club in downtown Toronto.

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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AWA R D S

continued from page 17

JURY CHAIR

ABOUT THE AWARDS The Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards have been given annually since 1968. They are given to recognize outstanding work on projects completed in the previous three years.

Entries must be by at least one firm in good standing with the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada (ACEC), and there must be a professional engineer on the team.

The awards are a joint program of the Association of Consulting Engineering CompaniesCanada (ACEC)/l’Association des firmes d’ingénieurs-conseils-Canada (AFIC) and Canadian Consulting Engineer magazine.

10 Awards of Excellence are given, according to the judges’ discretion.

The Schreyer Award is presented annually to the best technical entry. It was launched in 1981.

The Tree of Life Award/Prix Un Arbre à Aimer was launched in 2008. It is given for environmental stewardship.

For more details, see www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/awards

ENTRIES THIS YEAR Total 60 entries. Last year 67 Entries per category. Last year’s numbers are in parentheses: Buildings 16 (16); Transportation 13 (16); Water Resources 10 (14); Environmental Remediation 3 (1); Natural Resources, Mining, Industry and Energy Production 5 (0); Studies & Special Projects 7 (8); Project Management 4 (2); International 2 (6); Community Outreach & In-House Initiatives 0 (4). Awards are given according to merit; not assigned as one per category.

Province of entering firms. Last year’s numbers are in parentheses: Maritimes 1 (0); Quebec 11 (17); Ontario 20 (19); Manitoba 5 (4); Saskatchewan 1 (2); Alberta 10 (11); B.C. 12 (14).

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Hamilton Health Sciences Brownfield Remediation Hamilton, Ontario

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p17-19 CCE OctNov_09 AwardsIntro1.indd 18

Dr. R.G. (Ron) Britton, P.Eng. is the Associate Dean (Design Education) in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba and an NSERC Chair in Design Engineering.

A civil engineering graduate from the University of Saskatchewan, Professor Britton also has a Ph.D in agricultural engineering from Texas A&M University. He is a prolific author of books, technical and general articles related to engineering. He is also a past president of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Manitoba (APEGM) and served on the board of Engineers Canada. His awards include Engineers Canada’s Medal of Distinction in Engineering Education.

JURORS Damian Albanese, P.Eng. is Director of the Transportation Division, Environment, Transportation and Planning Services, with the Region of Peel in Ontario. He graduated from the University of Toronto in civil engineering in 1973. He was chair of the Ontario Provincial Standards Joint Committeee from 1995 to 2001. Mr. Albanese was also a juror last year.

JoAnne Butler is Vice President, Electricity Resources, for the Ontario Power Authority in Toronto. Previously she was president of TransAlta Mexico, and prior to that was TransAlta’s general manager for western operations in Calgary, responsible for operating four new generating stations. She has also worked extensively in the oil and gas sector. She holds a degree in civil engineering from Queen’s University, Ontario.

Michel F. Couturier, P.Eng. is Acting Dean for the Faculty of Engineering at the University of New Brunswick

October/November 2009

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AWA R D S

in Fredericton and also a professor in the Chemical Engineering Department.

He is a member of the selection committee for the Chairs in Design Engineering, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). He graduated in chemical engineering from Queen’s University and his areas of technical expertise include wastewater treatment, reaction engineering, process control, heat transfer and fluidization.

Brian E. Denney, P.Eng. is Chief Administrative Officer at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, based in Toronto. Since taking over the role in 2003, he has advanced the work of the TRCA in support of sustainable communities, healthy watersheds and regional biodiversity.

In 2008 he received the Green Building Advocate Award from the Canada Green Building Council and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Sustainable Buildings Canada.

He has an engineering degree in water resources from the University of Guelph, Ontario.

Monique Frize, P.Eng. is a professor in Carleton University’s Department of Systems and Computer Engineering and in the University of Ottawa’s School of Information Technology and Engineering.

She worked as a biomedical engineer for 18 years and has published over 200 papers on the fields of artificial intelligence in medicine, infrared medical imaging, ethics, and women in engineering and science.

She graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Ottawa, has a doctorate from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and five honorary degrees from Canadian universities.

Dr. Frize became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1993.

Anne-Marie Leclerc, ing. is Assistant Deputy Minister for the Direction générale des infrastructure et des technologies at the Québec Ministry of Transport, where she is also coordinator of emergency measures. She has been with the Ministry since 1985.

A graduate in civil engineering from Laval University, Ms. Leclerc is currently president of the World Road Association. She is also a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, which presented her with the Sandford Fleming Award in 2008.

Mike Reinders, P.Eng., is President and Chief Operating Officer of Maple Reinders Group, in Mississauga, Ontario.

The company is active across Canada in design-build, general contract and environmen-

tal infrastructure projects.

He graduated from the University of Waterloo in civil engineering and is a director on the Board of the Ontario General Contractors Association.

Claude B. Robert is Chief Engineering, Design and Construction, at the National Capital Commission in Ottawa. Previously, Mr. Robert worked in the oil refinery business on mechanical and environmental engineering projects. He also managed construction on hydro-electric and mining projects in Northern Quebec and Labrador.

He has taught project management at McGill University Faculty of Engineering, and is a past-president of the Montreal Chapter of the Project Management Institute.

He graduated in civil engineering from Concordia University.

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October/November 2009

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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TOWER ENGINEERING GROUP

SCHREYER AWARD

South Interlake Recreation Centre The Schreyer Award goes to Tower Engineering for a new recreation centre in Warren, Manitoba. The engineers integrated various new technologies to achieve major energy savings.

The South Interlake Recreation Centre in Warren, Manitoba has operational and energy costs less than half those of conventional ice hockey arenas built over the past 80 years or so in Canada.

As prime consultant and project manager for the $2.6-million new centre, Tower Engineering was able to achieve the energy savings by applying new technologies and integrating different systems. The project is a successful integration of several fields of building science to produce a highly efficient building; it orchestrates earth sciences (geothermal systems), building envelope technology, refrigeration, HVAC systems, and electrical demand and control systems.

Warren is a picturesque community about 40 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. The important role that the recreation centre serves in Warren as in many other small com-

munities in Canada cannot be overstated. For the town of 1,000 people it is the social and recreational hub of the community and replacing the old arena was vital. A volunteer committee, however, realized that the community’s small size and limited resources could not sustain a conventional arena with high operating costs. In the end, however, the energy efficient design reduced the arena’s operating costs and it also made the 2,790-m2 project eligible for government and utility grants, enabling it to be constructed within the town’s budget.

For the design, Tower Engineering had to “pull out all the stops.”

Modular refrigeration units First, modular refrigeration units (heat pumps) were used as opposed to large unloading brine systems for the hydronic systems. Also, smaller

Above: inside the rink lighting levels can be varied.

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p20-21 CCE OctNov_09 Schreyer.indd 20

circulation pumps were used instead of fewer large pumps. Although larger equipment would be more efficient at full loads, full load conditions are rarely attained. Modular units allow on/ off operation, and the ability to shut off some refrigeration units results in efficiencies at part-load operations.

Ice plant used for HVAC Next, energy for the building HVAC systems is generated by the same Ice Kube units that make the ice for the rink, thereby saving energy. There is no energy simultaneously used to produce ice as well as to heat or cool the occupied spaces. Low-grade 95°F heat recovered from the condensers is used in the in-floor hydronic heating, while high grade 130°F superheat recovered from the ice-making process is used to heat water for ice flooding and showers.

In addition, heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) are used to recover heating and air-conditioned ventilation energy from the air. These, coupled with the energy recovered from the ice plant, virtually eliminate the need for any additional energy to heat the make-up air and ventilation air.

Lighting A conventional arena would typically have only one lighting level -- all lights either on or off. The South Interlake Arena incorporates three levels of lighting control over the ice surface and uses full lighting only during important events or games. This approach saves energy thanks to the lights themselves being turned off, and also because less cooling energy is required to counteract radiant heat from the lamps.

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C AT E G O R Y: B U I L D I N G S

EQUIPMENT

SOUTH INTERLAKE

CONVENTIONAL

Energy (kWhr)

Demand (kW)

Energy (kWhr)

Demand (kW)

Artificial Ice Rink

237,860

50

350,000

150

Building Heating c/w Make-up Air

10,000

5

500,000

250

Hot Water (Domestic and Rink Flood)

19,000

8

170,000

90

Building HVAC

35,000

6

201,198

150

Lighting

90,000

31

125,000

40

Interior Appliances (kitchen, stage, etc.)

76,000

35

76,000

35

Pumps (all fluid moving)

70,000

15

175,000

35

537,860

150

1,597,198

750

TOTAL Load Factor (based on a 7 month season)*

0.71

0.42 Above: comparison of the arena’s energy use by system vs. a conventional arena. Left: comparison of the arena’s 2008 energy use vs. a conventional arena.

South Interlake Centre Energy Use (kWhr) 300000 250000 200000

A similar buffer was installed under the ice surface slab. For cooling, the buffer stores up to 6,000,000 BTU or 500 tons of refrigeration under the ice when the buffer is frozen to 5°F below the ice temperature. The buffer helps to keep the ice harder during heavy use periods and keeps the ice frozen for many hours upon a power failure.

loop system would fluctuate between 80°F in summer and down to freezing (or even lower) in winter.

To prove the building’s efficiency, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) required that an energy model be provided using their EE Wizard Software specifically designed for arenas in Canada. The software predicted that a conventional arena of similar size would use $85,000 worth of power per year, whereas this geothermal arena would use about $28,000 per year. These projected energy savings qualified the arena for the maximum $60,000 CBIP grant from NRCan. When constructed, the arena produced an actual annual energy bill of $31,000.

CCE

Geothermal system An open geothermal system consisting of a supply well and a return well provides the primary source of energy.

Submersible pumps circulate water from the supply well through a heat exchanger and down the return well.

The energy is then transferred to the heat pumps. The open well system has the advantage of providing consistent 41°F water temperatures summer and winter. The temperatures in a closed

Project: South Interlake Recreation Centre, Warren, Manitoba Award-winning firm: prime consultants, mechanical, electrical, project management: Tower Engineering Group Greg Jorgensen, P.Eng., Jack Abiusi, P.Eng., Guenter Schaub, P.Eng., Thai Tonthat, P.Eng., Mike Houvardas, P.Eng. Owner: South Interlake Recreation Centre Other key players: Road Architecture (architect), Laverne Draward & Assoc. (structural), Parkwest Projects (contractor)

150000 100000 50000 0

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

South Interlake

Ground energy sinks Energy storage buffers serve to trim the building’s peak loads and decrease its energy demand. The entire structure is built over a manmade heating and cooling sink. The area below the building was excavated and a gravel-clay storage medium was laid under the stands and apron floors at 1 ft. (0.3m) deep. It was completely insulated.

For heating, this buffer medium stores approximately 35 BTU per cubic foot, which adds up to 18,000,000 BTU or 4,600 kWhr of energy storage under the warm dressing rooms and lobby. The buffer is maintained at 15°F above the required dressing rooms/lobby temperature. The stored energy can keep the building warm for up to 15 days without any additional energy use.

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Conventional

October/November 2009

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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A M E C E A R T H & E N V I R O N M E N TA L

TREE OF LIFE AWARD

In-Situ Bioremediation in Gladstone The Tree of Life Award for environmental excellence goes to a project by AMEC. They developed breakthrough technology to clean up a contaminated site in Manitoba.

The Neepawa-Gladstone Co-operative site in Gladstone, Manitoba had been a farm supply operation since the 1940s. Serviced by a railway, it was used to store petroleum fuels, coal, fertilizer (granular and liquid products) and chemicals. Today, only the chemical storage operations remain.

AMEC’s environmental assessment of the site showed two distinct but comingling contaminant plumes: petroleum hydrocarbons and nitrate-nitrogen. The two plumes extended into adjacent residential properties and an undeveloped low-lying parcel of land to the southwest. Meanwhile, the site has an acute sensitivity to subsurface impacts due to moderately permeable, alluvial soils of sand, silt and clay, and shallow groundwater zones.

AMEC showed innovation in both the environmental assessment and remediation techniques. For the assessment there were no documented methods of conducting environmental field screening for nitrogen in soil, so AMEC researched exist-

ing agricultural kits and colorimetric methods for testing municipal water.

Based on these techniques, AMEC developed a rapid, low cost and accurate means for field screening soil samples for nitrate impacts.

Using one contaminant to treat the other For the remediation, AMEC worked closely with its client, Federated Cooperatives Limited, to develop the innovative concept of using one of the types of contamination (nitrate associated with fertilizer) as a consumable component in the remediation process of the secondary contaminant (petroleum hydrocarbons). By using one contaminant to treat the other, they eventually eliminated both.

The process involved the concurrent use of two research techniques, which were further developed by AMEC: Nitrate Induced Enhanced Anaerobic Bioremediation (NIEAB) and Enhanced In Situ Biodenitrification (EISBD). Previously, these

technologies, particularly EISBD, had only been used at U.S. research sites. The new and successful application of NIEAB and EISBD are considered a breakthrough innovation in remediating petroleum and fertilizer contaminated sites.

The combination of EISBD and NIEAB principles using hydrocarbon based contaminants as electron donors, and fertilizer based contamination (nitrate/nitrite) as electron acceptors, was novel. What made this approach even more unique was that the only significant by-products of the process were water, nitrogen gas and carbon dioxide. This approach essentially fosters the remediation of both contaminants simultaneously.

The remediation system required groundwater collection and infiltration galleries, pump, timer and flow systems, and used the topography of the site. The system collected and redistributed groundwater impacted by the fertilizer (nitrate) to remediate the petroleum hydrocarbon con-

AMEC

Left: site plan showing petroleum hydrocarbon (pink shaded area) and fertilizer (blue shaded area) contaminant plumes. Right: primary holding tank near infiltration gallery.

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C AT E G O R Y: E N V I R O N M E N T

AMEC/Campbell

Above: general view of site, with bulk petroleum plant location to right, and fertilizer operations to left.

tamination. It also treated the residual fertilizer concentrations in the groundwater, and reduced migration off site. No such system was known to previously exist.

Once the hydrocarbons had been successfully remediated, the system was later modified to use carbon-based electron donors, including common food products such as molasses, high fructose corn syrup, and emulsified canola oil, to remediate persistent concentrations of nitrate.

The remediation has reduced groundwater nitrate concentrations by 55%–98%, which is a significant environmental improvement. The groundwater petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations were reduced by 88%–98%.

Science in the field The design and implementation of the remediation system involved a team skilled in multiple disciplines, including hydrogeology, microbiol-

ogy and environmental science, and environmental, civil and mechanical engineering.

The remediation principles employed at the site were relatively simple. However, taking the theory and science from the lab to the field and having them work together successfully within a relatively tight budget proved quite complex.

Due to the large extent of the plume, including off-site impacts affecting industrial, municipal and residential properties, AMEC had to communicate with seven different stakeholders. This added complications, particularly because the remediation involves a new, relatively unproven technology.

The site would be unlikely to have been remediated using traditional “dig and dump” or “pump and treat” technologies because of the costs of such methods and the low property values.

Now, thanks to the remediation, local residents have restored confidence in using the shallow groundwater, and Manitoba Conservation, the provincial regulator, has conducted tours of the Gladstone site as a training tool and to showcase the technology.

Completed in 2008, the project was on schedule and within budget. As a result of the project’s success, AMEC is actively managing 12 other similar projects for Federated Co-operatives Limited.

CCE Project: In-Situ Bioremedial Technologies at a Petroleum and Fertilizer Distribution Facility, Gladstone, Manitoba Award-winning firm prime consultant: AMEC Earth & Environmental, Winnipeg (Patrick Campbell, B.Sc., Harley Pankratz, P.Eng.) Client: Federated Cooperatives Limited

October/November 2009

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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C AT E G O R Y: B U I L D I N G S

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Residences, École de Technologie supérieure Building university residences above a grocery store is unusual, but the combination led to an award-winning project that uses innovative mechanical and structural engineering.

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Mechanical and electrical engineers Bouthillette Parizeau together with structural engineers Teknika HBA collaborated with the university and the architects in developing this unusual project and its environmental features.

First, the store recovers 40% of the heat from the refrigeration compressors for its own heating purposes. The remaining 60% is used to preheat domestic water in the residences.

The environmental design also uses geothermal energy, with a system of 18 vertical wells drilled on the urban site. In addition, the building uses energy recovered from the grocery store’s refrigeration processes to help heat the residences above.

The centralized building automation system ensures that the shared set-up does not hinder the grocery store’s daily operations.

The coexistence of student residences and a grocery store is not a common occurrence. Because of this, the professionals had to install HVAC ventilation units not traditionally used in a grocery store environment. The units were installed inside the store within a hydronic cooling system, complete with a closed-circuit water cooling tower installed on the roof above the residences.

The total energy savings are $80,000 annually, or approximately 1,327,000 kWh. The usage is 30% less

Above: building at De La Montagne and Notre-Dame Streets in Montreal. Energy recovered from the grocery store is used to heat 266 university residences above.

than a reference building compliant with the Model National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings.

Data is being collected on the systems, so that from a mechanical and electrical standpoint the building itself is a living laboratory for the professors and students.

BubbleDeck new structural system Based on the structural engineer’s recommendation, the design used a new concrete floor construction method called BubbleDeck® on all floors.

Developed in Denmark, the system consists of replacing the concrete sandwich’s central layer — which has

no actual load-bearing capacity — with light recycled plastic spheres arranged in a reinforcement grid.

BubbleDeck significantly reduces the amount of concrete necessary — by approximately 30%.

More importantly it provides a far superior weight-strength ratio than a traditional slab. Architecturally it enables larger spans and overhangs, fewer support pillars to allow more freedom to develop volumes, and improved thermal and acoustic insulation. Lastly, the structure’s self weight is reduced by almost 50%.

The ETS student residence building is the largest project in North

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Above: pouring concrete over the BubbleDeck system. Right: recycled plastic spheres in reinforcing grid.

America to use the technology.

Since BubbleDeck slabs have to be factory made, the mechanical and electrical engineers had to coordinate openings very early on. The team

also had to be creative in positioning mechanical and electrical services and equipment. For example, the electrical room is on two levels.

The project was unlike any other due to the special construction methods used for the BubbleDeck system. From construction site coordination to just-in-time delivery, and from using a tower crane to developing a unique shoring system, the new technology turned every stage of the project into a learning opportunity for all involved. This was the first time BubbleDeck had been used in winter conditions, which required rethinking traditional pouring techniques.

The BubbleDeck technology used in the ETS project is leading local engineers to discover a new way of building higher and less weighty structures that are more environmentally friendly.

This discovery could have multiple impacts in the construction market.

The $45 million project was completed on budget and on time before the start of classes in September 2008.

CCE Project: École de technologie supérieure, Phase III University Residence, Montreal Award-winning firms. Mechanicalelectrical engineer: Bouthillette Parizeau (Nathalie Boulet, Eng., Mario Pouliot, B.Eng., Marc Boileau, Eng.) Structural engineer: Teknika HBA (Louis Crépeau, Eng., Éric Martin, Eng., Elias A. Azar, tech., Jean-Francoise Lepage) Architects: Cardinal Hardy General contractor/project management: Pomerleau

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ARMTEC

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RACHELLE EDWARDS

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G L O T M A N - S I M P S O N C O N S U LT I N G E N G I N E E R S

Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Structural Engineering Structural engineers combined original thinking with advanced technologies on this award-winning signature building.

Bob Matheson Photographgy

The Vancouver Convention Centre expansion has transformed Vancouver’s waterfront. Resting upon a marine deck that is supported on nearly 1,000 steel pile pipes buried 60 metres deep, the new building has been described as “a gleaming jewel with a fuzzy top.” It is located to the west of the original convention centre, and it leans out over Burrard Inlet, with an expansive green roof, dramatic sculptural forms in glass, steel and wood, and massive steel trusses and articulated structural beams. Glotman Simpson were the structural engineers and faced a challenge as large as the building -- several orders of magnitude larger and more complicated than a normal building structure.

Eccentric braced bays The heart of the structural solution for the building is to have regular bays of multi-storey trusses, some 30 metres tall, and beams anchored to eccentric braced bays for seismic resistance.

Eccentric braced bays were chosen due to their effectiveness, simplicity, constructability and cost, bearing in mind the project was fast-tracked for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Top: building with low roof, glass walls, and columns leaning over water.

Above: SAP 2000 model, translated to and from Tekla and AutoCAD Revit.

Deep trusses provide openings and parking space For the convention centre to accommodate up to 15,000 visitors at once, large spaces and open volumes were necessary. At the same time, the roof height was restricted to avoid blocking the view of nearby residents. The

structure therefore had to have long spans with heavy loading, yet within a minimal depth.

Faced with these constraints, the design uses the storey-deep trusses for double duty. They are used both for support and to accommodate door openings and passageways. As well,

an interstitial space in the trusses between the main exhibition hall and the main floor below was used as a parking level for 443 cars.

To provide spectacular views from inside, the building has an expansive perimeter of glass walls, which meant

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C AT E G O R Y: B U I L D I N G S

the locations available for bracing were limited and required careful distribution.

Another consideration was the green roof. The cost of supporting the heavy weight of the growing medium over large spans was a concern. The project team honed the roof to 150 mm depth on the main building and 300 mm on the westerly slopes where

access was permitted. The solution provided savings compared to using a material such as aluminum panels on this highly visible roof.

Leaning columns Leaning columns on the north face make a dramatic statement. They overhang the sea wall and reach the highest point of the structure, 44

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metres above. To meet the seismic requirements, Glotman Simpson devised a unique diagonal brace with a linear spring composed of a series of disc spring washers. The device acts as a self-centering seismic resisting mechanism for the building. Patent applications are in process for the technology.

BIM, steel 3D modelling and fabrication Glotman Simpson took full advantage of 3D modeling and design, and delivering documentations electronically. Early in the design development they proposed using Building Information Modeling (BIM) for the structural engineering. They also proposed using Tekla software, a program commonly used by contractors to create steel shop drawings, together with SAP2000 and Revit Structure.

The process allowed steel fabrication to proceed quickly and showed design opportunities and potential problems ahead of fabrication. The process also allowed the full use of pre-purchased steel and helped to maintain budgets.

Early estimates of the steel quantities at the conceptual design were within 5% of final built quantities (17,498 tons), covering approximately 420,000 square metres of irregular and unique structure.

The total building cost was $885 million, of which the steel structure was $85 million.

CCE Project: Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Award-winning firm - structural engineers: Glotman Simpson Consulting Engineers (Robert D. Simpson, P.Eng., Geoffrey Glotman, P.Eng., Philip Espezel, P.Eng., Antonio Moino) Owner: Pavco/VCCEP Architects: LMN, Musson Cattell Mackey, DA Other key players: Westmar Worley Parsons, Stantec Consulting, Schenke/Bawol, Lock MacKinnon Domingo, PCL Constructors, Canron Western Constructors (steel contractor), Dowco, Levelton, Canam, Berkeley Engineering, Earth Tech.

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Walmart - Burlington This giant retail store in southern Ontario uses an innovative geothermal system that was installed in a very short time.

Stantec designed a large geothermal heating and cooling system for Walmart Canada’s 135,000-squarefoot green prototype supercentre in Burlington, Ontario. The project used other innovative cost-saving technologies as well.

The geoexchange system has a horizontal arrangement of pipe beneath the parking lot, drawing heat from the earth in the winter and pumping it back in the summer. As a result, Walmart Burlington’s heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems (HVAC) will generate energy savings of 57% compared to those in Walmart stores constructed prior to 2008.

SpiderPlow The project represents the first known global geo-exchange installation using SpiderPlow technology.

Traditionally the SpiderPlow has been used almost exclusively for oil and gas applications.

At the Walmart store, 15 kilometres of pipe was laid using the SpiderPlow in only six days, compared to about three months of installation time for a typical bore-hole system. The SpiderPlow technology had several benefits: it reduced ground disturbance, and it allowed digging at depths of greater than 7 feet, at a consistent depth in undulating terrain. It also allowed the installation of piping in a single pass. The technology reduced the geothermal construction costs by about 70%.

Roll-Out Radiant Mat Walmart had previously experiment-

ture and humidity control, CO2 demand ventilation control, and building pressurization.

Harvesting heat from store refrigerator cases Stantec worked with the refrigeration equipment engineer to design a system that harnesses the heat rejected from refrigerator cases and uses it for the hydronic heating system in the store during the cold months. During the warm months, the rejected heat is stored in the geo-exchange field.

ed with radiant cooling in one of its Las Vegas stores, but the Burlington store was the first application of both heating and cooling via a radiant slab.

Above left: SpiderPlow laying 15 kilometres of geotherStantec worked with the radimal pipe in six days, in contrast to approximately three ant system manufacturer to months using conventional methods. Above: laying the develop a “roll-out” radiant mat radiant “mat” of hydronic pipe. for the hydronic floor heating and cooling system inside the store.

The CO2-based refrigeration sysBecause proper humidity control tems use a non-traditional heat transwas critical for the Burlington store, fer fluid, which is 90% more environStantec, in conjunction with the dehumentally friendly than conventional midification equipment manufacturrefrigerants. Bio-Green 1,3-Propaneer, developed air handlers using heat diol (25 mixture) has improved envipump technology specifically for this ronmental and heat transfer properproject. The system includes temperacontinued on page 31 October/November 2009

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DESSAU

CÉROM Grain Research Centre A research building with three large greenhouses that draws most of its heat from solar and ground sources won an award of excellence.

Founded in 1997, the Centre de Recherche sur les grains (CÉROM) conducts research for Quebec’s grain production sector. DESSAU was asked to engineer the electro-mechanical systems for CÉROM’s new building in St-Mathieu-de-Beloeil, 30 kilometres east of Montreal.

The building has an area of 2,860 square metres, including two floors and three greenhouses, warehouses, offices, a library, a computer room, laboratories, cold rooms, freezing

studied before determining the one that would be the most efficient while also meeting the budget.

Geothermal wells The CÉROM building is equipped with 24 geothermal wells, 152-metres deep, coupled with a set of 29 waterair heat pumps. The heat pumps provide heating and air conditioning in the main building and three greenhouses. The heat pumps also heat the fresh air, supplied at 3,000 l/s.

Above: one of three greenhouses heated by geothermal systems that use a water-methanol mix for the circulating fluid.

Left: building complex .

rooms and growth cabinets used for research.

The challenge was to design a building that uses a maximum of renewable energy with innovative technologies that are readily available. The result is a building in which a majority of the heat originates from solar and ground energy.

The design concept was made possible by high-performance computerized calculation tools such as energy simulation. Several solutions were 30

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An enthalpy wheel was installed on the fresh air system. It transfers part of the heat and humidity contained in the building’s exhaust air into the fresh air.

A solar captor is also provided.

It has an area of 64 square metres and is mounted on the southwest orientation of the building. The solar captor system has a perforated metal wall with an air space behind.

The air in the captor is preheated by solar radiation before being trans-

ferred in the ventilation unit intake.

The system can raise the temperature of the fresh air by up to 10°C. Greenhouse heating Greenhouses require a lot of heating energy, due to the low heat resistance of the glass envelope.

The method normally used to heat greenhouses using geothermal systems consists of using a direct expansion system. That is to say, the refrigerant (often R-22) is circulated directly

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in the ground via copper piping. This is a low-cost solution, but the smallest leak of refrigerant into the ground releases a major greenhouse gas into the atmosphere and into water tables.

The fluid circulating in the geothermal wells of CÉROM is a watermethanol mix, thus considerably reducing contamination in case of leaks.

Economics of energy savings The combined efforts have produced an annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 347-tons. Annual energy savings are 673,728 kWh compared to a similar building designed in accordance with the Model National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings — a 54% reduction.

The energy efficient equipment cost $559,180 more than standard equipment, but it produces annual savings of $62,968. Furthermore, CÉROM qualified for incentives

from Hydro-Québec and Natural Resources Canada totalling $218,700. Considering all these factors, the payback period on the investment is 5.4 years.

Despite unexpected occurrences, the deadline was met and construction was completed in 2007 on the $5.2 million budget.

The project won an ASHRAE Technology Award 2009, Honourable Mention at the international level.

CCE Project: CÉROM, Centre de recherche sur les grains, St-Mathieu-de-Beloeil, Que. Award-winning firm - mechanical, electrical, structural, civil and geotechnical consultants: DESSAU (Frédéric Sauriol, ing., Hélène Rheault, ing., Frédéric Lewis, ing., Stéphane Sirard, ing., Michel Gendron, ing., Patrick Bourgeois, ing., Claude Lavoie, ing., Daniel Dubé, ing., Jonathan Grimard, ing., Charles Julien, ing.)

Architect: Groupe des Sept-Atelier

Walmart continued from page 29 ties compared to propylene glycol.

Modelling and controls Stantec developed a highly accurate computer model for the entire building system (roof, slab, walls, windows, and skylights) to analyze the rate of heat transfer to and from the ground over several years of heating and cooling the building. This extensive energy model using TRNSYS software, a transient thermal analysis software tool, was used to measure the performance of the mechanical system and the geo-exchange field, and to provide a tool to further improve performance.

An extensive control sequence to optimize and integrate all the system

components was developed, using a Novar control system.

Compared to a similar building designed according to the Model National Energy Code for Buildings, the Burlington store has achieved a 50% reduction in peak load demand.

CCE Project: Walmart, Burlington, Ont. Award-winning firm HVAC engineer: Stantec Consulting (Nuno Duarte, P.Eng., Jim Berenton, P.Eng., David Overton, Steve Hughes) Owner: Walmart Canada Other key players: Petroff Architects, Counterpoint Engineering, Ellard-Wilson Engineering, Cobalt Engineering October/November 2009

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B U C K L A N D & TAY L O R

William R. Bennett Bridge A new bridge over Okanagan Lake in Kelowna, B.C. that combines floating pontoons with fixed structures won an award of excellence.

The William R. Bennett Bridge extends across Okanagan Lake, connecting the communities of Kelowna and Westbank on Highway 97, in the interior of British Columbia.

The bridge is one of only eight floating bridges in the world, and the only one of its kind in Canada. It replaces a three-lane floating bridge with a lift span, with one that has five lanes and a navigation channel.

The floating bridge type was chosen partly because the depth of Okanagan Lake is up to 260 metres and the soil conditions are problematic for heavy foundations.

As bridge engineers for WRB Bridge Group, Buckland and Taylor met the difficult challenge of designing a floating bridge combined with fixed sections in a seismic zone.

Floating bridge design Extending 1,060 metres long in total, the bridge includes a 690-metre string of floating pontoons supporting an elevated deck. There are two 54-m transition spans, and a fixed west approach structure. The latter is 277metre long and includes an elevated span to allow for an 18-m high by 44-m wide marine passage.

Floating bridges can pitch, roll, yaw, move up and down, and respond dynamically to waves and wind. The Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (CHBDC) is written for fixed bridges, therefore other codes, particularly the Norwegian Code, were used to help establish the design criteria for vessel collision, pontoon stability, allowable movements and so on. World specialists in 32

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Top: steel plate girder transition span; these are 54 metres and supported on the floating pontoons. Above: west approach fixed structure allowing navigation passage.

floating bridge design, Aas-Jakobsen and Johs Holt of Denmark, were subconsultants.

The transition spans and their bearing and joint arrangements were complex to allow for movement in the floating structure while maintaining the rideability of the roadway surface. Since the lake level fluctuates by several metres every year, the transition spans also had to be long enough to prevent steep grade changes in the roadway.

The east transition span fixes the

pontoon string to the east abutment and restrains the floating structure longitudinally during normal operations. Its bearings are energy-absorbing fuse links designed to fail in an earthquake.

Anchoring new to old One of the most innovative aspects of the project was the method of connecting the new bridge to the existing bridge anchors. The existing bridge was later demolished. continued on page 34

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D AY T O N & K N I G H T

Eagle Lake Membrane Filtration Facility The engineers of this award-winning water treatment plant minimized its impact on the terrain. They also used advanced membrane technologies.

The new filtration water treatment plant at Eagle Lake in the hills of West Vancouver, British Columbia provides 21 million litres per day of potable water to local residents. Designed by Dayton & Knight consulting engineers, the plant produces water that exceeds Canadian and international drinking water quality guidelines, while using several environmental approaches.

Reduced footprint First, the ecological footprint of the 650 m2-plant was minimized by being designed as a vertically tiered structure that is integrated into the rock

bluffs. This approach minimized rock blasting and conserves habitat for the bald eagle. Being located at a high elevation also meant the treated water can flow by gravity down to the district residents, minimizing the reliance on pumping.

Primary and secondary filtration The facility is the first in the world to use a ZeeWeed速 1000 membrane for second stage treatment. Water rejected from the primary stage is re-filtered in the secondary stage, then further treated prior to public consumption.

The 18,000 m2 of membranes are a non-reinforced polyvinylidene fluoride based polymer with an absolute pore size of 0.1 microns. The overall efficiency of the plant exceeds 99%.

Use of the membranes for both the primary and secondary stage treatment allows a very low chemical dosage to be used. Bacteriological treatment and the removal of protozoa at the plant is largely achieved through the membrane filtration process; only viruses are removed via chlorination.

The naturally soft and corrosive water is also pH adjusted and stabilized to reduce degradation in continued on page 34

Above: tiered vertical structure designed to follow the natural rock bluffs.

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Eagle Lake Facility continued from page 33

William R. Bennett Bridge continued from page 32

the municipal water distribution system or residential plumbing systems.

The application also requires controlled pre-treatment to prevent excessive solids loading on the second stage membranes.

As a new pontoon was floated into place beside the existing bridge, the following sequence took place: • one or two anchor cables on the north side of the existing bridge were disconnected, shortened and attached to the north side of the new pontoon; • a cable carrying a suspended weight was connected between the new pontoon and the old bridge. As the lake level fluctuated, the weight raised or lowered keeping the bridge deck in place without overloading the anchors.

• once the new 690-m pontoon string was completed, the pontoon sections from the original bridge were disconnected, along with their submerged weights. Then the south anchor cables were lengthened and connected to the new bridge.

This elaborate sequence was analyzed for a total of 18 steps.

Construction of the $144-million crossing was completed between August 2005 and February 2009, 108 days ahead of schedule.

CCE

Conservation and re-use The chemicals for cleaning the filtration membranes are reused multiple times to minimize waste. This approach required the construction of special chemical storage tanks and recirculation systems.

Excess heat produced by the electrical equipment is cycled back into the building to conserve energy.

Ecosmart concrete was used to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. As well, over 70% of the construction waste was diverted from landfill through recycling, reduction or re-use. Lumber used in construction was certified to be from sustainable forests and any excess material was donated to the charity Habitat for Humanity to build homes.

The District of West Vancouver completed an economic sustainability study to assess the long term economics of this water supply. This study confirmed the $16-million treatment plant’s capacity and infrastructure had the highest benefit-to-cost ratio of all major viable options. CCE Project: Eagle Lake Membrane Filtration Facility, West Vancouver, B.C. Award-winning firm - prime consultant: Dayton & Knight, North Vancouver (Sean Brophy, P.Eng., Walt Bayless, P.Eng., Branislav Jutric, P.Eng., Alan Alexander, AScT, Jim Tryon) Owner: District of West Vancouver Other key players: Integrated Resource Consultants, Nason Contracting Group, GE Water & Process Technologies

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Project: William R. Bennett Bridge, Kelowna, B.C. Award-winning firm - bridge engineer: Buckland & Taylor, N. Vancouver (Darryl Matson, P.Eng., Rodger Welch, P.Eng., Joe Leal, P.Eng., Keith Kirkwood, P.Eng., Karsten Veng, P.Eng., Eduardo Pradilla, P.Eng.) Client/design-builder: WRB Bridge Group (SNC-Lavalin and Vancouver Pile Driving) Owner: BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure Owner-operator until 2035: SNC-Lavalin Owner’s engineer (for BC MoT): Worley Parsons (Westmar) Other key players: SNC-Lavalin, Aas-Jakobsen, Johs Holt A.S., Ben C. Gerwick, DMD & Assoc., Northwest Hydraulics, Trow Associates

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A S S O C I AT E D E N G I N E E R I N G

E.L. Smith Water Treatment Plant Upgrade In this award-winning project, engineers increased the capacity of a water treatment plant in Edmonton by 150%, but only expanded the facility’s footprint by 20%.

Continued population and economic growth in the Edmonton capital region is increasing overall customer demand for treated water. With the support of Associated Engineering, EPCOR increased the E.L. Smith Water Treatment Plant production from 240 million litres per day (ML/d) to an ultimate capacity of 600 ML/d — a 150% increase in production capacity with only a 20% increase in plant footprint.

The upgrades included a new river water intake line, new raw water pump house and transmission main, treatment process upgrades, new water disinfection systems, general site upgrades, and a 560-m long potable water transmission main extension drilled 10 metres below the North Saskatchewan river bed.

Reusing infrastructure EPCOR challenged Associated Engineering to reuse existing infrastructure as much as possible in their design of the upgrade.

Large increases in plant capacity can rarely be achieved without a commensurate increase in the plant footprint or an extensive retrofit of the existing plant process equipment. In this project, however, the capacity was expanded reusing the existing process equipment in innovative ways.

The infrastructure had to be fitted into components that had a very different set of design parameters and criteria. In addition, the engineers had to develop construction staging plans to ensure that existing systems continued to operate and that the treated water quality was never com-

promised throughout the construction and commissioning periods.

By reusing structures that may have otherwise been decommissioned or demolished, the project greatly reduced the need for new materials and infrastructure and for disposing of old structures. Minimizing the overall footprint of the plant also minimzed the building’s energy demand and associated greenhouse gas emissions.

gas for disinfection, Epcor decided to replace the chlorine gas system with an on-site sodium hypochlorite generation system. The new system uses salt to generate a weak (0.8%) sodium hypochlorite solution as the disinfectant.

The on-site generation of hypochlorite offers fewer environmental and

Environmentally friendly disinfection To reduce the potential environmental and safety risks associated with transporting and handling chlorine

Top: fish-friendly in-river raw water intake structure under construction. Above: aerial view, with new pump house facilities at right facing onto North Saskatchewan River.

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S TA N T E C C O N S U LT I N G

Cavendish Farms Bio-Gas Facility An award of excellence goes to a potato-processing plant in Prince Edward Island that converts its waste byproduct into fuel for running the plant.

The Cavendish Farms plant in New Annan, Prince Edward Island, processes potatoes into french fries. The “Irving Renewable Energy Project” completed in 2008 enabled its potato waste to be used as a fuel source for the facility.

By converting the waste to energy, the plant is now less dependent on oil and has reduced its waste disposal issues. The use of biogas as fuel is a carbon neutral process with respect to greenhouse gas emissions.

The project involved the construction of four primary digesters, two secondary digesters, and a material handling building to receive the raw waste. The project also added process equipment associated with biogas transfer, a hydrolysis tank, effluent dewatering, and waste water treatment. A major boiler was also upgraded to use the biogas to provide steam for the potato processing plant.

Converting waste to energy and the use of biogas has numerous benefits. The process takes normally discarded organic waste streams, which can be hard to dispose of, and changes them into a renewable fuel that can be used for mechanical/thermal or electrical energy. Biogas is an attractive renewable fuel source, since there will always be organic waste available for use as feed stock. Biogas does not add to the greenhouse effect and emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon oxide, carbon monoxides and hydrocarbons are extremely low in comparison to the combustion of fossil fuels.

As prime consultant, Stantec worked directly with Cavendish Farms throughout the project. Stantec’s work 36

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Above: the digester plant; the plant is located in one corner of the potato processing plant that covers 5-acres.

Left: potato waste.

included the preliminary design of flow diagrams, general arrangements, budgeting and scheduling. Teamed with a consultant in the field of digestion and biogas technology, Stantec provided the detailed process design, as well as civil, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and control design.

Stantec also provided construction support and was a major contributor to the commissioning of the plant.

Turning waste into value Continuous, transparent communi-

cation was necessary between Stantec and Cavendish Farms throughout the project. They dealt with variables stemming from the characteristics of the potato waste substrate, equipment availability, the automation requirements, geotechnical issues, and planning for a shutdown. The construction was completed with minimal interference for the existing operations.

Also, since some of the recommended European equipment vendors did not meet North American

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E.L. Smith Upgrade continued from page 35

standards, Stantec had to find alternative equipment suppliers.

The plant processes 100,000 tons of waste per year. Previously, Cavendish dealt with the large volumes of waste primarily by depending upon numerous small third-party end users, such as farmers. The demand from these users varied based on market conditions and the quality of the waste available. The distance between the processing plant and the end users also made delivery very costly.

Today, the residual dewatered sludge, discharged from the centrifuge, is being used as a fertilizer, and can be used to create value added, environmentally sustainable products for the retail, horticultural, and largescale agricultural markets.

The project was completed on a fast track schedule and was commissioned and ready for operation on time by the end of 2008.

During the budgeting phase major concerns were the potential gas output and the comparative cost of fossil fuels. While the gas output remains proprietary information, it can be said that the results outperform expectations.

CCE Project name: Irving Renewable Energy Project, New Annan, P.E.I. Award-winning firm - prime consultant: Stantec Consulting, Fredericton, N.B. (Darrin Mayo, P.Eng., Glenn Hawkins, Tech., Randy Wedge, P.Eng., Rick Grey, P.Eng., Collin Sleep, P.Eng.) Owner: Cavendish Farms Other key players: Krieg and Fischer (digestion & biogas consultant)

safety risks. It also can be run during off-peak periods, thus reducing peak power generation demands. When it was commissioned in 2008, this plant’s on-site sodium hypochlorite generation system was the largest system of its kind in Canada.

other projects have been designed based upon its intake design.

The upgraded plant was officially opened in June 2008, three years after preliminary design began. The final construction cost was $140 million.

CCE

River water intake and fish return The Department of Fisheries and Oceans required that the fish return system would achieve a 95% fish survival rate. Following extensive computational and physical modeling, the intake was designed with a very low suction velocity so most fish can easily swim away. Further, any fish that do become drawn into the raw water pump house are gently returned to the river with a unique, mechanical, fish-return system. Since the implementation of this facility, at least two

Project: E.L. Smith Water Treatment Plant Upgrade, Edmonton Award-winning firm - prime consultant: Associated Engineering (Ian P.D. Wright, P.Eng., Hans U. Wolf, P.Eng., Steve Croxford, P.Eng., Austin Kanagasuriam, P.Eng., Jennifer J. Plamondon, P.Eng., Matt S. Henney, P.Eng., Sean Bolongaro, P.Eng., Dusanka Stevanovic, P.Eng., Chris Bredo, P.Eng., Alan Miller, P.Eng.) Owner: EPCOR Water Services Other key players: AMEC, D.E. Schaefer Architect, Northwest Hydraulic Consultants, Golder Associates, Gibbs & Brown Landscape Architects.

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October/November 2009 Canadian Consulting Engineer 37 Jobnr. 304-1518 • Kunde: KSB • Anzeige Laufradvielfalt• Farben: 2c (Schwarz + Pant2945) Anlageformat = Endformat: B 114,3 x H 123,8 mm

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AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

C AT E G O R Y: N AT U R A L R E S O U R C E S , E N E R G Y

H AT C H

Small Hydro on the Welland Canal An award went to the discreet installation of a hydroelectricity generator in Locks 1 and 2 of the historic Welland Canal near St. Catharines, Ontario.

The historic Welland Canal system is an engineering marvel of the early 19th century. It connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie through a series of eight locks, allowing ships to by-pass the 51-m high Niagara Falls.

During the original construction of the locks, weirs were built to regulate the water levels. Two of these structures, Locks 1 and 2, were spilling water at a rate of 20m3 a second.

Recognizing that they could convert this spilled water to generate green energy, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation asked Hatch and Rankin Renewable Power to design and construct generating units within each of Locks 1 and

2. The two 2-MW plants altogether generate 25 GWh of green energy and offset 16,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

They were constructed with a lower environmental footprint and life cycle emissions than would be the case at any conventional greenfield water power site.

Leaving the locks fundamentally unchanged Since the design could not fundamentally change the locks themselves, Hatch developed solutions to make maximum use of the structures already in place.

First, one of the existing gates

at each of the locks was converted into a water intake for the generating units. This seemingly simple task required modifications to the concrete water passageway and the installation of 12-m high trash racks (bar screens).

To maximize the energy production at the new facilities, Hatch’s design required excavating the bottom of the canal. At Lock 2, the excavation unexpectedly exposed a very weak silty-clay soil, which meant real-time design modifications had to be made as the geological conditions were progressively exposed. Piles to support the new powerhouse struccontinued on page 40

Left: construction under way inside sheet piles on the new generating plant; in the background ships pass along an upper lock. Right: installing 12-m high trash racks to modify existing openings.

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C AT E G O R Y: S T U D I E S & S P E C I A L P R O J E C T S

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

K E R R W O O D L E I D A L A S S O C I AT E S & D E C D E S I G N M E C H A N I C A L C O N S U LTA N T S

Whistler Low-Temperature District Energy System This project won an award as an unusual system that extracts heat from treated sewage and uses it both to heat and cool the Athletes’ Village in Whistler, B.C. The Whistler Athletes’ Village District Energy-Sharing System (DESS) extracts heat from treated sewage effluent and circulates it through a two-pipe, closed-loop system. It is unusual because it extracts lowtemperature ambient heat, enabling it to provide both heating and cooling.

The Whistler DESS provides space heating, domestic hot water heating, and cooling for 2,200 users occupying 85,000 square metres of Above: schematic of system with two-pipe closed loop that can space. The system is provide both heating and cooling. Right: one of the first closedsystem heats the Whistler Athletes’ looped, heating and Village even when the wastewater cooling district energy effluent temperature is low. systems in the world, and should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 96% over ity, reliable, and conventional heating technologies. long-term energy Prime consultants Kerr Wood Leidal source that can Associates, in partnership with DEC provide 97% of Design Mechanical Consultants, were the Village’s annuasked initially to analyze potential heat al heat energy recovery from four sources: treated requirements. wastewater effluent, methane gas from Installed last year, the system a nearby landfill, groundwater, and uses submersible pumps located in geo-exchange. Ultimately, the team a chamber just downstream of the determined that treated wastewater wastewater plant to pump the treated effluent was the most reliable and costeffluent into the DESS mechanical effective option. The analysis revealed room, where heat is transferred by that wastewater effluent is a high-capacheat exchangers into a closed-loop

energy distribution system. The clean water is then pumped through a high density polyethylene pipe system to the Athletes’ Village. Heat pumps within the village buildings transfer the low intensity energy from the

October/November 2009

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AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

Welland Canal continued from page 38

Up against the wall on infrastructure projects?

tures had to be driven down to the bedrock 20 metres below the bottom of the excavation.

On-site engineering All the in-water construction had to be conducted during the winter months when the canal was out of operation. The winter turned out to be one of the coldest on record requiring special provisions such as cold weather concreting. Design and construction had to be fast-tracked and completed before the watering up of the canal to ensure that its normal operations were not affected.

Since the projects are within St. Catharine’s and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Hatch undertook a state-of-the-art acoustic assessment to ensure that the operating facilities would not present a problem for local residents. To protect the transient fish populations of the canal, Kaplan-type turbines that minimize impacts on fish, and upstream trash racks designed to min-

Save time.

Save money.

DESS to higher intensity energy for heating and cooling purposes.

Designing the Whistler system was extremely complicated because of the degree of variability in the energy source and variable demands. Further complicating matters was the need for the system to perform in a cold climate.

The size of the distribution network’s piping creates thermal storage, which can be conditioned to reduce the system’s peak loads.

When combined with the system’s ability to add other renewable energy sources, the storage capacity further reduces the system’s reliance on back-up gas-fired boilers.

The system can function in either a heating or cooling mode, or both at the same time. It was necessary to ensure that freezing would not occur under extreme weather conditions, but for both financial and environmental protection reasons,

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imize fish entrainment, were installed.

The project was completed on schedule by December 2007, within budget.

CCE Project: Locks 1 and 2, Small Hydro Project, Niagara Falls, Ont. Award-winning firm - prime consultant: Hatch (Ivor A. Shaw, P.Eng., James Neufeld, P.Eng., Harold Witt, Lisa Carson, Michael Parnya, P.Eng., Brian Fleming, P.Eng.) Owner: Rankin Construction Initial planning: St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.

Whistler District Energy continued from page 39

Choose fast, economical engineered solutions from AIL.

40

Above: completed powerhouse, downstream view.

www.canadianconsultingengineer.com

the potential use of anti-freeze was successfully avoided. The system has a design life of at least 50 years, requires little maintenance, and is inexpensive to operate.

It is projected that the system will produce up to 11,000 megawatt hours of building heating energy per year, using energy that would otherwise be wasted.

CCE Project: Whistler Athletes’ Village Low-Temperature District Energy-Sharing System, B.C. Award-winning firms: Kerr Wood Leidal Associates (Neil McDonald, P.Eng.), DEC Design Mechanical Consultants (William Vaughan, P.Eng., Tom Ren, P.Eng.) Owner: Whistler 2020 Development Corporation Other key players: Empac Engineering, Pro-Site Management, Graham Construction & Engineering, Whistler Excavations Supplier: Camus Hydronics (boilers)

October/November 2009

SLUG - DO NOT PRINT · 1256 · 2.125" x 10" · AIL_AgainstWall2 AIL-017-9ME · Pub: Canadian Consulting Engineer · CMYK Prepared by sgci communications · May 2009

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W I N N E R S G A L L E RY

2009 AWARDS

C A N A D I A N C O N S U LT I N G E N G I N E E R I N G A W A R D S 2 0 0 9

MEET THE WINNERS ...

Congratulations to the people who worked on the award-winning projects.

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6 1. Schreyer Award. South Interlake Recreation Centre, Warren, Manitoba. Tower Engineering. Left to right: Guenter Schaub, Greg Jorgensen, Terry Lindel (South Interlake Recreation Centre), Jack Abiusi, Mike Houvardas, Jeff Penner (ROAD Architecture).

2. Tree of Life Award. In Situ Bioremediation at Petroleum and Fertilizer Facilty in Gladstone, Manitoba. AMEC Earth & Environmental.

Left to right: Harley Pankratz, Patrick Campbell.

3

3. Eagle Lake Membrane Filtration Facility, West Vancouver.

Dayton & Knight. Left to right: Alan Alexander, Branislav Jutric, Sean Brophy, Walt Bayless, Jim Tryon.

4. Walmart, Burlington, Ont. Stantec Consulting. Left to right: Nuno Duarte, David Overton, Steve Hughes.

5. Cavendish Farms Biogas Facility, P.E.I. Stantec Consulting. Left to right: Darrin Mayo, Randy Wedge, Rick Grey, Collin Sleep.

4

6. Whistler Athletes’ Village Low-Temperature District Energy System, B.C. Kerr Wood Leidal Associates and DEC Design Mechanical Consultants. Left to right: Neil McDonald, William T. Vaughan.

In some cases the photographs only have a few members of the key consulting engineer team members. For a complete list, see the 4 project features on preceding pages.

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2 0 0 9 AWA R D S

W I N N E R S G A L L E RY

7. E.L. Smith Water Treatment Plant Upgrade, Edmonton. Associated Engineering. Back row, l. to r.: Hans Wolf, Rob Towstego (Epcor).

Front row, l. to r.: Karen Crews (Epcor), Austin Kanagasuriam.

8. CÉROM Grain Research Centre, Quebec. DESSAU. Left to right: Daniel Dubé, Stéphane Sirard.

9. Small Hydro, Locks 1 & 2, Welland Canal, Ontario. Hatch. Left to right: Noel Boucher, Harold Witt, Ivor Shaw.

10. Residences, École de Technologie Supérieure, Montreal. Bouthillette Parizeau & Teknika HBA. Left to right: Nathalie Boulet, Yves Beauchamp, Louis Crépeau.

11. William R. Bennett Bridge, Kelowna, B.C. Buckland & Taylor. Back row, l. to r.: Keith Kirkwood, Darryl Matson. Front row, l. to r.: Rodger Welch, Kevin Marat.

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12. Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion. Glotman Simpson. Left to right: Geoffrey Glotman, Robert D. Simpson.

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2009

engineer CANADIAN CONSULTING

W I N N ERS C I R C L E

Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada Association des firmes d’ingénierie-conseils-Canada

Congratulations to all the winners of the 2009 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards

Building the classics of Tomorrow, Today

CANRON

Canron is proud to have been involved in the construction of the Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion project and would like to congratulate Glotman-Simpson Consulting Engineers on their success with this project.

Supreme Group is Canada’s largest private steel fabricator with the following operations: Canron Western Constructors Ltd.- Vancouver • Canron Western Constructors Inc. - Portland Supreme Steel Ltd – Edmonton & Saskatoon • Midwest Constructors Ltd. – Edmonton Quality Fabricating and Supply Limited – Edmonton

www.supremegroup.ca October/November 2009

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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2009

engineer CANADIAN CONSULTING

W I N N ERS C I R C L E

Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada Association des firmes d’ingénierie-conseils-Canada

Congratulations to all the winners of the 2009 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards

Engineering sustainability. Community by community.

The award-winning system for the Resort Municipality of Whistler, British Columbia is a compact, low-carbon footprint design by DEC and KWL. Using low-temperature ambient heat, it is flexible enough to provide both heating and cooling for the Athletes’ Village. Extracting clean heat from sewage effluent, this is one of the first low-temperature closed-loop heating and cooling Energy Systems in the world.

DEC DESIGN

604 525-3341

DISTRICT ENERGY-SHARING SYSTEMS

decdesign.ca

604 294-2088

KERR WOOD LEIDAL

kwl.ca

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business

Illustration © D. Photo/Illustration Works Inc.

OnÊ yourÊ own byÊ Ner ysÊ Parr y

d

avid Wood, president of David F. Wood Consulting, is used to keeping many balls in the air. When I interview him, it’s a Saturday afternoon and the rock engineer is talking hands-free while navigating his way back to Sudbury after investigating a sudden rock fall in a tunnel project in Niagara Falls. The GPS murmurs inaudibly in the background while Wood explains in a clear English accent what events led him to leave his job with an international engineering firm to “hang up his own shingle.”

“I’m not by heart a businessman,” Wood says, “but things happened.”

He began his career in 1973 as the “most junior of junior engineers” at Golder Associates. A self-described rabble rouser and long-haired hippie, Wood worked his way up to become an associate. Then, after he had spent three years completing a research project in Sudbury, he was faced with a choice: either go back to being “a small fish in a big pond” as an associate in a large firm and a large city, or take the leap and become his own boss in Sudbury. For various reasons, he decided to stay, and in 1992 officially registered his consulting business.

Ten years later, this once-reluctant businessman won the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce’s Business Awards of Excellence, Small Office Home Office (SOHO) award.

Now he’s so busy, he’s even turning down work.

“If I could clone myself I’d be happy,” Wood says.

Nimble and personal Wood’s success is not unique. I spoke with engineers across the country who either work for themselves or in “microfirms” — companies of five or fewer full-time employees —

and all admitted to being very busy, despite the economic downturn and the growing trend towards the consolidation of engineering firms into larger, more international entities. What is it that makes these micro-firms not only survive in the competitive world of consulting engineering, but also thrive?

Micro-firms can offer clients certain advantages that larger firms can’t.

Being small keeps these firms nimble.

“We’re very good at tailoring our work to our clients’ needs,” says Perry Mitchelmore, P.Eng., president of Mitchelmore Engineering Company (Meco). He started his Dartmouth, Nova Scotia-based firm eight years ago as a sole proprietor and now has five fulltime staff: “We can tailor our work because we don’t have a “Mitchelmore engineering way.” We’re malleable, and can fit to what the client wants.”

Small firms can also often profit from smaller jobs. “I can offer a very good engineering service in the $5,000 to $10,000 range,” Wood explains, whereas a multi-national consulting firm, “can hardly even open an account [for that amount].”

Small also means personal. Quinn Saretsky Structural Engineers, a Calgary-based consulting firm with five employees, asked their clients what they liked best about working with their company. According to Kevin Saretsky, P. Eng., a partner in the firm, the majority of clients identified “knowing that the person they talk to about the project will be the one coming to site and actually doing the work” as one of the primary benefits. “There’s less chance of communication problems that way,” Saretsky explains.

Nor is it enough to be technically adept.

“You have to be good at many things,” Saretsky says, continued on page 46 October/November 2009

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continued from page 45

“not just engineering, [but also] working with clients and building business skills, and these take years of practice to develop.” How many? At least 10 to 15, according to Saretsky and the half dozen or so engineering colleagues he informally polled on the matter.

Experience counts, because even though an engineering company may be small, it still has to deal with big business problems.

Cash flow and staffing “Starting an engineering firm is really no different than starting any other small business,” says David Shilton, a manager with the small business division of TD Canada Trust — which could be bad news, given the high failure rates for new firms, and especially micro-enterprises, in the first few years after start-up. But Shilton assures me that engineers and other professionals have a higher chance of success than the average start-ups.

“Engineers are lower risk,” he explains. “They’re professional, well-trained, and they tend to run their businesses well and prosper.” Which is why TD Canada Trust actively targets engineers with unique lending packages.

But there are still challenges to overcome for the smaller micro-firms.

“Cash-flow is generally the biggest concern,” Shilton says.

It’s a particular issue in consulting, where a firm isn’t usually paid until after work is completed, and it can be especially difficult during dry spells.

“Cash flow is king,” Mitchelmore agrees. Now in his eighth year in business, he remembers the worries he faced when his firm was pulling in only enough to stay afloat.

“Running your own firm isn’t for anyone without faith,” he says.

Another struggle is staff turnover, which has been particularly difficult in recent years when the lure of larger firms has been hard to compete with. While the loss of one employee in a firm of 500 may be negligible, the same loss for Mitchelmore’s firm represents 20% of their workforce, and that’s a significant impact.

Then there’s the difficulty of wearing too many hats.

How do you manage your engineering work while still keeping on top of administrative, financial and IT burdens? Most of those interviewed agreed that the best solution was either to contract or hire help.

“You need to get good advice,” says Wood. “Go and find yourself a very good accountant who sells his services at a similar rate and time frame as you do and get to know him really well.”

As for administration and computer technology, Mitchelmore and Quinn Saretsky contract and hire people to manage these areas.

“I’ve tried doing it myself,” Mitchelmore says. “but no way… You can fudge your way through it, but you can’t do it properly.”

Lifestyle and freedom The challenges of operating a micro-sized engineering consulting firm are many, so why bother?

“If you’re just doing it for the money there are easier ways,” Mitchelmore says.

“You’ve got to believe in what you are doing and have some underlying reasons for why you’re doing it.”

For Mitchelmore and others I interviewed, the reasons can be summed up in one word: lifestyle.

Doug Cathcart, P. Eng., president of Cathcart Mechanical Performance in Ottawa, relishes the freedom of being a sole owner. Prior to going out on his own in 2002, he’d spent many years working for larger companies, and while he had enjoyed the work, it consumed all his time and he rarely saw his friends. The breaking point came when his friends stopped calling because they assumed he was “probably working, as usual.”

Now Cathcart is busy, but “if it’s Friday afternoon and sunny out, and I’m done my work, I can just pick up my golf clubs and I don’t have to explain to anybody where I’m going.” He makes time to have a social life — something he’s come to see as essential.

Wood, as well as Saretsky and his partners, J. Charles (Choc) Quinn, P. Eng., and Dean Jeworski, P. Eng., agree that running their own business gives them more time with their families. As for Mitchelmore, when I interviewed him, he’d just returned from five weeks vacation with his wife and children. And if five weeks sounds luxurious, imagine this: that was his third vacation this year.

But while all this time out of the office sounds positively decadent, it can also be deceiving, and doesn’t necessarily equate with time away from the business.

“You never really leave the office,” Mitchelmore cautions. “You’re always working.” In fact, our brief discussion triggers two or three “must-remember to do” tasks for Mitchelmore when he returns to his office.

The freedom to choose your own hours isn’t the only reason many engineers decide to become entrepreneurs.

Saretsky and his partners decided to go out on their own so that they could have more control over the kind of work they do and how they do it. As an unforeseen benefit of this decision, Saretsky feels that their careers have progressed at a faster rate since they went out on their own.

The Big Future of small All the engineers I spoke with agreed that despite the industry trend towards amalgamation, there will always continued on page 52

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engineers & the law

By Owen D. Pawson and So Yin Woo Miller Thomson LLP

Canada Line Nuisance

Court sides with retailer against P3 developer

U

nd�� �� ��� �n������n��� �����n �������������� ����� T�� ����� f��nd ���� ��� ����� ��n�� �����x������n w�� n������ (P3) ����n����n�� f�� ����d�n� ������ � “����� �����������f������n” �f ��� ������ ���� ��n������ �nf�����������, ��� ������� ������ ����n�� ��������� ���n w���d ���� �n C����� S�����. T��� ������� �f ����� ����� ��� ��n������ ���k f�� d����n �nd ��n��������n. A ��n��� �f d��������n f����d ��� ����nd ����nd f�� � ����� ����n� B������ C������� ����� ���� �������� ���� ��� ����n� �f ����������n�����n. In f���, ��� ����n��� �f H�z�� & C�. w�� ���� ��������� �f P3 ����n��� �� ���w�n� �n �������n �� d����n ��������� d�������d �� ��n��������n f��� f��� 2005 ������� �nd ��n��������n �����d�. A� ������� �n�����d �n d����n�n� �� O������ 2008. T�� ����� f��nd ���� ��� ��� �nd ����� �nd �d��n������n� ����� P3 ���j����, ��n�����n� �n��n���� �����d �f ��n��������n w�� ��� ���� ����� �f ��� ���n���� n��d �� �� �w��� �f ��� d������n� ���� �n�����d �� H�z�� & C�.

“Hazel & Co. claimed it was �n ��� B.C. ���� �nd ����� ����n���� M�. J������ P��f���d �w��d�d �������. misled by representations $600,000 �n d������ f�� ���n���� T�� ���� �f S���n H���� In�. �. V�n� that the construction along ������ ������n�d �� M�. H����’ ����� ������ (C���) �� � 2009 j�d���n� �f ��� n��� �n ��� ����� �f ��� n�� ����� f��� B.C. S������ C���� ������n� �� ��� P3 Cambie Street in front of the �����d�n� �����. T�� ������ ��d� ���j��� �� d������ ��� C�n�d� L�n�, � store would be done by an ����n�� ��� C��� �f V�n������ �nd ��� ����d ���n��� ��n� ���� ���n�d ����n��� underground bored tunnel.” �����n���� �nd f�d���� �����n��n�� �nd ��nn���� ��� ������� �nd ��� C��� w��� d�������d, �� w��� ��� ������ �f �f R�����nd w��� V�n������. T�� ������ ������ �n������ n������n�� �nd ����������n�����n ����n�� T��n���nk, CLRT �n�����d �n ��� ���������n �n���d�d ��� C��� �f V�n������, �nd ��� ��n������n����, InT��n��� BC. H�w����, ��� ����� ��� �����n�� �f B������ C�������, ��� f�d���� �����n��n�, �f n����n�� w�� �������f�� ����n�� T��n���nk, CLRT �nd T��n�L�nk (� ���wn ����������n �����n����� f�� d������� InT��n��� BC. ��n� �f �����n�� ���n���������n) �nd � ������� ������� T�� ����������n�����n ����� w�� d�������d �� ��� ����� ����������n “CLRT” f����d �� T��n�L�nk f�� ��� C�n�d� f�� �w� �����n�. F����, �� w�� ���d ���� ����� w�� n� ���d�n�� L�n� ���j���. C����� w��� ���� ��d� ����n�� ��� ������� ���� �� ������� ��� ���������n ���� ��� �������n�����n �f � ����d ��nn�� ��d� �n 2003 �� M�. H���� w�� f���� �� n������n� ��� “��n������n����” kn�wn �� InT��n��� BC. S���n H���� w�� ��� �wn�� �nd �������� �f H�z�� & C�., ������� ��� ��� �nd ����� �����d �f ��n��������n w�� n�� � �����n��� ������n� ����� ������d �n C����� S����� �n V�n� ��n��d���d �n��� 2004. S���nd, ��� ��������d d������n �f ������. T�� ����� w�� d������� �n ��� ����� �f ��� C�n�d� ����� ��n��� f�� ��� ��� �nd ����� �����d w�� �������� �� L�n� ��n��������n. H�z�� & C�. ������d �� w�� �����d �� ���� ��� ���� ��� d������n w�� ��d�, �nd �� �n�� ������ �n����� ����n�����n� ���� ��� ��n��������n ���n� C����� S����� �n ���� �� � ������ �f ��nd����n� �n���n����d d���n� ��� ������ f��n� �f ��� ����� w���d �� d�n� �� �n �nd������nd ����d �f ��n��������n. ��nn�� �nd ���� ����� w���d �� n� d��������n �� ��� ������ T�� n������n�� ����� w�� ���� d�������d ������� H�z�� ���f���. M�. H���� ��n�w�d ��� ����d�n� ����� ����d �n ���� & C�. d�d n�� ������ �n� ���� �� �����n� �� ��������, �nd � �������n�����n. T�� ��n������n���� �����n����� f�� d����n ����� �f n������n�� d��� n�� ������ �������� f�� ������ ���� �nd ��n��������n �f ��� ���j��� �����q��n��� ���n��d ��� n���� ������. T�� ����� f��nd ���� ��� f������ ����� f�� n��� ��n��������n �����d f�� ��� ��n� �� � ��� �nd ����� �� ����n�� w�� ���� �������� ����nd�d �n � n����n�� �����. “���n ���n��” w���� ��q����d ��j�� �x�������n �nd ������� T�� ����� �f n����n�� ����n�� ���� ��� �����n���� �nd d��������n �� ��� ������. T�� ��� �nd ����� �����d ��d���d ��� f�d���� �����n��n� w�� d�������d �� ����� ������� ��n��������n ����� �� $400 ������n. ������ ��n�������d f�nd� �� ��� ���j���. T�� ����� ���� f��nd ���� ��� C��� �f V�n������ w�� n�� ������ �n ��� ����� “Gross over-simplification” �f n����n�� �� �� ���k�d ��ff����n� �n�������n� �nd d�d n�� of construction impacts ���� �n���� kn�w��d�� �f ��� ���j���.

T�� ��n������n���� ���d ���� ��� ��� �nd ����� ��n��������n H�w����, T��n���nk, CLRT �nd InT��n��� BC w��� w���d ���� n� ���� ���n ����� ��n���. In f���, ����� w�� f��nd �� �� j��n��� �nd ��������� ������ �n ���� f�� n����n�� �n ���n ���n�� �n C����� S����� f�� �� �� ����� ��n���. continued on page 52 October/November 2009

p47 CCE OctNov_09 Eng&Law_Prod.indd 47

Canadian Consulting Engineer

47

05/10/09 10:14 AM

financial

By Jeff McRae & James Ward Rosenswig McRae Thorpe LLP

Minimizing Your Taxes

Is the ownership structure of your business tax-efficient?

I

n today’s economy it’s tough for business owners to make money, so keeping the taxman’s share of your income to a minimum is key to financial success. Fundamental to minimizing tax is having the right legal and ownership structure.

There are three important questions in choosing among alternative structures.

Have opportunities for income splitting with family members been carefully considered?

The top marginal tax rate in Canada for individuals is 46.4%, paid on every dollar above $115,000 in personal income. By splitting income from an active business with a lower-income spouse and other non-minor family members, significant tax savings can be achieved. (a) Restructuring your corporation to allow your spouse Have the benefits of the small business tax rate and adult children to have ownership in the corporation for the first $500,000 of income been maximized? or in the holding company, either personally or through Canadian tax rules provide for a 16.5% tax rate on the first a family trust, will allow you to split income and save taxes. $500,000 of corporate income for Canadian Controlled Pri- The dividends previously paid to you at the high tax rate vate Corporations. This low level of corporate tax allows for of 31% can be paid to them instead, either at nil tax or a tax savings if properly applied. very low tax rate. For example, an (a) In many cases the corpora- “When your holding company individual with two children in unition will use salary and bonus to receives this dividend, versity could save almost $25,000 in the employee/shareholder to bring no tax is paid.” tax if the corporation paid $80,000 corporate income to a low level. in dividends to the children. (b) Income can be split with minor children, but due to The better strategy is to leave as much income in the corporation as possible after first paying the owners enough the “kiddie tax” imposed by Canada Revenue Agency, bento maximize their RRSP contributions — approximately efits are less lucrative than in the case of adult children. If $120,000. The remaining profit should remain in the cor- you personally pay tax at the top dividend rate of 31%, this poration to be taxed. Corporate tax will be paid and the has to be compared to the 27% rate paid by minor children. remaining after-tax profit will be paid to the shareholders The difference gives a saving of 4%, so that on dividends as a dividend. The use of this simple strategy will create tax of $40,000 the tax savings would be approximately $1,600. (c) There are no income splitting possibilities if you use savings of approximately 5% in most cases. (b) If you are in the enviable position of not need- the PC structure on its own. There is, however, a structure ing all the salary and dividends available to support your that uses a management corporation/partnership. The manlifestyle, there is an opportunity for tax deferral. Whether agement corporation would be owned by your spouse and you are the only shareholder or have other shareholders, children and would charge a management fee to the PC. you should consider using a holding company. When the corporation pays a dividend, instead of it being paid to you Does the structure maximize the benefit of the government’s it would be paid to your holding company — the new share- generous Scientific Research Tax Credit program? holder of the corporation. Unlike when you receive the Between the federal and Ontario programs it is possible dividend personally and pay tax on it, when your holding to recover over 60% of salary costs incurred for qualified company receives this dividend no tax is paid. research. However, the program is much less generous for (c) If you currently operate as a partnership, you have partnerships and proprietorships than for corporations. If the ability to use the Professional Corporation (PC) struc- you are taking advantage (or planning to take advantage) ture. The usefulness of this structure will depend on your of the SR&ED program, a switch from a partnership to a business model. The PC structure allows for each partner to corporation structure could be greatly beneficial.

CCE use their own PC to charge the partnership for the services they provide. Each of the PCs could have its own $500,000 Jeff McRae CA, CFP & James Ward practise with Rosenswig small business rate. This structure b ecomes more and more McRae Thorpe LLP, a Toronto-based accounting firm specializing in the professional services sector. attractive the more partners there are.

48

www.canadianconsultingengineer.com

p48 CCE OctNov_09 Financial_1.indd 48

October/November 2009

05/10/09 10:14 AM

manufacturer case study

transportation

AIL Vist-A-Walls stand tall in Edmonton mega project

W

hen the city of Edmonton decided to undertake a major interchange project at the site of its busiest intersection — 23rd Avenue at Gateway Boulevard — time and economy were of the essence.

The 23rd Avenue Interchange project converts the level, signaled intersection serving over 100,000 vehicles a day, to a split diamond interchange carrying its busy namesake over equally-busy Gateway Boulevard, the Calgary Trail (Hwy 2) and a CP Rail line. The $260-million-plus, four-year effort also included: five bridges; roadway, railway and drainage construction; and the re-alignment of major oil and gas pipelines.

The design called for 25 Vist-A-Wall MSE Structural Walls™ to be constructed over a 14-month period. The Precast Panel Walls were primarily used in fill applications to elevate 23rd Avenue. They covered an area 18,116 m² and used 500,000 m³ of clay fill and 250,000 m³ of granular fill. The AIL contract included: engineering, design and drafting; manufacturing and delivery of precast concrete panels; manufacturing and delivery of soil reinforcing; and coordination of design and delivery of materials in accordance with the contractor’s schedule.

AIL’s in-house engineering and technical teams worked very closely with the lead contractor and prime consultant/designer to address some unique challenges. The most significant challenge was to coordinate the design and material delivery with the contractor’s accelerated schedule, while still delivering a high-quality product and a system that could be constructed quickly. Another key challenge was in developing a concrete mix for the precast panels that would meet the project’s stringent coulomb requirement. The mix design involved a specialized, high-performance concrete that had a very low permeability of less than 500 coulombs requiring a seven-day wet cure process prior to shipping. AIL also created a custom, slope-topped design for the panels, and custom, extended soil reinforcement bar mat lengths for the abutment walls.

The project was started in the spring of 2008 and will be completed in the summer/fall of 2010. Wall construction is nearing completion and AIL will be showcasing the project in the near future as one of Western Canada’s more significant infrastructure upgrades. In the meantime, the project’s extensive website features a live construction cam, a 3D-animated drive-through and more detailed information at http://www.23avenue.com/.

Founded in 1965, AIL has become a world leader in developing efficient, engineered solutions in corrugated metal structures, modular steel bridges, MSE retaining walls and other products used in infrastructure construction and renewal in the transportation, public works, mining, forestry and environmental sectors.

ADVERTORIAL

ATLANTIC INDUSTRIES LIMITED

Article supplied by Ted Jones, Alberta Regional Manager, Atlantic Industries Limited (AIL), 1-403-730-6980. For more information on AIL, Vist-A-Wall MSE Structural Wall Systems™ and other AIL products and project profiles, please visit ail.ca.

October/November 2009

p49-50 CCE OctNov_09 AIL&Denso CaseStudies.indd 49

Canadian Consulting Engineer

49

05/10/09 10:14 AM

ADVERTORIAL

manufacturer case study

corrosion protection

DENSO NORTH AMERICA INC.

Protecting the world’s greatest waterfall

N

iagara Falls is without a doubt one of the most impressive of the World’s Natural Water Falls.

Set between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie in Canada’s Great Lakes, Niagara Falls separates the United States and Canada with a spectacular display of plunging, raging water that never fails to attract and impress the nearly 28 million tourists a year who visit the site!

Niagara Falls is unique as it is the biggest waterfall in the world, and the most powerful in North America. While not as high as others around the world, it is certainly the widest and the water flow is an impressive 6 million cubic feet/minute from a height of 173 feet!!

As a major border crossing between the two countries, there are several large suspension bridges that span the Niagara River flowing out from the Falls themselves, and crossing between Canada and the U.S.A. Denso Canada was recently awarded a contract to supply Denso Void Filler to provide anti-corrosion protection on the stranded cable supports on the Rainbow Bridge, a steel arched structure spanning the river for a distance of 950 feet (290 m).

From the accompanying photographs, it is clearly a spectacular view from the job site over the river, with the Falls in the background.

Now complete, the job overall involved a total of 10 x 200-litre drums of material.

Denso Canada was proud to have been selected as the key supplier to such a highly important and high-profile project and hopes that this work will be viewed as another fine example of Denso products protecting the world’s infrastructure from the ravages of corrosion -- and in particular, protecting one of the world’s greatest natural waterfall sights from future deterioration.

Article provided by Denso North America Inc., Toronto, Tel. 416-291-3435, www.densona.com

50

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p49-50 CCE OctNov_09 AIL&Denso CaseStudies.indd 50

05/10/09 10:15 AM

Specifier’s Literature Review CLAESSEN PUMPS LIMITED NEW PUMPS NEW STYLE A totally redesigned product brochure is now available from Claessen Pumps Limited. Both sludge and dewatering pump curves and all of the new features are included. Contact your sales rep today to get your copy. Toll Free (888) 249-7084 www.claessenpumps.com SUPPLIER: CLAESSEN PUMPS LIMITED

NEVER BE WITHOUT POWER AGAIN Generac’s number-one priority is to meet our customers’ standby power needs with products of superior quality and outstanding reliability. We supply innovative backup power solutions from 8 kW to 9 MW in gaseous, diesel and Bi-FuelTM. Better options.

Better power output. Better lead times. Contact us at 1-888-GENERAC (1-888-436-3722) or visit our website at www.generac.com.

Learn more.

SUPPLIER: GENERAC

IN-DEPTH INFORMATION ON WATER HAMMER Water hammer can occur in large-scale piping systems when fluid flows are suddenly interrupted, i.e. due to rapid valve closing/ opening or pump stops. Effects can range from annoying noises to significant damage to pipes, pumps and valves. KSB’s free-ofcharge brochure shows how effective surgecontrol measures help to avoid this phenomenon. For more information please visit our website at www.ksb.ca or e-mail ksbcanada@ ksbcanada.com or contact us at 905-568-9200 SUPPLIER: KSB PUMPS INC.

p51-52 CCE OctNov_09 Lits_contdpg.indd 51

KEEP UP WITH CANAM SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES The Canam Info-Tech bulletin, aimed at the consulting engineering community, is intended to keep decision-makers informed about the various products Canam fabricates. By consulting Canam Info-Tech, designers will learn how to make optimum use of Canam products for the benefit of their customers. Register free of charge at www.canam.ws/engineers. For more information, contact us at www.canam-steeljoist. ws/contactus-engineering.

SUPPLIER: CANAM INFO-TECH

PREVENT ASPHALT CRACKING If you were planning to rout and seal your asphalt joints after they fail, think about the added costs of repairing what you’ve already done. Denso Re-instatement Tape is a polymer modified bituminous strip that is cold applied and designed to seal the joints between asphalt, concrete and steel, the first time. Re-instatement Tape seals around catch basins, manholes, utility cuts and next to concrete curbs prior to paving. Do it right the first time with Denso Road Products. For more information contact: Blair Slessor at 416-291-3435, email: blair@densona.com, or visit our website at www.densona.com SUPPLIER: DENSO NORTH AMERICA INC.

THE NEWEST RESOURCE FOR PUMPS AND PUMPING SYSTEMS Today’s processes place heavy demands on pumps when it comes to optimum operation, high reliability and low energy consumption.

Therefore, we have developed the Grundfos Pump Handbook which, in a simple manner, deals with various considerations when sizing pumps and pump systems. This handbook, developed for engineers and technicians who work with design and the installation of pumps and pump systems, includes answers to a wide range of technical questions. For more information please visit our website at www.grundfos.com SUPPLIER: GRUNDFOS CANADA

REAP THE REWARDS Sponsored by Engineers Canada (the business name of the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers), this financial security program is designed for professional engineers, geoscientists and their families across Canada. Together with Great-West Life, we offer access to retirement and savings plans at generally lower than market retail fees with personal, professional service. More information is available at www.engineerscanada.ca/e/pr_member_7.cfm or call 1-800-724-3402.

SUPPLIER: GREAT-WEST LIFE

05/10/09 10:15 AM

S-CONCRETE FOR WINDOWS

CANADIAN CONSULTING ENGINEER 2010 MEDIA KIT

S-CONCRETE is a reinforced concrete section design and detailing software that operates in stand-alone mode or integrated with our structural analyis software, S-FRAME and P-FRAME. S-CONCRETE supports the current American, Canadian, British, and Singapore standards. It will design beams, columns, composite columns, and shear walls subjected to wind and earthquake loads. For more information please visit our website at www.s-frame.com SUPPLIER: SOFTEK SERVICES LTD.

engineers & the law

continued from page 47

because TransLink and its subsidiary, CLRT had accepted the design and InTransit BC caused the project design to be implemented. The court rejected the defence of statutory authority because alternative construction methods were available and Translink, CLRT and InTransit BC were not obliged by statute to pursue the cut and cover method.

The court did not accept that the loss sustained by Hazel & Co. was a burden that the retailer should absorb “as its contribution to the realization of a project of general public utility.” The court found that the potential cost savings of a change to the design or the method of construction should not automatically outweigh adverse financial consequences and disruptions to private third parties. Not surprisingly, the Heyes decision is under appeal.

Could lead to class actions The Heyes decision is important because it challenges the assumption that a P3 project that benefits the public will outweigh the inconvenience and effects on its neighbours. It also illustrates the importance of accuracy when making representations to the public about a project and highlights the increased risk of claims for damages against P3 parties for the choice of design and construction methods. Consulting engineers should be alert to situations similar to those in Heyes and be aware that decisions regarding changes to design and construction methods for a major project carry the risk of potential claims where those decisions impact private third parties. In addition, engineers should review their project agreements and ensure they understand the allocation of risk for design and construction methods. Of particular interest will be indemnity provisions that distribute such liability.

Finally, engineers should note that there is a pending class action lawsuit from other store owners impacted by the construction of the Canada Line. That lawsuit is in abeyance pending the outcome of the appeal. But, if the appeal is not successful, indirect costs of the project due to the class action lawsuit could be significantly increased, well beyond 52

Canadian Consulting Engineer magazine provides high quality editorial coverage of the most pertinent and timely issues that affect engineers across Canada. The magazine reaches the consulting engineers who make the critical decisions on building and construction projects. This is exactly the audience you need to reach. Advertise your product or service with us. Be seen and be specified!

To order your 2010 media kit, please send along your request to Maureen Levy at (416) 510-5111 or email: mlevy@ccemag.com

the award to Ms. Heyes — possibly in excess of the savings realized by the concessionaire from using cut and cover construction!

CCE Owen D. Pawson is a partner, and So Yin Woo is an associate, with Miller Thomson LLP in Vancouver.

business

continued from page 46

be room for micro-engineering firms. As for the future, Mitchelmore projects that as more baby boom engineers enter retirement, it’s likely many will turn to moonlighting — which may make it difficult for younger engineers wanting to launch out on their own. On the plus side, however, Saretsky has noticed that engineers are getting called out more often to do jobs that would have previously been considered too small to warrant professional assessment.

As people grow more concerned about liability, he says, the number of these smaller jobs may grow, which may mean more work for flexible micro-firms.

While no one can accurately predict the future of microfirms in consulting engineering, there is no doubt that running one is not for the faint of heart. Mitchelmore pretty well sums up his risk-taking, run-it lean-and-mean mentality as a micro-firm owner when he tells me one of his and his wife’s favourite sayings: if you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.

So if you’re considering hanging up your own shingle, remember that this is where most micro-firms must be willing to operate, at the edge, where the freedom can be exhilarating, but where the fall can also be steep, and the cost margins lean. The edge is also where another old saying comes to mind: look before you leap.

CCE Nerys Parry is a freelance writer, and former environmental consultant who now works as a manager of property at a government research campus in Ottawa.

www.canadianconsultingengineer.com October/November 2009

p51-52 CCE OctNov_09 Lits_contdpg.indd 52

05/10/09 10:15 AM

engineer CANADIAN CONSULTING

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Claessen Pumps Limited

24

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Denso North America, Inc

34

sales@densona.com

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EBS Construction & Engineering

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dave.twining@ge.com

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GE Security

55

Generac

9

1-888-GENERAC

www.generac.com

Grundfos

28

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www.grundfos.com

Hatch Ltd.

2

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Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Ltd.

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www.kwl.ca www.ksb.ca

KSB Pumps

37

ksbcanada@ksbcanada.com

905-568-9200

London Life

15

grsnet@londonlife.com

800-742-3402

McNally Construction Inc

31

Miller Thomson LLP

10

Moen Inc

5

Schneider Electric

19

Softek Services

56

Manufacturer Case Study

October/November 2009

Website

opawson@millerthomson.com

905-549-6561

www.mcnallycorp.com

604-643-1254

www.millerthomson.com

800-465-6130

www.moen.ca

neil.joseph@schneider-electric.com

800-565-6699

www.schneider-electric.com

sales@csc-softek.com

604-273-7737

www.csc-softek.com

Title

Phone

Website

Atlantic Industries

49

AIL Vist-A-Walls stand tall in Edmonton mega project

877-245-7473

www.ail.ca

Denso North America, Inc

50

Protecting the world’s greatest waterfall

416-291-3435

www.densona.com

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October/November 2009

p53-56 CCE OctNov_09 AdInd_HumanEdgeRev.indd 53

Canadian Consulting Engineer

53

06/10/09 1:22 PM

the human edge

Glotman Simpson Cycling Club A sponsorship program takes off

G

lotman Simpson structural engineers in Vancouver are sponsoring a highly successful — and growing — cycling club which is making a name for itself in British Columbia. Geoffrey Glotman, P.Eng., a principal of the company talked about the club with CCE. Q. How did the cycling club come about?

I’m an avid cyclist and an avid triathlete, so I’m interested in the sport. Then about five years ago a friend of mine who races asked if we’d be interested in sponsoring a team.

We have two groups of people. We have a racing team, which consists of 12 riders. They have done phenomenally well in the B.C. Provincial Road Championships this year.

We also have a recreational group that goes out on Saturdays and Sundays for two to three hour rides. There are five or six of us at the company who show up, including three partners. I’m not a racer, just a rider in the recreational group.

The racers that we pick to be on our team are people who have generally been in the sport for a long time. They are a little bit older, in their 30s, and now want to give something back to cycling. So they come out and ride with us and give us tips.

In the last year or two the club has suddenly taken off. It now has over 115 members and we’re one of Vancouver’s largest cycling clubs. I think a big part of it is because we’re trying to create a club that is more about camaraderie rather than just a bunch of racers. So we have all types of riders, including those who are interested in becoming better riders but don’t want to become the best in B.C. Q. What’s the pleasure in cycling?

Cycling is just a great sport to relieve the stress of the working week, and keep fit at the same time. The average speed is about 30 kilometres an hour, but you can get to over 50 kilometres an hour in certain parts of the ride. So you cover a lot of ground in a short period. And there’s great camara-

54

Above: the Glotman-Simpson team in action. Inset: Geoffrey Glotman.

derie and group effort. For example, drafting is where you ride behind the person in front and they buffet all the wind.

The cyclist behind saves 30 or 40 per cent in energy. So if we have, say, 10 people out there riding, we’ll rotate the person at the front of the pack. It’s like birds flying in the sky in a V-shape.

The nice thing about cycling is that it appeals to everybody — the CEO of a company and the guy who works outside. Out there we’re all just riders, so it’s fun.

We’re also fund-raising. The Glotman Simpson Cycling Team is soon to be called the Pancreatic Cancer Research Cycling Team sponsored by Glotman Simpson. (A few years ago, my wife’s mother passed away from pancreatic cancer.)

Over the last year we’ve held as fundraisers a Vancouver to Seattle ride, a Kelowna to Vancouver ride, and the Cypress Mountain Hill climb in September. We’re going to raise over $30,000 this year.

Q. Do you see the club as a benefit to the business?

It brings awareness that we’re much more than an engineering firm. It shows that we have people here who are quite fit and competitive, which I think leads people to understand that we’re probably pretty good engineers as well.

I’m a big believer that someone who has the commitment and dedication to do well in sport is also likely to be successful in business.

CCE

www.canadianconsultingengineer.com October/November 2009

CCE--Safer-to p53-56 CCE OctNov_09 AdInd_HumanEdgeRev.indd 54

05/10/09 11:22 AM

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30/09/2009 3:12:48 PM 05/10/09 11:22 AM

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05/10/09 11:22 AM