Canadian Consulting Engineer MarchApril 2014

For professional engineers in private practice

MARCH/APRIL 2014

PEACE BRIDGE, CALGARY CANADA BUILDS TRANSIT EVERGREEN LINE DOWNSVIEW PARK STATION

CHARBONNEAU COMMISSION COLLATERAL DAMAGE

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contents

March/April 2014 Volume 55, No. 2

features Cover: Peace Bridge, Calgary, designed by Santiago Calatrava with Stantec Consulting.

Photograph by Roy Ooms, courtesy Stantec.

See story p. 28.

What Do Your Clients Really Think? See story p. 33.

departments Comment

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Up Front

6

ACEC Review

11

Products 42 Advertiser Index

43

Next issue: Geo-exchange systems, living walls, Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan, LEED 4.

Downsview Park Station. Design for a multi-modal transit station on the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension.

By Mary Van De Gevel, AECOM

16

On a Firm Footing: Metro Vancouver’s Evergreen Line.

Highly unstable soils in Port Moody and Coquitlam call for innovative engineering.

By Jean Sorensen

20

Aluminum Bridge Decks. A pilot project in Quebec uses the lightweight material.

By Martin Hartlieb, Grappe industrielle de l’aluminium du Québec

26

Calgary’s Peace Bridge. A stunning new pedestrian-cyclist bridge across the Bow River.

By Eric Tromposch, P.Eng., Stantec

28

Cleaning Up Effluent. Canada’s new Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations will have a major impact on plants.

By Tony Crossman, Miller Thomson, LLP

30

Reclaiming Wastewater in Dawson Creek. A city in northern B.C. is reclaiming sewage water for Shell’s natural gas fracking operations.

By Don Nash, P.Eng., Urban Systems

36

Collateral Damage. How allegations at the Charbonneau Inquiry are affecting the consulting engineering community in Quebec.

An interview with Johanne Desrochers, AICQ

44

on topic BUSINESS What Do Your Clients Really Think? Two methods to measure their satisfaction with your work.

By Tara Landes, Bellrock

33 March/April 2014

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SOFTWARE Modelling Crowd Movements.

A powerful 3D program is helping keep pedestrians safe during construction at Toronto’s Union Station.

By Erin Morrow, Oasys/ARUP 38 Canadian Consulting Engineer

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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

Containing the damage from Charbonneau

W

hen we asked our readers: “Are corporate ethical policies an effective tool for fighting corruption in the construction industry,” 67% of the respondents said no. I’m pretty sure most of the people who answered that way would say that ethical behaviour is something that is embedded deep in an individual’s psyche and the cultures they inhabit. Behaving altruistically and doing what is right, no matter what the temptation is or what the personal cost, is not something that can be neatly controlled by corporate rules and mechanisms.

Still, something had to be done to put the construction industry in Quebec back on a stable footing after the corruption scandals threatened to engulf it.

As a start, the Quebec government passed Law No. 1 in December 2012. Johanne Desrochers, president and chief executive officer of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Quebec (AICQ), explains in an interview on p. 44 that the Integrity Law requires that any company that wants to do business with the public sector in Quebec has to pass an integrity test and be approved by a provincial agency known as the AMF. The law applies to projects over $10 million, and to any company, whether its headquarters are in Quebec or many thousands of miles away.

Companies like SNC-Lavalin are busy reorganizing themselves, instituting ethical policies and accounting controls, and installing a new roster of chief executives. Meanwhile, Desrochers and the AICQ are working hard to restore confidence between the association’s engineering firms and their partner clients. She was shocked by the Charbonneau Inquiry revelations, but points out that it is only a few individuals who have been implicated out of perhaps 20,000 employed in the consulting engineering industry in Quebec.

But the Inquiry, police investigations, and media reports have taken their toll. The whole atmosphere of doing business has changed, and engineers who were once long-time trusted advisors to their clients, are now sometimes kept at arm’s length and viewed with scepticism.

Desrocher’s chief concern is that Quebec will lose many of its engineering company head offices. She fears it would leave a big hole in a province that has been very proud of its engineering companies for 50-60 years. Her association wants the government to start looking ahead and start planning for a future after Charbonneau. The government needs to realize that engineering companies have to maintain their team expertise, and that they can’t switch it on and off at short notice. Furthermore, in order to attract investors for the mining and resource sectors, the province needs to show it has a strong engineering sector available.

“The wind will change,” Desrochers says hopefully. And on that note, an AICQ survey last year found that 83% of the young professionals want to continue working in the consulting engineering sector. Part of the reason they are still loyal is that they see the companies making big organizational changes at the top and instituting ethical policies to keep themselves on track. Corporate ethics policies do have their value, it seems, even if they’ll never be a foolproof defence against the temptations of self-interest.

Bronwen Parsons

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www.canadianconsultingengineer.com

Senior Publisher

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Ellie Robinson Contributing Editor

Rosalind Cairncross, P.Eng. Advertising Sales Manager

Vince Naccarato E-mail: vnaccarato@ccemag.com (416) 510-5118 Editorial Advisors

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March/April 2014

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up front

COMPANIES

Left: Sacramento Municipal Utility Building by Stantec. Right: Golder’s “linking science and community” outreach in Kugluktuk, Nunavut.

outreach/in-house initiatives) and to Golder for the Oil Sands Technology Deployment Roadmaps, Calgary (natural resources, mining and industry).

Associated Engineering won for the Gregoire East Sanitary Sewer Outfall, Fort McMurray (environmental).

AWARDS

CITIES

Montreal and Toronto grapple with expressways The big master planning moves of the 1960s and 1970s left a legacy of expressways threading through Canada’s cities. Today these structures are ei-

INFRASTRUCTURE

CCE/BP

Alberta awards go to rural, urban and U.S. projects Consulting Engineers of Alberta gave out their annual Showcase Awards on February 6 at a “Gala Italia” event at the Edmonton Expo Centre.

CEA President Craig Clifton, P.Eng. noted that the winning projects are in rural and urban sites in Alberta, as well in Nunavut and California.

In total 12 awards of excellence were given. Of these, Stantec Consulting won four: for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District building (two awards, sustainable design and international categories); the Wandering River Pipeline and Reservoir Design Build (water resources and energy production); and the North Highway Connector, Red Deer (transportation infrastructure).

SMA Consulting won three awards of excellence, all for projects in Edmonton: the North LRT Drainage Project (project management); the Gold Bar Thickener/ Fermenter Operational Simulation (small firm, big impact); and the Earned Value Integrated Monitoring System (studies/software/special services).

Awards of excellence also went to Read Jones Christoffersen for the Glacier Skywalk, Jasper National Park (building engineering); to AECOM Canada for the Shawnee Park Subdivision Land Use Re-designation and Outline Plan, Calgary (community development); to Golder Associates, for the Linking Science and Community project, Kugluktuk, Nunavut (community

SNC-Lavalin stoic about year-end results Canada’s largest engineering company announced its 2013 year-end results on March 6.

The company’s net income was $35.8 million for the year, down from $305.9 million in 2012.

“2013 was a year of great progress for SNC-Lavalin in spite of disappointing overall financial results,” said Robert G. Card, president and chief executive officer.

The company attributed its poor results in the infrastructure and environment division partly to “legacy fixed-price contracts, particularly in the hospital and road sectors.”

Ville Marie Expressway, Montreal.

ther still seen as vital traffic arteries, or are dismissed as an urban blight, dividing neighbourhoods and encouraging car travel.

On February 21, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre announced that the city wants to cover a 125-metre section of the Ville Marie Expressway with public space. The expressway dates from 1967 and carries traffic through the downtown to the Jacques Cartier Bridge.

Most of the road runs in a tunnel,

Municipalities not happy with Fund The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is concerned that while municipalities own the vast majority of Canada’s roads, water systems, public transit etc., to date they have received no clear indication that a fair share of the new BCF will be invested in municipal projects.

They want 70% of the funds.

Claude Dauphin, president of FCM, also criticizes the new plan’s requirements for a “cumbersome” P3 screening process, and “rules that could force local governments to carry a higher share of project costs.”

continued on page 8 6

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up front

continued from page 6

CCE/BP

Gardiner Expressway, Toronto

BUILDINGS

Halifax Central Library makes new landmark The Halifax Central Library is shaping up to be a new landmark in Nova

Fowler, Bauld & Mitchell.

but there are exposed sections downtown. According to the mayor, covering the section between St. Urbain and Sanguinet Streets would better connect the downtown core with Old Montreal. It would also ease access to the new “superhospital,” the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Montréal that is under construction along Avenue Viger and is due to open in 2016.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, Waterfront Toronto has recommended that the city remove 2.4-kilometres of the Gardiner Expressway East, an elevated section of the expressway that runs across the downtown from the Don Valley Parkway to Jarvis Street. (In 2001 the city already demolished a section of the expressway farther east.)

The recent environmental assessment for the Gardiner East involved Dillon Consulting, with Morrison Hershfield, Perkins + Will, HR&A and Hargreaves Associates.

They looked at several options, all of which come at a price. The options included repairing and keeping the expressway as it is, replacing it with a new elevated expressway or a tunnel, and the chosen option: the boulevard.

There is strong opposition for a tear down, not just from feisty politicians like Mayor Rob Ford, but also from transportation experts who say replacing the expressway with a ground level boulevard will make traffic conditions worse.

Scotia’s capital city, with completion scheduled for August this year.

Located at the corner of Spring Garden Road and Queen Street in the heart of downtown, the 108,000-sq.ft. building has a bold architecture of juxtaposed horizontal boxes, clad with an aluminum curtain wall.

Fowler Bauld & Mitchell of Halifax are the prime consultant and architects, with an international firm, schmidt hammer lassen architects.

SNC-Lavalin are the civil and structural engineers, and CBCL are the

Halifax Central Library, architectural rendering.

lished its findings in 2000.

They found that the construction costs of large dams are on average more than 90% higher than the budgeted cost at the time they were approved. This tendency to cost overruns has not declined in recent years.

The high costs were calculated even before any accounting for negative impacts on human society and the environment. Neither did they include the effects of inflation and debt servicing.

Researchers Professor Bent Flyvbjerg, Dr. Atif Ansar, Alexander Budzier and Daniel Lunn, published their research March 10 in Energy Policy.

They also note that mega-dams take a long time to build — “8.2 years on average and often more than 10 years” — leaving them vulnerable to financial volatility and hyperinflation.

PEOPLE

mechanical-electrical engineers.

The $57-million building is being designed for LEED certification, with features such as a green roof and rainwater harvesting, occupancy and daylight controls, and a chilled beam system for energy efficiency.

HYDRO POWER

Big dams still bad news, says report A report from the University of Oxford’s Said Business School has come out punching against the construction of large dams.

Released March 10, 2014, the report is based on research of 245 large dams in 65 countries. It concludes that in the large majority of cases large dams are not economically viable, and “Instead of obtaining hopedfor riches, emerging economies risk drowning their fragile economies in debt owing to ill-advised construction of large dams.”

The study’s authors say theirs is the first systematic, global and independent research to be done since the World Commission on Dams pub-

Changes at Delcan, SNCLavalin, CH2M HILL At Delcan, Rajan Philips, P.Eng. has been appointed as senior transportation engineer and manager of the company’s regional operations in Waterloo, Ontario. Philips was previously with the city of Guelph.

SNC-Lavalin has appointed Preston Swafford as chief nuclear officer, president and CEO of Candu Energy, based in Toronto, Swafford joins the company following a seven-year career with the Tennessee Valley Rajan Philips.

Authority.

Hatch has appointed Mario Marchese as the company’s new global director of renewable power. He will be based in Lima, Peru.

Marchese’s credentials Preston include an M.Eng. in Swafford. mineral processing from McGill University.

David G. Wilkins has been appointed as SNC-Lavalin’s chief comcontinued on page 10

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up front

continued from page 8

pliance officer. Wilkins was previously with Dow Chemical Company, in charge of ethics and compliance.

Wilkins will succeed SNC-Lavalin Andreas David G. Pohlmann, who will Wilkins. move into a consulting role focusing on World Bank compliance.

CH2M HILL has named Greg McIntyre as president of its global water market division. Greg McIntyre.

McIntyre was previously in the position from 2004-2013.

ACQUISITIONS

CH2M HILL acquires TERA TERA Environmental Consultants of Calgary has agreed to be acquired by CH2M HILL. TERA has over 450 staff

and has been in the environmental consulting business for 30 years, serving the pipeline, electrical transmission and oil and gas industries. The company has three offices in Alberta and one in Victoria, B.C.

of projects — everything from huge power plants to tunnels and bridges and historical buildings.

Srajer showed highly detailed and colourful 3D images reconstructed from millions and billions of data points. A power substation, for example, was detailed right down to the smallest pipes and bolts, to an accuracy of 2 millimetres.

He and other presenters said the only thing standing in the way of even greater 3D laser possibilities is the limits of computing power, “which has “not kept up.”

EVENTS

3D laser images show even nuts and bolts Several hundred Ontario engineers gathered at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto on the night of March 6 to learn more about the magic of 3-D laser imaging.

Held as part of Engineering Month, the “Engineering Innovations in 3D Imaging” was organized by Professional Engineers Ontario.

Peter Srajer, P.Eng., advanced technology manager with MMM Group, gave a presentation about the company using 3D laser scanning on a range

CORRECTION

Ammonia is natural refrigerant An editing error to “Refrigerants: Ammonia vs CO2,” in the March-April 2013 issue (p. 24, fourth paragraph), incorrectly identified ammonia as a synthetic refrigerant.

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ASSOCIATION OF CONSULTING ENGINEERING COMPANIES | REVIEW

CHAIR’S MESSAGE

ACEC advocacy sees results

T

he $53 billion New Building Canada Plan recently announced by the Prime Minister and Minister Lebel is welcome news for consulting engineers and their clients. Such a commitment by the federal government is not something that we could take for granted, particularly in times of fiscal austerity. Wide-scale federal investments in provincial and municipal infrastructure projects are a relatively recent phenomenon. Multi-year commitments are even more so.

ACEC and its stakeholder partners have invested significant time, energy and resources to promoting long-term infrastructure investment by the federal government.

Thanks to a strong ACEC presence on Parliament Hill, ACEC clearly has the government’s attention on this critical issue. I believe that ACEC’s expertise and credibility contributed significantly to the government’s renewed commitment to infrastructure.

ACEC is also speaking out on issues important to our members and clients in the resource sector. We are collaborating

directly with the Mining Association of Canada and other stakeholders on public policy to help the private sector access Canada’s natural resources in northern and remote regions of Canada and transport these resources to market. ACEC has also been recognized as a balanced and credible voice on the proposed Northern Gateway and Keystone XL pipelines. We support a responsible resource industry that offers economic opportunities while respecting environmental protection and social responsibility. This is an area where consulting engineering firms will, and must, have an important role to play.

Recent successes like the renewal of the Building Canada Plan demonstrate how our industry and our association have become much more effective in engaging government and opinion leaders in order to showcase the value of our services to Canadian society. And when we succeed, our clients — both in the public and private sectors — also succeed. This is why we need to continue to be unapologetic in our advocacy and ensure our ongoing engagement with leaders in government and business.

JASON MEWIS, P.ENG. CHAIR, ACEC BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MESSAGE DU PRÉSIDENT DU CONSEIL

Les efforts de représentation de l’AFIC produisent des résultats

L

e nouveau Plan Chantiers Canada de 53 milliards de dollars récemment annoncé par le premier ministre et par le ministre Lebel est une bonne nouvelle pour les ingénieurs-conseils et leurs clients. Nous ne devons toutefois pas prendre pour acquis cet engagement du gouvernement fédéral, particulièrement en cette période d’austérité financière. Les investissements fédéraux importants dans des projets d’infrastructures provinciaux et municipaux sont un phénomène relativement récent. Les engagements sur plusieurs années sont encore plus récents.

L’AFIC et ses partenaires ont investi beaucoup de temps, d’énergie et de ressources pour promouvoir les investissements à long terme par le gouvernement fédéral. Grâce à sa forte présence sur la Colline du Parlement, l’AFIC a clairement reçu l’attention du gouvernement sur cette question critique. Je crois que l’expertise et la crédibilité de l’AFIC ont grandement contribué à l’engagement renouvelé du gouvernement à l’égard de l’infrastructure.

L’AFIC se fait aussi entendre sur d’autres questions importantes pour ses membres et leurs clients dans le secteur des ressources. Nous collaborons directement avec l’Association minière du Canada et d’autres parties intéressées à la promo-

tion de politiques publiques qui aideront le secteur privé à accéder aux ressources naturelles dans le Nord et les régions éloignées du Canada, et à les transporter vers les marchés qui en ont besoin. L’AFIC a également été reconnue comme une voix équilibrée et crédible sur les projets proposés des pipelines Northern Gateway et Keystone XL. Nous appuyons une industrie des ressources responsable qui offre des débouchés économiques tout en respectant l’environnement et les principes de responsabilité sociale. C’est ici que les firmes de génie-conseil auront un rôle important à jouer.

Les récents succès, comme le renouvellement du Plan Chantiers Canada, montrent comment notre industrie et notre association sont devenues beaucoup plus efficaces dans leurs démarches auprès du gouvernement et des leaders d’opinion pour leur démontrer la valeur de nos services pour la société canadienne. Lorsque nous réussissons, nos clients des secteurs public et privé réussissent aussi. C’est pourquoi nous ne devons pas hésiter à poursuivre nos efforts de représentation pour assurer nos relations continues avec les leaders du gouvernement et du milieu des affaires.

JASON MEWIS, P.ENG. PRÉSIDENT DU CONSEIL D’ADMINISTRATION DE L’AFIC

March/April 2014

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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ASSOCIATION OF CONSULTING ENGINEERING COMPANIES | REVIEW

The New Building Canada Plan: building on unprecedented infrastructure investments

By The Honourable Denis Lebel

T

here are few things more fundamental to our country’s development and economic prosperity than infrastructure. From large-scale transportation projects to smaller-scale, community-based investments, infrastructure has the power to revitalize, strengthen, and improve quality of life for all Canadians.

Consulting engineers have an integral involvement in managing the lifecycle of our public infrastructure stock. No matter the infrastructure — whether it is bridges, public transit, utilities or the electricity grid — engineers are involved in all aspects of public infrastructure. Consulting engineers contribute their experience and knowledge to planning, design and maintenance of our public infrastructure to help create a safer, more sustainable, and prosperous future for Canada.

Infrastructure investments are a key part of our Government’s plan for jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. The New Building Canada Plan (NBCP) will provide $53 billion over the next 10 years to improve our public infrastructure. This is predictable, reliable funding for communities all across the country. It will help build roads, bridges, subways, commuter rail and other public infrastructure that enables the prosperity of all Canadians.

With the New Building Canada Plan we are continuing to build on a

solid record of investing in public infrastructure. Investment in infrastructure by our Government has never been higher and has increased dramatically since 2006. In fact, since 2006, our Government has almost tripled the average annual federal funding for provincial, territorial and municipal infrastructure. We are seeing the results of these investments today.

Our Government’s new plan includes the $14 billion New Building Canada Fund, which consists of a $4 billion National Infrastructure Component that will support projects of national significance and a $10 billion Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component (PTIC) for projects of national, local or regional significance. Demonstrating that our Government’s commitment to small communities has never been stronger, $1 billion of PTIC will be made available to municipalities with fewer than 100,000 residents through the Small Communities Fund (SFC).

This plan has been designed to encourage the use of P3s for infrastructure projects. Public private partnerships achieve the best value for taxpayers by ensuring that large infrastructure projects are delivered in the most cost-effective and timely manner. Canadians deserve the best public services for their hard-earned tax dollars, and when an infrastructure project can gener-

The Honourable Denis Lebel.

ate better value for money by being delivered through a P3, it should be delivered as such.

The plan also makes available over $32 billion specifically for municipalities through the renewed Gas Tax Fund and the incremental Goods and Services Tax Rebate for municipalities. Since 2006, our Government has made significant improvements to the Gas Tax Fund. It has been extended, doubled, and legislated as a permanent program to provide Canadian municipalities $2 billion per year in long-term and predictable funding that supports local infrastructure priorities.

Beginning this year, the eligible project categories for the Gas Tax Fund will be expanded, allowing municipalities even more flexibility to address their infrastructure priorities. The $2

Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Canada (ACEC-Canada), 420-130 Albert Street, Ottawa, ON, K1P 5G4, tel: (613) 236-0569, fax: (613) 236-6193, info@acec.ca, www.acec.ca. ACEC Member Organizations: Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – British Columbia, Consulting Engineers of Yukon, Consulting Engineers of Alberta, Consulting Engineers of Northwest Territories, Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Saskatchewan, Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Manitoba, Consulting Engineers of Ontario, Association des Ingénieurs-conseils du Québec, Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – New Brunswick, Consulting Engineers of Nova Scotia, Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Prince Edward Island, Consulting Engineers of Newfoundland and Labrador.

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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ASSOCIATION OF CONSULTING ENGINEERING COMPANIES | REVIEW billion per year Gas Tax Fund will also be indexed at 2 per cent per year, to be applied in $100-million increments, which will deliver an additional $1.8 billion in stable, predictable infrastructure funding for municipalities over the next decade, starting in 2014.

From coast to coast to coast, the federal Gas Tax Fund is making a difference in communities across Canada. Since 2006, more than 3,600 municipalities have benefited from the financial support and flexibility of the program, with more than 15,000 projects across Canada having received Gas Tax funding. All

told, $13 billion in federal investments for municipal infrastructure has been made under this program since its inception.

The New Building Canada Plan represents the largest and longest federal infrastructure plan in our nation’s history. This funding is predictable and stable and provides provinces, territories and municipalities with the flexibility they need to plan their infrastructure projects over the long term. The plan is proof that our Government is committed to investing in Canada’s infrastructure to reduce commuting times for families, en-

hance economic competitiveness, encourage job creation and strengthen trade corridors.

Our Government’s commitment to enhancing Canada’s infrastructure remains firm. We will continue strengthening our long-term economic prosperity by helping to deliver world-class public infrastructure in every region of Canada.

The Honourable Denis Lebel is Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec

Employee versus self-employed: tips and traps

By Kelly Kolke, Grant Thornton LLP

Y

ou set up your own business, but provide almost all of your services to the same company. Alternatively, your employer downsizes and you lose your job. Six months later, your former employer approaches you to work for them on a consulting basis.

Being your own boss can definitely have its perks if they are structured properly. Some of these arrangements include the ability to income split, and to enjoy additional tax deductions and a possible tax deferral if you run your business through a corporation. However, there are disadvantages to this approach as well.

One main trap to watch out for if you want to be viewed as being self-employed: if the taxman sees you as simply being an employee of another business, the deductions you’re claiming could be denied. If you have incorporated your business, you can be considered an incorporated employee and your company could be construed as a “personal services business.” Such businesses are taxed at the top corporate rate of tax and most deductions are disallowed.

So what do you need to do if you want to be viewed as self-employed?

There are a number of “tests” that

the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) uses to assess your true status. The key tests are: • The “control” test: Do you control where, when and how your work?

Can you subcontract your work or hire assistants?

• The “ownership of tools” test: Do you acquire your own tools and equipment necessary to accomplish your work?

• The “financial risk” test: Do you have to incur any costs or other investments that are not reimbursed? Do you have a risk of loss as well as a chance for profit?

Employee versus self-employed To be viewed as self-employed, you should undertake to satisfy as many of the following indicators as possible: • You are engaged to achieve a prescribed objective, and are given all the freedom you require to accomplish this; • Your remuneration is at risk based on how you complete the assignment — there is no guarantee of any minimum payment; • You’re not allowed to participate in the payer’s pension or medical plan or receive other fringe benefits; • You either pay rent to the payer for

the use of an office or provide your own office facilities; you provide your own tools, office supplies, materials, etc.; and • You undertake work assignments for various payers.

The CRA Guide RC4110 – Employee or self-employed? found at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/ rc4110/, includes additional details on the factors considered in making this determination.

Before you begin any work on a contract basis, it’s important to be informed. Take the time to examine and analyze the terms and conditions of your relationship with the payer as they relate to the above factors. Although each case will depend on its particular facts, if you want to benefit from self-employment status, you should structure your business activities to satisfy as many of the above tests as possible.

Kelly Kolke is National Leader, Professional Services, with Grant Thornton, LLP.

March/April 2014

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ASSOCIATION OF CONSULTING ENGINEERING COMPANIES | REVIEW

Keystone XL report positive for Canada

A

CEC is speaking out, publicly stating that expanding and modernizing oil and gas transportation infrastructure is vital to Canada’s prosperity.

Like many of our provincial associations across Canada, we applaud the recent report from the United States Department of State indicating that the Keystone XL pipeline will not have a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. The Keystone XL pipeline will provide far-reaching economic op-

portunities for Canada. We have one of the most qualified engineering sectors in the world, and we have access to expertise that is needed to develop infrastructure that balances economic and environmental objectives.

ACEC also welcomed the decision of the Joint Review Panel (JRP) report on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. Following a three-year regulatory review, the JRP recommended that the federal government approve

the project, subject to 209 required conditions. The JRP concluded that the project fits squarely within Canada’s national interest.

ACEC will continue to advocate for responsible resource extraction that offers economic opportunities while respecting environmental protection and social responsibility. This is an area where consulting engineering firms will and must have an important role to play.

ACEC LEADERSHIP SUMMIT 2014 D R IVING

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Join us for ACEC’s Leadership Summit 2014 where you’ll learn how to achieve important gains in business innovation that will advance your firm and position it for success, now and in the future.

Winnipeg is a vibrant city richly-steeped in history and home of the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

We look forward to seeing there!

E JUN 1 19-2

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transit

By Mary Van De Gevel, AECOM

A transit station on the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension is an example of a new multi-modal hub with complex patterns of pedestrian movement.

Downsview Park Station

I

Park in northwest Toronto, through York University, and terminating north of Highway 407 at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station, the TYSSE is the first Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) subway line to cross a City of Toronto boundary. Direct connections with other regional transit services will include GO Transit, York Region Transit, and Brampton Transit, as well as other modes of TTC service, including buses and light rail.

Downsview Park Station is one of five new stations on the line that feature a multi-modal design. It was designed by AECOM (lead architect and lead engineer) with input from Aedas (architecture), and Parsons

Brinckerhoff (engineering). The same team is responsible for the Highway 407 Station.

Downsview Park Station is located at the north end of Parc Downsview Park, a 2.4-kilometre-square urban park currently undergoing a $40-million redevelopment. (The existing “Downsview Station” near the park will be renamed “Sheppard West Station.”)

Entrance pavilions flank railway line With a total building area of 3,648 square metres, the new station is being built where the TYSSE tunnel intersects with the above-ground CN/GO rail line, which runs from Toronto’s

TTC

n a previous age, transit stations only needed to connect riders between different transit modes — subway, train or streetcar — operating as part of a single transit system.

Today, however, the need to improve transit mobility between urban and suburban areas is leading to the integration of services between multiple transit operators. As a result, a new kind of station is required, one that can handle more complex patterns of rider movement and transfer.

Multi-modal stations play a significant role in Toronto’s new 8.6-kilometre-long rapid transit project, the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE). Running from Downsview

Artist’s aerial view of the subway station flanking the GO Transit commuter railway from Barrie.

The station is on the first subway line to extend beyond the city of Toronto’s boundaries.

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AECOM

transit

Section through station.

downtown Union Station to Barrie’s Allandale Waterfront Station.

The station allows riders a direct interchange between the GO Transit and TTC services by being situated immediately below the existing railway line. This proximity is an important component of the station’s function as a multi-modal station, but it also involved accommodating more challenges in the structural engineering.

On one hand, the station requires open spaces, column-free areas and openings in the structure to allow light and the free flow of riders. Yet, the station also needs to be strong enough to support being built below an active railway line.

Two surface-level entrance pavilions built on either side of the rail line allow riders to access and exit from the station. The pavilions consist of a single level configuration of glazed curtain walls and sloping steel columns.

Curved steel beams support a green roof system, and spread footings provide support from below. The footings are on the native soils founded approximately 1.2 metres below grade.

Underground multi-unit box The entrance pavilions are structurally independent of the station’s underground portion, which consists of a two-level station box. The concourse

level is at a depth of 6.9 metres. Designed to allow riders passage between the separate entrance pavilions below the rail line, the concourse level includes the fare control equipment and collectors' booth for the subway. It also provides space for the station's nonpublic services and staff rooms.

To meet the station’s electrical energy needs — lighting, equipment and safety systems, as well as traction power for trains — a separate electrical substation is integrated into the grade level west entrance pavilion.

The 13-metre deep subway platform level includes two tracks with a 10.3-metre wide, 152.4-metre long rider platform. The platform is oriented parallel to, and positioned directly below, the concourse level.

The GO train platforms, which are being designed as a separate effort under the direction of GO Transit, are expected to be operational when subway service begins.

Creating open space that’s easy to navigate Creating intuitive circulation paths for riders was one of the station’s critical design objectives. Given the different streams of users — subway riders, GO Transit riders and non-rider pedestrians — the station required architectural features, like large, column-free

spaces and openings for natural light, to make the transfer between systems efficient and hassle-free.

While these open design features allow riders to make informed decisions when moving around and within the station, they also required a more advanced structural configuration than is typically involved in the engineering of traditional station boxes.

The station box here is actually made up of six units separated by contraction joints. Units 1 and 6 consist of a two-level reinforced concrete box configuration with intermediate concrete columns and beams. Units 2 and 5 consist of a two-level reinforced concrete box with struts at the concourse and ground levels. Intermediate columns are built only between the base slab and concourse level.

Units 3 and 4 consist of a two-level reinforced concrete rigid-frame configuration with intermediate concrete columns and beams, while transfer beams at concourse level support some concrete walls above.

From the surface-level pavilions down to the concourse and platform levels, 20- and 23-metre long reinforced concrete beams,1.8-metres wide x 1.6-metres deep, are used to help create large openings. In other units, where the structure is required to carry the load of trains operating above continued on page 18

March/April 2014

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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transit

A

continued from page 17

TTC

Ho

Inside the west entry pavilion.

ground, 10-metre long 2-span beams, 1.5-metres wide x 1.6-metres deep, with twin 1.5-metre diameter columns, are used with 16-metre long T-beams, 2.6-metres wide x 1.4-metres deep, to create the rigid frame to resist the train loads. The concrete strength for all the beams is 35 megapascals.

Another challenge involved creating large open spaces in the structure for natural light was dealing with the earth pressures and buoyancy forces due to the location’s high water table.

Approximately 250 micropiles were installed throughout the station to resist these uplift forces. The micropiles are 11.5 metres in length and consist of a 63-mm diameter high strength threaded bar as the core, with a 180-mm diameter x 6.3-mm thick steel casing filled with 30 MPa Portland cement grout.

Vertical circulation Supporting the station’s strategy for rider movement are its vertical circulation elements. Aside from the elevators, the same elements also act as the primary means of egress during an emergency. Each pavilion entrance incorporates one set of stairs, two sets of escalators and an elevator. The elevator from concourse level to platform level is of a “walk-through” design, which is preferred by the TTC. The elevators from the entrances to the concourse level are of a “single entry” design, to ensure that the passengers entering the elevator from ground level arrive at the unpaid area of the concourse level.

Acoustical issues Another aspect of sharing space is managing the acoustic challenges of operating subway service underneath

a railway line. The station’s public announcement system is an important part of the overall emphasis on rider wayfinding. At the same time, it is important to ensure that the station’s ambient noise does not interfere with the optimal rider experience.

Noise and vibration from the GO Trains running above, however, posed a challenge. In response, a ballast isolation mat, consisting of high quality resin bonded rubber with a protection layer of non-woven geo-textile to avoid ballast penetration, was installed onto the station box’s concrete substrate. This solution will help reduce train pass-by noise and will not interfere with the intelligibility of the paging system.

When complete in 2016, the station will serve as a site of convergence and connectivity, seamlessly integrating the TYSSE and GO Transit rail line services, ensuring riders move safely and efficiently between the different transportation modes.

CCE Mary Van De Gevel is a project manager at AECOM in Markham, Ont. mary.vandegevel@aecom.com Client: Toronto Transit Commission Architects: AECOM with Aedas Engineers: AECOM (David LeBlanc, P.Eng., Leslie Martin, P.Eng., Mark Cavanaugh), with Parsons Brinckerhoff (Richard O’Brien, P.E.) Contractor: Aecon

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March/April 2014

14-03-13 12:51 PM

ADVERTORIAL

A closer look at health and disability insurance How coverage can help the self-employed, contractual and underinsured Being ill or injured can be challenging enough without worrying about being driven into debt.

With health and living costs rising steadily, those who are selfemployed or don’t have coverage at work could face financial hardships. Without an employer’s group insurance benefits, you are left to your own means when it comes to protecting yourself and your family.

You don’t hesitate to insure your home, car and other valuable possessions, so why wouldn’t you insure those that are much more valuable than all those things — your health and your ability to earn an income?

Health insurance Supplementary health insurance starts where government coverage ends.

coverage while unemployed. If you become disabled within 12 months of your last job, you remain eligible for a monthly benefit payment.

Look for a disability plan that offers coverage for different types of disability, such as total disability, partial disability, residual disability (you are able to return to your regular occupation but in a limited capacity), and catastrophic loss.

And if you pay your own premiums (not your partnership), your monthly disability benefits may be tax free.2

Are you among those with protection?

Across Canada, many residents have chosen to protect themselves with supplementary health and disability coverage.

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With no supplementary health coverage, you would have to pay out of your own pocket for common expenses like prescriptions, dental care, vision care, therapeutic services and more.

If your spouse doesn’t have coverage at work, your out-ofpocket medical expenses can get even bigger, especially if you have children.

Private health insurance can be more affordable than you think.

Plus, if you’re self-employed, you may be able to deduct the cost of your health insurance premiums from your business income.2

Disability insurance Disability insurance helps to replace a portion of your income if you become ill or injured and can’t work. These plans provide monthly benefit payments, based on a percentage of your monthly earnings, while you are disabled and unable to perform your occupation.

Unlike employee disability plans that end when you change jobs, some association-sponsored disability plans can provide continuation of coverage between jobs so you are not left without

of Canadian residents have supplementary health coverage3

31%

of Canadian residents have disability income protection3

Cost is a common reason offered by those who are not covered by any plans to explain the lack of coverage.

Affordable coverage is available for professional engineers through the Engineers Canada-sponsored plans. This allows you to enjoy many of the benefits of a group plan (e.g., lower cost) so you can focus on your recovery, not on the bills.

Average household annual spending (Source: Statistics Canada, 2010 Survey of Household Spending, April 2012).

2 Contact your financial advisor or the Canada Revenue Agency for details.

3 Percentages are based on persons covered at end of 2011 (Source: Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, Facts & Figures, Life and Health Insurance, 2012 Edition) and 2011 provincial population figures (Source: Statistics Canada).

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p16-19 CCE MarApr14 Downview.indd 19

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infrastructure

ON A FIRM FOOTING METRO VANCOUVER’S EVERGREEN LINE Engineers for the latest branch of Metro Vancouver’s light rapid transit system are dealing with highly unstable soils in the Port Moody and Coquitlam sections.

BY JEAN SORENSEN

Above: columns for the elevated guideway on Clarke Road in Burquitlam.

W

ith three lines on Metro Vancouver’s SkyTrain system already in place, light rail transit projects are becoming standard fare for B.C.’s engineering community. But the latest branch, the Evergreen Line now under construction, is tossing up some new ground.

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Government of British Columbia

The $1.4 billion project is shaping up as a test of engineering ingenuity due to the geotechnical conditions along the rail path. They are seen as the biggest challenge in a project scheduled to complete in 2016.

“In a geotechnical sense, these are probably the most challenging conditions that I have seen in my career,” says

March/April 2014

14-03-13 12:58 PM

SNC-Lavalin’s technical director Meiric Preece, P.Eng., who also worked on the Canada Line and the Millennium Line.

The Evergreen line is an extension of the existing Sky Train system east into the suburban communities of Coquitlam and Port Moody. The 11-kilometre line has six stations and connects to the existing Millennium line at Lougheed Town Centre. The City of Coquitlam has added a seventh station through its own financing although it will be built as part of the construction contract. The line is expected to carry up to 70,000 passengers daily by 2021.

In December 2012, B.C.’s government entered into a fixed price, performance based contract with EGRT Construction consortium for $889 million to build the rapid transit infrastructure. Under the terms of the contract EGRT will be repaid a portion of the contract cost as work progresses but will not receive final payout until the line is operating.

EGRT Construction has also agreed to assume the risk for the geotechnical conditions and face penalities if completion is delayed. EGRT Technical manager Jeff Spruston, P.Eng. explains that while EGRT carries that responsibility, it has also “passed the risk to the subcontractors who are best able to manage those risks” in backto-back agreements.

EGRT Construction’s subcontractors include SNC-Lavalin and SNC-Lavalin Constructors, Graham Building Services, International Bridge Technologies, Jacobs Associates Canada, Rizzani de Eccher, S.E.L.I. Canada, and MMM Group.

The consortium is responsible for designing and building the elevated and at-grade guideways, a two-kilometre bored tunnel, the seven stations, power substations, train operating systems, parking facilities and a vehicle storage and light maintenance facility.

Highly unstable soils “The geotechnical conditions are pretty good from the Lougheed area to the north end of the bored tunnel [in Port Moody],” says Preece, explaining that this section is considered mainly glacial till. But the area between Port Moody and

Evergreen Line, Metro Vancouver Project: Evergreen Line Rapid Transit Project, B.C. Owners: Province of BC (TransLink upon completion) Design-build-finance: EGRT Construction (SNC-Lavalin, SNC-Lavalin Constructors, SNC-Lavalin (Pacific & Western), Graham Building Services, International Bridge Technologies, Jacobs Associates Canada, Rizzani de Eccher, S.E.L.I. Canada, MMM Group).

Government of British Columbia

infrastructure

Above: constructing the elevated guideway for the new light rail system that extends Metro Vancouver’s transit system 11 kilometres to the east.

Coquitlam is the legacy of old debris flows, old forests and logging areas and wetlands, plus ground where artesian pressures are a concern. “The area is very challenging,” he says.

“The conditions have caused engineers to look at alternative solutions to stabilize areas that must meet seismic requirements,” says Preece.

In Coquitlam, just east of Port Moody, engineers have found highly unstable soils. “We had a situation where soil conditions were highly liquefiable,” says Preece. The solution was to use timber densification on the soil. A 10-metre wide swath measuring 700 metres in length will have 12-15-metre long timbers driven into the ground at 1.2 metre intervals. A total of over 6,000 timber piles will be used to create seismic stability for the line’s guideways. While the technique of timber densification is not new and has also been used on the South Fraser Perimeter Road, “this is probably the most timber that has been used on a transit project,” he says.

Originally, the contract called for not using timbers because of a fear they would degrade. But EGRT was able to demonstrate that by ensuring the timbers in the ground remained wet, they would not be affected. The decision to use the timbers was made in collaboration with the province after other solutions did not provide the stability that was needed.

The technical director for the Province of B.C., Raymond Louie, says the solutions being implemented on the new line will “help our knowledge here” on rapid transit construction. One such application is soil mixing, which is more common in the U.S. but is having its first application in the Lower Mainland’s new transit line. Its use again arises from the need to bring sites in the Port Moody and Coquitlam area up to the seismic standards required. The process involves an on-site batch plant for low-strength concrete. The concrete is injected into the ground in columns, with the boring machine’s head able to inject the concrete and mix it with soil beginning at the bottom. The ensuing continued on page 22 March/April 2014

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continued from page 21

Photos: Government of British Columbia

infrastructure

Left: the tunnel boring machine "Alice" was due to start cutting a single tunnel from Port Moody in March. Measuring over 9 metres in diameter, the TBM will be tunnelling at 60 metres at its deepest point. Above: a rectangular concrete box weighing 4,000 tons is nudged under the Barnet Highway using hydraulic jacks.

column will not only prevent the ground from moving but also provide vertical support for the guideways.

Soil mixing, which costs less than timber piles for soil stabilization, is being used on the portion of grade-level guideway by Golden Spike Lane that runs through Port Moody by the CPR tracks. Timbers are being used on a 750foot stretch by rail tracks book-ended by the Balmoral Drive area through to Bond Street in Coquitlam.

Tunnel lining with steel fibres U.S.-based Jacobs Associates are the engineers for the design of the segmental tunnel lining. This is the company’s second major contract in B.C.; it is also working on the Port Mann main water supply tunnel and has ex-

panded its Vancouver office. The company’s other responsibilities on the transit line include ground improvements, the interface coordination of tunnel portals, geotechnical design, and the development of an instrumentation and monitoring plan.

One innovative feature of the tunnel is the use of steel fibres in the precast concrete segmental lining, which is placed behind the tunnel boring machine (TBM) to support the ground. “This is the first time we have used them on a one-pass, segmentally-lined tunnel in an area of moderate to high seismicity,” said Jacobs Associates’ engineer-of-record, Andrew McGlenn, P.Eng.. The moulds for the concrete segments were fabricated in Germacontinued on page 24

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infrastructure

continued from page 22

ny, with precasting by a company in Langley, B.C. Traditionally, concrete reinforced with rebar has been used for the segments, but the steel fibres (like large staples) proved more cost efficient and often yield a more durable product, says McGlenn. A short section at each tunnel portal (roughly 50 metres at the north and 100 metres at the south) will have rebar reinforced concrete to deal with the transition zones where ground cover is low. “But, steel fibres will be used in the concrete on nearly 95 per cent of the tunnel,” he says.

Preece says that the single tunnel design (with dual track) was chosen partly because it has a reduced time and cost.

Two individual tunnels would have required safety crosspassages every 244 metres, resulting in a mining effort and the high risk of dealing with ground water pressure of up to 40 metres of head at depths of 50 metres below ground.

“There was a high risk to both cost and delay,” Preece says.

Due to begin boring in early March, the Caterpillar TBM is the largest seen in Vancouver and is over 9 metres in diameter. The machine arrived in December and was assembled at the tunnel’s north portal in Port Moody.

Box under a highway One engineering feat, already accomplished, involved

mechanically pushing into place a large concrete box under the Barnet Highway. The structure will serve as a portion of the Inlet Centre Station at the Port MoodyCoquitlam boundary.

The Petrucco Group, an Italian company specializing in box jacking, carried out the manoeuvre, which required closure of Barnet Highway just west of Loco Road over the last Remembrance Day long weekend. A full weekend closure allowed crews to construct the station guideway and platform within that timeframe, instead of 60 nights of work using a standard construction method.

The rectangular concrete box weighing 4,000 tons was formed on site. It is 15 metres wide, 7 metres high and 50 metres long. A row of 30 hydraulic jacks pushed it into position. Excavators were working inside the box clearing a path in front and removing earth. As the hole deepened, the jacks pushed the box into the void. A time-sequence of the procedure is available on the Evergreen Line website.

“It was interesting to watch,” says EGRT's Spruston, adding: “We have a first rate team all around here... [including] really experienced transit people looking at the whole system. That really rounds out the project.”

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bridges

By Martin Hartlieb Grappe industrielle de l’aluminium du Québec

The Quebec aluminum industry is promoting the use of the material in bridge decks.

Now a demonstration project is under construction in Quebec.

Aluminum Bridge Decks

Design aspects Early aluminum bridge structures between the 1930s and into the 1960s were made from Al-Cu (2000 series) alloys, which were strong, but hard to extrude into complex shapes. They were also prone to significant corro26

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AlumaBridge, LLC

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n Canada and the United States aluminum is widely used in highway bridge components like guardrails, luminaires, and signage, while structural applications have been limited to pedestrian bridges, sidewalk or bicycle path additions to existing bridges. But this limitation may soon be a thing from the past.

With the development of greatly improved extrusion alloys, the availability of large structural extrusions and new welding technology, fabricated aluminum bridge decks are emerging as a viable alternative to traditional materials and designs.

The first roadway bridge in Canada incorporating an extruded aluminum deck is under construction in SaintAmbroise, Quebec, and is expected to open to traffic early in the summer of 2014. This pilot project led by Quebec’s Ministry of Transport may open the way to a greater use of aluminum in similar public infrastructure projects. MMM Group is the consulting engineer on the Saint-Ambroise bridge.

The bridge incorporates an 8" deck by AlumaBridge, LLC. At 23 lbs./sq.ft., including wear surface, the deck is very lightweight. But it shows excellent structural efficiency (composite behaviour with steel girders), very similar to a monolithic concrete deck, 90% as strong transversely as longitudinally.

Above: extruded aluminum bridge profile ready for friction stir welding. Right: fully fabricated deck panel. Both are identical to the extrusion profile and panels to be used on the Quebec bridge.

sion problems, leading to early failures. The introduction of 6000 series alloys (which rely on Mg2Si precipitation hardening) made it much easier to extrude large and long beams with complex hollow cross sections. The 6063 and 6061/6082 alloys established themselves as the standard alloys for most applications and are now the workhorses of the extrusion industry. The most recent bridge

decks in North America have been made in these alloys.

As current designs are mainly limited by stiffness and fatigue, and as both the elastic modulus as well as fatigue strength of these alloys are similar, the Saint-Ambroise bridge will use the AASHTO fatigue-tested standard 6063 alloy in T6 temper.

The Aluminum Design Manual published by the Aluminum Associa-

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bridges tion of Canada helps engineers with the design and development of aluminum structures. Ideally an extruder should be involved as early as possible to make use of the full capabilities they can offer.

(See also Aluminum Structures, by Kissell & Ferry; Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code, Chapter 17 CAN/ CSA S6-06; “Calcul des charpentes d’aluminum – PRAL,” by Denis Beaulieu.)

AASHTO LRFD Section 7 Code incorporates aluminum, but not the latest alloys. An AWS D1.2 standard is pending a vote to allow friction stir welding.

Lightweight and durable At approximately 19 to 25 lbs. per square foot, depending upon deck depth and the wearing surface applied, an aluminum bridge deck can be 70-80% lighter than concrete, reducing dead load, while offering increased bridge width and capacity without the necessity of strengthening the supporting bridge elements.

This light weight means lower transportation costs and fast installation. Aluminum bridge decks made from modern 6000 series alloys require minimal maintenance, offering more than a 100-year bridge life without paint! Aluminum is able to withstand de-icing chemicals better than traditional materials and is ideal for colder climates, as it eliminates concerns about brittle fracture, even in severe Arctic weather conditions.

Extrusions can be made with high recycling content and aluminum components are easily recyclable and potentially even reusable. In Quebec and British Columbia, the material is manufactured using hydro-generated power.

The Aluminum Association of Canada has long advocated the increased use of aluminum in civil engineering infrastructure. It has now passed this responsibility to the Grappe industrielle de l’aluminium du Québec (GIAQ), Quebec’s industrial cluster of companies and institutional stakehold-

ers with a focus on aluminum. GIAQ has been tasked with enabling the future use of aluminum in bridge structures in Quebec, adjacent Canadian provinces and the Northeastern U.S. The objective is to overcome the remaining technical and commercial hurdles to continue to actively pro-

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CCE Martin Hartlieb is the director of business development with the Grappe industrielle de l’aluminium du Québec (GIAQ), based in Montreal.

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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structures

CALGARY’S PEACE BRIDGE The stunning new pedestrian-cyclist bridge across the Bow River in Calgary required complex engineering. The steel structure is a helix developed over an oval cross section.

Above: designed by internationally renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, the bridge makes a colourful and unique structural landmark in the city.

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structures

Photo: Roy Ooms/Stantec

I

BY ERIC TROMPOSCH, P.ENG., STANTEC

conic, world class and revolutionary — yet at the same time functional, universally accessible and well integrated with the community. That’s what the City of Calgary wanted in a new pedestrian and cyclist bridge that would improve access to the downtown core across the Bow River.

The bridge site, however, did not provide the conditions normally necessary to achieve those goals.

From the outset there was a strong desire to clear span the sensitive trout habitat and deep water at this point in the river. But meeting this need was complicated because situated adjacent to the site is the city’s primary downtown heliport. One helicopter flight path crosses directly over the bridge and restricted the bridge’s height to only 6 metres.

With a towering bridge expanse off the table, and riverbanks that didn’t provide sufficient height for other forms of suspension structures, it was a challenge to make the bridge a landmark.

For solutions, the city turned to famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. His design was detailed by the structural engineers and designers from his Zurich office, with assistance from structural engineers at Stantec.

Calatrava’s design for Calgary’s Peace Bridge is a departure from his towering bridges in cities like Buenos Aires, Jerusalem and Seville that have contributed to his reputation as an iconic bridge designer. Instead, the team challenged the boundaries of design and structure in other ways to make one of the most recognizable structures in Alberta.

The result is a striking piece of sculpted steel. The structure has the geometric form of a helix developed over an oval cross section, 8 metres wide and stretching 126 metres across the river. It is a simple span structure with abutments that integrate into the embankments. The bridge provides a clear separation between the pedestrian and bicycle and other wheeled traffic, is barrier free, and incorporates four different types of lighting for nighttime use.

To achieve this landmark, however, several engineering challenges had to be overcome.

elements for the orthotropic deck, frame elements for the stiffeners below the deck, and shell elements for the end portals. The analytical model even included zero stiffness shell elements to model the potential response of the glass.

To create a more symmetrical appearance and provide sleek lines for the bridge’s canopy, the size of the top chord is minimal. Splitting critical structural component to enhance the aesthetic effect added further complications to the design. To meet the aesthetic challenge while ensuring structural integrity, the final design has multiple layers of steel plates that are connected to essentially create a compact solid steel section in each compression chord element. The result is a much sleeker design, without compromising strength.

Anchoring the forces from the helix and transferring those forces to the bearings at each abutment required substantial end portals. The top of the portal acts like a beam to transmit the thrust from the top chord into the curved elements of the portal. The top of the curved portal section could be considered as inclined struts, while the bottom curved portion could be considered as inclined tension ties that are balanced by the force from the tension chord.

These inclined elements of the portal have out of plain bending that required thick steel sections with significant internal stiffeners.

Following its opening in March 2012, the Peace Bridge has quickly become a recognizable landmark in Calgary and has won several awards. It was named one of the world’s top 10 public spaces in 2012 by designboom, and it won the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction 2013 Engineering Award and 2013 Steel Edge Award.

Most importantly, however, the Peace Bridge is making getting to work and back easier and more sustainable for more than 6,000 Calgarians every day.

CCE

Engineering the complex geometry Defining and analyzing the complex geometry of the structure required a very detailed analytical model. All the components of the steel structure are connected and form part of the structural system that resists the applied loads. Therefore all the steel components needed to be accurately included in the analytical finite element model to develop a true understanding of the performance of the structure. Frame elements were used to model the members of the helix, shell

Client-owner: City of Calgary Designer, architect and engineer: Santiago Calatrava, LLC Engineer of record, structural engineering, electrical engineering, construction management and transportation planning: Stantec Consulting (Eric Tromposch, P.Eng., Gerd Birkle, P.Eng.) Other key players: Matrix Solutions (hydrotechnical); Thurber Engineering (geotechnical), Acuren Group (steel fabrication inspection) Contractor: Graham Construction

Eric Tromposch, P.Eng. is a vice president with Stantec, in the Calgary office.

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wastewater

CLEANING UP EFFLUENT Canada has New Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations under the federal Fisheries Act, which will require plant upgrades in hundreds of treatment plants.

By Tony Crossman Miller Thomson, LLP

E

ach year, Canadian waters receive billions of litres of untreated wastewater.

After a number of high profile prosecutions of municipalities for depositing these “deleterious substances,” and after three years of consultation on national wastewater standards, the new Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations under the federal Fisheries Act have come into operation.

The objective of the regulations is to decrease the level of deleterious and harmful substances discharged in wastewater effluent. This objective is expected to be fully implemented through various timelines extending to 2040.

The rules apply to a wastewater system — publicly or privately owned — that collects,

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wastewater

or is designed to collect, an average daily volume of 100 cubic metres or more of influent and that deposits a deleterious substance when it discharges effluent from its final discharge point. The regulations do not apply to a wastewater system that is located on the site of an industrial, commercial or institutional facility if the wastewater system is designed to collect influent whose volume consists of less than 50% blackwater and greywater combined.

Of the more than 3,500 wastewater facilities in Canada, the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement contemplates that the regulations will require upgrading a total of 849 facilities by 2040.

©Nivellen77/iStock/Thinkstock

Overcoming inconsistencies across Canada The management of wastewater in Canada is subject to shared jurisdiction, which has produced regulatory regimes that are inconsistent and have resulted in varying levels of treatment across the country.

To address this situation, the new regulations were developed to harmonize the approach to managing wastewater effluent and set national baseline effluent quality standards.

The regulations cover matters such as toxicity, monitoring, record-keeping, and reporting.

Bilateral administrative agreements between the federal government and each of the provinces and Yukon will be established to define the primary interface for administering the regulations. All reporting requirements must be filed with the appropriate authorization officer as set out in Schedule 1 to the regulations, but the details are still being worked out.

Phase-in The phase-in of the regulations has started with effluent monitoring requirements. The initial monitoring and reporting requirements came into force in 2013 (see "Duties of owner/operator — monitoring and reporting," below).

Key future dates are: • January 1, 2015 — The requirement to meet either the national effluent quality standards for CBOD, the concentrations of suspended solids, and un-ionized ammonia, or the limits for those substances as authorized through transitional authorizations, comes into force.

• January 1, 2015 — The requirement to meet the effluent quality standard for total residual chlorine comes into force either on January 1, 2015 for wastewater systems with an average daily design rate of flow of 5,000 cu.m or more of influent, or on January 1, 2021 for all other wastewater systems.

A significant portion of large wastewater systems that do

not currently meet the standards are considered to be high risk. These are required to meet the effluent quality standards by December 31, 2020. Wastewater systems posing a medium risk are required to meet the standards by the end of 2030, and those posing low risk by the end of 2040. What ranks as a high, medium, or low risk system depends on the risk to the receiving environment.

Authorization to deposit The regulations allow wastewater effluent, which is generally considered a “deleterious substance,” to be deposited in water contrary to s.36(3) of the Fisheries Act as long as the effluent meets the discharge parameters set out in the regulations. In other cases, the regulations provide for transitional, temporary and other authorizations to allow system owners time to achieve compliance.

The regulations (automatically) authorize the deposit of the following substances, subject to certain conditions: (a) carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demanding matter (CBOD); (b) suspended solids; (c) total residual chlorine; and (d) un-ionized ammonia (NH3).

Under subsection 6(1) of the regulations, a wastewater facility may deposit effluent that contains these substances if the following criteria are met: (1) the effluent is not acutely lethal (as determined in accordance with section 15); and (2) the effluent meets the following conditions: PARAMETER

CONDITION

CBOD

Average concentration does not exceed 25 mg/L

Suspended Solids

Average concentration does not exceed 25 mg/L

Total Residual Chlorine

Average concentration does not exceed 0.02 mg/L (if chlorine was used in the treatment of wastewater)

Un-ionized NH3

Maximum concentration is less than 1.25 mg/L (as expressed as nitrogen (N) at 15°C ± 1°C)

“Acutely lethal” is defined in Section 1 as the effluent killing more than 50% of the rainbow trout subjected to it during a 96-hour period. continued on page 32

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wastewater

continued from page 31

Duties of owner/operator monitoring and reporting The effluent and monitoring requirements in the regulations vary slightly depending if the average daily volume of effluent discharged in a calendar year is greater or less than 2,500 cubic metres.

• Volume of Effluent. Since January 1, 2013, all owners/ operators of wastewater systems have had to calculate, for each calendar year, the average daily volume of effluent deposited at the final discharge point.

• Monitoring and Composition of Effluent. Since January 1, 2013, all owners/operators of a continuous wastewater system have had to install monitoring equipment that provides a continuous measure of influent or effluent volume.

The owner/operator must maintain and calibrate this equipment within a margin of error of ±15%.

A table in section 10(2) prescribes minimum sampling frequencies and the type of sample to be collected for continuous wastewater systems based on average daily volume of effluent discharged. Systems that deposit larger annual average daily volumes of effluent are required to monitor

The identification report, which identifies the name, address, type and owner of the wastewater system, must contain the details prescribed in subsections 18(1)-(3) and must conform to the form and format specified by the Minister of Environment.

Monitoring reports must be sent annually or quarterly, depending on the size and type of wastewater facility.

Transitional and temporary authorizations • Transitional Authorizations. When a wastewater system does not meet the national effluent quality standards for CBOD and/or the concentration of suspended solids (i.e. exceeding 25 mg/L), the owner or operator may apply for a transitional authorization before June 30, 2014. This application will be reviewed by the authorization officer.

Transitional authorizations establish the conditions under which such a system may continue to operate, and set the risk-based timeline to meet the standards.

All transitional authorizations commence January 1, 2015. Wastewater systems posing a high risk (70 or more

A significant portion of large wastewater systems that do not currently meet the standards are considered to be high risk. They are expected to meet the effluent quality standards by the end of 2020. more frequently. The owner/operator must determine each sample’s composition of the CBOD and the concentration of suspended solids.

From January 1, 2013 until July 1, 2014, the owner/operator must also determine each sample’s concentration of un-ionized ammonia. This requirement is to find baseline quality data.

• Acute Lethality Testing. Commencing January 1, 2015, all owners/operators must take samples in the minimum frequency prescribed by a table in subsection 11(1) and determine whether or not the sample is acutely lethal. If it is, additional requirements apply under subsection 11(3).

However, the minimum sampling frequency is reduced if consecutive samples are determined not to be acutely lethal.

• Record Keeping. All owners/operators are required to make and keep composition and characterization reports. as well as records containing all information prescribed by section 17.

• Reporting. The requirements for submitting identification, monitoring, and combined sewer overflow reports came into force on January 1, 2013 but have a variety of compliance dates.

points under Schedule 2) are required to meet the effluent quality standards by December 31, 2020. Those posing a medium risk (50 or more but less than 70 points) are required to meet the standards by December 31, 2030.

Systems posing a low risk (less than 50 points) must meet the prescribed standards by December 31, 2040.

• Temporary Authorization to Deposit Un-ionized Ammonia. One type of temporary authorization permits under specific circumstances, including considering the receiving environment, the deposit of an effluent that is acutely lethal solely because of the concentration of unionized ammonia. An application for this type of authorization must be made to the authorization officer within 30 days after the date when it is established that the effluent is acutely lethal due to the concentration of un-ionized ammonia.

• Temporary Bypass Authorization. The other temporary authorization permits the bypass of effluent with or without partial treatment under certain circumstances, such as planned maintenance or construction activities. The sections allowing for a temporary bypass authorization do not come into force until January 1, 2015. continued on page 35

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business

BY TARA LANDES, BELLROCK

What do your clients really think?

Competition is stiff among engineering companies. Try two methods to measure how satisfied your clients are with your work and ensure they will stay with you for years to come.

©Dmytro Kozlov/iStock/Thinkstock

Y

ou’ve won the job and delivered everything the contract specified, on time and on budget. Your client is thrilled — or at least you think they are.

But how can you measure client satisfaction with the same precision that you measure load tolerances and environmental impacts?

Regular performance evaluations with your clients are a great way to find out what they think of you. Depending on what sector you focus on and the scope of work you’ve completed, a beer after work or a couple of phone calls to touch base may be enough to secure more business with your client. But for larger contracts and more complex offerings, a deeper client retention strategy is required.

There are two different strategies and they are used best in concert: client review meetings and client surveys.

The do-it-yourself approach client review meetings A regularly scheduled meeting between you and your client is an opportunity to review each other’s performance and to develop your working relationship even further.

On the client side, the participants in a review meeting might be the decision maker, the procurement person, and facility user. With smaller clients, all of these positions might be filled by one person. On the supplier side, the participants may be the engineer or consultant, a project manager or even a senior executive, depending on the circumstances. How frequent should these review meetings be? For some sectors, such as oil and gas or transportation, annual meetings are best, but for sectors like land development they can be even less frequent. Frequency is less important than consistency. continued on page 34

©Dmytro Kozlov/iStock/Thinkstock

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continued from page 33

Companies that do not have a formalized client review process are often shocked when they lose business and discover that clients are now working with a competitor. These engineers speak of strong client relationships, claiming that they already “know everything about their clients.” But then they resist asking their clients specific questions to evaluate their performance, fearful that they are “wasting the client’s time.” Regrettably, they miss the incongruity between these two assertions.

On the client side, those who do not insist on formal reviews with their consulting engineers find it difficult to provide feedback, get substandard service and pricing, and tend to drift away when a new, potentially stronger alternative presents itself. So be proactive, and ask your clients for a review meeting.

Meeting overview The meeting takes an hour or two and should broadly cover these topics in turn.

Ideal Supplier. “Describe a great working relationship you’ve had.” Open the meeting by asking the client about their ideal. This takes pressure off them to address your performance specifically. If your first question is, “How did we do on the last project?” you will make them uncomfortable and you’re less likely to get an honest response. By helping them relax, you’ll get a chance to jot down a few key points to consider for your next offering. If they give you generic answers such as, “I like good communication,” or “fees under budget are the best,” ask them to think of their favourite project and draw out what was so great about it.

Questions like, “How did you find your partners? What made it work? How quickly did they respond to requests?

Were there any bumps? How were they handled?” will give them the space they need to give you the information you’re looking for.

Not So Ideal. “Tell me about a project that didn’t go so well.” The same principles apply; you want to put them at ease by asking about their relationships generally, not about their relationship with you specifically. However, if they go directly to talking about your offering, you must listen.

Their Evaluation of You. “How are you finding working with us?” Remember, you want this feedback so you can improve the relationship. Writing down what they’re saying will disrupt your urge to be defensive and will make them feel heard. If they are having trouble giving you feedback, there are three killer questions you can ask to prime the pump. “What is the one thing we should keep doing?”

“What is one thing we should stop doing?” “What could we do differently?”

Their Future. “What are your company’s goals for the next few years?” Ask open-ended questions about the im34

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portance and urgency of their corporate goals. For example, are they planning to go into a new market?

What is their expected timeline? What is the value of accomplishing those goals, and how important is it to achieve them? Does something have to happen right away, or are these long-term plans?

Once you have explored the company’s direction, ask how they envision your part in it.

Roadblocks to the Future. “What challenges do you anticipate along the way?” Explore the work involved to reach the company’s goals. What will it cost in time, money or personnel to achieve them? Probe for more information, using open questions to understand the obstacles they’re anticipating.

Competitive Intelligence. “Here are some examples of what others are doing to reach similar goals.” You now have the opportunity to deliver significant value for the time they’ve spent with you. Avoid telling them what they should do, and suggest to them what they could do. Explain what other companies are doing, and see if they opt in to a similar solution that you can provide.

CLIENT REVIEW MEETING AGENDA 1. Ideal Supplier

5. Potential Roadblocks

2. Poor Supplier

6. Competitive Intelligence

3. Performance Evaluation

7. Company Update

4. Corporate Goals

8. Summary

Company Update. Describe any new offerings your company has, or old ones that they had not considered. If you believe they are already taking full advantage of your services, tell them about other offerings anyway. Maybe they know of another company or branch that would be a good fit for your services.

Summary. To close the meeting, summarize what you discussed. Highlight any action steps that arose from the conversation to make sure all agree on the next steps and timeline.

The third party approach: client surveys A third party unbiased client survey is a low cost way to formalize and systematize your client feedback process. Because it is outsourced, no-one is ever “too busy on other work” to complete the exercise. Clients are heard, and new opportunities are uncovered. A good survey company will synthesize your clients’ feedback, interpret the survey results for you, and provide recommendations that you can act on to improve your offerings for customers.

At minimum, the survey should provide a deep understanding of your clients’ purchasing drivers, degree of satis-

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business faction with your service and your staff, awareness of your range of offerings, and recommendations for what you can do differently to improve their experience. It should also provide a benchmark, so you can measure the impact of changes to your offerings, staff, or processes.

But knowledge is just table stakes.

Once you know, it’s time for action.

Why bother talking?

Politics evolve, markets shift, technology advances, customers grow older — the only thing you know for sure is that your engineering practice has to adapt, easily and often, if you want to keep happy clients who value your work. The well publicized stories of Nokia and BlackBerry illustrate that even the mighty can fall, and your engineering firm is not immune. But Apple is still thriving today. Why? They have a deep understanding of what their customers value, and a nimbleness that enables them to change to meet their clients’ demands.

Your clients may be happy today, but what systems and processes can you adopt to ensure you keep them happy in the future? Assuming you haven’t created and filled a “Mind Reader” position on your organizational chart yet, you must ask your clients what they want, ask them again, and then ask them again in a different way. Do it routinely, frequently and systematically, and the time investment easily pays for itself.

In case you are concerned about wasting the client’s time, remember that clients (like all human beings) generally appreciate being listened to.

Those who don’t will opt not to participate, which identifies exactly how unimportant you are to them — and tells you there’s an issue that needs immediate attention.

CCE Tara Landes is the president of Bellrock, a management consulting firm that specializes in engineering companies and is based in Vancouver. E-mail tlandes@bellrock.ca, www.bellrock.ca

wastewater

continued from page 32

An application for a temporary bypass authorization is required to be submitted at least 45 days before the day on which the bypass is scheduled to begin. The application will be reviewed by the authorization officer and, if accepted, the authorization will be issued no later than 21 days from the date of receipt of the application.

Authorization Officer. Bilateral administrative agreements between the federal government and each province and Yukon are expected to be put in place to ensure the efficient administration of the regulations.

These agreements will clarify the roles and responsibilities of jurisdictions on administrative elements such as the regulatory reporting, data exchange, compliance promotion, and enforcement activities.

While the new regulations provide

some greater clarity and consistency to the regulation of wastewater under the Fisheries Act, and provide time to ensure compliance, considerable capital funding will be required to upgrade existing facilities to these requirements.

But the question remains — How will these upgrades be funded? CCE References Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement, (2012). C Gaz II, 1695 (vol. 146, no. 15, 18 July, 2012) Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, “Canada-wide Strategy for the Management of Municipal Wastewater Effluent,” (17 February, 2009).

Tony Crossman is a partner with Miller Thomson LLP in Vancouver, tcrossman@ millerthomson.com

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By Don Nash, P.Eng., Urban Systems

When the City of Dawson Creek couldn’t supply enough water to natural gas fracking operators, it looked to its sewage lagoons and found the answer.

Urban Systems

Reclaiming Wastewater in Dawson Creek

Above: the main treatment building (red) and Shell Canada Pump Station (in grey). To the right is the truck fill station. Shell provided most of the funding for the project in return for 10 years' access to the reclaimed water.

T

he idea for a Reclaimed Water Facility in the City of Dawson Creek in northeastern B.C. began with the realization that water scarcity is a global issue that must be solved locally through collaboration between industry and the public. Extreme drought conditions were limiting the city’s ability to supply truck filling stations with enough potable water to support the region's hydraulic fracturing operators. Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) involves injecting a fluid (usually water with additives) into a well bore under high pressure. The process unlocks shale gas that is trapped in very small pores of fine-grained sedimentary rock.

The solution to the water shortage arose from a simple question: why is sewage considered a waste rather than a resource that can be used for hydraulic fracturing in a manner that is beneficial for society, the economy and the environment? To test this idea, the city hired Urban Systems to conduct a feasibility study.

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After the preliminary feasibility study, and after identifying potential treatment technologies and holding extensive consultation with the natural gas industry, a detailed request for proposals was issued. The approach was found to be so compelling that four companies submitted proposals.

Ultimately the city partnered with Shell Canada on the project.

Wastewater treated and piped to Shell natural gas field The project draws wastewater from the city’s existing aerated lagoon wastewater treatment system. It then further treats the water using a trademarked technology known as submerged attached growth reactors (SAGR) built adjacent to the lagoon system. Effluent from the SAGR system is further polished using coagulation and disc filtration equipment housed within a new building on the project site. The treated water is disinfected and stored in a wet well below the new building.

The reclaimed water is then piped 48 kilometres to the west to Shell’s Groundbirch venture, which has five natural gas processing plants, over 250 wells and a gas collection system. The operation is currently producing enough natural gas to meet the needs of approximately 400,000 Canadian homes. Piping the reclaimed water to Groundbirch rather than trucking it reduced traffic, noise and dust, which are among the top concerns of local landowners. The pipeline option is expected to eliminate 3 million kilometres a year in truck trips over the full course of full gas field development.

The project involved constructing the LEED-certified treatment facility, a new municipal reclaimed water truck filling station, a Shell Canada owned and operated pump station, and the pipeline to transport the water to Shell’s field operations.

Designed to treat 4,000 cubic meters per day (m3/d), the project has significant economic benefits. The

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wastewater

city received the majority of funding from Shell Canada to support the design and construction, in return for Shell securing access to the reclaimed water for 10 years. Shell Canada is allocated 3,400 m3/d, and 600 m3/d is allocated to the city’s bulk truck filling station. The city can sell the water to local industry, potentially earning $5.5 million over the 10 years. If there is surplus water over the 4,000 m3/d the city can sell that as well.

Treatment using SAGR cells The SAGR is a clean gravel bed with a horizontal chamber at the front end of the system to distribute secondary wastewater flow across the width of the cell, and a horizontal collection chamber at the back end of the system.

Each cell is essentially a large aerated trickling filter that uses clean gravel as the media for the organisms that digest the waste (biomass), to grow on.

Each cell is constructed below grade and covered in mulch to help insulate the process to improve the operation during the winter months. The biomass will naturally grow and attach to the gravel bed and use the waste in the water as food.

Although the water is highly treated upon leaving the SAGR cells, it is further polished by coagulation and disc filtration to meet the water quality requirements. The water is chlorinated for disinfection prior to distribution for oil and gas activities.

British Columbia currently has four categories or levels of treatment for reclaimed water. The water produced at the facility meets the quality requirements for three of those categories, providing a wide range of reuse opportunities.

Special consideration had to be given to the uses of the reclaimed water, and to how it would be handled in the field and in the event of a spill. Also, given that reclaiming the

water reduced the discharge to Dawson Creek, careful consideration was given to the potential impacts on fish habitat. The creek was monitored during the commissioning period.

The treatment system has proven itself in the northern environment and has opened the door for other northern facilities to use this technology in an entirely new range of applications.

Ultimately the project was about partnering with industry to help finance a reclaimed water facility to reduce the demand for potable water for non-potable uses.

Urban Systems is now working with a number of local governments on reclaimed water opportunities. CCE

Owners: City of Dawson Creek/ Shell Canada Prime consultant: Urban Systems (Don Nash, P.Eng., Peter Coxon, P.Eng.) Project management: MHPM Technical reviews: NovaTech, CH2M HILL SAGR system design/supply: Nelson Environmental Other key players: Toyo (Shell pump station and pipeline design); Stantec (commissioning); Public Design & Communications (architecture); CWMM (structural), ICI (electrical/instrumentation); HPF (heating/ventilation); Enersys(model); Maple Reinders (construction main process facility); Tritech (construction SAGR cells)

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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software

By Erin Morrow Oasys/ARUP

A powerful and unique 3D modelling program known as MassMotion is helping to keep pedestrians moving quickly and safely during construction at Toronto’s Union Station.

Arup/Oasys

Modelling Crowd Movements

Above: detailed rendering of the MassMotion simulation results at Union Station in Toronto's downtown core during the evening peak period.

C

atching up with the investment that is required to address a backlog of transport infrastructure upgrades is a global issue, and the ball is mainly in the politicians’ court. Meanwhile, engineers working on the transformation of Toronto’s downtown Union Station are proving that the profession is ready and able to play its part, managing changes to a multi-modal transport hub with minimal disruption. The station is the main terminus for the GO regional rail network, a connection into the city’s streetcar and subway 38

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networks, plus a gateway into the PATH system of walkways.

While the original design work is done, the project team has had to grapple with the logistical challenges of staging construction in a way that minimizes disruption and maximizes the safety of users. The station handles over 30,000 passengers during the morning peak hour and more than 250,000 over a typical business day. It is because these numbers are expected to more than double over the next 10 years, with up to 70,000 passengers during the

peak morning rush hour in 2021, that getting the Union Station project right is so crucial.

When the project master plan was adopted in 2004, Arup was awarded the contract to assess the pedestrian flows through the station during the refurbishment and for the predicted conditions of 2021. The study revealed a number of opportunities and constraints for the refurbishment, and it informed the best locations of the retail, commercial and transit-related facilities. The modeling analyzed the 2021 predicted passenger

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software

MassMotion modeling to avoid construction chaos The planning study used MassMotion modeling for 3D pedestrian simulation. MassMotion, was developed by Oasys, the software house of Arup, to fill a gap in the capabilities offered by other programs. The 3D environments are easily imported from standard CAD tools such as AutoCAD Revit, architectural drawings, or imported direct from BIM models.

The platforms and station were modeled in detail, while the network of adjacent streets and walkways were modeled within the same file in a more abstract fashion. Thereafter, the speed and scalability of MassMotion enabled the engineers to test and optimize ideas. For instance, by adjusting stair, retail and service locations, the team was able to improve the balance of pedestrian flows as well as the user experience.

The speed of iteration in MassMotion is now proving useful in supporting the construction staging. While high-level planning was done on the drawing board before contractors even got near the site, no-one could really predict what was going to happen on site. The same tool that was used for overall master planning is giving rapid turnaround during construction to ensure that any impacts will not cause chaos in rush hour.

To be really successful as a planning and management tool, pedestrian modeling must be as near to real life as possible. MassMotion’s pedestrian models are based on industry standard planning and design guidelines for pedestrian behaviour.

Arup/Oasys

flows, and also checked each stage of the refurbishment to ensure that the station would continue to function while the rebuilding work closed off parts of the concourses.

Above: false colour plot of peak density pedestrian flows for subway connection at Union Station over 15 minutes. Red represents the most dense, and blue the least dense, pedestrian traffic.

But these models are then easily calibrated against actual observed flows and adjusted so that the analysis is consistent with each specific project and location.

Program agents react in a dynamic environment MassMotion pedestrian simulation is also different in that it models pedestrian behaviour rather than testing a designer’s preconceptions. The individual agents in a MassMotion simulation make their own choices about appropriate actions, based on the dynamics of their environment and how their actions affect other agents.

For example, if the interface between rail and subway has several portals, other pedestrian simulation tools require the designers to make a subjective decision and input what percentage of the population in the space will use each portal. In a MassMotion simulation each agent decides which door to use based on what it knows about the distance to its goal and how long the queue is for each door and how much time

they are prepared to invest in the interchange. “In a multi-modal hub like this, getting the interchanges right is critical if we are to achieve the vision of truly integrated transportation,” says Morrow.

MassMotion agents need to be assigned an origin and a destination.

They then navigate their own way through the environment and will respond dynamically to congestion and queues. This means that the more complex an environment becomes, the quicker it is to set up or modify the model. What a MassMotion agent knows can even be tailored to suit different cultures, for instance allowing for people’s tendency to give way to the left or right.

CCE Erin Morrow is product director of the MassMotion crowd simulation and analysis tools developed by Oasys Software, a part of Arup Group. Morrow, a member of the Canadian Institute of Planners and American Institute of Certified Planners, is based in Arup’s offices in Toronto. For more information, see www.oasys-software. com/massmotion

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ADVERTORIAL

manufacturer case study

pumps

GRUNDFOS

Toronto Condo Water Pressure Gets the Boost Required with a Grundfos Pump Audit

R

esidents of a 37-year-old condominium building located in Etobicoke, Ontario, were experiencing lack of water pressure during peak hours despite the many efforts to repair and upgrade the existing booster system.

The requirement was to identify a reliable, little-to-no maintenance solution that would boost domestic water to the top floors while maintaining constant pressure.

Feras Marish of Grundfos performed a pump audit profiling the existing systems flow, pressure and power consumption.

The data collected revealed the required pressure and flow capacity and that by optimizing the system and decreasing horsepower, a reduction of 89% in energy consumption could be achieved.

After analyzing the profiles, Grundfos recommended installation of an MPC (multi pump controller) BoosterpaQ system consisting of two CR vertical inline multistage pumps with motors totaling 10 hp, each equipped with a VFD (variable frequency drive).

The BoosterpaQ was chosen for the following reasons: • The booster system is ideal for water supply and pressure boosting in multi-storey buildings where needs can vary significantly throughout the day. It has the capability to do this while keeping energy consumption at the lowest possible level.

• CR pumps are the best foundation for the system. They are reliable, and when compared to any other pumps of their kind in the market, they have the highest efficiency and are the most service friendly.

• The MPC is the brain behind the system. It has been specially designed by Grundfos to control parallel connected pumps. It controls the number of CR’s in operation, as well as the individual CR’s.

• The MPC alternates between lead and lag pumps, ensuring equal run hours on all of the pumps.

With built in pump curves, the MPC can identify if it is more efficient to operate two pumps at a slower speed, rather than one pump at full speed.

• The VFD located in the MPC adapts to variations in water flow, allowing the CR’s to continuously regulate speed while maintaining pre-set constant pressure. The VFD ensures the CR’s run only when demand is detected, therefore extending the lifespan of the pumps and ultimately reducing energy consumption.

• The system is a compact unit that comes preassembled for easy installation and is tested prior to delivery. It is very user friendly.

The BoosterpaQ was installed on January 27, 2014, and residents began to notice the remarkable difference in water pressure immediately. By upgrading to the new energy-efficient booster system the building owner will see a reduction in both energy costs and maintenance costs. The upgrade will also allow the owner to obtain a projected $6,000 rebate from Toronto Hydro.

Article by Melissa Almonte of Grundfos. Grundfos is the world’s largest manufacturer of pumps and pumping systems. Grundfos’ Canadian headquarters is in Oakville, Ont. 1-800-644-9599, www.grundfos.ca

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Specifier’s Literature Review

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BEHLEN Industries’ Frameless building system uses engineered steel panels, roof­ing, and other steel components for a dura­ble, longlasting performance and quick, easy construction. The Frameless system delivers spa­cious facilities with no structural columns and clear, unobstructed space up to 328’. Its lightweight structural components allow the buildings to be more energy efficient than traditional buildings with unobstructed interiors improving airflow and aiding the energy performance of HVAC systems. www.behlen.ca SUPPLIER: BEHLEN

A Grundfos pump system refurbishment can deliver fantastic savings and performance improvements in older buildings – even without changes to the building envelope or piping. Learn more at www.thinkingbuildings.ca/ grundfoscrew SUPPLIER: GRUNDFOS

Engineered to exceed the specifications for a wide variety of Variable Air Volume (VAV) applications, the Reliable Controls® MACH-ProAir™ is a fully programmable BACnet Building Controller (B-BC) with numerous downloadable standard codes and flexible I/O options, all priced to meet a modest budget, as it continues the Reliable Controls® tradition of intrinsic simplicity, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. www.reliablecontrols.com/products/ controllers/MPA SUPPLIER: RELIABLE CONTROLS CORPORATION

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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-ca.com, or visit our website at www.densona.com SUPPLIER: DENSO NORTH AMERICA INC.

This application will allow WEG Electric Motor customers in NEMA markets to search an electronic catalog for motors and produce data sheets and technical drawings. The application will also allow the user to download or email PDF data sheets and drawings. The app is available for iOS, Blackberry, Android. Go to www.pamensky.com/downloads SUPPLIER: V.J. PAMENSKY

Rittal provides an innovative cooling solution that provides up to 60 kW of cooling capacity direct to your rack. By bringing the cooling direct to the heat source, energy efficiency is optimised. Rittal’s LCP is a scalable solution that you can expand as your data centre and cooling needs grow. marketing@rittal.ca 1-800-399-0748 www.rittal.ca SUPPLIER: RITTAL SYSTEMS

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TOA introduces a scalable system for configuring versatile and highly effective PA applications. The SX-2000 Series features matrixing capabilities, allowing a single system’s components to be distributed in different locations under centralized control. Featuring dual power source, and redundant backups for fail-safe operation. A fireman’s microphone enhances emergency communication. Ideal for large-scale installations ranging over multiple buildings or as a local system. Particularly wellsuited for airports and railway stations, factories, shopping malls and large offices. For more info: sales@toacanada.com, 1-800-263-7639, www.TOAcanada.com SUPPLIER: TOA CANADA CORPORATION

CANADIAN CONSULTING ENGINEER 2014 MEDIA KIT

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 2014 media kit, please send along your request to Maureen Levy at (416) 510-5111, email: mlevy@ccemag.com or visit www.canadianconsultingengineer.com

professional directory

STRUCTURES

Structal-Bridges of Canam Group is providing steel components for a new cable stayed bridge at Saint-Jacques Street that is part of the Turcot interchange reconstruction in Montreal.

Structal-Bridges’ contribution includes a monocoque structure, a steel tower and a complex anchorage system, as well as Goodco Z-Tech seismic isolators and modular expansion joints. www.structalbridges.ws

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WATER TREATMENT

The second generation microbiological ATP testing from LuminUltra, a New Brunswick-based company, gives results in a matter of minutes. ATP stands for Adenosine Triphosphate, a molecule found only in and around living cells. Each ATP molecule reacts to produce a photon of light which is quantified by a luminometer. www.luminultra.com LEAPprimary is an advanced primary wastewater treatment from GE Water. It combines separation, thickening and dewatering of primary solids in a single, compact unit, and it combines with LEAPmbr technologies. www.gewater.com 42

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For information on placing an advertisement in the Canadian Consulting Engineer Professional Directory, contact Maureen Levy, Senior Publisher, 416-510-5111, email: mlevy@ccemag.com, or Vince Naccarato, Sales Manager, 416-510-5118, email: vnaccarato@ccemag.com

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Advertiser

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Rittal Systems Ltd

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Simpson Strong Tie

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Manufacturer Case Study

Pg#

Grundfos

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Title

Telephone

Website

Toronto Condo Water Pressure Gets the Boost Required with a Grundfos Pump Audit

1-800-644-9599

www.grundfos.ca

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E-Mail___________________________________________________________________________________ Canadian Consulting Engineer 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9 Telephone toll free 1-800-268-7742 (Canada), 416 442-5600 ext 3546 Fax 416-510-6875. E-mail: badelt@bizinfogroup.ca Please provide us with the name of another professional engineer or specification writer at your company who would like to receive Canadian Consulting Magazine FREE*.

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conversations

The president of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Quebec discusses the impact on engineering firms of the Charbonneau Inquiry, which is looking at corruption in the construction industry.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE An interview with Johanne Desrochers, AICQ Revelations of corruption in the Quebec construction industry have created shock waves throughout the province and Canada. Politicians, bureaucrats, contractors, — ­ - and engineering companies — have been implicated in stunning evidence provided at the Charbonneau Commission of Inquiry being held in Montreal.1 Last year, the ever-rolling cameras at the commission recorded engineering company executives admitting they had participated in a longtime system of collusion and bid-rigging. Several large companies have also admitted making illegal donations to political parties, and while the Inquiry is ongoing, some witnesses have testified that money changed hands in order to obtain contracts at the municipal level. Meanwhile, the province’s anticorruption unit, UPAC, continues to investigate, and as recently as January held an early morning raid on an engineering company’s offices.

Canadian Consulting Engineer talked to Johanne Desrochers, president and chief executive officer of the Association des ingénieurs-conseils du Québec (AICQ)/Association of Consulting Engineers of Quebec, about the impact of the Charbonneau Inquiry on the consulting engineering community, and how she sees things moving forward. — BP

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conversations

Q. AICQ has reported that its firms have 20% fewer staff in 2013 compared to the previous year. Do you think this corporate shrinkage is related to the Charbonneau Inquiry and other corruption scandals?

Desrochers: There are two reasons: the economic situation in Quebec, coupled with the crisis and the Charbonneau Inquiry. In Quebec the economy is slow. The natural resources sector is on hold, as well as the industrial sector. And in terms of infrastructure, business is half of what it used to be in the last decade.

In the municipalities a lot of projects have been postponed. So the situation for consulting engineers means that while they keep their people as long as they can, at some point it’s difficult if you don’t have enough projects.

Photo: Patrick Bernath/The Canadian Press/CCE

Q. How has the Inquiry affected engineers' work with the municipalities?

With all these allegations and revelations, everybody just stepped back and asked themselves if they wanted to continue with their projects, or would they wait and see.

Q. We still have to fix bridges and roads, so can’t the public clients just adopt an anonymous bidding process or some other tools to ensure fairness and honesty?

We’re probably the province with more process than anywhere — at least at the provincial government level where we have a QBS (qualifications-based selection) process. And we have fee schedules put in place by the Treasury Board.

So there are good rules.

But the problems were especially in the municipalities where it is a low-bid system, not only for the contractors but for the professionals as well. The low bidding system is not the only reason for the problems, but it helped.

Of course all of this has had a big impact and the government did put some new rules in place. Bill 1, the Integrity in Public Contracts Act, was passed in January one year ago.

The law requires that any company that wants to work with government at any level, municipal or provincial, has to be integrity-approved. The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) gives the approval, and it is required no matter if it’s a construction company, a consulting engineer, an architect, whatever. The AMF works with the Unité permanente anticorruption (UPAC), the government’s anti-corruption unit to look at a company and its directors to see if they comply with the required standards of integrity.

At the beginning the AMF’s integrity approval process

was for the very large projects, $40 million and more. So of course it was oriented to the big firms. But now it’s for projects of $10 million or more.

Q. Have any companies been approved by the AMF? Dessau, SNC-Lavalin and WSP among the larger firms. Most AICQ members working with the public sector have either submitted their application to the AMF or intend to do so in the coming months.

Q. I understand that you are asking the government to do more?

We want the government to understand that in a services industry you cannot just close the door, not do any projects for x months or years, and then think that you can just open the door and start again. It doesn’t work that way.

Over the years an engineering company will build a capacity to manage projects, to work as a team, to innovate together. If nothing is done and we don’t realize that we are losing our way, then we may be about to lose our head offices and this expertise of teams.

I don’t think that’s what we would wish for the consulting engineering industry in Quebec. It’s been an industry in which everybody has invested for 50 or 60 years. I think we have the responsibility all together — the government, the universities, the companies. We have the responsibility to keep a strong industry. When you want to bring investment from outside, it’s always an advantage for these investors to know that in every region of the province there is expertise in engineering.

Some people believe that if engineers lose their jobs in one firm, they’ll just go to another, because other firms will have the projects. But that’s not how it works.

We don’t think it would be an advantage for Quebec to lose many head offices. It wouldn’t be a good idea for the industry not to be strong any more. It could have an impact on the universities even, because we have a lot of engineering schools and many of these students work in our firms.

So it’s all related.

We’re just trying to make sure that the government really understands the precariousness of the situation and does something.

The first thing they could do, which is not that difficult I think, is to create a forum, or a place where we can think about “after the Inquiry.” We don’t feel that anybody is thinking about that. What’s the impact of all these revelations? What’s next? That’s what AICQ is working on. continued on page 46

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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conversations

continued from page 45

When you combine exemplary Q. What’s the mood among federation of consulting enyoung professionals? Are peoconduct with technical advantage, then gineers). We are encouragple feeling that they just want ing the members to put the you can become again an industry of to leave the province?

FIDIC integrity managewhich the population can be proud.

No, no. Interestingly enough, ment system in place. We last summer even though will see, and maybe in a few there were all the revelations at that time, we did a survey years from now having this system in place could be a criteand 78% of the young professionals in the survey were still ria to become a member of AICQ. proud to work in consulting engineering, and 83% said they I think that if we take this situation as an opportunity, would like to continue their career in that sector. it can help the industry to be seen as even better in five Another thing was that 91% of the young professionals years from now. When you combine exemplary conduct indicated that they felt they had an important role to play with technical advantage, then you can become again an in terms of ethics. Most of them were ready to get involved industry of which the population can be proud. Because in order to regain the good reputation of the sector. It’s the companies’ technical expertise and reputation were not easy, that’s for sure, but I think that as long as they see never questioned. that the companies are changing, the young professionals want to stay.

Q. What has all this been like for you? It must have been very stressful over the last few years.

Q. Why then has there been a drop of 20% in Well, there were allegations of all sorts before the Charbonthe number of employees in AICQ firms? neau Inquiry, and then suddenly the allegations became It’s related to both the impact of the Inquiry and the eco- revelations. So it has been a big shock, yes. nomic situation, as I said. Even for those firms working in And of course when you have worked with the people the private sector there were layoffs. [implicated at the Inquiry] and know them, and they are But also three years ago in the municipal sector many en- people from whom you happened to learn a lot, it’s disapgineers did leave the consulting industry because they were pointing to say the least. But they will pay their dues to socinot able to play their role as they used to. They had been the ety at some point, I suppose, if they are found guilty. strategic partner of the municipality, working with their cliWhen it happened, of course I had to think: “Am I stayents for years, and then suddenly they were seen as a villain. ing? Can I bring something? Can I help?”

I decided to stay. And if you decide to stay it’s to help and Q. So engineers have lost the confidence of their clients? it’s to learn. It’s also because you believe in this profession Well not all of them, of course. But if you are a responsible and in these people. What really drives me is that I think of client, of course you will ask yourself: Are our processes those 20,000 people, and all the work they do, and how O.K.? Are our consultant professionals O.K.? In the very vast important they are for the society — which they don’t actumajority of cases they are, because it’s only a minority who ally always realize. were involved in corruption. The vast majority of the 23,000 Corruption is not a problem just in Quebec. It’s a worldor so people in the consulting engineering industry, as well wide problem. The construction industry is the most coras the 60,000 engineers in this province, are honest. Still, it’s rupt industry in the world. Everywhere you have investment difficult for professionals working in this environment. It’s and construction, you will get some people trying to corvery difficult. But the wind will change. rupt and take advantage for themselves. There is a lot of money involved. The consulting engineer can play a role in Q. What is the impact on the AICQ? a good sense or a bad sense, because he is between the cliFor the association, some members decided not to renew, so ents and the contractors, or working together with them, this has had an important impact. and his role is really to be the ears and eyes on the project.

We’re trying to bring the members to use different tools He is right at the centre. that firms like SNC-Lavalin or WSP have put in place in We should ask ourselves: What could we have done? terms of compliance. What we do as an association is try to What could be in place so that we protect the industry from find the best practices in different fields. So we are working that? And this question actually should be asked by any aswith the OIQ [Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec], and the sociation in Canada. It’s an opportunity I believe that we government, and with tools from FIDIC (the international must take, and we must take this subject seriously.

CCE The Commission of Inquiry on the Awarding and Management of Public Contracts in the Construction Industry, is looking into potential corruption in the management of public construction contracts in Quebec. Enacted on 19 October 2011, the inquiry is chaired by Justice France Charbonneau, and is ongoing. See https://www.ceic.gouv.qc.ca/la-commission.html

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March/April 2014

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Clear solutions for water, energy and the environment tetra tech’s scientists and engineers are developing sustainable solutions for the world’s most complex projects. with more than 3,500 employees in Canada and 14,000 total employees worldwide, we have grown to become one of north america’s largest engineering firms—and that’s just the beginning. from water and transportation projects, to renewable energy and mining services, tetra tech provides clear solutions in consulting, engineering, program management, construction management, and technical services worldwide. www.tetratech.com

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Engineering support services Bill of Material Generation 2D/3D CAD layouts Prototyping service Design & Customization services On-Site Training

www.rittal.ca

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14-03-13 2:30 PM