The Consulting Engineers of Ontario celebrated their annual awards gala in a novel way on May 1. Instead of the usual glitz and glamour, the organization celebrated its members’ best achievements for the year via a live stream YouTube broadcast.

Taking home top honours at the 18th annual Ontario Consulting Engineering Awards (OCEA) was Dillon Consulting. The Toronto-based firm earned the 2020 Willis Chipman Award for its work on the rehabilitation of the Historic Blackfriars Bridge in London, Ontario. The award is presented annually to the project that best demonstrates the value and importance of consulting engineering in the economic, social and environmental quality of life in Ontario.

Built in 1875, Blackfriars Bridge is one of the oldest surviving wrought-iron bowstring arch-truss bridges in North America. The City of London retained Dillon to rehabilitate the bridge while preserving its aesthetic character. The project renewed the bridge to meet the future needs of the city, and restored the structure as a community focal point.

“We would like to express our gratitude for the privilege of working on this project with the City of London as well as recognize the very cooperative and effective work by the general contractor for the construction phase of the project, Mclean-Taylor Construction,” said Dillon Consulting in a release. “This project represented almost a decade of effort on the part of engineers, planners, and scientists, drawing from some of our offices in four time zones across Canada. Rehabilitation of heritage bridges requires a lot of collaboration, innovation and troubleshooting during the construction phase between the owner, engineer, and contractor, and this project benefited from a great working relationship.”

CEO’s Awards of Excellence celebrate the achievements of firms of specific sizes for work on projects that demonstrate their particular capabilities. Recipients in 2020 included:

• John G. Cooke & Associates Ltd. for Canada's Four Corners Restoration. The firm was hired to stabilize and preserve the heritage character of the 19th century building located near Parliament Hill.
• HDR Corporation for Lakeshore Connecting Communities. The City of Mississauga retained the firm to develop a transportation plan for a busy roadway, and to improve intersection configuration, increase pedestrian safety, and incorporate better public spaces.
• V. Anderson Associates Limited for the Nickel Lift Station Upgrades. Design improvements to the wastewater treatment plant in Greater Sudbury helped improve effluent quality and reduce the risk of sewer back-ups and basement flooding.
• Jacobs for Duffin Creek Water Pollution Control Plant's Phosphorus Reduction. Jacobs created models to improve the quality of effluent being released into the nearby Great Lakes.

CEO also handed out a further seven Awards of Merit in a variety of categories.

Winning for building, engineering and science was Morrison Hershfield for its work on Building NX at Humber College. The structure had significant envelope and ventilation problems. The construction team’s work repaired these issues, and helped the building earn the Zero Carbon Design certification from the Canada Green Building Council.

DST Consulting Engineers received its award of merit in the environmental category for its blast engineering work on the Nanticoke Powerhouse. The project involved the controlled and highly involved demolition of a massive structure owned by Ontario Power Generation. The engineering team developed an all-encompassing and highly precise process that saw the half-kilometre structure demolished in just 27 seconds. The demolition was the largest of its kind ever performed in Canada.

KSG Group won in the industry, energy and resources category for its work on the Peter Sutherland Sr. Generation Station. The firm coordinated the construction of a generating station that produces 28 megawatts of clean, renewable power in a remote part of Northern Ontario.

WSP Canada Inc. earned honours for project management for its work on the Salt Cay – Airside Improvements projects in the Turks and Caicos. The project required significant improvements to the airside work to the island’s airport, and a deep level of coordination to keep air operations functioning while coordinating the delivery and installation of construction materials arriving from the mainland United States.

Wood was honoured in the studies and research category for its work on the Riverside Dam Class Environmental Assessment. The Cambridge dam was built in the middle of the 1800s, and required reconstruction to not only preserve local heritage, but also to address sound and flood-management concerns, and maintain fish passage and public safety.

AECOM won in the transit category for its work on the Waterloo Stage 1 Light Rail Transit project. The project involved the design of 19 kilometres of track, as well as the management of construction of on- and off-street components. The firm was the lead designer on the project and the engineer of record for one of the largest infrastructure projects ever completed in the Region of Waterloo.

Finally, McIntosh Perry Consulting Engineers earned honours in the transportation structural category for its work on the Reed Narrows Bridge Microbial Induced Corrosion project. The project involved restoring an operating bridge in a remote area in Northern Ontario. Since the bridge could not be replaced, the work involved significant underwater work to restore the structure.