New York State consulting engineers honored for projects

New York State consulting engineering firms will be honored March 27 by the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York (ACEC New York) for outstanding design, research and studies projects in ten categories. The 27 Diamond Awards that will be presented to 26 companies are the most prestigious awards given by ACEC New York and will be presented at a gala dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. One of the Diamond Award winners, C&S Engineers, Inc., headquartered in Syracuse, will also receive the Empire Award for its project, which was the highest rated project in New York State among the entries submitted. The firm was the environmental engineering consultant for remediation of the Pioneer Midler brownfield site in Syracuse, a 22-acre contaminated site of a former manufacturing facility that has been transformed into a commercial property. The criteria for the award are innovative application of new or existing technologies, complexity, future value to the engineering profession, and meeting and exceeding client needs. For the third year, a "Best Panel Award" was given to the firm that best communicated engineering excellence through the creation of a panel that is visually exciting and stimulating to read as well as promoting the achievements of the engineering profession. This year, the award went to AECOM for the Hudson River PCBs-Potable Water Supplies project that encompasses four cities and towns and two counties in New York State. The depth and variety of projects that are being honored at this annual event serve as witness to the talent and skill of New York State's consulting engineering community, which has contributed greatly through its work to the health, safety and living standard of our residents in every region of the state. Each of these projects was technically challenging, and they were resolved with creative thought and technical know-how, but there is much more that needs to be done. As I stated in testimony before the New York State Senate finance committee, our infrastructure needs to be considered and valued for what it is-an asset. An asset that allows our society to exist as it does today. This asset requires continual investment. 2010 Diamond Award Winners Water and Wastewater * Hudson River PCBs-Potable Water Supplies, communities of Troy, Waterford, Halfmoon and Stillwater, Saratoga and Rensselaer Counties Engineers: AECOM * Perchlorate Well No. BGD-1, Bethpage, N.Y. Engineers: Holzmacher, McLendon & Murrell, P.C. Energy * Long Island Cable Replacement Project, Huntington, N.Y. and Norwalk, Conn. Engineers: AECOM * Peace Bridge Aesthetic Lighting Upgrade, Buffalo. Engineers: Stantec Consulting Services Inc. Building/Technology Systems * Juilliard School/Alice Tully Hall: Expansion, Renovation & Acoustical Upgrade, New York City. Engineers: Arup * King & King Architects' Office Building, Syracuse. Engineers: IBC Engineering, P.C. * Royal Bank of Scotland Americas Headquarters, Stamford, Conn. Engineers: Jaros, Baum & Bolles Environmental * Midler City Industrial Park Brownfield Remediation, Syracuse. Engineers: C&S Engineers, Inc. * Waterfront Greenway Commercial Brownfield, Bronx. Engineers: HDR Special Projects * Overland Park Soccer Complex, Overland Park, Kan. Engineers: CHA * Porous Sidewalk Design Improves Business District, Pound Ridge, N.Y. Engineers: Woodard & Curran Studies, Research & Consulting Engineering Services * Housatonic River Museum, A Net-Zero Building Study, Pittsfield, Mass. Engineers: Dagher Engineering, PLLC * UCONN Water Reuse, Storrs, Conn. Engineers: Hazen and Sawyer, P.C. Structural Systems * TKTS Booth, Times Square, N.Y. Engineers: Dewhurst Macfarlane & Partners, P.C. * Pier 64 at Hudson River Park, New York City. Engineers: Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers * 0-14, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Engineers: Ysrael A. Seinuk, P.C. * Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, New York City. Engineers: Severud Associates Consulting Engineers, P.C. * Schermerhorn House, Brooklyn. Engineers: Robert Silman Associates Structural Engineers * Comcast Center, Philadelphia, Penn. Engineers: Thornton Tomasetti * Gowanus Expressway Viaduct - BQE Connector Widening and Interim Deck Replacement, Brooklyn. Engineers: Bechtel/SELLS/URS Joint Venture Surveying & Mapping * GIS/GPS Mapping for Interstate Ruby Pipeline Siting, Ore., Nev., Wyo. And Utah. Engineers: Ecology and Environment Engineering, P.C. Transportation * Dames Point Container Terminal, Jacksonville, Fla. Engineers: Halcrow * Harmon Shop Replacement Design-Build, Croton-on-Hudson. Engineers: Jacobs/Parsons Brinckerhoff, Joint Venture * I-87/I-84 Interchange Reconstruction, Newburgh, N.Y. Engineers: Parsons Brinckerhoff * Brooklyn-Queens Expressway - 61st Street to Broadway, Queens, N.Y. Engineers: Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. * Metrorrey Light Rail Viaduct (Line 2), Monterrey, Mexico. Engineers: Weidlinger Associates, Inc. Water Resources * Wetland Treatment of Glycol Impaired Runoff, Cheektowaga, N.Y. Engineers: Urban Engineers of New York, P.C. Complete listings of the winning engineering firms and the Diamond Award-winning panels are posted in the Engineering Excellence Awards section of ACEC New York's website: www.acecny.org. Jay Simson, CAE, is president of ACEC New York.