NZEE Awards 2013 winners – best engineering of the year

NZEE Awards 2013 winners – best engineering of the year

The best engineering work of 2013, awarded at New Zealand’s Engineering Excellence (NZEE) Awards last night, involved the Canterbury earthquakes, forensic crime scene investigations, honey fraud, bacteria and power solutions.

SUPREME WINNER

Last night (Wednesday 27 November) fifteen NZEE Awards were won and the supreme engineering award went to a 3D microscope The Classifynder. It was developed by a team of experts and students led by Professor Robert Hodgson of Massey University’s School of Engineering and Advanced Technology. The microscope has already sparked international interest from forensic crime scene investigators, with the US Homeland Security representative visiting next year, and from within New Zealand with scientists studying our ecosystem and exporters working to counter honey fraud when overseas ‘honey’ is sold off as valuable NZ honey.

EARTHQUAKE INNOVATION

Innovative engineering in the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes was also highlighted with several awards won by projects and individuals working to re-build post-quake Christchurch.

WILLIAM PICKERING AWARD – CANTERBURY EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING LEADERS

Outstanding engineering leaders Sir Ron Carter and Richard Fenwick, who were both commissioners on the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission, were the William Pickering Award winners.

IPENZ chief executive Andrew Cleland said this award recognised the pair as outstanding role models for engineers, using their knowledge and skills for the benefit of society.

As commissioners, alongside Justice Mark Cooper, the men led a critically important public enquiry which had and continues to have a major impact on the engineering community and the community at large. They demonstrated leadership, dedication and stamina, but also human sensitivity in the way they interacted with grieving families, Dr Cleland said.

Prior to the Commission, Sir Carter was an established business leader, who developed an employee-owned New Zealand engineering consultancy business, Beca Group, to an international scale.

Richard Fenwick has long been a technical leader in structural engineering both as a consultant and as an academic. He has researched new design concepts and contributed to thought leadership. Over several decades he also devoted thousands of hours to developing widely applied standards and codes for structural engineering under New Zealand’s seismic conditions.

KEEPING THE COMMUNITY AT THE HEART OF THE RE-BULD

The Stronger Canterbury Infrastructure Re-build Team (SCIRT) won the Excellence in Community Engagement Award for keeping the community at the heart of the rebuild. It involved SCIRT staff going door-to-door to land owners and using chocolate fish to stimulate interest in its 500 different projects making up $2 billion worth of major infrastructure reconstruction.

INNOVATION OUT OF LIQUEFACTION

A new engineering product which helps resolve post-Canterbury earthquake liquefaction concerns also impressed judges. They awarded the TTT MultiPoles© product with the Building and Construction Award. The pole was designed with its core removed so it can be used as a pipe to feed a water jet that helps drive the pile into the ground. Grouting at the tip of the pile can be introduced to reduce the potential for settlement under liquefaction.

ENGINEERING AND BACTERIA - A WINNING COMBINATION

Bacteria played an important role in a winning engineering project; the Wairakei Bioreactor developed by Beca for treating cooling water. The bioreactor uses naturally occurring bacteria as a biofilm on the tube walls to convert hydrogen sulphide which is toxic to the river eco system, into harmless chemicals. The bacteria remove up to 80 per cent of the toxic compound before the cleaned water is returned to the Waikato River.

PEOPLE AWARDS

Engineering Innovator: Winner Nihal Kularatna was awarded for improving the efficiency of energy storage systems with his research, while also improving power quality issues. The Waikato University academic has patents pending for two techniques he developed. He has also working on solving a common engineering problem in developing countries: the severe fluctuations in the utility power supply due to overloaded low voltage distribution lines, while a United States patent covers his supercapacitor technology (high capacity energy storage). The electronics engineer says he is driven by developing creative usable technologies to make energy more accessible to all.

Entrepreneur: winner Mike Daniell: The electrical engineer has led Fisher & Paykel Healthcare since 1990, holding various positions in the business including product design engineer and technical manager. During his 23 years at the helm the company has grown rapidly and is now an internationally competitive, high-tech manufacturing operation with significant penetration in niche markets.

Young Engineer of the Year: Ben Henson. The Auckland engineer for Beca led a team designing an award-winning laboratory to research tuberculosis at the University of Auckland.

NOTE: The annual awards are delivered by The Institution of Professional Engineers (IPENZ) on behalf of a partnership of engineering organisations – Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA), Electricity Engineers’ Association (EEA), Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand (ACENZ), New Zealand Contractors’ Federation, Water New Zealand and The New Zealand Council of Engineering Deans.

Description: NZEEButton-award winner

NZEE Awards 2013

Practice Awards

Excellence in Community Engagement

Winner:

Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) - Keeping the Community at the Heart of the Rebuild

SCIRT

Excellence in Environmental Practice

Winner:

Martyn Wilson Reserve - Storm water Upgrade and Wetland Project

- Beca

- Harrison Grierson

- HEB Construction

- Andrew Stewart Ltd

- Auckland Council

- SouthernSkies Environmental Ltd

- Afishionado

Excellence in Engineering for Safety

Winner

Transfield Worley's Shutdown Management Framework

- Transfield Worley

Project and Product Awards

Building and Construction

Winner:

- Cored Timber Rounds (TTT MultiPoles©)

mlb Consulting Engineers

TTT Products Ltd

Chemical, Bio and Food

Winner:

Wairakei Bioreactor

- Beca

Energy and Resources

Winner:

Nadarivatu Hydroelectric Power Scheme

- MWH New Zealand Ltd

ICEET (Information, Communication, Electrical and Electronic Technology)

Winner:

The PAL-GPR System: An Underground Asset Location and Mapping System, setting New Standards in Utility Safety and Asset Protection

- Counties Power Ltd

Mechanical and Manufacturing

Winner:

The Classifynder – An Automated Digital Microscope for Palynology

- Veritaxa Ltd

- Massey University School of Engineering and Advanced Technology (SEAT)

Transportation Infrastructure

Winner:

Newmarket Viaduct Replacement
- NGA Newmarket Alliance

Water, Waste and Amenities

Winner:

Christchurch Ocean Outfall
- URS New Zealand Ltd
- Christchurch City Council
- McConnell Dowell Constructors Ltd
- OCEL
- Downer New Zealand Ltd

Supreme Award for Engineering Excellence and Awards Recognising People

Winner: The Classifynder – An Automated Digital Microscope for Palynology.

New Zealand Young Engineer of the Year: Ben Henson of Beca

William Pickering Award for Engineer Leaders: Sir Ron Carter and Richard Fenwick

New Zealand Engineering Entrepreneur of the Year: Mike Daniells of Fisher and Paykel Health

New Zealand Engineering Innovator of the Year: Nihal Kularatna of Waikato University

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