A gala awards ceremony next week in Amsterdam will salute the recent achievements of some of the world’s largest AEC and infrastructure firms. A few special awards have already been announced.
Executives from many of the world’s largest architecture, engineering, construction, utility, and physical network firms will gather in Amsterdam November 8-9 to share best practices at the annual Bentley Systems event, BE Inspired Thought Leadership. The invitation-only meetings end with a gala awards banquet where the winners of the annual BE Inspired Awards will be announced.
Bentley started the annual awards event in 2004 to showcase the work of its clients, who are the world’s largest infrastructure firms. Competition is stiff, with projects coming in from around the world. Finalists will present their projects during the event to present their projects to the jurors, senior executives at leading infrastructure organizations, and over 60 key members of the trade and business press. The Bentley web site has a complete list of finalists and an overview of their projects.
In addition to the awards to be presented at the conference in Amsterdam, several submitted projects were given Special Recognition Awards by the jurors, due to their remarkable achievements that transcend multiple categories. Bentley has also announced in advance the winner of the Bentley Educator of the Year.
The special awards and the recipients are:
Attaining Return on Innovation
Cadre Design Group, Inc.
SFOBB East Span Seismic Safety Project
San Francisco-Oakland, California, USA
Completed in 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge serves 280,000 vehicles per day. After the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake caused a 250-ton section of the upper deck to collapse, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) decided to replace the East Span. Caltrans also designated the Bay Bridge as an emergency lifeline route, making a seismic upgrade imperative. Cadre Design Group provided 3D integrated shop drawings for all four East Span projects.
Sustaining Our Society
Secretaría de Finanzas del Distrito Federal
Programme for the Modernisation of the Mexico City Cadastre
Mexico City, Mexico
The program for modernizing and updating the Mexico City cadastre aimed to improve the management of information relating to real estate in the city. This allowed the Finance Department to perform more effective fiscal accounting and levying of property tax based on reliable and accurate land census data. As a result, citizens could fulfill their tax obligations, generating revenue for the provision of public services.
Sustaining Our Environment
Shinryo Corporation
Shinryo Eco Renewal Project
Tokyo, Japan
Renovation of the 40-year-old Shinryo headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, aimed to make the building an energy-efficient, comfortable working environment. The building uses solar energy as well as energy-efficient equipment and LED lighting. The project team created a duct and piping route installation plan that maximized energy conservation and a layout plan for equipment, lighting, desks, and chairs to be implemented after renovation.
Sustaining the Professions
GHD
Utilization of the Bentley LEARN Training Subscription
Melbourne, Australia
Established in 1928, GHD employs more than 6,000 people across five continents. The Bentley LEARN training subscription provides GHD with a cost-effective solution for learning on-site and in the virtual classroom. To date, GHD personnel have completed 2,797 Learning Units. Focused training enables staff to fully utilize application suite capabilities, which improves the quality of deliverables.
Educator of the Year
Maria-Paz Gutierrez
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, USA
Maria-Paz Gutierrez is a registered architect and researcher focused on nature and multifunctional material organizations. She became a registered architect in Chile and began teaching in the United States in 2001 at the University of Pennsylvania. Gutierrez also taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute before joining the faculty of architecture at UC Berkeley.
