CDBI Awards recognize excellence
and contributions to design-build
profession’s stature
Canadian Design and Construction Report staff writer
The Canadian Design-Build Institute (CDBI) annually rec-
ognizes excellence in Canada’s design-build industry and
acknowledges design-build teams whose projects con-
tribute to the growth and stature of the design-build pro-
fession. The 2016 awards recognized four distinct projects
at the National Design-Build Conference in October.

The Sechelt Water Resource Centre in Sechelt, B.C., the
grand winner, is described as “a sewage treatment plant,
but looks more like an intense hydroponic production cen-
tre along with a small office wing. Treatment basins are in
fact surmounted by greenhouses and veritable botanical
gardens. The choice of the site also allowed for a large
park adjoining the facility.”
The project team was led by Maple Reinders Inc. and
Urban Systems Ltd. “The project owner, District of Sechelt,
indicated that they were satisfied that the 23-month con-
struction schedule was effectively met considering nego-
tiation and risk management delays,” CDBI said in a news
release. “The now fully operating facility is exceeding dis-
charge permit requirements, covering among others, BOD
(biological oxygen demand), odour (0), and noise.”
The Communications Security Establishment Canada
Long Term Accommodation Project led by PCL Construc-
tors Canada Inc. and WZMH Architects won the special
uses category.

“This P3 project incorporates many great ideas, typical
of the design-build approach where builders and designers
are at liberty to include what might be thought of as far out
suggestions,” the award citation says. “Since the building
is a classified secure facility, high levels of security clear-
ance were required from all staff and systems were
needed to ensure that classified plans, drawings and doc-
uments were kept secure.”
20 – Winter 2017 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report
“The final complex is remarkable by the striking archi-
tectural expression both in the interior and the exterior. It
will disprove any opinions that design-build somehow has
to limit design to low-cost options and materials.”
In the civil category, the winner was the Footbridge over
the Bow River in Banff, AB, detailed later in this feature.

The Surrey Pretrial Services Centre Expansion, led by
PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc. and DGBK Architects,
won the institutional category.

This project required high security conditions, as the
site continued in near capacity operation during the expan-
sion and updating, used BIM (Building Information Model-
ling) to program work and installation priorities as well as
visualize construction sequences, including equipment
clearances and crane movements, weeks in advance, and
succeeded in achieving LEED gold certification, a first
among BC correctional facilities.

For more information about CDBI and its awards, visit
www.cdbi.org. PHOTO CREDIT STRUCTURECRAFT BUILDERS INC.





Canadian Design and Construction Report special feature
StructureCraft Builders Inc. has been recognized by the
Canadian Design-Build Institute (CDBI) in its 2016 Design-
Build Awards of Excellence, presented at the National De-
sign-Build Conference in Winnipeg earlier this year, in the
civil category for its Footbridge over the Bow River project
in Banff, AB.

The high profile, highly environmentally sensitive project
also included Tritech Water Infrastructure Construction &
Design, BSEI Civil Engineering and Fast + Epp Structural
Engineers. StructureCraft president Gerald Epp says the footbridge,
which also won several international and national awards
for engineering and construction innovation, and was de-
livered on time and under budget, involved several chal-
lenges. “The location is high profile, right in the town of
Banff, and within Canada’s oldest national park, thus sub-
ject to extreme environmental scrutiny.”
Driving the agenda was the pressing concern that exist-
ing sanitary pipes installed below the river at this location
some 50 years earlier could fail, spilling raw sewage into
the river. Besides aesthetic and environmental considera-
tions, the bridge needed to carry the new pipes, as well as
provide a secondary access for emergency vehicles.

He says to respect these and also economic demands
to keep the span as short as possible, the team responded
by installing piled supports “just outside the normal river
channel, yielding a clear span of 80 m, which for timber
bridges is one of the longest. The use of natural materials,
PHOTO CREDIT PAUL ZIZKA
CDBI recognizes StructureCraft
for Banff Bow River Footbridge
like timber, was a strong desire of the client.”
Epp says the location, one of the most stunning in the
Rockies, also demanded elegance. He says the team
sought to make the bridge as slender as possible, resulting
in the main technical challenge – how to deal with potential
vibration discomfort.

“We created a stepped glulam girder to follow the flow
of the forces, very thin in the middle, and developed two
custom-made tuned mass dampers which suspend below
the bridge deck to offset vibrations from both walking and
jogging frequencies,” he said.

Construction challenges included carefully drilling piles
within the river channel to not disturb the pristine Bow
River environment, and erecting the bridge’s three main
sections, up to 60 tons each, with a 500-ton crane posi-
tioned at 100 per cent capacity over thawing river bank
soils. A description on the CDBI website says: “The clear span
of 80 metres is one of the longest in the world for a timber
bridge. Planning the fabrication of the very long laminated
beams to exacting tolerances required finite element analy-
sis. Construction staging required careful planning and had
to consider seasonal windows and annual high water, as
well as crane support for the large inserted center section.

The cable guard rail system presented challenges related
to the seasonal temperature extremes and the potential
elongation/contraction of the cables.”
To ensure success, Epp says a parametric 3D model of
the entire bridge was created early, allowing rapid investi-
gation of a multitude of design decisions, providing visual
The Canadian Design and Construction Report — Winter 2017 – 21