Okanagan College’s new building at its Penticton campus continues to make its name known at awards ceremonies nationwide — this time with two awards presented at the 2012 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards Gala.
The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Canada and Canadian Consulting Engineer magazine presented the Tree for Life Award and an Award of Excellence to AME Consulting Group Ltd. for its work on the Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation.
The Tree for Life Award, one of two special awards handed out this year, is given for outstanding environmental stewardship. In this case, that involved providing full mechanical consulting services and virtual environment modeling on the project. Sustainability objectives included striving to meet the objectives of both the LEED Platinum target and the International Living Building Challenge.
In accepting the awards, AME Consulting thanked the entire design team led by CEI Architecture Planning Interiors, and the staff at Okanagan College.
“Projects like the Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence only come to fruition with clients such as Okanagan College, who possess the vision, foresight and determination to conceive of highly sustainable facilities that truly lend to outstanding environmental stewardship,” said AME principle Harold Stewart.
On hearing the news, South Okanagan regional dean Donna Lomas said both awards are well deserved.
“It was tremendous working with AME Consulting Group throughout the project,” Lomas said. “This work was exemplary, not just for this region, but as a testament to what can be accomplished when the right team comes together.”
Winners were selected by a panel of 12 jurors organized by Canadian Consulting Engineer magazine. The awards have been held for the last 44 years, and represent the highest recognition for the Canadian consulting engineering industry, which is a $21.4 billion a year industry that employs more than 100,000 Canadians.
These latest awards means the building, which opened its doors in the fall of 2011, has now received awards for numerous aspects of its construction:
n Lighting (Illuminating Engineering Society)
n Architectural design (European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design)
n Green building design (SAB - the Sustainable Architecture and Building Magazine)
n Conservation (FortisBC)
n Leadership Excellence (FortisBC)
The Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation was also one of two buildings chosen to represent Canada at the World Sustainable Building Conference held in Helsinki, Finland last year.