The 2009 Engineering Excellence Awards were presented by the American Council of Engineering Companies of South Carolina for 16 projects that were designed in South Carolina by local consulting engineering firms February 11 at the Columbia Museum of Art.
The Palmetto Award, the project receiving the highest rank in the entire competition went to WPC Inc. for its project on the Morris Island Lighthouse, a South Carolina icon. The company’s study and constant testing of the lighthouse enabled Taylor Brothers Marine Construction to surround the lighthouse by a cofferdam without causing the old lighthouse damage during the construction which protects it from further natural harm.
WPC Inc. headquartered in Mt. Pleasant, SC, also won an Engineering Excellence Award and qualified to enter the national competition sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies.
ACEC-SC gave another special award, the Small Firm Award, which is given for the highest rated project submitted by a small firm as defined as a firm with less than 30 employees. GWA, Inc. of Columbia, SC won the Small Firm Award and an Engineering Excellence Award. The GWA project was the upgrade of the Uninterruptible Power System at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
A total of 12 Engineering Excellence Awards were presented along with four honor awards.
Firms winning Engineering Excellence Awards and their clients were:
- WPC, Inc. Mt. Pleasant, SC, Taylor Brothers Marine Construction
- BP Barber, Columbia, SC, St. John’s Water Company
- BP Barber, Columbia, SC, Economic Zones World
- Florence & Hutcheson, Columbia, SC, SC Department of Transportation
- THE LPA GROUP INC., Columbia, SC, Darlington Raceway of South Carolina, LLC
- THE LPA GROUP INC., Columbia, SC Department of Transportation
- CH2M Hill, Spartanburg, SC, American Gypsum
- GWA, Inc, Columbia, SC, Medical University of South Carolina
- S&ME, Inc, Spartanburg, SC, Easley Commons Retail Associates, LLC
- GEL Engineering, LLC, Charleston, SC, Briar’s Creek Sanctuary
- RPM Engineers, Inc., Lexington, SC, Parkway Group, LLC
- Dennis Corporation, Columbia, SC, City of Lancaster, SC
Honor Awards winners and their clients were:
- HGBD/BV, Mt. Pleasant, SC, Charleston, Charleston Water System
- Wilbur Smith Associates, Columbia, Central Midlands Council of Governments
- PRM Engineers, Inc., Lexington, SC, Horry County, SC
- Civil engineering Consulting Services, Columbia, SC, Town of Eloree