N.Y. Association of Consulting Engineers group presents 'diamond awards'. (Transcripts).

The New York Association of Consulting Engineers (NYACE) this evening presented 12 Diamond Awards--the highest award of excellence at the state level--among its 77 total Engineering Excellence Awards for 2002, recognizing firms from throughout New York state for innovation and excellence. The ceremony was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Paul W. Grosser, P.E., president, NYACE, and Daniel J. DeYoung, P.E., chairman-elect, American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), NYACE's national organization, presented the awards. John E Hennessy III, P.E., chairman, Engineering Excellence Awards Program, served as master of ceremonies.

One of this year's Diamond Award winners, in the category of Transportation, also won the top national award. The ACEC's Grand Conceptor Award went to TAMS Consultants, Inc. and ARUP, for their reinvention of JFK International Airport Terminal 4.

NYACE presented 11 additional Diamond Awards for engineering excellence. These include, by category:

Building/Technology Systems

* ARUP: Innovative information technology systems for the redesigned JFK International Airport Terminal 4, interconnecting 60 airport/airline operations and building systems in real time.

* Syska Hennessy Group: Innovative mechanical, electrical and plumbing solutions for the U.S. Courthouse & Federal Building in Islip, N.Y.

Structural Systems

* Goldreich Engineering, P.C./Dewhurst Macfarlane and Partners, Inc.: Pioneering use of space and materials in developing a transparent, wide-span enclosure over two acoustically sensitive theaters in Philadelphia's new Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

* Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers: New solutions--including a unique lateral outrigger system--to overcome challenging lateral stability concerns and seismic considerations in the construction of Shanghai's Plaza 66, an all-concrete, 66-story building.

* Weidlinger Associates: Innovations for the massive, fast-track Beijing Bank of China, which featured a dramatic, 11-story atrium core and broke records in China for largest trusses, longest span skylight and deepest slurry wall. Environmental

* Malcolm Pirnie, Inc.: Innovative environmental cleanup of the former Gache property in Harrison, N.Y., transforming a contaminated 100-acre site into prime real estate.

Studies, Research and Consulting Engineering

* Hardesty & Hanover, LLP: Inspection improvements of counterweight sheave trunnions supporting the PATH-Hackensack River Vertical Lift Bridge in Kearny and Jersey City, NJ.

* Metcalf & Eddy of New York, Inc.: Wastewater centrate treatment innovations in Brooklyn, N.Y.

* Malcolm Pirnie, Inc: Pilot landfarming treatment system for Watervliet Arsenal, N.Y.

* Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers/LZA Division: Seismic retrofit of Ataturk International Airport, Istanbul, Turkey, to ensure that the terminal remains functional in the event of another earthquake.

Water and Wastewater

* Hazen and Sawyer, P.C.: Planning, design and construction-phase engineering services for the Mamaroneck Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) Demonstration Project.