Engineers Ireland has announced the shortlist for the Excellence Awards 2016 in association with ESB. The annual awards are chosen and presented by the 23,000-strong membership organisation in recognition of the achievements of engineers who have demonstrated exceptional engineering skills through their work. In addition to the Engineering Project of the Year award, shortlists have been announced for other awards including the Geoscience Ireland award, a Technical Innovation award and an award in the field of heritage and conservation, amongst others. There is also an International Engineer of the Year award, acknowledging the contribution of the Irish engineering diaspora and the excellent work of Irish engineers around the world. The six shortlisted engineering projects in the running for the national title of Engineering Project of the Year 2016 showcase exceptional engineering expertise and  demonstrate the influence and benefit the engineering profession makes to society. The public is invited to vote for the winning project online at EngineersIreland.ie and the winner will be announced at the Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards ceremony on 4 November.

Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards – Engineering Project shortlist

The 2016 shortlist for the Engineering Project of the Year, sponsored by the Transport Infrastructure Ireland is: Clean Out of Place Project by Abbott Diagnostics Division, Sligo
  • This project involves the design, installation and qualification of a process to automatically clean and steam sterilize ten different configurations of mobile production tanks and filter housings. The principle benefit of the system is the replacement of a laborious manual cleaning process and the new cleaning cycles developed save on average 1100 litres of purified (distilled) water per cleaning cycle totalling an annual saving on purified water of circa 500,000 litres.
NUI Galway, HRB Clinical Research & Lambe Institute for Translational Research Facility (CTRF) by Barrett Mahony Consulting Engineers
  • The CTRF building is designed to facilitate cutting-edge medical research side-by-side with patient care in University Hospital Galway.  The building is connected to the NUI Galway Clinical Science Building and the main Hospital Building at one of the countries busiest acute hospitals.  The reinforced concrete structure of this building accommodates the differing and diverse needs of its clients over a 4 storey 5,435m² building.
Irish Institute of Sport - High Performance Centre by TOBIN Consulting Engineers
  • The new High Performance Centre in Dublin was designed to to fit into the existing surrounds of the National Sports Campus grounds.  The Centre currently supports 18 high performance sports, upwards of 160 athletes and 46 coaches across the Irish sporting community. Main work elements include a new 4-lane, 130 metre long sprint-track with associated performance-analysis equipment and an integrated long-jump area;   purpose built strength and conditioning gym, a mixed training zone, a boxing training zone and changing village.
Mater Private Hospital Development by J. B. Barry and Partner’s Ltd
  • The original Mater Private Hospital building constructed in 1989 consisted of a four storey building over a basement car park. As can be expected for any city centre site, the only scope for expansion is upwards and infill development.  Several other extensions and alterations have been completed in the intervening period, including a 2-storey extension comprising of a radiotherapy bunker and ancillary facilities; a link extension comprising a cardiac Cath Lab, and a 6-storey west-wing extension including a second radiotherapy bunker.
Mercer Institute for Successful Aging (MISA) by BAM
  • The Mercer Institute for Successful Aging (MISA) at St. James’s Hospital in Dublin is the largest centre of its type in Europe. As a combined unit, the Institute can provide many functions to the health sector of Ireland which includes full time occupation for over 96 patients and providing day wards for therapy clinics.
The Corrib Project - Onshore Gas Pipeline by Shell E&P (Ireland) Ltd/ RPS Group Ltd/ Roadbridge Ltd/ BAM / W&F JV
  • The Corrib Gas Field, approximately 83km off the coast of Mayo, was discovered in 1996 by Enterprise Oil, appraised in 1998 and later acquired in 2002 by Shell E&P Ireland Ltd (SEPIL). The completed development is a critical piece of national infrastructure producing much of Ireland’s future gas supplies over the next 15 to 20 years.  It is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the state’s history, costing approximately €3.5 billion and will contribute some €6 billion to Ireland’s GDP.
Vote for your favourite project before 5pm on Friday, 21 October. The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony on 4 November in the InterContinental Dublin, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, 7:00pm. For more information on the projects and to cast your vote, see EngineersIreland.ie.