Here, the Excellence Awards spotlight series focuses on the Best Presentation Award.
The Best Presentation Award, sponsored by Beale & Co and Griffiths & Armour, recognises individuals who have contributed to the engineering profession by delivering outstanding technical presentations to Engineers Ireland members during the 2018-2019 lecture season.
Pivotal role
“Our regional branches, Engineering divisions and societies play a pivotal role in the Engineers Ireland community,” said Caroline Spillane, director general of Engineers Ireland.
“The Best Presentation Award category showcases the excellent work of our member engineers in the delivery of highly technical presentations to our engineering community.
"I am pleased to see such a high quality and calibre of presentations shortlisted and I would like to offer my congratulations to each presentation team and sector committee.”
Graeme Tinney, professional risks director at Griffiths & Armour, said: “Griffiths & Armour is delighted to support the Best Presentation Award.
"We are very proud to continue sponsoring an award category which shines a light on what’s happening across the profession as a whole, while also recognising the significant contribution of individuals.
'Celebration of excellence'
"We see the awards as a celebration of excellence and part of the continued push for improved standards, which will support the future growth and sustainability of the engineering profession.”
Tara Cosgrove, partner at Beale & Co, said: “At Beale & Co, we are passionate about continuing professional development and we are delighted to co-sponsor a category that rewards the delivery of focused and topical presentations to members of Engineers Ireland.
"We look forward to making the winners announcement with Griffiths & Armour at the awards ceremony on November 15.”
Presentations shortlisted:
Design and Construction of the Northern Spire Bridge Sunderland, presented by: Simon Fryer, technical director at BuroHappold Engineering; Tony Dempsey, director of Roughan and O’Donovan; and Stephen McCaffrey, project director for the construction joint venture, Farrans-Victor Buyck.
Nominated by the Civil division
The Northern Spire, a landmark bridge dominating Sunderland’s skyline and opened in August 2018, is central to a new strategic road linking the A19 to Sunderland city centre and the port of Sunderland.
The innovative project has raised the profile of civil engineering in the UK and internationally. The 105m A-frame pylon was transported by sea and river to site before being raised into position during a carefully orchestrated two-day operation.
The 330m deck was built alongside and launched across the river. It has been commissioned and overseen by Sunderland City Council.
The £117 million project was funded by the UK government and Sunderland City Council. In May 2015, the council awarded the main construction contract to FVB, an international joint venture set up by Farrans Construction and Victor Buyck Steel Construction, and the design joint venture of Roughan & O’Donovan consulting engineers and BuroHappold Engineering.
New Materials and Control of 3D Morphology – a game changer for many applications, presented by Dr Dermot Brabazon, chartered engineer, director of the Advanced Processing Technology Research Centre at DCU and deputy director of I-Form, the national centre focused on development of advanced manufacturing technologies.
Nominated by the Mechanical and Manufacturing division
After technology inception 30 years ago, 3D printed parts were typically used at the prototyping stage during manufacturing to give the end user/customer a real-world concept of how the part may appear when traditional manufacturing techniques were employed for final part fabrication.
Over the last decade in particular, improvements in additive manufactured (AM, also called 3D printing) technologies have resulted in increased potential to directly print in one step functional components.
In order to achieve this in produced parts, a number of important requirements have to be met such as a high-level dimensional accuracy, the availability of an improved range of functional materials and a supply chain and cost model which is competitive with traditional manufacturing.
In recent years, great strides have been made in these areas which enable a new range of applications to avail of AM technologies. The dimensional, physical and chemical integrity of polymer and metal printed parts have improved greatly allowing a broader range of end applications.
There are now more than 100 AM equipment suppliers which is mirrored by the increase in the materials supplied for these machines. Production speeds and quality control also continue to improve.
Lean Management Systems applied to Hyper-scale Data Center Construction, presented by Fiachra Ó Muíneacháin, associate director and construction lead for Mace on the Clonee data centre project; Kevin McHugh, associate director at Mace; Stephen Walls, associate director for Mace; and Pat Egan, associate director at Mace.
Nominated by the Project Management society
Mace are currently delivering one of Ireland’s largest projects - the Clonee data centre campus. With an annual turnover of €2.2 billion, Mace are an international construction and consultancy company founded and built on exceptional people, a commitment to service excellence and an entrepreneurial spirit.
This breakfast briefing gave a comprehensive review of Mace's approach to lean management of a hyper-scale data centre.
The Best Presentation Award is one of 13 awards that will be presented at the forthcoming Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards, held in association with ESB on November 15, 2019.
To view each shortlisted category in detail and to vote for the Engineering Project of the Year Award, visit: http://www.engineersireland.ie/Awards.aspx