Chartered Engineer of the Year Award; Paper and Presentation Awards

Yesterday evening at Clyde Road we had standing room only - about 200 people in all - for the finalists of the C.Eng. of the Year award,  and for the awards for best papers.    This was the 13th year of the C.Eng of the Year competition.  Last year (June '08-'09),  450 people achieved C.Eng. status,  and the six of these became finalists last evening.



The event was presided over by Jim Robinson,  who has won the C.Eng. of the Year on a previous occasion.   The event was very kindly sponsored by Beale & Co.,   and by Griffiths & Armour.   The adjucation panel was chaired by Michael Higgins,  and comprised of Richard Crowe,  John Lombard, Mary Sharp and Dr Don Menzies.

The six C.Eng. of the year finalists were:

• Paolo Carbone,  "Delivering Light Rail: Project Management and Engineering" - Paolo,  as the Railway Procurement Agency Power and Systems Manager,  is overseeing the propose Luas line extension for Lucan,  as part of the Transport 21 initiative;
• Brian Kelly, "Petrochemical Tankfarms in Saudi Arabia" - now country manager for Kentz Australia,  Brian described his supervision of design,  procurement and execution of a large installation in Saudi;
• Declan Leonard, "Cliffs of Moher Visitors Interpretive Centre" - Declan described his involvement with the Moher Heritage Centre,   including in particular his careful design of the heating,  cooling and air circulation plants unobtrusively placed below ground;
• Maria Long, "Redevelopment of Penneys Department Store,  Tralee" - Maria described the challenges in managing this project,  including the challenges of poor condition adjacent buildings and late requirements changes;
• Michael Quilligan,  "Extending the Life of Historic Assets" - Michael described his involvement in the careful analysis of the Newcastle High Level bridge,  designed and built by Stephenson in 1847-49,  and a category 1 listed structure in the UK.
• Michael Wardick, "Developing a New Island Community: The Red Cross Maldives Tsunami Construction Project" - Michael described his supervision of the development from virgin state of an island in Maldives,  including civic centres,  schools and housing,  for a community of 4,000 people after the Asian tsunami.

Each finalist gave a short 5 minute presentation on their project.  I was very impressed by the articulation and intelligence - and inspiration - of the presentations,  and felt that they together represented what is the very best of young Irish engineers.

After a break for the adjucation panel,  John Power announced the awards from our sectors,  divisions and societies for their top papers in the last season.   These were:

• Dervilla Mitchell,  of the GB Region,  for her paper on Heathrow Terminal 5
• Ken Leahy and Luke Ballantyne,  of the Cork Region,  for their paper on the Design and Implementation of the Mallow Flood Relief Scheme
• Tom Cosgrove of the Thormond Region,  for his paper on the Redevelopment of Thormond Park
• David Beadman,  Geotechnical Society,  for his paper on the Design and Construction of Metro Stations and Underground Structure to Eurocode 7,  with case histories
• Fintan Buggy, Mike McGuire, Michael O'Shea and Andrew Smith,  jointly also of the Geotechnical Society,  for their description of the Limerick Tunnel Project
• Annraoi de Paor,  of an Roth,  whose paper as Gaelige was on Deep Brain Stimulation provides relief in Parkinson's Disease
• Liam Gaffney,  of the Project Management Society, for his paper Management of the Dublin Airport Capital Investment Programme
• Christy O'Sullivan,  of the Roads and Transportation Society,  for his paper on the Adamstown Planning Scheme
• John Shine,  of the Electrical and Electronic Division,  on a Roadmap for Smart Networks
• Tom Cosgrove and Seamus Hanrahan,  of the Structures and Construction Division,  for their paper on the Redevelopment of Thormond Park

Jim then called upon Michael Higgins,  chair of the Adjucation Panel,  to announce the winner of the Chartered Engineer of the Year award,  who was Michael Quilligan.

The evening then concluded,   but not before I said a few words to congratulate all the finalists and award winners,  and to thank Michael Higgins for his tremendous voluntary work on behalf of Engineers Ireland as Chair of the Board of Examiners and Adjucation Panel for many years:  this is his last year in these roles.