Lausanne, May, 2017.- The International Tunnelling and Underground Space
association organizes the third edition of the ITA Awards November the 15th
in Paris, at Palais des Congrès with a one-day conference and banquet. This
year, the ITA Awards will take place during the Congress of the French
Association of Tunnels and Underground Space (AFTES) from 13th to 16th
November. The candidacies will be examined by a new panel of 17 judges
whose 9 are new. Presided by the president of ITA, Prof. Tarcisio Celestino,
the panel has been carefully chosen to represent the diversity of profiles
gathered by the tunnelling and underground space industry. Judges will have to
establish a first selection of finalists (displayed in summer 2017) and then to
reward the most outstanding projects.
Ø Panel of Judges:
The panel is composed of 9 new judges
:
Ø Roland Leucker, ITACOSUF Chair, Germany
Ø Bai Yun, Professor, China
Ø
Arnold Dix, ITA WG 3 Animateur,
consultant, Qatar
Ø Sindre Log, Chair ITA YMG, PS & Supplier, Norway
Ø Pekka
Nieminen, ITA Expert, PS & Supplier, Finland
Ø Arsenio Negro, consultant, Brazil
Ø Magali
Schivre, ITA WG 3 Vice Animateur, consultant, France
Ø Alex
Conacher, Tunnels &Tunnelling, journalist, UK
Ø Mike Rispin, PS &Supplier, Canada
And 7 judges who have already
participated to the selection last year and decided to renew the experience:
Ø Han Admiraal, ITACUS Chair, Netherlands
Ø Soren Degn Eskesen, ITA Past President, Denmark
Ø Michael Belenkiy, ITA Expert, Russian Federation
Ø Alex Gomes, ITA Vice President, Chile
Ø Leslie Pakianathan, TUCSS Board Member, Singapore
Ø ChungSik Yoo, ITA Executive Council Member, South
Korea
Ø
Heinz
Ehrbar, consultant, Switzerland
Ø What are the judges’ expectations for 2017 ?
Member of panel of judges in 2016,
Leslie Pakianathan choose to participate once again to the selection process and
has specific expectations: "In selecting winning entries highest priority
will be given to safety performance followed by how the tunnelling and
underground construction community as a whole can benefit from the unique
features, challenges and solutions demonstrated in the project."
Arnold Dix is a new judge this year and sets selection criteria: “The key criteria for me is the
marriage between the functional performance and the challenge to be
overcome. For underground assets that last 'forever"
intergenerational function plays a big role in my assessment of a project.”
Ø Testimonials of former 2016 winners :
Kurt Zeidler, PhD, CEng, Zeidler
Consultants :
“The majority of the
civil works for the Vauxhall Station Upgrade Project was completed by the time
the application process commenced. Having to go back to the beginning of the
project to describe all of the works for the Awards Submission was a pleasant reminder
of the value we brought to London Underground from the elimination of
costly & time-consuming utility relocation by avoid top-down construction
from the surface to limited demolition of existing station structures. We were
pleasantly surprised to learn the Vauxhall Station Upgrade project was selected
for the Renovation/Upgrading Project of the Year as there were many
qualified submission this year. Getting selected as the most outstanding
project provided our team (Bechtel, Gall Zeidler Consultants, Joseph
Gallagher Ltd.) with validation of the good work that was done to provide the
Step Free Access at Vauxhall Station.”
Esen Sze, Deputy Project
Manager, LTA Singapore
“The application process was systematic and user friendly as a series of
questions were filled in during my submission. I was glad that the questions
could guide me through thoroughly to provide the geese of the project
highlights. My team is thrilled over the ITA victory as this is a prestigious
platform where dedicated engineering with regards to tunnel construction is
highly valued.
We are very honoured
to win this award at this special year when it was held in Singapore. This
award has indeed showcase to the world one of Singapore’s more iconic projects
since the establishment of Singapore.”
Ø Candidacies can be submitted through 9 categories :
·
Major Project of the Year - over
500€ million
·
Project of the Year - between €50 million and €500 million
·
Project of the Year - (up to €50
million)
·
Technical Project Innovation of the
Year
·
Technical Product or Equipment
innovation of the Year
·
Sustainability initiative of the
Year
·
Safety Initiative of the Year
·
Innovative Underground Space Concept
of the Year
·
Young Tunneller of the Year
A
trophee will also be discerned for a life Time Achievement Award (application
not required).
Ø Details about AFTES Congress
Organized by the
French Association of Tunnels and Underground Space This international event
will be the occasion to gather for 3 days high-skilled profiles from the underground
space industry: experts, architects, civil engineers and urbanists will promote
the underground as a wealth and think of how it can build and shape our future.
Key Dates of AFTES Congress:
13th – 15th November: an international fair (130 exhibitors) will take place at Palais des
Congrès (Porte Maillot), technical conferences and jobsite visits will be
organized around one strong theme “Underground Space: our wealth”
16th November: a one-day conference will be dedicated to “Building our future” at La
CIté de l’Architecture (Trocadéro)
Entries can still be submitted
through the 9 categories. The submission requirements and selection process
are stated in the ITA Tunnelling Awards website (https://awards.ita-aites.org/). The finalists will be announced by
summer 2017.
For
further details regarding the ITA Awards, please click on the following
link:
and follow us on twitter @ItaAward
|
About the International Tunnelling and
Underground Space Association:
The International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) is a non -profit and
non-governmental international organization, which aims at promoting the use of
underground space as a solution to sustainable development. Founded in 1974 and
operating out of Lausanne, Switzerland, ITA currently has 73 Member Nations,
300 affiliated members, 17 Prime Sponsors and 60 supporters.
