2008 CONNIE Awards Winners Demonstrate Concrete Thinking

Vancouver, BC May 16, 2008 – The BC Ready-Mixed Concrete Association (BCRMCA) announced the winners of the 2008 Awards for Excellence in Concrete Construction (CONNIE Awards) at the Marriott Vancouver Pinnacle last night at their annual awards gala. 200 guests enjoyed an evening of celebration and recognition of excellence in concrete construction for the third consecutive year.

 Nicknamed the CONNIEs for “CONcrete CONstruction”, the awards are the industry’s highest recognition of works that exemplify vision and innovation in the use of concrete in a variety of applications throughout British Columbia. 

 Also in attendance were four fifths of the judging panel including Andrew Marks, the managing director for the Puget Sound Concrete Specification Council; from the partnership of Musson, Mackey Cattel, renowned Vancouver architect Frank Musson; a former partner in the firm of Jones Kwong Kishi, now an engineering consultant, Jim Mutrie; and from the Cement Association of Canada, Director of Business Development, Bob Sloat. Dr. Ray Cole, Director of UBC’s School of Architecture, could not attend the event.

 The winning projects were decided from entries submitted from across the province in eight categories and impressed the judges with their diversity.  Several of the entries highlighted new approaches to concrete construction, including a unique structural system incorporating ductile concrete in combination with precast hollowcore at Simon Fraser University and floating concrete pontoons for BC Ferries. Sustainable construction principles were showcased in all sizes of projects, from a passive cooling strategy in residential construction to the incorporation of heritage façades in a larger multi-family project and several silver and gold LEED certified institutional projects.

 New this year was the creation of the Century Award that was given to VANOC and the project team for the technically staggering Whistler Sliding Centre; an engineering achievement that, according to the judges, “only comes along every one hundred years.” The combined bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton venue is one of only 15 sliding tracks in the world.  The design was especially challenging because of the length of the track (approximately 1700 meters in length with an elevation change of over 150 metres) with exacting design of curve geometry in three dimensions.

 “Although there are only a handful of these projects that exist in the world,” says BCRMCA’s Executive Director, Carolyn Campbell, “BC, as hosts to the 2010 Olympic Games, are fortunate to have the opportunity for our construction industry to collaborate on exceptional projects of this caliber.  The Whistler Sliding Centre was a challenge in every sense, and BCRMCA is pleased to be able to recognize the technical expertise, collaboration and material that made it possible.

 The City of Vancouver, Board of Parks & Recreation had a memorable evening winning the CONNIE for their Sunset Community Centre project in the category Tilt-Up Structures.  The project team took a technology typically used for cheap big-box construction and pushed it into something more meaningful. The end result is a building of poetic simplicity features soaring corridor gallery spaces with a sparse sculptural quality.

 Citing “it's ability to expand how we perceive this conventional construction practice, and create a building that is visually striking, dynamic in feel and technically proficient” the judges also awarded the coveted Grand CONNIE is awarded to the Sunset Community Centre. All the winning projects from each category competed for the Grand CONNIE Award.