On Oct. 18, Bentley Systems announced the winners of its Year in Infrastructure (YII) 2018 Awards as part of its annual conference of the same name. This year, the Exton, Pa.–based AEC software company recognized 19 winners and six Special Recognition Award recipients in London. Since 2004, Bentley's YII Awards (previously known as the Be Inspired Awards) has celebrated more than 3,000 projects that exhibited innovative uses of Bentley's software products in infrastructure design, construction, and operations industries.
In addition to keynotes, industry forums, and product demonstrations, the four-day conference featured project presentations from 57 finalists. Named by 39 independent jury members, comprising industry experts, journalists, and past award winners, the finalists were selected from a pool of 420 submissions by more than 340 Bentley product users worldwide that represent digital advancements across industries, including buildings, construction, mining, water treatment plants, and project delivery.
Among the winners, Washington, D.C.–based Shalom Baranes Associates' (SBA's) Cannon House Office Building Renewal project received the YII award for advancements in buildings and campuses category. Using a combination of Bentley products, including AECOsim Building Designer and ProjectWise, SBA was able to streamline the design process, reduce costs, and manage complex data across the project's five phases, said SBA associate principal and project design coordinator Robert Booher during the presentation. Built in 1908 and last renovated in the 1930s, the Cannon House is one of the oldest congressional office buildings on the U.S. Capitol campus. The Beaux-Arts building "[is currently facing] serious safety, health, environmental, and operational issues that are rapidly worsening. Without action, the essential systems housed behind the walls and in mechanical rooms will continue to crumble and fail, impacting members, staff, and constituents," according to the project's client, Architect of the Capitol. The building's renovation includes upgrading its utilities, restoring its exterior stone façade, and modernizing its office spaces. The project is expected to be completed by 2024.
One of the runner-ups in the buildings and campuses category was multidisciplinary firm Anil Verma Associates' (AVA's) Los Angeles Regional Connector Transit Corridor (RCTC) project. To be completed by 2022, the RCTC project includes three underground stations that will connect LA's neighborhoods from north to south, and east to west. "The organization’s challenge was to design all three underground stations in a way that works seamlessly with the infrastructure of the surrounding neighborhoods," according to AVA. Using AECOsim, MicroStation, and ProjectWise software products, the project team has been able to save nearly $6 million in labor cost, according to the same source.
Another finalist in this category, Indian infrastructure consultancy firm Voyants Solutions Private was commissioned by the Indian Railway Stations Development Corp. to update the Gwalior Railway Station's amenities in Madhya Pradesh, India. Using AECOsim, MicroStation, and STAAD, the team was able to save "more than five times the project cost," according to Bentley.
Below are winners from select categories. For the full list of award recipients, see Bentley’s YII 2018 website.
Buildings and Campuses
Cannon House Office Building Renewal in Washington, D.C.
Products: AECOsim Building Designer, MicroStation, Navigator, ProjectWise
Firm: Shalom Baranes Associates
Construction
Phase II of Pustynnoe Gold Plant: modernization and capacity increase in Balkhash and Karaganda, Kazakhstan
Products: AECOsim Building Designer, Bentley Raceway and Cable Management, ContextCapture, Bentley Descartes, LumenRT, MicroStation, MineCycle, Navigator, OpenPlant, OpenRoads, ProjectWise, Promis.e, ProStructures, SiteOps, STAAD
Firm: AAEngineering Group, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Project Delivery
Gaining New Perspective through ProjectWise Project Insights in Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Products: AECOsim Building Designer, Bentley Map, MicroStation, Navigator, OpenRail, OpenRail ConceptStation, OpenRoads, OpenRoads ConceptStation, ProjectWise, Power Rail Overhead Line, Power Rail Track
Firm: AECOM, Los Angeles (global headquarters)
Reality Modeling
Building Envelope Inspection Powered by Machine Learning and Reality Modeling for RMIT University Brunswick Campus in Victoria, Australia
Products: ContextCapture
Firm: Skand, South Melbourne, Australia
Special Recognition Award
Advancing Digital Twins for Airports
Digital Airport–Londrina in Paraná, Brazil
Products: AECOsim Building Designer, MicroStation, OpenRoads, ProjectWise
Firm: Infraero, Brasília, Brazil
