University of Western Ontario Civil and Environmental Engineering students put their design skills to the test under the pressure of satisfying one of the area’s biggest clients – the City of London.
Eight teams presented their designs for the waste water treatment facility in south London, the CP Railway bridge over Wharncliffe Road north and the CN Railway bridge over Wharncliffe Road south for the 2009 City of London Design Competition.
Model of CN Railway Bridge over Wharncliffe Road south produced by Telford Engineering team.
The fourth-year students consulted faculty, scientists and local professional engineers on the three design projects, which are on the city’s agenda for future construction. The city will use the designs from the competition as a resource when the projects are given the go-ahead.
Team Enviro Spirit, which consisted of Haider Ahmed, Ryan Devries, Roman Elazar, Jennifer Francis and David Williams, and team Cliffton, featuring Marcin Blazejowski, Kyle Howe, Cameron Laffin, Tiffany Palmer and Eric Simon, tied for first place in the competition.
Second place was taken home by Mifflin-Dunder Engineering and Associate – Alexandra Moore, Travis Parker, Jennifer Simich, Matthew Stead and Michelle Welch.
The designs were judged based on innovation and level of the design challenge, aesthetics, value and presentation. The winners of the competition share a $3,750 prize.
“It is a great motivator for our undergraduate program,” says Engineering professor emeritus
David Harman. “It really is an asset to our department.”
Harman, who was overseeing the competition, says it is likely a version of one of the designs will appear in the city.
“We’ve got seven bridges in this competition and most certainly we will see a design that looks like one of these,” he says.
Since it was initiated in 1997, several designs have served as the basis for a few noteworthy city constructions in London, including Gibbons Park bridge, which is a close replica of a student design. The Springbank Park bridge, the grandstands at Labatt Memorial Park and the twinning of Airport Road (now Veterans’ Memorial Parkway), also resemble the results of past competition design projects.
Fourth-year civil engineering student Dave Hendry says the competition allows him to apply what he has learned in school to a real-life project.
His team faced many challenges in designing the CN Railway bridge, including the limitations imposed by Wharncliffe Road, which runs under the railway bridge.
John Lucas, manager of Transportation Planning & Design for the City of London, says the two railway bridges and the water treatment facility are part of the city’s long-term plan. The projects were particularly difficult because of the need to design a bridge that does not disrupt the rail and roadway traffic during the construction process. Both bridges are also located in a constrained area that doesn’t allow for much expansion.
Lucas says the designs are a valuable addition to the students’ portfolios and the competition allows them to make connections with the private sector.
Overall, Lucas was pleased with the design results and the competition winners.
“This is a testament to the seriousness the students take these projects … the quality is always very high,” he says.