The Building and Construction Authority has awarded three engineers the Design and Engineering Safety Excellence Awards.
They were recognised yesterday for their work in designing safe and creative buildings.
Ms Joanne Wong, from Meinhardt Infrastructure, was tasked with diverting Stamford Canal so that a new gleaming shopping mall, 313 Somerset could be built over it. At the same time, engineers had to ensure that the canal remained fully functional, all this while working in busy Orchard Road. The canal is now diverted and integrated into the shopping centre.
Looking back, Ms Wong recalled the challenge she faced.
“Firstly, the canal is a live canal. It collects water all the way from Bukit Timah and runs off to the barrage. And there are also other services inside the canal. We also have people crossing the canal from the MRT station and we are in a very confined site. It’s located in Orchard Road, so we have to take care of the traffic within Orchard road as well.”
While this team embraced urbanisation, another from the company had to make sure their project could co-exist with the past.
Their task was to build a 30-storey condominium at Kitchener Road on soft soil, while ensuring that nearby shophouses won’t be affected.
Team member Yeo Choon Chong said: “If the basement construction is not designed properly and not taken care of, what would happen is the ground in the nearby area would settle, indirectly causing the settlement of the shophouses.”
The project also made use of pre-fabricated bathroom units to save space, time and manpower.
The third winner of the award went to Mr Kenneth Liew of T Y Lin International. The task was to construct a seven-storey office block above a five-storey car park in Shenton Way, with the car park staying open during the period of construction.
Source : Today – 7 May 2010