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IAGI presents four awards at Geosynthetics 2013
Members of the International Association of Geosynthetic Installers (IAGI), a not-for-profit geotechnical professional association dedicated to bettering geosynthetic installation and construction technologies, announced its winners of the 2013 IAGI Installation Awards in a May 3 press release.
The awards, presented during Geosynthetics 2013 in Long Beach, Calif., recognize exceptional work by geosynthetics installers. Four IAGI Installation Awards are presented biennially.
“Geosynthetic technologies have become fully integrated throughout the larger, global geotechnical and civil infrastructure,” said IAGI president Todd Harman. “But they require special knowledge not only from the manufacturing and design side of the field. Experienced installers and the tools they utilize are how good designs and great materials become exceptional projects.”
The 2013 IAGI award winners:
- Award of Excellence—American Environmental Group LLC (Richfield, Ohio, USA)
- Extreme Project Award—Iridex Group Plastic (Voluntari, ILFDV, Romania)
- Innovative Project Award—Atlantic Lining Co. Inc. (Jobstown, N.J., USA)
- Small Project Award—Pondco Ltd. (Auckland, New Zealand)
- The Award of Excellence—American Environmental Group for its work on the Hickory Ridge Exposed Geomembrane Solar Cap. This project featured state-of-the-art installation on a 45-acre closure system that included 10 acres of thin-film solar panels. The site is the world’s largest solar energy landfill closure.
- The Extreme Project Award—Iridex Group Plastic for its work on the Voineasa Ski Mountain Resort Infrastructure/Mioarele Reservoir. The challenges the installer faced in completing this job included the job site location, bad weather, and a short 27-day deadline. The project was located at the top of a mountain in south-central Romania, with no direct access road. This project had to be installed around bad weather that included subzero temperatures, freezing rain, windy days, and an occasional blizzard.
- The Innovative Project Award—Atlantic Lining Co. for its work on the Cherry Island Lateral Expansion. Atlantic Lining had to be innovative in the methods of installing the geomembrane, geosynthetic clay liner, and drainage composite when access to the site was only a 30-foot berm, which made for limited staging of equipment and materials. The access area was limited because the owner needed to enlarge the landfill footprint as close as possible to property lines bordering the Delaware River.
- The Small Project Award—Pondco Ltd. for its work on the Dairy Farm Effluent Compliance Ponds. The dairy farms are in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty area in New Zealand. Runoff from these farms had affected the health of the Waikato River. For farmers, compliance was a problem and there were not industry standards to guide them. Pondco installers came up with a design they called the “Centroid” to solve these issues and now farmers can cost effectively comply with the effluent requirements.
The biennial installation awards recognize IAGI members who make significant contributions to the field of geosynthetics installation. “So often the installer gets forgotten in the discussion of a project,” said Laurie Honnigford, IAGI’s managing director. “In reality, a project is a set of plans on a piece of paper until the installer gets involved. The installer can make or break a project and we need to recognize those who improve and advance our industry.”