MEP Awards broadens its 'people' focus

Individual recognition was an important part of this year's awards

Individual achievement shone brightly at the MEP Awards 2009, with a range of professionals honoured for achievements from health and safety to project management and engineering.

This year’s ‘people categories’ were extended significantly over 2008 in order to honour individuals over projects and companies. The judges remarked that “the focus on people served to emphasise success in difficult times. The downturn has made many companies realise that their most important asset is their people.”

T.K. Viswanathan from Trans-Gulf Electro-Mechanical, who won the ‘Health, Safety & Training Officer of the Year’ award, reduced the number of first-aid incidents on projects not just this year, but for the past two years. Last year, the number of first-aid incidents fell from 75 in 2007 to 56 in 2008. In 2009, this figure dropped even more significantly, with only 25 incidents recorded by 31 August. This suitably impressed the judges, and made the candidate a worthy winner.

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Illyas P. Mahomed from KEO International Consultants, honoured as ‘Technician of the Year’, showed exceptional team co-ordination skills on a flagship project, thus ensuring he took the award outright. He played a critical role in the team behind the MEP works for what will be the tallest residential tower in the world upon completion.

Marnitz Schutte from ALEC MEP, the ‘Project Manager of the Year’, ably demonstrated grace under pressure when faced with inevitable delays, challenges and changes on several projects. He is described as an energetic leader with professional expertise in MEP services, excellent engineering skills, and the ability to efficiently control a team of professionals.

The ‘Young Engineer of the Year’ category attracted the most number of entries. Raymond Choi was highly commended by the judges. With four years’ experience, Choi is a certified low-carbon consultant in design and simulation and a LEED-accredited professional. The winner was Benjamin James from Hyder Consulting.

James formed part of a three-person MEP technical project management team and his work on his first super high-rise tower saw him take over the project from the design development stage to completion of contract drawings and the associated tendering responsibilities. When the opportunity arose for him to design the MEP solutions for a second super high-rise tower, he used the knowledge gained on his first project to provide a cutting-edge system design.

The ‘Engineer of the Year’ was Sander Trestain from Enviromena Power Systems, who has gained “impressive experience in the solar energy industry, and has been involved with some notable projects to date.” The judges were particularly impressed by this individual’s notable achievements to date in the burgeoning field of renewable energy.