Changing Hawaii

By Diane Yukihiro Chang

Monday, January 27, 1997

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Engineering better
understanding of city

MOST of us take too much for granted. We flush the toilet, but never think about how well the sewer system does its job. We cavort at resorts but never appreciate the planning and development aspects of the projects. We work in high-rises and send our kids off to school, but never say "mahalo" to those responsible for the safety or comfort of these all-important structures.

Yes, we are ungrateful slobs because we never, ever thank the innovative, hard-working engineers of this state for making it a great place to live. Count me among those unthinking, unfeeling slobs - until this month.

I was honored to be a judge in the 1997 Engineering Excellence Award Competition sponsored by the Consulting Engineers Council of Hawaii. On Friday night, CECH honored the local industry's best projects, ranging from an air-conditioned building at a private school to a massive resort on the Big Island. The winners were:

Honor Award, Hualalai Resort. Belt Collins Hawaii is turning stark lava fields into a master-planned dream for Kajima Corp./Hualalai Development Co. It should get a halo for patiently working with a small army of city, state and federal agencies, and a gold watch for designing and building the first phase in less than 4 years, instead of the typical 5- to 7-year period for similar resorts.

Honor Award, First Hawaiian Center. Yeah, yeah, so the new First Hawaiian Center is tall and nice-looking. But did you know that it is also super safe? Structural engineer Martin & Bravo did a whole slew of studies to make sure that the skyscraper would "maintain structural integrity" during hurricanes, high winds and earthquakes. This is, no doubt, a relief to First Hawaiian Chairman Walter Dods Jr., whose office is on the very top floor.

Excellence Award, Iolani Innovative Cooling. Cedric D.O. Chong and Associates didn't freeze up when confronted with a challenge. Check out Iolani School's new air-conditioning system, which is based on an "ice storage chiller module." (Stay with me, now.) At night, water is cooled in an ice storage tank, causing it to freeze. During the day, the ice melts, thus cooling the building. Result: lower energy costs, improved comfort and totally cool students (literally) at lucky Iolani.

Excellence Award, Enchanted Lake Sewer Project. What a coincidence that the design-build team of Engineering Solutions Inc. and Ideal Construction Inc. called the rehabilitation of sewers in Enchanted Lake "Project ROSE" - because everybody involved came out smelling sooooo sweet. The use of "engineered fill in trenching" was authorized for the first time by the city, which made the process easier and faster for the contractor.

Grand Conceptor Award, Nimitz Sewer Project. The celebration is still going on at City Hall after the County of Honolulu nabbed not one but TWO awards for outstanding sewer projects at the CECH competition. The biggie went to Woodward-Clyde Consultants for its Microtunnel Relief Sewer Project on Nimitz Highway. It developed a jet grouting design - combined with microtunneling - to support the sewer pipeline in various types of soils, and did it all $3 million under budget, ahead of schedule and with minimum traffic tie-ups. A cute touch was that the Iseki Unclemole system, used to cut through coral reef formations, was named and decorated in honor of city engineer Geraldine Lum.

Bottom-line translation: Good engineers save taxpayer money, don't add to our driving woes and are saints in a hard hat. Thanks to them all, from this once ungrateful slob.