Local Engineering Project Receives National Honor – G8
FULLERTON RESERVOIRS PROJECT CITED IN NATIONAL ENGINEERING COMPETITION
Essential Infrastructure Integrated Into Community Landscape
WASHINGTON, DC (March 15, 2022) – Gannett Fleming of Baltimore, Md., has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 55th annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) for the Fullerton Reservoirs Project in Fullerton, Md.
The project features three 21-million-gallon concrete tanks, making them among the largest of their type in existence. Interior baffle walls constructed of 118 precast panels enhance circulation and ensure water quality. After installation, the tanks were wrapped in 3.3 million feet of high tensile-strength wire, enabling each tank to withstand the extreme internal water pressure. The project also included a disinfection building and 2,700 feet of 42- to 84-inch site piping, valves, meters, and vaults.
To balance the system’s hydraulics without adding obtrusive features to the community, the tanks are partially buried on a site that was regraded to create a rolling landscape. Each tank’s flat, concrete roof—supported by 132 columns—is designed for a minimal visual profile, largely obscuring the massive structures from most viewpoints. Site design included two large stockpile areas to house a staggering 450,000 cubic yards of excavated material so that no material had to be hauled off site.
The project is part of 195 entries this year representing engineering excellence from throughout the nation and the world. Judging for the awards program—known industry-wide as the “Academy Awards of the engineering industry”– took place in February and was conducted by a national 27-member panel of built environment leaders, along with experts from government, the media and academia. Award criteria focused on uniqueness and originality, technical innovation, social and economic value, and generating excitement for the engineering profession.
Recognition of all award winners including top winners—20 Honor Awards, 16 Grand Awards and the prestigious “Grand Conceptor Award” for the year’s most outstanding overall engineering achievement—will take place during the 2022 EEA Gala, to be held in Grand Hyatt, Washington, DC, on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.
The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) is the business association of America’s engineering industry, representing more than 5,200 independent engineering firms and more than 600,000 professionals throughout the United States engaged in the development of America’s transportation, water and energy infrastructure, along with environmental, industrial and other public and private facilities. Founded in 1906 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., ACEC is a national federation of 52 state and regional organizations.
