Surrey’s new Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre has received three more prestigious international honours for architectural, innovation and technical excellence.
The Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre was recognized as the World’s Top Completed Sport Building at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Berlin and the World’s Top Structural Engineering Project as well as category winner for Community or Residential Structures by the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) at a ceremony in London.
The WAF honour was presented to local firm HCMA Architecture + Design for best architecture of a Completed Sport Building at WAF, which showcases the best in global architecture in the past 12 months, with over 350 finalists presenting projects across 32 categories. The IStructE honour was awarded to local engineering firm Fast + Epp. The Institution of Structural Engineers is the world's leading professional body for qualifications and standards in structural engineering. The international recognition is a testament to many years of successful collaboration between local, innovative firms HCMA and Fast + Epp.
"These latest awards only highlight the world-class facility that we have with the Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre," said Mayor Linda Hepner. "I commend and congratulate the tremendous local talents of HCMA Architecture + Design and Fast + Epp for their vision, innovation and for pushing the boundaries in the groundbreaking design of Surrey’s newest aquatic centre.”
In the IStructE’s judges’ deliberations, they “were struck by the undulating roof, which elegantly balances structural form with building use and celebrates the expressed materials. The adoption of timber in catenary permitted a structural depth of just 300mm for a 55m span – a design which defies convention and demanded design excellence.”
The project has received more than 10 top honours to date - Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre has received the 2016 Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia Award in Architecture from the Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC), the 2016 Schreyer Award from the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies of Canada (ACEC), the 2016 Lieutenant Governor Award for Engineering Excellence from the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies of British Columbia (ACEC-BC), the New Buildings $30 to $100 Million Award from the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA) in the United States, as well as the Fraser Valley Commercial Building Award of Excellence in the Community Recreational category.
