PR -- Bentley Systems, Incorporated today announced the winners of the 2008 BE Awards of Excellence, which honor the extraordinary work of Bentley users improving and sustaining the world’s infrastructure. Seventeen projects in the professional portion of the program received BE Awards during the BE Conference in Baltimore. These projects set benchmarks and showcase the imagination and technical mastery of the organizations that created them. In addition, for only the second time, a BE Award was presented for Lifetime Achievement. In the academic portion of the program, BE Awards went to the Educator of the Year and the top four student designs. The winners were announced last night during a dinner and ceremony co-sponsored by McGraw-Hill Construction, publisher of Engineering News-Record. The independent panels of BE Awards jurors, which included accomplished Bentley users and distinguished industry experts, selected the winning projects from more than 250 nominations.

“This is a year of change for BE Conference,” said CEO Greg Bentley. “For the first time, its theme is BEst Practices for Sustaining Infrastructure, and its session tracks are dedicated to specific solutions communities, allowing our users to tap directly into the best practices and technology knowledge they need for current and upcoming projects.

“But there’s also a constant at BE Conference 2008 – our BE Awards of Excellence program and its focus on the extraordinary, innovative work of our users. These projects, along with the imagination of our users and their dedication to improving the quality of life for all, are the very reason for our conference and for what Bentley does. I heartily congratulate the winners and acknowledge the exceptional quality of all of the nominations.”

Bentley will post highlights of this year’s winning projects on our website and include detailed descriptions of all nominated projects in the next edition of its “Year in Infrastructure” yearbook. The print versions of this award-winning publication have a circulation of more than 100,000, and the digital versions are searchable across more than 800 world-class projects recognized in the BE Awards program since 2004. To review the last four yearbooks, visit www.bentley.com/projectsearch.

The 2008 BE Awards of Excellence winners are as follows:

Professional Awards

Attaining Return on Innovation: Camp Dresser and McKee, Inc. – CDM Arbennie Pritchett Water Reclamation Facility
Communicating Through Visualization: Lochner, Inc. – Fort Drum Connector (I-81 to US 11)
Connecting Project Teams: HDR Engineering, Inc. – Southwest Parkway Interchange
Developing the Infrastructure Workforce: Gresham, Smith and Partners
Innovation in Cadastre and Land Development: ISKI Genel Mudurlugu – Asset Management Information System of Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration
Innovation in Commercial or Residential Building: Arup – Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
Innovation in Industrial Facilities: GHAFARI Associates, LLC and General Motors Corporation – Enabling Integrated Project Delivery Using ProjectWise and BIM
Innovation in Metals and Mining: Hatch Associates Limited – Pueblo Viejo
Innovation in Military Installations, Campuses, and Airports: Port of Long Beach – Port of Long Beach CAD/GIS Project Plan
Innovation in Oil and Gas: Giprotyumenneftegaz – Booster Pump Station With Preliminary Water Discharge Facility
Innovation in Power Generation: Sargent & Lundy, LLC – Dry Fork Station Unit 1
Innovation in Rail and Transit: Gautrain – Gautrain Rapid Rail Link
Innovation in Road and Bridge: HDR Engineering, Inc. – Southwest Parkway Interchange
Innovation in Utilities and Communications Networks: Technische Werke Friedrichshafen GmbH – sisNET Implementation at TWF-FN
Innovation in Water Resources: Camp Dresser and McKee, Inc. – CDM Arbennie Pritchett Water Reclamation Facility
Sustaining Society: Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran – Transforming Intermittent Water Supply of Developing Countries to 24x7 System
Sustaining the Environment: CH2M HILL – Round Butte Dam Selective Water Withdrawal
Lifetime Achievement Award: John (Jack) Hallman, General Motors Corporation

Academic Awards

Educator of the Year: Peter Glaudemans – Eastern Technical High School
High School, MicroStation PowerDraft: Caitlyn Alfred, Rob Davis, and RJ McNew – Eastern Technical High School – Turkey Hill Elementary School
University/Collegiate, Engineering: Dominik Galica and Maciej Wlodarczyk – AGH University of Science and Technology – An Attempt at a Photorealistic Visualization of Mine Workings and Work of a Mechanical Coal Miner
University/Collegiate, Architecture/Building: Tzu-Hung Ho – The School of the Art Institute of Chicago – Interspace
Animation and Freeform/Artistic Expression: Maciej Wlodarczyk – AGH University of Science and Technology – Presentation of Interior of the Building With the Effect of the Light