Hussey Gay Bell & DeYoung Captures the Palmetto Award in the ACEC-SC Engineering Excellence Award Competition

Hussey Gay Bell & DeYoung won ACEC-SC’s highest award, the Palmetto Award, in the Engineering Excellence Award competition and receive the award Feb. 21 at the gala at the Columbia Museum of Art.

The prestigeous Palemtto Award, along with an Engineering Excellence Award, goes to Hussey, Gay, Bell & DeYoung, Inc. in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, for its East Cooper Water Supply #2 project for the Charleston Water System.  Naturally, this project was an ACEC national finalist, too. 

The company wins the Palemtto Award for receiving the highest score from the judges for the 2008 competition.

The Charleston water system had increasing demands from the development of Daniel Island and properties east of the Cooper River.  A second water feed connecting to the East Cooper area system was needed to maintain supply and provide redundency in the system.

Hussey, Gay, Bell & DeYoung was chosen to design and oversee construction of this second feed to the East of the Cooper River system.

Since this water line had to traverse a major oil shipping terminal, a shipping channel, a Corps of Engineers spoil island and a second river crossing, the project became quite complicated.  The Corp’s spoil island could expect 25 to 30 feet more fill, which would add extreme weight and thus loading on the water main beneath the spoil island. That and the high potential of earthquakes in the area provided the client and the consultants with a tremendous challenge.

When this project was completed, it became one of the longest installations – 4,500 linear feet – for a 40-inch coated steel pipe. 

This projects’ completion benefits the engineering profession by allowing other engineers to build on its success.

Congratualtions to Hussey, Gay, Bell & DeYoung and Charleston Water System for having the best engineering excellence project for 2008.