Dominic Sabatini Joins STV as Vice President of Systems

Dominic Sabatini, P.E., has joined STV as vice president of the firm’s Transportation and Infrastructure Division’s systems group. He will be based in Philadelphia and report to Christopher Holliday, P.E., senior vice president, vehicles, systems and security services. In this role, Sabatini will be responsible for STV’s systems practice, which includes traction power, signals, communications, intelligent transportation systems, and fare collection. He will work with John Ponzio, senior associate and director of systems.

Sabatini has more than 40 years experience as a program manager, regional manager, project manager, and engineer. Throughout his career, he directed many transit projects in many different capacities including engineering and design, design-build, and construction. Immediately before joining STV, Sabatini was a senior vice president for a global transportations system company. Prior to that position, Sabatini was a program director for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) for seven years. At SEPTA he oversaw the reconstruction of the Market-Frankford Elevated Subway System Blue Line, a 13.8-mile, heavy rail, electrified transit system. Because the project was so complex, Sabatini developed a detailed program management plan to handle the numerous consultant and construction contracts.

Sabatini earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Drexel University and is a registered Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania.

With more than 1,700 employees in 33 offices, STV provides planning, engineering, architectural, construction management, and environmental services for transportation systems, infrastructure, buildings, and other facilities. STV is 100 percent employee-owned and maintains a web site at www.stvinc.com.

Dovalovsky Promoted to Chicago Transportation Department Manager

Stacie Dovalovsky, P.E., civil engineer at Clark Dietz, Inc., has been promoted to manager of the Chicago Transportation Department. Ms. Dovalovsky is a licensed professional engineer in Illinois and Indiana and holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and is pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree from DePaul University in Chicago. Ms. Dovalovsky has been with Clark Dietz since 1998 and has transportation planning, design, and construction experience for road, bridge, transit, and building improvement projects. Her new responsibilities will include the management and leadership for transportation infrastructure improvements in northeast Illinois.

Clark Dietz is involved in transportation, civil, environmental, mechanical, electrical, and structural engineering with over 140 professional staff in regional offices in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

Prominent Napa Valley Vintner Goes to Green Production

A plan for solar-powered winemaking is working “even better than expected,” according to the electrical engineers who developed it. One of the noted glamour projects of 2009, the Hall Estate Winery in Napa Valley, CA was designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry for owners Craig and Kathryn Hall, the prominent financiers and art patrons.

When this A-team constellation of architecture, art, and influence sought an engineer to green-power their landmark $100-million project, they turned to Los Angeles-based IBE Consulting Engineers. “We build sustainable systems into every assignment, a process that starts early in project conversations,” says Alan Locke, PE, founder of IBE Consulting Engineers. “The Hall Estate Winery was an especially productive effort, as the owner and architects were committed to true environmental stewardship.” A mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering firm, IBE Consulting Engineers crafts building systems to complement owner and architect visions of sustainable, livable built environments.

The Hall Estate Winery project anticipates 120,000 square feet of new development within a 33-acre vineyard near St. Helena, CA. The winery’s Visitors Center has not yet been built, but the two-building, 41,900-square-foot production facility was recently completed and is operating. Master-planned by Gehry, the production facility was designed by St. Helena, CA-based Lail Design Group.

Among other assignments, IBE Consulting Engineers was tasked to design the production facility’s MEP systems to cut energy use, both total and from the grid. IBE conceived systems for both rooftop solar power and radiant flooring to control production-room temperatures. For the solar-powered system, IBE Consulting Engineers developed specifications and reviewed vendor options before designing a 42,000-square-foot installation that provides 35 percent of the winery’s energy needs. William Dahl, Jr., senior associate at IBE, consulted with Gehry to select panels and configurations that fulfilled the architects’ aesthetic criteria. For the radiant system, water piping was installed into the winery’s cement floors, allowing cold or warm water to run through the substrata to efficiently regulate production-room temperatures. Radiant heat is one of the most-efficient room-temperature control methods.

As a result of the collaboration among owner, architects, and engineer, the Hall Estate Winery has earned a LEED Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The vintner’s solar-power system is actually slightly exceeding expectations, says Dahl. “We are producing a little more power over our estimate with brand new and clean panels,” he says. “The panels can be washed, and output is monitored online.”

URS to Provide Construction Management Services for Rehabilitation of Spokane Viaduct

URS Corporation has been selected by the City of Seattle’s Department of Transportation to provide construction management services for Phase 2 of the South Spokane Street viaduct rehabilitation and reconstruction of the surface roadway. URS is providing construction management and contract administration services for the $60 million project, which will widen the existing viaduct. The project will nearly double the width of the existing viaduct and will expand traffic flow from two 10-foot wide lanes with no shoulders to three 11-foot lanes with shoulders in each directions. The work is expected to be completed in summer 2012.

A new ramp to and from 1st Avenue South will be constructed as part of the project, and an existing ramp at 4th Avenue South will be demolished. The project extends nearly three quarters of a mile, contains 158 drilled shafts up to 120 feet long, and includes three different types of bridge deck construction – pre-cast concrete girders, structural steel, and cast-in-place box girders. The work involves demolition and removal of access ramps and other portions of the existing system, retrofit of the viaduct structure, relocation of drainage and other utilities, and a closed circuit television system.

URS Corporation provides engineering, construction, and technical services for public agencies and private sector companies around the world. The company offers a broad range of program management; planning, design and engineering; systems engineering and technical assistance; construction and construction management; operations and maintenance; and decommissioning and closure services. URS provides services for power, infrastructure, industrial and commercial, and federal projects and programs. Headquartered in San Francisco, URS has approximately 42,000 employees in a network of offices in more than 30 countries (http://www.urscorp.com).

NEA Building Receives USGBC LEED Gold Certification

The National Education Association (NEA) has achieved LEED Gold certification through the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is the USGBC’s system for designing, constructing, and operating the world’s greenest, most energy efficient, and high performing buildings.

"The best decision we made as we undertook the LEED certification process was to work with the FEA team. They understood our needs and developed a plan that was consistent with our goals and the resources that we were able to bring to the project," said Richard Nuanes, Director of Conference & Facilities Management at NEA.

Before FEA (Facility Engineering Associates) joined the NEA certification effort in 2007, NEA observed the growing popularity and value of building certification as a milestone in demonstrating their commitment to sustainability in their facility. As a result, the goal of NEA’s sustainability facility management plan, which started with energy savings, evolved and targeted building certification as validation of their efforts.

FEA is a nationally based consulting engineering firm specializing in existing facilities. Our services provide solutions to extend the lifecycle of your facility. Our mission is to make buildings last by implementing practical and cost-effective strategies. FEA is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has additional offices in Boston, MA; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; and San Francisco, CA. Visit www.feapc.com.

GeoDesign Wins Engineering Award for Vermont Agency of Transportation Study

GeoDesign, with offices in Windsor and South Burlington, VT; Middlebury, CT; and New York earned the 2010 American Council For Engineering Companies Vermont Section Engineering Excellence Merit Award. The Evaluation of the Variability of SPT Hammer Energy for the Vermont Agency of Transportation won in the Studies, Planning and Consulting Engineering Services category.
The award submissions were based on meeting and exceeding the client’s needs, new application of existing techniques, social and economic benefits, level of complexity, and technical value to the profession.

GeoDesign’s engineers and scientists, led by project manager Shawn Kelley, Ph.D., evaluated nine different SPT hammer configurations to gain a more accurate understanding of soil properties when conducting the standard penetration test and sampling of soil. The incorporation of the energy correction values developed by GeoDesign gives engineers greater confidence in the field-measured values, reducing the need for more costly and time-consuming lab testing for soil strength.

Established in 1995, GeoDesign (www.geodesign.net) is a privately held engineering consulting firm that completes environmental investigation and remediation projects, geotechnical projects, and construction engineering services throughout the Northeast for private clients, industry, developers, contractors, and municipalities.

Sewall Releases VirtualAsset Online for Managing Municipal Assets

James W. Sewall Company has released VirtualAsset Online, a software-as-a-service solution for managing municipal infrastructure assets. With VirtualAsset Online, municipal utilities and public works departments can access the complete suite of CartêGraph asset maintenance management software over the web for a fraction of the cost it takes to install, operate, and maintain the software and support systems in-house. VirtualAsset Online, which interfaces with desktop or mobile devices, requires a current version of the Windows operating system and an Internet Explorer connection, allowing organizations to take advantage of CartêGraph’s powerful toolset on a limited budget.

“VirtualAsset Online,” says Clarence Young, Sewall Senior Project Manager, “extends the power of Sewall’s web-enabled interfaces by providing a standard way for delivering integrated ESRI GIS and Cartegraph asset management software. For customers looking to reduce IT costs associated with asset record maintenance, the services delivered with this solution will provide dramatic returns on the small annual fee.”

Developed in partnership with CartêGraph, VirtualAsset Online joins web, desktop, and mobile technologies in a flexible environment in which solutions are tailored to best fit the needs of the client organization. Although the standard package is designed to support organizations with eight or fewer simultaneous users, the concept is scalable to larger user groups by introducing a Citrix server or similar delivery component.

Founded in 1880, Sewall is an integrated team of geospatial, engineering, and natural resource consultants who partner with clients to create practical, sustainable solutions. The company's portfolio is based on 130 years' experience in surveying, forestry consulting, and civil engineering; 60 years' in aerial mapping; and 20 years' in geospatial systems and software. In the last 10 years, Sewall's offerings have expanded to include services in environmental engineering, renewable energy, and web-based technologies.