RICHMOND, VA - February 3, 2017 – The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Virginia bestowed the coveted 2017 Pinnacle Award to Dunbar Milby William Pittman & Vaughan (DMWPV) and Schnabel Engineering at the Engineering Excellence Awards Gala in Richmond. The Pinnacle Award is the highest honor given by ACEC Virginia, which recognizes projects demonstrating innovation, complexity, achievement, and value to the industry. DMWPV and Schnabel were awarded the Pinnacle for their work on Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, a new $200-million, 640,000 SF building in downtown Richmond that is the largest, most advanced outpatient facility dedicated to children in the region and serves as a gateway to the urban VCU medical campus.

DMWPV provided structural engineering and Schnabel provided geotechnical and geostructural engineering for this significant project. The two firms collaborated on the design of the structural support and underpinning of the existing adjacent pavilion building, and design of the support of excavation and mat foundation for the new building.  The project included demolishing the southern half of the existing Children’s Pavilion to make way for four stories of new construction below grade and 11 stories above, occupying more than two-thirds of the city block. Excavation extended up to 35 feet below the foundations of the existing pavilion and 55 feet deep below busy Broad Street. The design accommodates potential future expansion of up to seven more floors above grade and expansion of the below-grade levels to the north, occupying the entire block. Building on the same block while the existing pavilion was open and operational throughout construction required careful planning and innovative engineering.

“This project was one of the most technically demanding and rewarding of my career,” said Jeff Davis, PE, Principal, DMWPV. “We enjoyed working with a great team of architects, engineers, contractors, and project managers that made this a success for the entire Richmond community.  We are very proud of the collaborative efforts of DMWPV and Schnabel Engineering that were recognized to be worthy of the ACEC Virginia Pinnacle Award for Engineering Excellence!”

Dunbar Milby Williams Pittman & Vaughan provides consulting structural engineering services to architects, governmental institutions and agencies, other engineers, industry, contractors and the general public. Project types include new construction, renovation, historic preservation, adaptive reuse and structural investigations. DMWPV operates from two Virginia locations, Richmond and Charlottesville.

Schnabel Engineering is an entrepreneurial employee-owned company of more than 300 professionals specializing in geotechnical, geostructural, dam/levee, and tunnel engineering. Based in Glen Allen, Schnabel operates from 18 U.S. offices, serving clients nationally as well as in more than 140 countries.



Contact:

Nate Dumas,
PE Schnabel Engineering
804/649-7035