The Tilt-Up Concrete Association (TCA) – an international nonprofit organization that serves to expand and improve the use of tilt-up as the preferred building system – has announced the recipients of five professional achievement awards.

The awards were presented at TCA’s annual meeting held on Thursday, Feb. 7 in conjunction with the World of Concrete.

The award recipients for 2013, selected by the Association’s Board of Directors after nomination by the general membership and recommendation by the TCA’s Awards Committee, are:

• Preston Haskell, PE, Chairman at Haskell for the Peter Courtois Memorial Award
• Roger Meyer of Summit Concrete for the Murray Parker Memorial Award
• Alliance Architects, Inc. for the Irving Gill Distinguished Architect Award
• Joe Steinbicker of Steinbicker & Associates for the David L. Kelly Engineering Award
• Thermomass for the Robert Aiken Innovation Award

Peter Courtois Memorial Award

This award honors Peter Courtois, who died in 1992 after serving as senior vice president of engineering for Dayton Superior Concrete Accessories (formerly Dayton-Richmond Corporation). Courtois, an employee of Dayton Superior for 32 years, immeasurably contributed to the tilt-up industry through his tireless effort and dedication to several industry associations. He served on seven ACI committees, most notably the ACI-551 Tilt-Up Construction Committee. In addition, he was a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and served as the initial president of TCA, for which he was made an honorary member in 1991. Past recipients include: Robert Tobin, Dave Kelly, Dr. Koladi Kripanarayanan, Bill Lockwood, Sam Hodges, Bill Simpson, Murray Parker, Bob Truitt, Jesse Wyatt, Don Musser, Tom Collins, Hugh Brooks, Malcolm Davis, Gerry Miller, Bob Foley, Jim Churchman and Sherman Balch.

Haskell founded The Haskell Company in 1965. He was instrumental in the formation of the Design-Build Institute of America and served as its founding chairman. As a frequent speaker on design-build delivery and the author of many articles on the subject, he is well-respected in the industry. Haskell is an active community member over a wide range of industry, cultural and charitable institutions. He has served on the board for the American Society of Civil Engineers (CEFI), is a member of the Florida Council of 100, and the National Academy of Construction. He is an honors graduate of Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and received a Master of Business degree with distinction from Harvard Business School. Haskell also attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology for graduate study in building engineering and construction.

“Haskell is a contemporary visionary. His insightful understanding of tilt-up advantages coupled with his passion for Design/Build (he is the founding Chairman of DBIA) has lead the Haskell Company to be consistently acknowledged as an industry leader,” said Bob Foley, president, The Foley Group, LLC. “The Haskell Company is an inaugural member of TCA, joining in 1986. Recognizing him with the 2013 Peter Courtois Award truly honors the memory of Pete Courtois.”

Murray Parker Memorial Award

Named in honor of Murray Parker who died in 2000, this award was created to recognize a contractor who has significantly contributed to the tilt-up industry. Parker was regarded for his development and promotion of tilt-up throughout the industry, especially in the Atlantic Provinces region of Canada. As General Manager/Vice President of B.D. Stevens, Ltd. in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Parker is credited with introducing tilt-up to an area of the world where many thought it was impossible to use the medium. His contributions and commitment to excellence helped the method gain credibility in the area and paved the way for future tilt-up projects. Past recipients include Tilt-Up Systems (S. Africa), Balch Enterprises, L.D. Clark, Citadel Contractors, Hughes General Contractors, Seretta Construction, Steve Miers, Shawn Hickey and Frank Adames.

Roger Meyer of Summit Concrete in Blue Springs, Missouri was selected as the recipient of this award for 2013. Summit concrete has made great leaps advancing the use of architectural tilt-up. Adapting the method to a Midwest “mindset,” Meyer and Summit developed a solid reputation for high-end detail and finishes most notably in retail applications. The building envelopes are known for incorporating thin brick, synthetic stucco, laid brick and laid stone, among other advanced techniques.

Foley states, “When Summit first introduced the tilt-up concept in 1985, they were the first to do so in a market where many said it couldn’t be done. Further, it was a market dominated by large-span metal buildings. Roger pioneered and perfected many new techniques to address the concerns of the local architectural community. He has always been ready to try new things.”

Jim Baty, Technical Director for the TCA, stated “In addition to the market shaping work on building programs that Summit has become known, the work Roger and his company committed to for the TCA’s Korean War Memorial (dedicated during the 2011 Annual Convention to the City of Kansas City) was extraordinary and a great undertaking of generosity to both industry and community.”

Irving Gill Distinguished Architect Award

The TCA’s Distinguished Architect Award is named in honor of Irving J. Gill. Early in the history of concrete construction, Gill—a prominent architect in Southern California—designed and constructed a house in Hollywood employing Aiken’s method for tilt-up in 1912.  This led Gill to purchase the patent rights of the bankrupt Aiken Reinforced Concrete Company forming his own Concrete Building and Investment Company. Without the architectural mindset of Gill, the industry may very well have taken a much slower time to rise to its current dominance. His crowning tilt-up achievement remains as one of the great early examples of modern concrete, the La Jolla Women’s Club. Past recipients include RMW architecture, Intergroup Architects, Kovert Hawkins Architects, Alan Wilson of Haskell, Powers Brown Architecture, Kenneth R. Carlson, Architect – P.A and James M. Williams of AE URBIA, J.M. Williams and Associates and R. Glen Stephens.  The award recognizes architects or architectural firms that advance and create an impact on the tilt-up industry

Alliance Architects, Inc. of Richardson, Texas is an architectural, project management, master planning, space planning and interior design firm boasting a wide variety of projects. Having joined the TCA in 2009, the firm quickly emphasized the architectural variety and sophistication afforded using the tilt-up method.  Alliance has been one of the most aggressive firms in providing evidence of challenging the present state-of-the-art. The firm was nominated for the Irving Gill Award in recognition of their commitment to the pursuit of excellence in tilt-up development along with their support of the industry as a whole through their TCA membership.

David L. Kelly Engineering Award

The TCA’s Distinguished Engineer Award was renamed in 2008 to honor the career-long commitment by David Kelly of Meadow Burke to the tilt-up industry. Kelly retired from Meadow Burke as Vice President and Chief Engineer and continues in private practice to solve unique tilt-up challenges. He was a longtime board member and past president of the TCA. His innovative and creative engineering ideas led to the construction of hundreds of tilt-up projects. Previous winners of this award include Johnson Structural Group, BBM Structural Engineers, John Lawson, Jeff Griffin, Alan Reay Consultants, Gerry Weiler, Jeffrey Needham and Philip Kopf.

Joe Steinbicker, PE, SE, began working in the tilt-up industry in 1976 and founded Steinbicker & Associates, Inc. in 1982. Over time, Steinbicker saw the need for proprietary software that could assist his team in delivering tilt-up designs more efficiently. Steinbicker & Associates began developing their own technology and software to do just that. The result is a software package which has been utilized on hundreds of tilt-up projects to effectively deliver structural designs and drawings. In 1989, he founded Tilt-Up Design Systems, LLC (TDS), and now brings that technology to market as Tilt-Werks®. With more than 32 years of experience in the design and construction of structural steel, precast and tilt-up buildings, Steinbicker and his team have been responsible for the design of more than 900 tilt-up buildings encompassing approximately 65,000,000 square feet throughout the Eastern United States, Puerto Rico and Canada.

“Joe has been very active in the industry with the TCA, ACI and other facets of the industry, however, it is the impact he had on tilt-up in Florida and many other parts of country that warrant this recognition,” said Bob Theisen, Jr., Chairman/Founder of Tilt-Con.

Robert Aiken Innovation Award

This award honors Robert Aiken – a founding father of tilt-up construction. Known for initiating a more architectural direction for tilt-up, Aiken is credited with the concept of casting panels face-up to provide a medium for developing craftsmanship in the construction method. Past recipients include: Accubrace Shoring, Elmer Payne (Dayton Richmond), Composite Technologies (Thermomass), Scott System, Victory Bear, Tilt-Con,Textured Coatings of America, Inc., Tiltwerks by Tilt-Up Design Systems and Somero Enterprises, Inc.

Thermomass manufactures a full line of concrete insulation systems for use in plant precast, tilt-up, and cast-in-place projects, with more than 30 years of industry experience. They are being recognized for their continued refinement of their insulated composite product, and for offering building owners a superior building envelope product.

“Given what we know about inferior building envelopes, their composite system has opened a new era of tilt-up panel production extending the competitive edge with precast and establishing new efficiencies in structural material,” said Dave Tomasula, President of CON/STEEL Tilt-Up Systems.

About the TCA

TCA was founded in 1986 to improve the quality and acceptance of site-cast tilt-up construction, a construction method in which concrete wall panels are cast on-site and tilted into place. Tilt-Up construction is one of the fastest growing industries, combining the advantages of reasonable cost with low maintenance, durability, speed of construction and minimal capital investment.  For more information about the TCA, visit www.tilt-up.org or contact TCA headquarters at 319-895-6911 or info@tilt-up.org.