International Design-Build Institute of America awarded this year’s Education Buildings Honour Award to the Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded earthquake reconstruction project in Pakistan undertaken by CDM Smith Incorporation.
The Design-Build Award was conferred on Thursday, in the United States of America, on CDM Smith Inc. which is a US-based engineering and construction firm implementing the USAID funded Pakistan earthquake reconstruction and recovery program for designing and constructing earthquake-resistant schools, basic health units and a hospital in the Bagh and Mansehra districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“The award went to four of the schools designed and built by CDM Smith with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),” said a press release.
These schools are Government Boys High School Village Dharray, Government Girls High School #2 Village Chatter, Government Girls Intermediate College Village Rerrah and the Boys Higher Secondary School in the same village.
These schools were destroyed in the 2005 earthquake that approximately damaged 272,000 buildings, including 585 healthcare facilities and 15,000 schools.
The USAID Mission to Pakistan committed to develop a reconstruction program in collaboration with Pakistan’s Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) that would “build back better” by using international standards for seismic design and construction, engaging local communities and developing the capacity of Pakistani workers.
Under the program, 77 buildings have been designed, and 51 have been completed and delivered to date.
Chief of project for this USAID rebuilding program and vice-president of CDM Smith Tarek Salim said rebuilding efforts in this area employed unique approaches.
He said they had employed a robust social mobilisation and community engagement; developed seismic-resistant structural designs that suited mountainous regions; employed and trained best people, designers and contractors; worked in close collaboration with multiple stakeholders including ERRA and other local partners in Kashmir.
“Because Pakistan building codes did not provide required level of details with respect to seismic design, we adopted the international design standard UBC-97 for our work,” he said.
“To address the lack of data needed for seismic design, we micro-zoned the area and mapped fault lines using geographic information system technology (GIS).” Salim stated further.
He appreciated the efforts of designing consultant, Unicon Consulting Pvt Limited and construction contractor, Dinsons (project’s local partners) for successfully implementing buildings complying with international earthquake design and construction standards in Pakistan.
The Design-Build Institute of America is the only organisation that defines, teaches and promotes best practices in design-build which is an integrated approach that delivers design and construction services under one contract with a single point of responsibility.
Owners select design-build to achieve best value while meeting schedule, cost and quality goals.
This project established international standards for earthquake-resistant school design, construction quality and capacity building in Pakistan.
The award was presented to the company representatives during a splendid ceremony held in New Orleans in United States of America.
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