Congratulations to Katrin Habel, Manager of Bridge Rehabilitation (pictured sixth from left) in our Vancouver office, for being recognized last night with a CSA Group Award of Merit! This award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding contribution and leadership in the development and advancement of voluntary standards. The award was presented to Katrin at the 2019 CSA Group Annual Conference & Committee Week taking place in Ottawa. Incidentally, this year marks the 100th Anniversary of the first CSA standard published in Canada.

Katrin is being honoured for her efforts as Chair of the Canadian Highway Design Bridge Code (CHBDC) FRC Task Force. The purpose of this task force was established to develop an entirely new annex to Section 8 Concrete Structures of the CHBDC. This annex introduces requirements for the design of structures using FRC including Tension Hardening Fibre Reinforced Concrete (THFRC), Tension Softening Fibre Reinforced Concrete (TSFRC) and Ultra High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC).

Katrin agreed to Chair the task force and assembled a team of Canadian and international members. Thanks to Katrin’s stewardship and perseverance, the committee was able to deliver on the Annex. A colleague on that task force notes that Katrin was not only an active participant in the development of the Annex’s provisions, but went “above and beyond the call of duty” as Chair. The Annex could not have been completed, and all objectives met, without the leadership and efforts of Katrin. Well done!