On November 3, 2000, the Building and Concrete Restoration Association of Ontario (BCRAO) presented Morrison Hershfield Limited with the first annual Award for Excellence in Infrastructure Rehabilitation, for the rehabilitation and repair of the Toronto Transit Commission’s Harbourfront LRT tunnel. In October, Morrison Hershfield Limited received an Honourable Mention in the Project Awards competition from the International Concrete Repair Institute for the same project.

The restoration project has many unique features and engineering innovations. At the BCRAO awards presentation at the Wyndham Bristol Hotel in Toronto, Senior Project Manager Edward Li gave a technical presentation outlining the solutions adopted in restoring the function of the tunnel. The key factors of success were the adoption of a “two lines of defense” method combining multi-state grouting and sealing, along with an innovative joint seal design. The work successfully restored the function of a major downtown infrastructure facility that had been plagued with problems for the past ten years.