The International Association of Concrete Drillers and Sawers (IACDS) has announced the winners of the Diamond Award, an international competition for excellence and innovation in the field of concrete cutting. The winners were presented with their awards at a press conference during the World of Concrete trade show and exhibition in Las Vegas.

The Diamond Award 2011 ceremony was hosted by the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association, one of the award sponsors and a member association of IACDS, and took place Jan. 18.

The gold award in this competition was awarded to Tondin srl of Italy for the company’s outstanding work in the tunnels of a rail system that connects Bologna to Florence. The project involved large quantities of concrete cutting over a two-year period to increase safety in the tunnel system. The cutting contractor used a great deal of innovation to perform some of the work, using mechanical arms mounted to the front of an excavation vehicle with wall saw and chain saw attachments to cut the tunnel walls.

Taking the silver award was Thayr s.l. of Spain, for its work on a wharf expansion project at the Port of Huelva in the southeast region of the country. The cutting work was performed under water using diamond wire sawing techniques to cut and remove 26 reinforced concrete pilings that were 4 ft. (1.2 m) in diameter.

The bronze award was won by D-Drill Master Drillers Ltd. of the United Kingdom for the contractor’s care and precision in removing a 100-year-old tile mural with a wire saw during a hospital renovation. A custom-made 110-volt wire saw was engineered to complete the job that had strict noise and vibration tolerances.

The Diamond Award competition allows concrete sawing and drilling industry professionals to present their most complex and innovative projects. Entries were judged on the degree of difficulty, planning, complexity, innovation and the quality of the work produced to ensure project success. Following a detailed review of each entry, the judging panel representing members of various country-wide sawing and drilling associations chose the winning projects.

IACDS is an international trade association of sawing and drilling associations from the concrete construction and renovation industry. The organization was formed in 1995 and is composed of associations from Australia, Austria, Germany, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the United States. The Diamond Award began in 2000 in Germany and award ceremonies are rotated around the globe in conjunction with major exhibitions.

For more information, call 727/577-5004 or visit www.csda.org.

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