
Canada Well Represented at NASTT’s 2016 No-Dig Show
April 15, 2016
NASTT’s 2016 No-Dig Show returned to the Gaylord Texan Convention Center in Dallas, attracting a record-setting number exhibitors to the Big-D, March 21-23. The atmosphere inside the Gaylord was great, blending business, education and networking during the course of the conference.
Attendance topped more than 2,000 attendees and the exhibit hall was sold out prior to the event, holding 185 trenchless companies.
The No-Dig Show brings together the industry’s past, present and future, honoring the indelible work that trenchless professionals have created. The 2016 Trenchless Technology Person of the Year was formally presented to Lynn Osborn, formerly of Insituform, and now technical director at NASSCO and all of the winners of the 2015 Trenchless Technology Projects of the Year were recognized.
RELATED: 2016 No-Dig Show Under Way in Dallas — Day One Recap
NASTT inducted its fifth Hall of Fame Class: Joining the illustrious group are HDD pioneer Martin Cherrington, engineer and NASTT founding member and chairman Richard Thomasson and Insituform Technologies Ltd.’s Ken Foster. Foster graduated from the University of Liverpool with a First Class Honours degree in Civil Engineering. He worked for two municipalities in England for five years, and then in the early 1970’s immigrated to Edmonton, Alberta. There, Foster worked as a consulting engineer initially heading the GCG Partnership and then GCG Dillon Consulting Ltd. In 1986, while working on an Infrastructure Rehabilitation project for the City of Edmonton, he subcontracted WRc to be its specialist consultant for the underground infrastructure evaluations and this was the first work that WRc was ever involved with in Canada.
In 1988, Foster joined Insituform Canada and since then he has led the Insituform Operations throughout Canada. During this time, he was involved in projects from Vancouver Island to Labrador and helped grow Insituform’s operations to four Canadian cities, installing more than 120 km of CIPP liners annually.
Between 2011 and 2013, Foster was also responsible for Insituform’s operations in the Western United States. In addition to his responsibilities in Canada, he is also managing director of Insituform’s operations in Europe.
RELATED: 2016 NASTT No-Dig Show Day Two Recap
Robinson Consultants’ Derek Potvin received the NASTT Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Lifetime Service; and Mary Neher, Bennett Trenchless Engineers and Rory Ball, Hatch Mott McDonald, received the Trent Ralston Award for Young Trenchless Achievement. HammerHead Trenchless Equipment and Akkerman Inc. received the Joseph L. Abbott Innovative Product Awards.
The No-Dig Show has two main attractions that are huge draws. One is its highly-acclaimed Technical Program, with more than 160 peer-reviewed papers. The papers represented a broad range of industry topics, covering the gamut of trenchless methods and issues. The other is the exhibit hall, in which attendees can see first-hand the latest products that are keeping the trenchless industry moving forward in its quest to address the utility construction and repair industry.
In 2017, NASTT’s No-Dig Show returns to Washington, D.C., and the Gaylord National Convention Center April 9-13.