Halcrow Group Wins Bentley 2000 Success Award;International Infrastructure Developer Improves...

Business Editors

NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 2000

GEOPAK Corporation, a Bentley Strategic Affiliate, today announced that the Halcrow Group has won a Bentley 2000 Success Award for Architecture and Engineering, honoring its design of the upgrade to London's

Tottenham Court Road Station. Halcrow used GEOPAK(R) Rebar in conjunction with MicroStation TriForma to streamline and integrate modeling and drawing production. Halcrow is a veteran user of GEOPAK Rebar for concrete reinforcement design, having employed it on a number of massive rail projects, including the CTRL (Channel Tunnel Rail Link) in the UK and the MRT Chaloem Ratchamongkhon Line in Bangkok.

"We're delighted to have won the Bentley award," says Liam Gallagher, Halcrow Rail CAD Manager at The Halcrow Group, London. "Our next step is to move forward on upcoming projects, using the same 3D modeling and methodologies we employed on the Tottenham Court project - gaining the same benefits to design integration."

Using MicroStation TriForma sections generated from the model, Halcrow prepared outlines for reinforcement drawings. GEOPAK Rebar's ability to stretch outlines and associated reinforcement allowed amendments to be readily incorporated. This kept the project design coordinated and changes were made quickly and accurately.

Part of the modernization of the London Underground, the Tottenham Court Road Station Upgrade aims at reducing congestion and providing improved public access to one of London's oldest and busiest stations. The design commission involved civil, structural and mechanical and electrical engineering and also the architectural design, progressing from an outline/conceptual design to a fully detailed design over an 18-month period.

The successful completion of the design of this station requires both a complete understanding of the complex interfaces with the existing station structures as well as full coordination between each of the design disciplines. Halcrow achieves this using a single model environment, which also enables the design team to establish the preferred method of construction.

The award was presented last week at the Bentley International User Conference in Philadelphia.

About The Halcrow Group

The Halcrow Group is a world-leading provider of infrastructure development, from pre-feasibility through to operational commissioning. Halcrow's operations are divided between a number of business units, each dealing with specific disciplines, geographic areas or development regions. Halcrow's structure, project methodologies and financial systems enable its business units to form flexible project teams, tailored to meet the exact requirements of each project. With headquarters in London, Halcrow can be visited on the World Wide Web at www.halcrow.com.

More on Bentley

At approximately $190 million in 1999 revenues, Bentley is the largest software company dedicated to engineering and operation of constructed assets, the category traditionally known as A/E/C (for architecture, engineering, and construction) and is one of the largest privately held software companies in the world.

For more information on Bentley, please contact the company at 800/BENTLEY, 610/458-5000 (Americas), +31 23-556-0560 (Europe, Middle East, Africa), +61 3-9699-8699 (Asia/Pacific), through E-mail at Rachael.Schroeder@Bentley.com or visit www.bentley.com. The Bentley Wire automatically delivers company press releases through E-mail within minutes of being issued. To subscribe, click www.bentley.com/news/bwire. Information on the Bentley Success Awards can be found at http://www.bentley.com/biuc/awards/.

About GEOPAK, a Bentley Strategic Affiliate

GEOPAK provides civil engineering software and advanced traffic management systems for worldwide transportation projects. GEOPAK is a market-leading provider of roadway engineering and design software. Together, Bentley and GEOPAK offer GeoMacao(TM) civil software to European markets. More than any other civil engineering software, GEOPAK is developed and supported by practicing civil engineers and land surveyors. The Federal Highway Administration, 19 state departments of transportation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and thousands of consultants worldwide use GEOPAK civil engineering solutions. In 1999, A-E-C Automation Newsletter - the authoritative publication on automation for architecture, engineering, and construction - deemed GEOPAK "the leader in the transportation engineering market."

The company is headquartered in North Miami Beach, Florida, USA. GEOPAK can be reached

-- By telephone at 305/944-5151 (toll free in the U.S. and Canada: 888/GEOPAK1)


-- By FAX at 305/948-6290

-- By email at sales@geopak.com

-- On the World Wide Web at www.geopak.com.

GEOPAK is a registered trademark and GeoMacao is a trademark of GEOPAK Corporation. Bentley and MicroStation are registered trademarks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or Bentley Software, Inc. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.