Articles

Holland Engineering is excited to announce that we are expanding our Southfield office in an effort to adjust to the growing needs of our staff. HEI continues to grow our talented team and recently came to the decision that additional space was needed for our Detroit area staff. The new space is better equipped to handle our workforce and will also give us the opportunity for future growth. 

Please note that our MAILING ADDRESS will REMAIN THE SAME.

Holland Engineering, Inc.
Travelers Tower 1
26555 Evergreen Road, Suite 430
Southfield, MI 48076

Our phone and fax numbers will also remain the same

Holland Engineering, Inc. (HEI) is currently assisting Andrus Architecture and Cornerstone Architects with classroom additions for 9 National Heritage Academies.  These projects include the campuses of Canton, Cross Creek, Knapp, Excel, Laurus, Paragon, South Arbor, Vanguard and Walker Charter Academies. 

HEI services include preparing site plans for each school and submitting them to the State of Michigan for Site Plan Review.  The Site Plan Review requires contacting the local jurisdictions to determine if any local approvals are required for driveways, wetlands, pollution control, soil erosion, flood zone, water supply, or sanitary/septic system.  HEI is also looking at possible solutions to existing traffic problems at some of the school sites. Holland Engineering has been assisting with National Heritage Academies  for over 15 years with a variety of surveying and engineering services and is pleased for the opportunity to continue our project involvement.

For more information on HEI’s site planning services or these projects, please contact Bruce Zeinstra, LLA, LEED AP, at 616.392.5938 or via email at bzeinstra@hollandengineering.com. 

Holland Engineering is currently providing survey and engineering services to Bluewater Gas Storage for their Pipeline Extension and Meter Station Upgrade Project.  Due to a decision to expand their 20” pipeline and increase their flow capacity, a new filter separator needs to be added, existing 8” meters need to be replaced, and the flow control valve needs to be upgraded with a larger and quieter control valve. HEI’s consulting services include the pipeline extension to a new HDD river crossing, the property exhibits for the right-of-way acquisition, and the mechanical and electrical design for the modifications required to the meter station. The initial survey work and property exhibits were completed last fall and the detailed designs are in progress. Bluewater has successfully acquired the additional pipeline right-of-way for the project, is purchasing the long lead materials, and is currently obtaining permits for construction. The meter station construction is scheduled to start this summer and the pipeline and HDD are scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2012.    

Bluewater Gas Storage, LLC currently leases a 12” pipeline owned by Nova which is used to transport natural gas under the St Clair River over to Union Gas of Canada for storage service. Bluewater was notified that their lease will end at the beginning of 2013 and as a result, made the decision to extend their existing 20” pipeline approximately 345 feet to a recently purchased site. On this new site will be the entry point for a new Horizontal Directionally Drilled (HDD) 20” river crossing to a site on the Canadian side, owned by Union Gas.  HEI is pleased for the opportunity to assist Bluewater Gas Storage with this extension and upgrade.

For more information on this project, or on HEI’s pipeline consulting services, please contact Paul Bonenfant at 248.827.7322 or via email at pbonenfant@hollandengineering.com. 

In addition to our external "green" efforts, HEI continues to be committed to recycling within our offices. 

For several years, HEI has offered the recycling of office paper and cardboard allowing employees an easy, accessible way to join our "green" efforts within the office. 

Recently, in an effort to further reduce environmental impact, HEI has begun offering additional recycling options.  Designated areas within our office have been created where employees can recycle used batteries instead of throwing them away.  In addition, areas have also been set up for other recyclable items to assist employees with both their office and personal recycling efforts.  These items include traditionally recyclable items like plastics, as well as harder to recycle items like Styrofoam and writing instruments. 

HEI is pleased for the chance to offer our staff more opportunities to be involved in "green", sustainable efforts throughout our communities. 

Holland Engineering is currently assisting TransCanada with the conversion of all the existing Bristol Programmable Controllers over to Allen-Bradley Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC’s) at their Defiance Compressor Station in Ohio. These conversions are being made to all of the existing compressor engine panels and also to the station DPC.  In addition to the 10 engine panel conversions, Holland Engineering will be specifying the required instrumentation additions such as pressure, temperature, and I/P transmitters, along with level and vibration switches and various other types of new instrumentation.

New instrumentation plot plan drawings are being prepared. In addition, an entirely new station wide fiber optic cable system is being designed by HEI.  Design is scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2012. Construction for the station upgrade will be completed by the end of this year. Holland Engineering is excited to be part of this process and for the opportunity to assist TransCanada with our electrical engineering services. 

For more information on this project or on Holland Engineering’s electrical engineering services, please contact Bob Majeski at 248.827.7322 or via email at rmajeski@hollandengineering.com. 

Despite the expanding geographic reach of Holland Engineering’s project locations, HEI continues to assist with various projects throughout our local, West Michigan community. Two of our more recent projects involve an expansion at the John Ball Zoological Gardens and the construction of a new facility for West Michigan Eye and Laser Medical. 

With signs of spring in the air, the John Ball Zoological Gardens, located in Grand Rapids, MI is preparing for the busy upcoming spring and summer seasons with several renovation projects. The John Ball Zoo has over 1100 animals representing the wilds of Africa, Asia, South America, Australia and the United States. Two of the new additions to the zoo in 2012 will be the IDEMA Funicular and BISSEL Tree House.  The BISSELL Tree House is situated on one of Grand Rapids highest points and will serve as John Ball Zoo’s newest indoor event space offering extensive views of downtown Grand Rapids. The IDEMA Funicular is a 3 car trolley offering guests the option of a four minute scenic ride to the top of the hill.

Holland Engineering is pleased to be working with Landscape Design Services on the construction of upper and lower depots for the Funicular system, a new gift shop building, along with the tree house.  Holland Engineering is providing engineering design and shop drawings for several different styles of retaining walls that will be incorporated into these projects. In an effort to enhance the aesthetic nature of the project, and cause the walls to blend into their surroundings, many of the walls will be vegetative geogrid walls or include integral planting areas that will be filled with native plants.  Holland Engineering is pleased for the opportunity to be involved with this project and
wishes the John Ball Zoo continued success as they move forward with this exciting expansion. 

Located in the City of Norton Shores, the West Michigan Eye and Laser Medical Facility will serve the eye care needs of the Greater Muskegon and North Ottawa communities.  Holland Engineering is proud to be a partner with Redstone Commercial Investments and Eckert Wordell in the development of plans for a new ophthalmology office along the lakeshore.  HEI will be providing professional services for site plan development, landscaping and planting plans, boundary and site topographic surveys, grading, drainage, and soil erosion sedimentation control plans, public utility extensions, and permitting.   HEI is pleased for the opportunity to be involved in this commercial lakeshore project.

For more information on Holland Engineering’s civil and structural engineering services, please contact Ryan Ysseldyke at 616.392.5938 or via email at rysseldyke@hollandengineering.com.

 Holland Engineering is in the process of completing several projects along 
 the beautiful, distinctive Lake Michigan Shoreline.  The West Michigan 
 Park Dry Fire Line System has been one of HEI’s more unique projects 
 and has now been placed into service after passing final testing and 
 certification.  The project was a partnership between the West Michigan 
 Park Association (WMPA) and Park Township whose purpose was to 
 improve the reliability and flow capacity of the water supply system during
 a  fire event within the Association’s area.  Since many of these historic
 cottages are located inside the dune area and are accessible only by foot,
 the standpipe system with its multiple pressurized connection points has
 the capability to significantly improve the local fire department’s response 
 time.  Holland Engineering was pleased to be part of a project that could potentially help preserve some of our Lake Michigan Shoreline history.

Holland Engineering is also in the process of completing a drain extension and dune face restoration project along Lakeshore Drive south of the City of the Village of Douglas.  The property owners in this area have been continually challenged with dune face erosion.  In addition to the erosion being unsightly, it has also displaced the vegetation on the dune face and deposited it, along with soil and rocks, onto the beach.  This displacement has created a safety hazard as it has undermined beach access walkways and stairs and threatened the roadway. 

Holland Engineering worked with the property owners and the Allegan County Road Commission to design and permit a system of cut-off drains to intercept the runoff that was causing the erosion.  These cut-off drains are an extension of an existing county drain system that was installed a few years ago after a major storm caused a portion of Lakeshore Drive to wash away near the project site.  Once the drainage issues are addressed, the face of the dune will be restored with native vegetation and natural soil erosion control measures to complete the restoration and stabilization of this very unique and beautiful shoreline area.

For more information on these projects, or on our civil infrastructure services, please contact Ryan Ysseldyke, P.E., Project Manager at 616.392.5938 or via email at rysseldyke@hollandengineering.com. 

Throughout 2011, Holland Engineering (HEI) has been providing ground disturbance scans to Enbridge at numerous locations throughout Michigan, Northern Indiana and Ohio. Initially, a majority of these services were provided for Line 6B, the same 30” crude oil pipeline in Marshall, MI which suffered an oil leak earlier this year. HEI was able to complete a list of over 300 digs by providing scanning, staking and surveying services. 

For those digs located on Line 6B at the clean-up site, the process involved assessing the area that was excavated and disturbed, staking the “scar” to show the contractor what needed to be cleaned, staking the access road into the site and locating and flagging the existing pipelines within the disturbed area. HEI also scanned the entire area that was staking for any additional underground utilities and located and flagged them.  Using GPS, our survey crews were able to survey the staked area and overlay the data into Google map for contractor use.   

In addition to the clean-up site, Holland Engineering also provided ground disturbance scans for new dig site locations. These included Lines 5 and 17 which ran through northern Michigan, southeastern Michigan and Toledo, Ohio. Enbridge supplied HEI with “dig sheets” for each location which allowed HEI to coordinate the location of the anomaly. Using GPS, HEI staked out the point over the pipeline to show the true location of the Girth Weld and was ultimately able to compile the data into a Google Map drawing. Although the overall process was very similar to the clean-up site, it did require more staking and probing.  Our survey crews performed these throughout a variety of different terrains including fields, wooded and residential areas and swamps.

For more information on HEI’s pipeline surveying services, please contact Eric Osterhaven, P.S., Survey Manager at 616.392.5938 or via email at eosterhaven@hollandengineering.com.

Holland Engineering, Inc. (HEI) provided engineering design services to Great Lakes Gas Transmission Company’s two separator addition projects.  A new 9 foot, 4 inch diameter vertical gas separator with by-pass piping will be installed in series with an existing gas separator at the Deward Meter Station located in Crawford County, Michigan.  In addition, a new 5 foot, 8 inch diameter horizontal gas filter separator will be installed at the Farwell Compressor Station located in Clare County, Michigan. 

The design entailed modifications to existing compressor station piping to accommodate the addition of the separators, as well as the design of the foundations for the two separators.   Holland Engineering’s design also included hookup of all the necessary instrumentation for the vessels and routing of piping for the separator dump lines.  Due to space limitations, an existing liquid storage tank at Farwell had to be relocated and a new foundation design incorporated at this site. 

All required instrumentation was wired and routed back to the existing RTU at the instrumentation/control buildings.   Since instrument air was not available at Deward, a new gas conditioner system was designed to provide instrument gas for the separator’s level controller and over pressure protection devices. 

Holland Engineering provided the bid and construction drawings and the contractor’s scope of work for both projects.  Construction began on October 13^th with Deward scheduled to be completed by the end of December 2011 and Farwell by the end of January 2012. HEI was pleased for the opportunity to be involved with both of these projects. 

For more information on these projects, or on HEI’s design experience, please contact Gary Smith, P.E. at 248.827.7322 or via email at gsmith@hollandengineering.com. 

Holland Engineering (HEI) employees came together again this year to support the Holland Junior Welfare League with their annual "Winter Wearables Drive."  The Holland Junior Welfare League is a non-profit agency that has been assisting children in the Holland/Zeeland, MI area since 1930.  The "Winter Wearables Drive" collects mittens, hats, socks, underwear, sweatpants and sweatshirts for area elementary schools and distributes them to children who do not have their own.  Holland Engineering’s employees will be helping in the donations of these items for girls and boys in need of some extra warmth this winter.  

 In addition to the “Winter Wearables Drive,” HEI also participated for the third consecutive year as a sponsor for DTE’s Annual “Nights of Warm Hearts” fundraiser.  The Heat and Warmth Fund (THAW) is an independent non-profit agency that provides low-income individuals and families with emergency energy assistance and advocates for long-term solutions to energy issues. Since its inception in 1986, THAW has provided more than $102 million in aid to more than 155,000 Michigan households who have found themselves in a temporary crisis. The Night of Warm Hearts Gala Event was held this year on November 11^th in Detroit and is a signature event for THAW which will help hundreds of families in the community keep safe and warm this winter.  HEI is proud to once again participate in this event and remain involved in the effort to continue helping those families in need throughout Michigan. 

Holland Engineering recognizes the importance to give back to the communities where we live and work.  For more information on the Holland Junior Welfare League please visit their website at:  www.hjwl.org.  For more information on THAW Fund, please visit their website at www.thawfund.org.