NATCHEZ — A Natchez engineering firm and a Jackson geotechnical firm earned two awards for their work on the Magnolia Bluffs Casino building.

Natchez-based engineering company Jordan Kaiser & Sessions and Jackson-based geotechnical company Burns Cooley Dennis Inc. were part of a team retained by Premier Gaming for planning, permitting, designing and constructing the casino, which earned them the Grand Award and first-place Members Choice Award at the American Council of Engineering Companies of Mississippi banquet in Jackson Thursday.

“I think the construction of the casino was a good project for Natchez and a good project for exposure,” said Hayden Kaiser III, principal, Jordan Kaiser & Sessions.

The casino project was picked from a field of seven projects, said Magnolia Bluffs President and CEO Kevin Preston.

“It’s more of an engineering aspect but from our perspectives we are just happy that we had local, experienced contractors that could work on the casino,” Preston said.

The development of the site posed significant challenges for the engineers, architects and contractors.

“You have to keep in mind that the same forces of nature that erased the majority of Natchez Under-the-Hill in the 19th century are still at work today,” said Burns Cooley Dennis Principal Eddie Templeton. “The site is sandwiched between the 200-foot tall Natchez bluffs on the east and the raging Mississippi River on the west.”

Burns Cooley Dennis Inc. designed an integrated system of ground anchors, stabilization piles, soldier piles and lagging walls to stabilize the existing landslide and accommodate the site-grading plan developed by Jordan Kaiser & Sessions.

Having put in much work, Kaiser said he wasn’t surprised when they received an award.

“The whole project was great to work on,” he said. “To be able to work together in a large group like that was pretty interesting.”

The projects were ranked by a team of judges according to innovative application of new or existing technologies, future value to the engineering profession, complexity, social and economic contribution and exceeding owners expectations.