CDM Smith Capabilities in Australia Providing environmental consulting and engineering solutions to both private and government agencies throughout Australia.
CDM SMITH IN AUSTRALIA CDM Smith provides environmental consulting and engineering solutions to both private and government agencies throughout Australia. With offices in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Gold Coast and Darwin, we are able to support projects in various jurisdictions in Australia with key local, state and federal regulatory and planning familiarity. As an international company, we leverage the full power of our global resources, expertise and experience to provide our clients with exceptional service, quality results and enduring value for our clients and their projects. We are highly experienced at planning and guiding complex, interdisciplinary and wide-ranging studies for the various sectors. Our in-house team of engineers, environmental scientist and key support specialists enable us to deliver an effective integrated outcome.
Listen. Think. Deliver. We put our client’s first and strive to respond to their varying project requirements, exceeding their expectations time and time again. We listen and pay careful attention to our client’s needs, we think about strategic and practical solutions to address these needs and then we deliver these solutions in a timely and cost effective manner.
Our Health Safety, Environment and Quality (HSEQ) Management Systems are certified against: – AS NZS 4801 Occupation Health and Safety Management Systems – ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems – ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems.
Global Strength and Local Presence With annual revenues near $1.2 billion, and more than 5,000 professionals in over 125 offices worldwide, CDM Smith maintains the size, stability, and resources to take on a wide range of projects successfully.
Main Australian Office Locations Include: – Brisbane, Queensland – Gold Coast, Queensland – Sydney, New South Wales – Melbourne, Victoria – Perth, Western Australia – Darwin, Northern Territory
Offering a strong local presence, CDM Smith has several Australian offices, as well as office sharing partners located across regional Australia, to ensure CDM Smith can mobilise staff quickly and work locally.
Commitment to Environment Quality & Safety From the smallest study or assessment to the most complex design and construction project, quality management is an integral part of every project task. We achieve quality through high expectations and a rigorous program of quality management through leadership, processes and training. Our quality management system addresses planning, budgeting, scheduling, project execution, quality assurance/ quality control responsibilities and health and safety. We are committed to implementing a comprehensive program while also actively monitoring client satisfaction and ensuring safe work outcomes for our team and our clients.
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES CDM Smith provides a comprehensive suite of environmental services to assist and advise clients through project feasibility, planning, implementation and handover. We actively assist proponents and contractors pre and post contract to ensure compliance with local, state and Commonwealth government regulatory requirements by implementing the most appropriate approvals or statutory pathway. Based on our experience with environmental planning and construction management, we develop practical measures while recommending and implementing outcome-focused and cost effective strategies for our clients. Our team is particularly experienced in the preparation of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and liaison with key government stakeholders critical for the successful delivery of formal and informal environmental and social assessments and risk analyses. Our experts have the right skills to provide specialist advice to support, prepare and submit approval documents including Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) for projects requiring assessments at all government levels. CDM Smith has delivered a number of quality EISs that have successfully withstood the rigorous regulatory and public review processes. To thoroughly identify, void or minimise all potential environmental, social and economic impacts, our team can deliver high quality ecological and environmental assessments, planning processes, Certified Erosion and Sediment Control Plans, Construction and Operations Environmental Management Plans with significant experience across urban, industrial, energy, resources and regional systems. We have the right capabilities to support projects by developing and negotiating conditions with minimal disruptions to sensitive environmental receptors. Our in-house Certified Environmental Practitioners undertake field and desktop assessments to design and implement robust ecological and environmental monitoring and sampling programs, providing technical and strategic advice. Additionally, our certified RABQSA environmental auditors can prepare and utilize a range of environmental audits including due diligence and compliance auditing assessments as a management tool for environmental quality assessments, risk management, compliance checks and management system evaluations.
Bandanna Energy’s Springsure Creek Coal Mine, QLD – CDM Smith managed the EIS and stakeholder program for both the State and Commonwealth approvals processes. The State recognised the benefits of our approach and will use this as a model for other proponents.
BMA’s Caval Ridge Coal Mine, QLD – Our Environmental Services team Smith was engaged to fulfill an environmental community engagement role over the mine’s construction period. This required regular community forums and information sessions and ongoing landholder discussions that improved the perception of the proponent.
Adani’s Coal Port Terminal, QLD – CDM Smith managed the entire EIS program, including significant stages of community and agency engagement during public consultation required under the EPBC Act. Commonwealth staff were impressed with the process we adopted and were happy to use this as a model for other proponents.
CONTAMINATED LAND AND REMEDIATION CDM Smith has extensive experience in identifying a property’s potential soil and/or groundwater contamination, and managing the contaminated site’s investigation and remediation across Australia. Our contaminated land and remediation services span the entire project life cycle; from initial site assessment and full remedial investigations, through to the selection and design of remedies, construction of remedial actions and implementation of long-term monitoring programs, often involving government liaision, validation and regulatory approval. Initially, our team will undertake a Preliminary or Stage 1/Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment (ESA), which involves inspection, interviews with relevant personnel, desktop research and historical investigations. If required, a Detailed or Stage 2/Phase 2 ESA will then by undertaken to design and implement an intrusive sampling and analytical program to assess for the presence of contamination in surface and sub-surface environments (fill materials, soil, groundwater, surface waters, sediments, air). The results will then determine if a surrounding environment and human health risk assessment is required. We work closely with our clients to assess feasibility of remediation options and implement the most cost effective and value adding solutions to site assessment, remediation and management that minimise operating costs and facilitate site closure. Such projects often involve our team preparing and implementing remediation action plan followed by a long-term environmental or site management plan to identify the nature and location of contamination, and establish remediation goals, options, procedures and preferred remediation strategies; encompassing how and who will manage the contaminants in the short, medium and long term.
OneSteel – Smorgan Merger – During the merger of OneSteel with Smorgan Steel, and in the years following, CDM Smith provided advice for OneSteel to help determine environmental liabilities at the sites and create a program of follow up actions. For the portfolio of acquisition sites, this included a review historical investigations, site sensitivities, and a program of prioritised actions associated with: establishing a background of the environmental conditions of the site; ensuring any contamination was understood in terms of environmental and human health risk; and ensuring additional assessment and remediation requirements were identified and prioritised. CDM Smith also provided a cost estimate of the actions required.
Jemena Sediment Remediation Project – CDM Smith provided updates to a community of more than 500 residences affected by a sediment remediation project including an email and telephone point of contact, community meetings, web updates, and response newsletters.
Caltex Australia – CDM Smith helped provide advice and developed a matrix for establishing assessment and remediation requirements of Caltex’s national petroleum retail properties based on a review of historical data, and assessment of known impact and risk, which was presented in a table of sites that indicated what action was required and allowed restricted information report that could be followed by Caltex managers and sub-contractors nationally.
Australia, Groundwater City West Water Aquifer Storage and Recovery Project – Information yet to be obtained.
ATP688 Underground Water Impact Report, Bowen Basin, QLD – CDM Smith was commissioned by Westside Corporation to prepare an Underground Water Impact Report (UWIR) for petroleum coal seam gas (CSG) operations within ATP688 to enable Westside to manage the impacts from testing or production activities forecast during the 2013 to 2016 period. The UWIR provides information about relevant underground water extractions and potential impacts on aquifers within a coal seam gas prospecting area. Our team delivered the full scope of the UWIR including desk top data review, groundwater hydro census, 3D groundwater model development and predictive groundwater modelling.
Gunnedah Basin Coal Seam Gas (CSG) Groundwater Modelling, NSW – One of Australia’s largest oil and gas producers engaged CDM Smith to facilitate in a groundwater impact assessment by developing a large (>50,000 km2) regional groundwater flow model to assess potential impacts for the client’s proposed CSG operations. Our experts developed in-house programs to post-process MODFLOW model output files and produce tabular and graphical solutions, including interactive movies of simulation results. Our client used these customised outputs to present predictive results under various scenarios to regulators and stakeholders in formats that are directly relevant to the legislative framework governing water sharing and aquifer interference policies.
GROUNDWATER SERVICES In Australia, our highly qualified and experienced team of quantitative engineers and scientists has a combined experience of over 70 years in groundwater and hydrological modelling, which includes more than 25 years in scientific research at CSIRO. In addition to our local expertise, we are supported by a global team of modelling specialists to provide a range of hydrodynamic modelling, assessments, and contamination and remediation strategies; from implementing a geothermal groundwater cooling system for decreasing energy and water usage, to developing a groundwater flow and contaminant transport model of the shallow aquifers for predicting potential environmental impacts and support engineering design. Careful modelling prior to drilling and sampling can lead to a reduction in the cost of field investigations. We apply cutting edge solutions to process and store large amounts of environmental data in an organised and efficient manner for hydrogeology and groundwater modelling projects relating to mining, CSG, oil and gas, water resources, environmental industry sectors, linear infrastructure and large scale development projects. To support EISs, we can develop regional groundwater flow and seepage models to produce Groundwater Impact Assessments by predicting the water supply potential of dewatering operations and the potential impacts of the project on groundwater resources and groundwater dependent ecosystems. Our Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial services are critical to the accurate inclusion of data used to identify land and environmental constraints, and effectively plan projects. Utilising our state-of-the-art modelling software, we can produce threedimensional animated models to provide a visualization support in facilitating communication of modelling results to stakeholders.
WATER ENGINEERING CDM Smith provides a range of water engineering services to both the private sector and to government agencies in Australia. In the water resources field, this includes water balance modelling; water sourcing and yield analysis; flood modelling; and extensive expertise in dam, levee and impoundment design. In the treatment field, we have the experience and technology for treatability studies; drinking water; wastewater; industrial wastewater; CSG produced water; source segregation/minimisation; water reuse; and an extensive range of advanced treatment technologies. Our water team offers Emergency Management Systems (EMS), disaster recovery, modelling, mapping and management services as well as the construction management of major civil works to mitigate the effects of floods. Our experience includes hydraulic options analysis, all aspects of investigation, approvals and design, as well as construction risk analysis, construction procurement and management services and dam safety assessments. CDM Smith’s water specialists have worked on a variety of hydrology and catchment management projects both in Australia and around the world. We have the expertise to conduct hydrologic and hydraulic investigations for floodplain management, water quality assessments, and preparation of catchment related management plans. In addition to the industry standard software, CDM Smith has developed state of the art stormwater models in-house that allow us to solve even the most complex water engineering problems.
Wyaralong Dam, QLD – CDM Smith oversaw the Environmental management of the construction of a major water supply dam, this included coordinating and facilitating stakeholder meetings with various government departments and local councils. The benefits and outcomes to the regular stakeholder meetings ensured that the project was approved, construction proceeded on schedule as hold points such as management plans and reporting to government were reviewed and addressed within relevant timeframes to allow for a successful project with minimal government delays.
Flood Mitigation Levees, St. George, QLD – “Fast-tracking” the engineering design of a flood levee system and construction management of an earthen embankment, CDM Smith successfully completed the project within 4 months to protect St. George from the approaching wet season. Hydrological modelling determined the effect of flooding on the town and the results were used to develop several levee options, 14 of which were assessed for suitability. Using CDM Smith’s US-based experts in levee design and construction, a detailed foundation geotechnical investigation was undertaken in addition to identifying potential local material sources used for the levee construction.
Emergency Management System, Charleville, QLD – In partnership with Murweh Shire Council’s Local Disaster Management Group (LDMG), CDM Smith developed proactive flood response planning tools that leverage information available through local, state, and federal government resources (e.g., the Queensland Bureau of Meteorology). Our engineers and scientists designed an Emergency Management System (EMS) to assess risk based on actual events and provide early warning to residents and government within the 59,000km2 Warrengo River Catchment. The tool can be applied for real time planning and management of floods, as well as for potential future capital improvements such as road raising, culvert and bridge sizing, diversion components and sizing, levee heights, and flood storage.
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT Residential, commercial and industrial developments are often required to gain approval under Commonwealth, State and/ or Local Government legislation. CDM Smith works closely with clients and regulators to ensure clients comply with urban planning and approval conditions by providing smart, sustainable development solutions to legislative and environmental constraints. With a thorough understanding of legislative requirements, our team is comprised of former State and Local Government planning and approval officers to produce functional land subdivisions designs that maximise the use of the available land in accordance with local government zoning and design requirements. Furthermore, CDM Smith has developed its own Urban Systems Modelling process; a GIS-based platform using multiple building types that model the actual design of each building. The process forecasts actual performance of each of the six ‘sectors’ under expected and unexpected environmental conditions and user demands using hourly time-steps reflecting daily patterns not monthly or annual averages. Our experience includes green and brownfield developments for residential,
EROSION AND SEDIMENT CONTROL CDM Smith provides a range of services related to soil and water management. Effective erosion and sediment control (ESC) planning, design and implementation is conducted through a combined skill set involving our Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC), Certified Professional Soil Scientists (CPSS) and Chartered Professional Engineers (CPEng). Our ESC specialists work with Project Managers/Directors to design Certified ESC Plans that can be implemented on-site in accordance with the Best Practice in Erosion and Sediment Control Guidelines, International Erosion Control Association (IECA, 2008). We conduct an initial assessment to gain information about the project and provide insight to potential high risk or problem areas. Data gathering includes Soil Survey and Lab Analysis to determine if any erosion risk (and management) pose significant issues, subsequently minimising erosion and sediment cost controls during construction. Prior to construction/project execution, ESC concepts and planning are developed and refined into the detailed design, while an overarching CPESC certified ESC Management Plan and construction design package/s are implemented including soil and surface water control measures to mitigate and manage erosion.
commercial, industrial, waste management, resource, power and transport projects.
Macquarie University Energy Distribution and Supply, NSW – The Institute for Sustainable Futures (University of Technology Sydney) and CDM Smith partnered together to deliver an energy supply and distribution strategy for Macquarie university to identify cost-effective options and achieve sustainable targets for campus development. To effectively craft the energy strategy, we applied the Urban Systems Model (USM), developed by CDM Smith’s Neysadurai Centre for Integrated Urban Solutions, to develop and test a range of infrastructure, technology and design scenarios focusing on energy usage. Applying the USM gave us the ability to assess the sustainability of campus development options with a range of energy portfolios including energy conservation measures, efficient lighting, tri-generation, High-Voltage/LowVoltage strategies, and solar panels, solar thermal technology, onsite bioenergy and other measures.
SPECIALTY CONSULTATIONS SERVICES In addition to our technical skills, our experts are also effective in providing community consultation; third party review; and strategic and expert witness. We can act as an independent scientific body to establish community rapport and help companies address community concerns, and relay and review public response. Through a fully independent approach that the public can trust; we provide communities with an opportunity to interact and provide feedback with the project throughout its design, findings and reported results. A community consultation program can support projects by providing a consolidated, independent, scientifically robust review and generate open public and media communication during the process. Our community consultation programs are considered a particularly effective model for government bodies facing community issues with informing public or specified groups affected by or related to projects. Our specialists are also highly qualified in providing Strategic Advice and Expert Witness to corporate and board level management, and government authorities and departments. CDM Smith has a number of recognised principal scientists and engineers who have held the role of expert witness during litigation matters for a number of Australian courts and review boards. This includes conducting critical assessments, financial modelling, risk modelling, contract review, compilation of reports, preparation of affidavits, provision of expert evidence in court and liaison with regulators.
NSW EPA Orica Botany Mercury Review, NSW – CDM Smith supplied newsletter drops, community consultation meetings, assisted with web information updates, interviews with community members, surveys, drafted media updates and provided an email and telephone contact point for 4,500 residences and the general public to respond during a large-scale review of the potential for environmental and community impact associated with the former Orica Chlor Alkali plant in Botany, Sydney.
Brisbane Powerhouse Environmental Sustainability Project, QLD – The iconic Brisbane Powerhouse partnered with CDM Smith in developing a program to achieve a range of environmental sustainability goals. Brisbane Powerhouse was once an abandoned coal-fired power station, but has since been redeveloped into a vibrant performing arts venue providing international and local experiences. To help fulfill a vision of a sustainable future for the Brisbane Powerhouse, CDM Smith works closely with the venue to continue its transformation towards an energy-efficient performance space, developing a formal environmental management system and identifying lasting energy efficiency and clean energy production opportunities, while taking into account the site’s previous use as an active power station.
Looking for Integrated Environmental, Engineering and Planning Solutions for your project? Contact your local CDM Smith Team Brisbane 21 McLachlan Street Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006 (07) 3828 6900
Sydney 11/90 Arthur Street North Sydney, NSW 2060 (02) 8918 8800
Perth 11/300 Rokeby Road Subiaco, WA 6008 (08) 9381 8855
Gold Coast G02/20 Lake Orr Drive Varsity Lakes, QLD 4227 (07) 3828 6900
Melbourne 1/181 Bay Street Brighton, VIC 3186 (03) 9595 3837
Darwin Level 1/48-50 Smith Street Darwin, NT 0800 (08) 8943 0642
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