SEQ Branch Conference Wrap Up

from Engineering for Public Works - Issue 21, March 2021

SWQ Branch President’s Report

SEQ BRANCH CONFERENCE, CALOUNDRA

What a conference! Thank you to the 192 delegates who joined us in Caloundra for the SEQ Branch Conference. This was our first conference of 2021 and the first SEQ Branch Conference since 2017.

Ross Ullman, Sunshine Coast Council opened the conference with a presentation on the Sunshine Coast Airport Expansion Project. The airport is the largest civil infrastructure project ever undertaken by the Sunshine Coast Council and delivered a new international standard runway that will service the air travel demands of the Sunshine Coast for the next 100 years.

Congratulations Scott Young from Stabilised Pavement of Australia, winner Best Paper award for his presentation on overcoming the Rehabilitation Challenge of Thin Existing Pavements using Basegrade Stabilisation. Scott will present this paper at the 2021 Annual Conference in Cairns, 12-14 October.

Our events are successful due to the organisations that support and sponsor IPWEAQ. An enormous thank you to SPEL Stormwater, our overall conference sponsor. Trevor Loffel, Geotechnical Structures Consultant at SPEL Stormwater, presented remotely from Melbourne on acid sulphate soils and the 100-year pipe designs at Bulcock Street, Caloundra.

The conference dinner was a huge highlighted. Held in a hangar at the Queensland Air Museum, guests were surrounded by historical aircraft as they enjoyed dinner and an auction officiated by IPWEAQ’s Director Information & Resources, Mark Lamont. The auction was officiated by Mark Lamont, IPWEAQ’s Director Information & Resources and Excellence Awards Master of Ceremonies and raised money for Rural Aid. Congratulations to Phil Evans for winning the flight simulator for three, sponsored by Orterra! After dinner, guests enjoyed the opportunity to have their photos taken in an F-111. Only 1,200 people per year are afforded this privilege - we thank the Queensland Air Museum for extending this opportunity to our delegates.

A special thank you to our exhibitors for offering delegates an opportunity to hear about and experience what is available to improve local communities. We also thank our exhibitors for donating raffle prizes in support of Rural Aid. We raised over $1,200!

Our thanks also to our conference sponsors: McArthur, Projex Partners, CPM Advisory & Project Management, Shepherd Services, Tonkin and Peak services.

We were also delighted to present gifts to members who had achieved an IPWEAQ membership milestone. Thank you for your ongoing support of IPWEAQ! See details in Community News on page 16-17.