EPW March 2020

Co nf er e nc e feat ur e COMMUNITY NEWS re gi o n a l re p o rt ME MBE R p ro f i l e

2020 SWQ BRANCH MACKAY TAKES HOME CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS INTERNATIONAL SILVER

What to do when the dam runs dry

IPWEAQ MEMBER GEOFF RINTOUL

In partnership with Southern Downs Regional Council, IPWEAQ welcomed a record breaking 195 delegates to Stanthorpe. p.77

Former IPWEAQ President, Seren McKenzie of Southern Downs Regional Council tells us the Stanthorpe water story, supplying over 5,000 people with water. p.33

Geoff’s experiences give him a unique set of skills in delivering services and advice for the community, especially in the western and remote areas of Queensland. p.27

Mackay water was acknowledged with a silver medal in the category of Best Municipal Water 2020 at the 30th Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition (USA). p.17

ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS

This photograph by Gopan Mondal shows the Mission River Bridge in Weipa and is the winner of the IPWEAQ competition, 'Public Works Through the Lens of an Engineer', in celebration of World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development (See article p.34).

ISSUE No.17

www.ipweaq.com

CONTENTS ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS | MARCH 2020

» PROJECT & FEATURE ARTICLES

» » » » » » » » » » » »

Editorial.................................................................................................................................................. 3 Native Title’s Compensation Provisions Require Careful Attention............................................ 21 What to do When the Dam Runs Dry................................................................................................... 33 Reef Councils Major Integrated Project.......................................................................................... 46 Queensland’s Urban Potable Water and Sewerage Report 2018/19............................................ 49 Arundel Wetlands Collaboration..................................................................................................... 51 Major Utility Upgrade has Flow On Effects..................................................................................... 53 Developing the Water Industry Taskforce of the Future.............................................................. 55 Engineering and Community Sustainability Frameworks.............................................................. 57 Environmental Upgrade Takes Graham Andrews Park into Charleville’s Heart...................... 61 Aligning Asset Valuation and Condition Assessment Processes.................................................. 63 Peak Services Update on Impending Changes to Ergon Tariffs..................................................... 65

» » » » » » » »

Rural Aid.................................................................................................................................................. 9 2020 President’s Breakfast............................................................................................................... 10 News....................................................................................................................................................... 13 NAMS-Q Advisory Group........................................................................................................................ 14 Tributes: Roger Taylor and Arnold Philp......................................................................................... 15 International Women’s Day ................................................................................................................ 16 Mackay Regional Council Wins Silver at INTERNATIONAL WATER TASTING COMPETITION ................ 17 World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development Photography Competition Winner....... 19

» » » »

News....................................................................................................................................................... 24 Emeritus Members: John Derbyshire & Graeme Wills..................................................................... 25 Member Profile: Geoff Rintoul........................................................................................................... 27 Emerging Leader Profile: Sam Fitzgerald........................................................................................ 31

» COMMUNITY

» MEMBERSHIP

» EMERGING PROFESSIONALS

» Ambassador Article: What Makes a GRADUATE?............................................................................... 66 » Emerging Professional: Lindsay Stafford........................................................................................ 68 » Engineering Undergraduates Gain Essential Experience in Wide Bay Burnett Overcoming Bias................................................................................................ 70 » Next Generation Report...................................................................................................................... 72

» IPWEAQ UPDATES » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » »

CPD Scheme.............................................................................................................................................. 4 President’s Report................................................................................................................................. 8 CEO’s Report.......................................................................................................................................... 12 QWRAP Update........................................................................................................................................ 48 SWQ Branch President’s Report......................................................................................................... 77 CQ Branch President’s Report............................................................................................................ 79 NQ Branch President’s Report............................................................................................................ 80 SEQ Branch President’s Report.......................................................................................................... 81 QldWater CEO’s Report........................................................................................................................ 83 ADAC Update........................................................................................................................................... 85 Knowledge Centre Update................................................................................................................... 87 Working Groups Update....................................................................................................................... 89 Welcome to IPWEAQ............................................................................................................................... 90 Meet the Team....................................................................................................................................... 91 Principal Partners............................................................................................................................... 93 Subscribers........................................................................................................................................... 94

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

PROGRAM STATUS Thank you for your ongoing support during these unusal times.

The following programs are cancelled: • CQ Branch Conference, Maryborough, 30 April - 1 May • NQ Branch Conference, Townsville, 10-11 June The following programs are rescheduled: • Asset Management Symposium, Brisbane (was 6-7 April) – now 26-27 August • SEQ Branch conference, Caloundra (was 28-29 May) – now September, dates to be advised • Rural Roads Rehabilitation and Maintenance Forum, Dalby (was 12-14 May) – dates to be advised The following programs are proceeding at this time: • Drainage for Road Design, Brisbane, 2-3 June 2020 The following programs are being rescheduled: • SEQ Branch Social, Brisbane, 26 March • Native Title and Cultural Heritage, Maroochydore, 7 April • Trivia night, Toowoomba, 16 April (in support of Homeward Bound) • Sprayed Bitumen, Townsville, 22 April • Stakeholder Engagement, Brisbane, 23 April • Stakeholder Engagement, Mackay, 29 April • Demystifying EDD, Brisbane, 6-7 May Registrations for the above programs will automatically transfer to rescheduled events however if you are unable to attend the rescheduled event, please request your full refund. *Dates subject to change

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from the editor Louise Martin-Chew Editor So early in 2020 we find ourselves in unique circumstances, with the unprecedented measures required to manage COVID19, arriving in Australia on the heels of an extraordinary season of bushfires and floods. Along with the rest of the world, we are navigating uncharted waters. However, as we finalise this March issue of Engineering for Public Works, its contents may reassure, not just the

engineering sector but the community more broadly, that Australia is in good hands.

The role that engineers play in underpinning the facilities and infrastructure required for healthy communities is one that this issue describes with power.

EPW’s sustainability focus this issue is highlighted with an article by Dr Kim Polistina who describes the contribution engineers may make to support social change toward sustainability (p.57). Other innovations within the regions are the subject of feature articles that address both the climate change

challenge and community facilities.

A series of features from the team at Queensland Water describe new developments in water catchment and usage. Seren McKenzie (Southern Downs Regional Council) writes about Stanthorpe’s water shortages during the crippling drought and then bushfires in a way that notes her community’s resilience, innovation and the way trust was maintained during a period of extreme difficulty (p.33).

It is a salutary reminder that the public works show must go on – and that problem-solving is so often integral to a community’s ability to endure.

Welcome to our new Partner, Australian Concrete Mats!

Engineered as an effective alternative to inefficient erosion control methods like rip rap or gabion mattresses, that makes stabilizing slopes and protecting waterways easy.

The erosion control mat has concrete shapes embedded into polypropylene geogrid, vegetation can grow through the mat.

Concrete mats are supplied in rolls, that are easy to handle and quick to install. Once laid down they start working right away.

By selecting Australian Concrete Mats, there are significant cost savings, lower material costs, less labour and faster installation than alternative erosion control methods and therefore, resulting in a faster and more efficient project completion with sound long-term benefits.

Australian Concrete Mats (ACM) is the quick and easy, cost-efficient, sustainable solution to severe and minor erosion issues for small to large scale projects.

This mat offers permanent stabilisation for water edges, dams, creeks and low water access areas, water channels and gully’s and anywhere that ground stabilisation is required or erosion could present an issue on the landscape.

We are excited for the opportunity to join the IPWEA Partner Project, where we will share our products and perhaps offer quick and easy solutions to the decision-makers and innovators of the industry. Our aim is to offer a cost effective and simple alternative method and product for permeable erosion control and ground stabilisation in Australia.

Find out more at www.concretemats.com.au Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

JUST LAUNCHED

IPWEAQ CPD SCHEME Are you an RPEQ? Sign up to the IPWEAQ CPD Scheme and we will track and audit your CPD hours.

RPEQ renewals commence 30 March. When you renew your RPEQ, check the box to declare you are a part of an assessment entity’s CPD scheme. We will provide BPEQ with a list of participants and confirm they have complied with the IPWEAQ CPD scheme.

Put simply, if a registrant is registered with the assessment scheme for CPD, then they must comply with the CPD requirements of that scheme.

These will be obtainable from the relevant assessment entity.

The IPWEAQ assessment scheme includes (150 hours over three years):

1

attendance at IPWEAQ courses and conferences (unlimited hours)

2

contributions to IPWEAQ Working Groups (max 50 hours)

3

formal post-graduate study (unlimited)

4

private study eg reading Engineering for Public Works (max 18 hours)

5

on-the-job learning (max 75 hours)

6

preparation of articles for publication in the journal or papers for delivery at IPWEAQ conferences (max 45 hours per paper).

BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS QUEENSLAND (BPEQ)

SIGN-UP TODAY FOR IPWEAQ’S CPD SCHEME!

Contact Professional Development Manager Kate.O’Riordan@ipweaq.com 3632 6807

   www.ipweaq.com

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

LEARNING HUB The Learning Hub is a digital learning platform designed for public works engineering professionals to develop their non-technical skills and enhance their careers.

Career pathways designed to provide breadth of knowledge relevant to any stage of your career: Emerging Professionals

High Potential Professionals

Senior Leadership

Men in Engineering

Women in Engineering

Knowing yourself

Elevating engineering

Authenticity & Trust

Self-mastery

Self-awareness











Your team

Feedback

Vision

Leading under pressure

Alliances









Meetings

Changing behaviours

Communication

Mental wellbeing

Work-life balance



Sector sustainability

Energy & Focus





Five generations

Understanding people

Access quality, affordable and relevant career development.

SIMPLE

• Ten-week development programs delivered through weekly online modules.

• Be guided each step of the way to make taking action easy.

• Knowledge delivered in bite-size modules to maximise learning, application and retention.

 Working effectively

EFFECTIVE

• Training that is designed specifically for public works professionals.

• Underpinned by science and delivered by industry experts.

• Focussed on outcomes rather than overloading on content.

• Practical tools, tactics and strategies to set you up for ongoing success.

Concepts across multiple skills



CONVENIENT

• Designed to fit into YOUR life.

• Learn when it suits you.

• Mobile compatible, so you can learn from wherever suits you • Minimal time and cost investment for big returns • Choose the career pathway that most suits your professional development.

Up to 5 CPD hours



Fear

 Goal setting for success

 Creating a network

 Growth mindset

 Self-leadership

Contact Director, People & Capability Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com 3632 6803

 Next steps



Strategic conversations

 Financial acumen

 Professional practice

 Too busy

 Impact

 Next steps



 Culture

 Managing other leaders

 Promoting achievements

 Broadening horizons

 Next steps



$275 + GST for IPWEAQ members





 Practical diversity

 The power of listening

 The modern work-life balance

 Insight

 Next steps



 Grit

 Biases

 Uncomfortable situations

 Pushback

 The opportunities

 Supporting other women

 Next steps





$375 + GST for non-members

   www.ipweaq.com Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PACKAGES Get on the front foot!

Maximise your training budget with IPWEAQ’s discounted Professional Development Packages at just $100 per CPD hour.

Online programs available for technical and soft skills for Emerging Professionals to High Potential Professionals.

Book and pay for your Professional Development Package by 15 April to secure these rates:

50 hours -

100 hours -

$5,000

$10,000

SIMPLE

While many organisations are no longer able to offer face-to-face learning and development opportunities for their teams in the current environment, training budgets can still be applied to IPWEAQ’s Professional Development Packages.

These packages can be utilised for online programs for all team members including the various learning pathways in the IPWEAQ Learning Hub. Current Professional Development programs are being added to the Learning Hub for launch shortly.

Conference Proceedings are also available under the PD Packages which includes videos, PowerPoint Presentations and papers of all presentations across all 12 streams delivered at the 2019 Annual Conference. Conference Proceedings also includes all keynote presentations, panel sessions and other conference features.

RPEQs who have signed up to IPWEAQ’s official CPD Scheme can also access the required 50 CPD hours for the year via these packages. Via the IPWEAQ CPD Scheme, RPEQs are automatically audited.

SIGN-UP TODAY FOR IPWEAQ’S CPD SCHEME! Contact Director, Professional Services Craig.Moss@ipweaq.com 3632 6805

The Learning Hub is a digital learning platform designed for public works engineering professionals to develop their non-technical skills and enhance their careers.

Access quality, affordable and relevant career development.

• Ten-week development programs delivered through weekly online modules.

• Be guided each step of the way to make taking action easy.

• Knowledge delivered in bite-size modules to maximise learning, application and retention.

CONVENIENT

• Designed to fit into YOUR life.

• Learn when it suits you.

• Mobile compatible, so you can learn from wherever suits you • Minimal time and cost investment for big returns • Choose the career pathway that most suits your professional development.

EFFECTIVE

• Training that is designed specifically for public works professionals.

• Underpinned by science and delivered by industry experts.

• Focussed on outcomes rather than overloading on content.

• Practical tools, tactics and strategies to set you up for ongoing success.

   www.ipweaq.com

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

2019 IPWEAQ ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS The 2019 IPWEAQ Annual Conference was our highest attended conference to date with 525 delegates from 45 councils and 144 organisations with 55 exhibitors. Please see our highlights video.

Conference Proceedings (videos, PowerPoint presentations and papers) including all keynote and plenary presentations, all presentations delivered across all 12 streams, the Great Debate and Futures Challenge, are now available for delegates and for subscribers.

If you were unable to 22 CPD attend #IPWEAQ19, urs for ho you may wish to just $27 subscribe to the per hour!

Conference

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDED

JOIN IPWEAQ to receive a $300 discount on the 2019 IPWEAQ Annual Conference Proceedings.

Mr Tay Hengky

1/2 year membership fees now apply (plus GST):

Proceedings.

2019 Conference Proceedings

(plus GST)

Members

600

Non members

900

SUBSCRIBE TO #IPWEAQ19 CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS



Member $290 Now $145 Graduates up to 5 years postgraduation $180 Now $90

This has been probably the best conference… last year was really good and this year has been even better.

Hari Wijeratne | A2K Technologies

David Bartlett



Hengky is currently the Director for Physical Planning, Infrastructure at the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA). He leads a team of planners and engineers, working closely with various government agencies in Singapore to formulate appropriate planning and policy responses and reviewing them regularly in a bid to tackle the increasing complexity and challenges of planning and implementing developments and supporting infrastructures in a built-up environment.

David was the 43rd Premier of the Australian State of Tasmania from 2008 until 2011. During his parliamentary career he also held the positions of Minister for Innovation, Science & Technology and Minister for Education & Skills. His time as Premier was characterised by bold reforms designed to lift Tasmania educational outcomes and capitalise on Tasmania’s natural advantages in water, food, high speed telecommunications and renewable energy. For his work in promoting innovation and broadband infrastructure David was named by The Australian as one of Australia’s Top 50 most influential people in technology.

This is the fourth year we have attended now and every year it gets better and better. This is one of the best.

Steve Latimer | Interflow

   www.ipweaq.com Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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president’s Report Craig Murrell President Thank you to everyone who joined us for my first IPWEAQ President’s Breakfast as your President. We had a record number of attendees – 115 on a rainy day in Brisbane with another 50+ members joining us from seven satellite breakfasts across the state hosted by Goondiwindi Regional Council, Gladstone Regional Council, Mackay Regional Council, Gympie Regional Council, Moreton Bay Regional Council and OneEng. We were delighted to have Derek Stringfellow join us for the President’s Breakfast. It was an honour to present Derek with a gift acknowledging his 50 years as a member. Derek was a founding member of IPWEAQ who together with Raymond Moore, TJ Abbiss, Geoff Wilmoth, K Crosthwaite, D Little and J Cronin formed the Steering Committee to establish the Local Government Engineers Association of Queensland.

We also celebrated four members who achieved a 40-year membership milestone: Councillor Robert Fredman, John Derbyshire, Michael Pickering and Chris Lawson.

Since the President's Breakfast, 195 delegates joined us in Stanthorpe for the SWQ Branch

conference – a record number for a branch conference. I'm sure this momentum will continue when we reconvene in Townsville for the NQ Branch conference in June and at the rescheduled SEQ Branch conference in September.

Congratulations to two IPWEAQ members who were recently awarded Emeritus membership: John Derbyshire and Graeme Wills. This is the highest category of membership awarded to members who have made a major contribution to the Institute and to our sector. Congratulations John and Graeme – well deserved!

And we are delighted to welcome member #950, Edward McDermott, Assessment Engineer, Redland City Council. Our membership continues to grow exponentially each year and it is particularly pleasing to see the next generation becoming involved with our community.

There are additional pathways for Men in Engineering and Women in Engineering with a focus on personal growth. More programs (technical and non-technical) are under development.

Just a reminder that applications for Fellow membership are now open. The criteria is on our website and I encourage all eligible Members, particularly those of you who have contributed to IPWEAQ Working Groups, to apply online before 1 April.

We also have a number of technical reviews in progress including the Queensland Urban Drainage Manual, Lower Order Road Design Guidelines and our Supervisor’s Handbook, and our Street Design Manual is progressing to the next phase ahead of publication in April.

The IPWEAQ Learning Hub goes live this month offering a 10-week program of soft-skill development for professionals at three stages of their careers: early, mid and the senior leadership program.

As you can see, it is a very busy time at IPWEAQ with plenty happening over the next few months and we look forward to your further involvement in our activities.

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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rural aid

PRESIDENT'S CHARITY

IPWEAQ President, Craig Murrell has chosen Rural Aid as the President's Charity to support during his two-year term.

Rural Aid is one of the largest rural charities in Australia. A nationwide charity, it was founded by Charles and Tracy Alder in 2015. Its focus is twofold – to provide support to farmers and rural communities in times of natural disaster as well as supporting the sustainability of the agricultural sector.

Rural Aid has a range of preestablished opportunities, many of which we plan to highlight over the next two years. Their initiatives include, but are not limited to: Bottles for the Bush Rural Aid has partnered with TOMRA, the world leader in reverse vending systems to convert recyclables into funds for farming families. Anyone who would like to contribute can drop off recyclables at centres around the country. To find locations to drop off recyclables, and to keep an eye on the Bottles for the Bush total, check out https://www. bottlesforthebush.org.au/

Hive Aid Hive Aid is their beekeeper drought and bushfire relief appeal.

Beekeepers are often overlooked when it comes to providing aid to those affected by natural disasters.

Yet professional beekeepers are the cornerstone of our agricultural industry. They play a vital role in helping to pollinate important food crops for both humans and livestock. You can read more about the appeal at https://www.ruralaid. org.au/hiveaid Disaster Relief Rural Aid’s Disaster Relief Appeal launched in January to provide assistance to Australia’s 10,000 fire-affected farmers, 10 million fire-affected farm animals. They aim to raise $25 million so that they can provide $2,500 in aid to these farmers through water, fodder, financial assistance and pre-paid visa cards.

10 Towns The 10 Towns initiative asked towns around the country to nominate themselves for a makeover over a five year period.

Each of the towns will receive a minimum of $100,000 including

$10,000 for town leaders to workshop with experts in rural/ regional town renewal with the aim of developing a long-term renewal strategy, and 90,000 on materials for maintenance projects identified by the town leaders. Rural Aid’s Farm Army of volunteers (usually between 50 – 100) will spend a week in the town in the first year bringing a welcome financial injection to the town’s local businesses. To view each of the 10 towns and consider volunteering in one, please visit: https://www. ruralaid.org.au/10towns/ At the President’s Breakfast and upcoming events, you will see the Hay Bale truck posters.

For every $20 donated, a hay bale will be placed on a truck to go to a farmer. Through fundraising initiatives, we are able to contribute tangible assets to farmers. To track how we are going, visit our dedicated Rural Aid page: https://www.ruralaid.org.au/ ipweaq

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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2020 President’s Breakfast

The annual President’s Breakfast is our opportunity to thank our valued Partners and sponsors for their ongoing support of IPWEAQ. Thank you to the following Partners who joined us for this rainy Brisbane morning: • A2K Technologies • Komatsu Australia Pty Ltd • Department of Transport and Main Roads • Boral • CARDNO Ltd • Dial Before You Dig • Downer PipeTech Pty Ltd • Fulton Hogan Industries Pty Ltd • Holcim/Humes Australia • Interflow • JWA • LGIAsuper • Local Buy • McCullough Robertson Lawyers • Pavement Management Services • PelicanCorp • Saferoads • Stabilised Pavements of Australia • Wagners CFT Manufacturing Pty Ltd Our first presenter of the morning was Mimmi Hetorp, Head of Fundraising at Rural Aid who shared stories of the many ways Rural Aid transforms the lives of our farmers.

Our 2019 Engineer of the Year, Marie Gales, Manager Transport Planning and Operations, Brisbane City Council delivered an inspiring presentation on diversity in our sector.

And we were delighted to have Mike Stapleton, Deputy Director-

General (Customer Services, Safety & Regulation) TMR to introduce Marie.

And we were delighted to have Mike Stapleton, Deputy DirectorGeneral (Customer Services, Safety & Regulation) TMR to introduce Marie.

Craig Eldridge, Infrastructure Planning, Design And Delivery Manager at Noosa Council offered an insignt ino the award-winning Noosa Park Road Boardwalk (2019 Project of the Year). Craig talked about the many challenges with this environmentally sensitive site and the level of stakeholder engagement which resulted in a very successful outcome. We were also joined by Noosa Council CEO, Brett deChastel.

We also thoroughly enjoyed presentations from Derek Stringfellow, our 50-year member award recipient, and Councillor Robert Fredman and Chris Lawson, 40-year award recipients.

C.R. Kennedy donated a drone for our lucky door prize raising over $900 for Rural Aid. Congratulations to the winner, Ged Brennan from GenEng Solutions and thank you once again to C.R. Kennedy!

With our 2019 Project of the Year award winners present (Noosa Council), we launched the 2020 IPWEAQ Excellence Awards and introduced a new category for coastal engineering.

We are grateful we had the opportunity to get together with our Partners and members at the

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

President's Breakfast in a period otherwise filled with isolation.

“What IPWEAQ is doing remains highly relevant in very challenging times for local government and local government personnel.”

- Chris Lawson

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OUR SATELLITE BREAKFAST HOSTS

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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CEO’s Report Leigh Cunningham Chief Executive Officer These are certainly challenging times. No one appears unaffected with their circumstances or plans changed but as is the very nature of our sector, we will adapt and survive; some will thrive. We do at least have some good news amidst the chaos.

After 8.5 years in Albion, we are moving further up Kingsford Smith Drive to Eagle Farm expecting to arrive there 1 May subject to anticipated construction delays.

This is a significant move which will allow us to continue to grow the Institute and to develop more products and services to meet the needs of our members and the sector.

We will have three training rooms which can be merged into one or two larger rooms to accommodate up to 95 people classroom style or up to 200 people for a cocktail function. And we invite our Partners to consider 6 Eagleview Place for their next product launch or announcement.

We will have a number of work stations available for members to utilise on their visits to Brisbane, when are you able to travel once again. There are additionally two boardrooms, two meeting rooms and an executive office which can be booked via our administrator.

And we have a new video studio to record instructional videos eg ADAC, iMPACT and other tools, and promotional videos and testimonials. Adding a video studio was somewhat prophetic given the current environment as it will allow us to record many of our programs for online platforms until normal services resume.

Ahead of our 2020 campaign, ‘every community needs an engineer’, we would also like to record a series of videos of what it means to be a public works engineer.

For those of you who have visited us in Albion and provided feedback on the lack of amenities and parking, I can assure you that this has been addressed at Eagleview Place. We have 20 allocated carparks plus another 75 carparks in the development and

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

endless street parking. Our new home is just 12 minutes from the airport.

I look forward to your next visit to Brisbane, and whether or not you are visiting to attend a course or workshop, please be sure to stop by for a personal tour. Hopefully, that will be some time in the not too distant future.

community

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news

IPWEAQ COVID-19 POLICY

We would like to thank everyone in our community for your ongoing support during these unusual times. In response to recent pronouncements, we have rescheduled or cancelled a number of events. See page 2 of the journal for details.

Registrations for rescheduled programs will automatically transfer to the new date however if you are unable to attend the rescheduled event, please request your full refund.

Thank you again for your patience and understanding. 2020 will certainly be one to remember.

Josh Flanders Josh Flanders (IPWEAQ Ambassador) is moving on from his Graduate position with Cairns Regional Council to work with St George Project Services as a Project Engineer.

Josh will remain in Cairns, working on the Cairns Southern Access Corridor – Stage 3: Edmonton to Gordonvale job. We look forward to your continuing involvement with IPWEAQ and wish you all the best for your ongoing successes.

Raad Jarjees Congratulations Raad Jarjees (SEQ Branch President) who has been appointed Technical Lead for Infrastructure at Cardno (an IPWEAQ Partner) having served Ipswich City Council since 2014 in several technical service management roles.

Clarissa Campbell Clarissa Campbell (2019 Annual Conference Best Paper Award winner) has moved into an Engineering Design Manager role with HDR after almost six years with Moreton Bay Regional Council.

Congratulations, Gerard Anton on your scholarship!

Congratulations to one of our Student members, Gerard Anton who has won a 2020 New Colombo Plan scholarship enabling him to relocate to the Indo-pacific for 18 months.

Gerard will enrol at the University of Technology Malaysia for the second semester to study naval architecture and will also embark on a shipbuilding internship with Mitsubishi Heavy internship in Japan.

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

community

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NAMS-Q Advisory Group We are pleased to announce the membership of the NAMS-Q Advisory Group with two representatives chosen from each Branch: South East Queensland Representatives

Central Queensland Representatives

Brendan Moon Tim Heldt Chief Executive Officer Chief Technology Leader Queensland Reconstruction ARRB Group Authority

Colin Warmington Manager Strategic Assets Bundaberg Regional Council

South West Queensland Representatives

North Queensland Representatives

Kylie Munn Project Manager MacMunn Group

Justin Fischer Manager Asset Engineering Cassowary Coast Regional Council

Craig Young Director of Operations Somerset Regional Council

The role of the Advisory Group is to:

Andrew Whitby Coordinator Assets & GIS Rockhampton Regional Council

Natasha Murray

Senior Transport Engineer Cairns Regional Council

• Provide leadership and best practices for Queensland practitioners for the sustainable management of public works infrastructure, community assets and services.

• Identify industry needs through communication, consultation, research and analysis which leads to more informed decisions and better outcomes for Queensland communities.

• Review the NAMS Council Strategic Plan, priorities and actions together with the Annual Business Plan and provide input and recommendations.

There will be opportunities for all members of the asset management community to engage with their branch representative and provide information to be utilised by the Advisory Group.

Latest RPEQ’s We are very pleased to announce the registration of our newest Professional Engineers: • Graeme Bebington, Toowoomba Regional Council • Richard Bywater, Rockhampton Regional Council • Farzad Kamali Sarvestani, Department of Transport and Main Roads • Hamid Safi, ARUP Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

community

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Arnold Philp (1922-2020) It is with sadness that we report that Arnold Philp, City Engineer for Rockhampton City Council between 1957 and 1986, has passed away aged 97 years. Philp was a long term IPWEAQ member who retired in 1987.

Brissie to the Bay Sunday 14 June 2020 #TeamIPWEAQ will be participating in the MS Brissie to the Brissie to the Bay ride (subject to event proceeding) in June this year.

Register under Team IPWEAQ now to take part using discount code BTBIPWEAQ for 10% off your registration fee!

Please contact Johanna Vanling for your complimentary Team IPWEAQ bike jersey.

Roger Taylor with wife Carol.

Roger Taylor The sudden passing of Toowoomba-based businessman Roger Taylor on 18 January 2020, aged 76, following multiple bites from a brown snake, has shocked his local community. We extend our deepest sympathies to Taylor’s wife, Toowoomba’s Deputy Mayor Carol Taylor, who is a long-time IPWEAQ supporter.

Philp is credited with developing Rockhampton from “the ‘cow town’ of the 1950s” to a modern city, with “one of the best city water supplies in Australia, a city that is fully sewered and where bitumen stretches kerb to kerb”, according to The Morning Bulletin (May 24, 1986).

A notable project Philp delivered for Rockhampton was the Fitzroy River Barrage (1970) which was built to meet the water supply needs of Rockhampton. At its launch in 1970, Mayor Rex Pilbeam praised Philp’s guidance during construction. He said Philp “had directed the project so successfully, solving some unique problems” (The Morning Bulletin, 11 January 2015). Kev Bickhoff said, “Philp had a brilliant career at RCC – days of dominant figures and he was one. Gentle away from the workplace but ruthless in the fray. A stance that was common then.”

Other projects which have proved transformative for Rockhampton, undertaken under the stewardship of Philp, include the construction of a road up Mt Archer, and modern sewerage plants. The Morning Bulletin asserts, “Few men have had more influence on the character of Rockhampton in the last 30 years than Arnold Hugh Philp” (May 24, 1986).

Taylor was moving bird netting on his Vale View property when struck by the snake. Ms Taylor said that her husband initially thought that he had been scratched. He later collapsed at a social gathering, hitting his head. He was airlifted to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane after initial treatment at Toowoomba Base Hospital. He had surgery to relieve pressure to his brain and did not regain consciousness.

He is survived by wife Mardy, sons and daughters and in-laws Susan and Roger, Diane, Richard and Anne, Andrew and Narelle, and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Philp’s son Geoffrey, who predeceased Philp some 20 years ago is also remembered by Bickhoff as a “brilliant engineer”, who worked as a Shire Engineer for the Banana Shire Council and then at Beaudesert Shire Council.

Taylor was the owner of C and R Kennels in Toowoomba.

He is survived by wife Carol, son Michael, and grandchildren Kate, Tori, Connor and Milena. IPWEAQ offers sincere condolences to his family.

IPWEAQ offers condolences to Philp’s family and colleagues, and acknowledges his significant legacy to public works, especially in Rockhampton.

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International Women’s Day SUNDAY, 8 MARCH 2020 International Women's Day 2020 campaign theme is #EachforEqual An equal world is an enabled world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day. Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender-equal world.

Expressions of Interest - International Women in Engineering Day, Tuesday 23 June 2020 International Women in Engineering Day is an international awareness campaign to raise the profile of women in engineering and focus attention on the amazing career opportunities available to girls in this exciting industry. It celebrates the outstanding achievements of women engineers throughout the world.

To get involved, please contact Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com or Daneele.McBride@ipweaq.com

We are coordinating networking/celebratory events across Queensland and are seeking Expressions of Interest.

Taking place annually on 23 June, it’s your day, so get involved!

We will provide you with an event kit to assist with the hosting of your event.

EOIs close 5 April 2020.

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Mackay Regional Council wins Silver at the world’s most prestigious water tasting competition

The judging panel at the 30th Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition (USA), 20 February 2020.

Dr Louise Martin-Chew Research & Media Coordinator Mackay water was acknowledged with a Silver Medal in the category of Best Municipal Water 2020 at the 30th Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition

(USA), widely acknowledged as the most prestigious in the world. Winners were announced on 22 February 2020 after twelve media judges tasted and selected water sourced from 16 countries all over the world.

There was only one vote separating Mackay from the

winner, Mission Springs Water District, Desert Hot Springs, California.

Mackay Council’s director of Engineering and Commercial Infrastructure, Jason Devitt, who was in Berkeley Springs for the competition, was over the moon. He said, “This is a fantastic

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outcome. We knew we had high quality water in our region, and to have that confirmed at an international level is so exciting.”

“This is absolutely testament to the entire water treatment team, who all work so hard every day to make sure we can provide the very best water to our community. We are also very lucky to have such a high-quality water source in the Pioneer River. We all need to be vigilant about how we look after both the quality and quantity of our supply.”

At the Berkeley Springs competition, water is rated on attributes including appearance, aroma, taste, mouth feel and aftertaste (under guidelines similar to those used for wine tasting).

The success of Mackay’s water in this international forum follows its award as Australia’s best in October 2019, when water from the Marian Water Treatment plant in Mackay was selected as the national winner. On that occasion, competition organiser Craig Mathisen (Water Industry Operators Association of Australia) said that the competition was important to raise awareness concerning water security, particularly in times of drought, and to discuss innovation in water supply.

Mackay’s Marian Water Treatment plant opened in 2015, and is designed to optimise operating costs with efficiencies in layout, process capabilities, power and plant automation. Its source was also changed from bore water to river water to improve water quality and quantity. The plant has the capacity to produce four megalitres daily with a lifespan of 25 years.

Mackay Council’s Stuart Boyd and Jason Devitt taste victory, winning silver at the 30th Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition (USA).

Marian Water Treatment plant in Mackay.

Celebrating an award-winning water at Marian Water Treatment plant, Mackay.

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Congratulations Gopan Mondal, winner of our photography competition, 'Public Works Through the Lens of an Engineer' in celebration of World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development!

Winning Submission

Gopan Mondal Structural Engineer, Asset Performance RioTinto Aluminum Gopan has won a GoPro for his winning photograph which is also featured on the front cover.

Location & the Bridge Mission River is located in far North Queensland. It flows in a westerly direction, eventually discharging into Albatross Bay, Gulf of Carpentaria.

support significance and the water depth. Water depth varies from 0m at the bridge shore ends to about 17m at the deepest point of the river, towards the south end of the bridge.

The Mission River Bridge is an integral asset for RTA's (Rio Tinto Aluminium) Weipa operations and the local community. It is one of the largest one-lane bridges in Australia at 1km with 57 piers in support at 18m intervals. Piers may have between 6 and 20 piles each, depending on their structural

The bridge provides a rail link between RTA's Andoom Mine and Lorim Point Port facility as well as access for RTA employees, local personnel and tourists. The bridge also connects the remote community of Mapoon with Weipa and the local communities within Weipa and Napranun with the areas north of the Mission River

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and associated estuary.

About the Project The Mission River Bridge (MRB) pile inspection and reinstatement works have required diver inspection and repair of many composite concrete and steel piles underwater. The piles have a concrete upper segment and an immersed or buried steel lower segment.

Problem Due to the presence of Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion in the river, the immersed steel piles were subjected to rapid corrosion. Many of the steel component of the piles – the steel ‘tips’ – were intended to be driven below the river-bed and thus protected from the estuarine saltwater, however, deeper part of the river would have required excessive concrete segment length hence many of the pile tips were to be left exposed to the water for lengths of several metres. In 1996 the first significant diving works on the bridge revealed that exposed tips were corroding at a high rate.

An impressed current Cathodic Protection (CP) system was fitted in the early 90s, but although this retarded further corrosion, the tips had already suffered severe corrosion pitting problems.

Solution The solution was to install a structural steel shell around the immersed steel pile and lower part of the concrete segment. So, to keep the bridge safe for everyone a huge project was undertaken involving underwater diving for – 1. Inspection / underwater NDT 2. Underwater welding/cutting 3. S plinting of piles - Installation of steel splint shells and filling with epoxy grout (the winning photo shows the installation of one of

the splint shell) The two halves of the shell were bolted together around the pile and space between the pile and shell filled with grout.

About the specific winning Photographs Half of the shell for a pile on the south (near) side of the pier is being lowered into the water while the pontoon to move the shell to the pile waits in the foreground.

The divers to install the shell halves are dressing in on the barge that the photographer is standing on. A diver has just left the water after cleaning piles on the north (far) side of the pier.

Challenges The Mission River is home to many saltwater crocodiles and other dangerous marine animals.

Safe access to the piles has always been an issue. RTA in collaboration with Pacific Marine Group has continually looked at ways to improve safety. Part of this process has seen the design

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and refinement of a “predator protection pontoon” or PPP. Floating pontoon forms the diver support area around each pier and rope mesh nets are suspended below the pontoon down to the seabed to provide protection.

These nets can be raised/lowered as required to facilitate moving to the next pier. The barge and pontoon are kept in place using a network of anchors.

Achievement The repair work on the piles achieved the objective of keeping the bridge safe for operation and keep it open all the user around the community.

Gopan Mondal on behalf of Technical Officer Bob Brown and all RioTinto Aluminium (RTA) & Pacific Marine Group personnel involved.

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Native Title’s compensation provisions require careful attention Dr Louise Martin-Chew Research & Media Coordinator The High Court’s award of $2.5 million in compensation to native title holders in Timber Creek, a township in the Northern Territory, was ground-breaking.

This case was the first time in its history that the High Court had travelled to the Northern Territory, where it convened in September 2018 to examine, for the first time, the compensation provisions in the Native Title Act 1993. It put, for the first time, a price on the cost to Indigenous traditional owners of disconnection with country and the “spiritual harm” caused by such disconnection. The claim, by the Ngaliwurru and Nungali native title holders, related to rights extinguished by the construction of roads and infrastructure by the Northern Territory government in the 1980s and 1990s. It has been described as the most important Native Title decision since the Mabo ruling in 1992 and offers a precedent for further compensation claims to be made on Australian governments.

Northern Land Council interim CEO Jak Ah Kit said, This important finding means that the spiritual connection of Aboriginal people is paramount in Australian law – as it should be. Today’s decision is the end of ground breaking native title

litigation by the Ngarliwurru and Nungali peoples – the native title holders of the town of Timber Creek in the Victoria River District.

The significance of this ruling lies in its identification of the limitation of compensation by the Native Title Act (to value payable for compulsory acquisition of a freehold estate), with compensation available subject to a “just terms top up” with $1.3 million for cultural loss in this case. Further compensation is to be assessed on a case by case basis which relates to the nature of the act which has seen native title extinguished, its timing, the claimant’s identity, their connection to country and the impact of the extinguishing act on native title rights and interests. This decision means that uncertainty will continue concerning compensation, particularly given the impact on native title caused by projects like mining, infrastructural works, and any other use that is inconsistent with its use by traditional owners.

Given the precedent set by the Timber Creek case, other legal claims have been launched.

These include Galarrwuy Yunupingu’s $700 million claim for compensation to the Federal Court. Dr Yunupingu’s claim represents his Gumatj clan and relates to the acquisition of land in the Gove Peninsula in 1969. A mining lease was granted to Swiss company Nabalco by the Federal

Government in the early 1960s (in 2007 this lease was taken over

by Rio Tinto) without permission from the traditional landowners, who were asked to leave their homes. At the August 2019 Garma Festival, Dr Yunupingu said that mining companies had destroyed dreaming sites.

They have damaged our country, without seeking advice from us, and they have damaged a whole lot of dreamings, and dreamings that were important to Aboriginal people in land claims and land rights. They have come, getting ‘OK’ from the PM and the government to come all the way up and started digging and insulting the country and that’s what I’m going to be claiming.

Another claim, lodged in Western Australia for $290 billion, has the potential to become one of the largest legal payouts in the world. This amount is being sought by the Noongar people from south-west WA from the state government on the basis of spiritual damage caused by the loss of traditional land. Lawyers acting for the Noongar claim have adopted the numeric formula which proved successful in Timber Creek, with the figure of $290 billion calculated on $15,000 per hectare for 19.4 million hectares of extinguished native title on Noongar lands. Native title has been sought by the Noongar people since 2003 over 19.7 million hectares of WA. However,

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their rights to the vast majority (19.4 million hectares) of this land have been extinguished, due to its use as government land and for commercial, residential, agricultural or mining purposes.

These uses have precluded the exercise of Noongar traditional rights.

David Stevenson, director of Brisbane-based firm Ethical Social Justice Law, who is handling the claim for the Noongar group, is confident. He told the Sydney Morning Herald (November 30, 2010) that the recent High Court ruling in Timber Creek was clear: “The law says the Noongar people are entitled to compensation. A group of elders have approached us and we have done our job. This impacts WA – but also the whole country.”

The High Court ruling in Timber Creek allowed for economic loss which applied to Native Title land 'extinguished' from October 31, 1975 to present day, with cultural and spiritual loss calculated at a higher rate. Other compensation claims that have been in the courts include three in Queensland, including a claim over Fraser Island / K’gari by the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation.

Councils and state governments are likely to be impacted directly by these developments, which often relate to land on which public infrastructure such as roads and schools have been built. The Australian Financial Review (13 March 2019) reported that liability for native title compensation may run into billions of dollars. Ashhurst partner Tony Denholder said, "The 375 groups that have proven native title across the country now have legal entitlements to make a compensation claim under the Native Title Act established by Paul Keating in 1994. It's a natural next step they will seek compensation for public works on their land that

Megan Cope, RE FORMATION, 2016, cast concrete, sand. Currently on display in the “Water” exhibition at Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, until 26 April 2020 and in “RE FORMATION I” at Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney, until 17 May 2020.

have affected their rights."

In a national first, IPWEAQ has developed a digital tool to assist councils to assess their potential liability for projects past, present and future. Developed by Director of Information Resources Mark Lamont, it is designed to allow a simple identification of risk factors to their public works by councils without the necessity to seek expensive legal advice. Lamont recommends that councils be proactive in this space.

If council has a good relationship with traditional owners, and is alert to potential areas of concern, addressing them early reduces the risk of being hit with large compensation claims. This is as true for infrastructure projects that were undertaken historically as for future acts. The assessment tool allows councils to determine which past projects may be in breach of the legislaItion, and offers the chance to approach traditional owners to make reparations before the case is litigated.

The IPWEAQ’s Native Title Portal offers an assessment compliance system currently being trialled by councils in Queensland. It is available by subscription.

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DETAIL: Megan Cope, RE FORMATION, 2016, cast concrete, sand.

For further information, contact IPWEAQ, telephone 07 3632 6803, email info@ipweaq.com.

About the image: Megan Cope, RE FORMATION, 2016, cast concrete, sand. Image courtesy of QUT Art Museum, Milani Gallery and the Artist. Photo

by Carl Warner.

In RE FORMATION, contemporary Aboriginal artist Megan Cope (b.1982, Quandamooka) recreates Aboriginal middens to evoke the history of desecration of these significant sites by early colonists in Australia. This was done to extract lime, yet erased the material legacy of the occupation of country by First Nations peoples. This is particularly important given that evidence of continuous connection is central to Australia’s Native Title Act (1993).

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

NATIVE TITLE & CULTURAL HERITAGE PORTAL AND RECORD KEEPING TOOL IPWEAQ’s new native title and cultural heritage portals help you comply with the law and avoid acts that will impact on cultural heritage and native title including impairment and extinguishment. The portals establish a methodical, documented, robust process and establish that an appropriate level of thoroughness was applied in determining whether or not to proceed with works.

Section 51(1) Native Title Act 1993 - an entitlement on just terms to compensate native title holders for any loss, diminution, impairment or other effect of the act on their native title rights and interests.

1. Resource to undertake complex assessments in a logical framework with templates, lists, registers and geo-spatial mapping.

i M P A C T i ntegrated M anagement

2. Detailed record keeping system which generates a PDF documenting all elements of the assessment including text, maps and photographic evidence which supports the reason for your decision.

P ortal for A sessment of C ultural heritage and native T itle

SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriptions now open for the first year of iMPACT! Annual Subscription

Plus GST

One-off Project Assessment

$1,000

Councils with less than 25,000 constituents

$3,000

All other councils, utilities, consultancies and other industry entities eg mining, pastoral.

$5,000

Access to iMPACT including ongoing capability training to meet your changing needs.

$10,000

Public Works Technical Subscription Apply a 10% discount if your council is a PTWS subscriber.

Contact Director, Information & Resources Mark.Lamont@ipweaq.com 3632 6806

  

3. User friendly portal with a step by step process to ensure infrastructure and other projects comply with legislation which will save you time and money.

4. Interactive site which links to the latest information in government and other databases.

www.ipweaq.com

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NEWS

We are very pleased to welcome IPWEAQ's 900th and 950th members within four weeks of one another!

Member #900, Ben Staniford Ben is a Senior Civil Engineer at Tonkin working in the design of water and wastewater infrastructure, community wastewater management schemes, irrigation, infrastructure, water network modelling and analysis, hydraulic and surge modelling, utility service relocations, civil and structural design, and water infrastructure planning. He has worked with various water authorities, local councils, government departments and private clients. Welcome to our community, Ben! Member #950, Edward (Eddie) McDermott Edward is an Assessment Engineer within the City Planning & Assessment team at Redland City Council. He joined Redland City Council in 2017 having previously worked in a property consultancy firm and the ALPNG projects. Originally from Ireland, Edward arrived in Australia in 2011 for a gap year, following the completion of his studies and fell in love with the country and the lifestyle. Edward thoroughly enjoys his role with Local Government and gains great satisfaction delivering projects from end to end which benefit the local community. Away from work he is a keen runner, cyclist and home cook.

Congratulations to our members who have reached milestone memberships during January-March 2020 Derek Stringfellow reaches 50 years of membership with IPWEAQ

25 Years •M ike Brady, Toowoomba Regional Council 20 Years • Allan Hull, Noosa Council 15 Years •D ale Eliott, Winton Shire Council • John Knott, Retired

Congratulations to one of our founding members, Derek Stringfellow! Derek, Emeritus member and past IPWEAQ President (19821984) reached 50 Years’ membership, having joined in January 1970. Our many thanks to Derek for his role in forming our inaugural association, the Local Government Engineers Association of Queensland.

10 Years • J ustin Holzheimer, RMA Engineers

5 Years • David Ayriss, D&J Ayriss Pty Ltd • Nicholas Wellwood, Burdekin Shire Council • Ashleigh Tomkins • Frank Nastasi, Fraser Coast Regional Council • Jamie McCaul, Rockhampton Regional Council • John Teague, Charter Towers Regional Council

• L arry Griffiths, Department of Transport and Main Roads

• Steven Pirlo, Australian Maritime Safety Authority

• Terry McIvor, Retired

• Darryl Airlie, Brisbane City Council

•D avid Donohue, Brandon & Associates Pty Ltd

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• Bede Castles, Instrada

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Newly appointed Emeritus members

Emeritus membership is awarded to members of the highest calibre recognising many years contributing to the advancement of our sector and IPWEAQ. John Derbyshire John Derbyshire has worked as a professional engineer in Queensland for over 45 years before retiring in 2016. He was awarded the IPWEAQ President’s Award in 2018.

During his career Derbyshire was involved in the planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance and asset management of infrastructure for local government and state government transport authorities.

He held senior management positions in large high-growth Queensland local governments including Townsville, Redland Shire, Ipswich and Pine Rivers, and then spent over 15 years in private practice providing consulting services to developers, the State government and local governments.

Derbyshire was awarded a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil Engineering) in 1969, a Master of Engineering Science (Highway Engineering) in 1973 and a Graduate Diploma of Business (Management) in 1994. He has been a Fellow of IPWEAQ since 1978.

Colleague Clive Humphries (FIEAust, FICE, FCIHT, RPEQ) supported Derbyshire’s nomination, writing, “The beneficiaries of John’s ongoing

John Derbyshire with Derek Stringfellow at the 2020 President’s Breakfast.

President Award John Derbyshire – 2018 Excellence Awards, Gold Coast

activities have not only been IPWEAQ but the wider community.

In a local context such efforts often go unheralded because few appreciate the time, mental effort and commitment involved.

I believe that John is of an outstanding character and has displayed exemplary leadership in pursuing the goals he has set.”

Humphries also notes, “John has always had a real passion for engineering and a prodigious capacity for research, something that he has sustained since his ‘retirement’.” Derbyshire’s voluntary activities in retirement are also highlighted by Tom Major (Retired, previous BE Water Supply and Sewerage Manager Redland Shire) who writes, “John Derbyshire

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is deeply interested in the wellbeing of the community and regularly makes extremely detailed submissions to local, state and federal governments on matters relevant to his area of expertise namely transport, planning and the environment. John has spent many hours of volunteer work on codes of practice, standard drawings and training curricular for Local Government for the benefit of the community, the engineering profession and the Institute. He is a worthy recipient of Emeritus Membership of the Institute.” Here at IPWEAQ we concur completely.

Congratulations John Derbyshire.

Graeme Wills It is also with great pleasure that we announce that Graeme R Wills (IPWEAQ member since 2003) has been awarded Emeritus Membership.

Wills (born 1955) was awarded a Bachelor of Engineering by the University of New South Wales in 1979, a Master of Engineering Science in 1984 (also UNSW), and a Graduate Diploma in Municipal Engineering (1990) from the University College of Southern Queensland. He recently retired after four decades as a professional engineer. Over the last thirty years he has consulted to local government and to the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads in central and western Queensland.

Wills told IPWEAQ that the Emeritus Award is indeed an honour and very humbling. I am very much enjoying being able to contribute to our great Institute, although no longer active in the workforce. It is the people who make the Institute great.”

Wills has also contributed

Graeme Wills, Alumni dinner CQ Branch Conference 2019, Rockhampton.

significantly to his profession as President of the Central Queensland Branch (2011-2015), he has mentored graduate engineers and engineers who have migrated to Australia, presented technical papers at conferences sharing knowledge and experience, reviewed and assessed applications for RPEQ recognition, and been a RPEQ Assessment Board member 2016-2020.

One of his referees for the award was Rob Chandler, Mayor of Barcaldine Shire Council, who writes, “Professionally Graeme is incredibly diligent with a very calm demeanour. His eye for detail, especially when project managing, has saved the day more than once –­both as far as the budget was concerned and also the quality of work. Graeme always had the respect of contractors and our senior works construction foremen.

On the board of the Qantas Founders Museum, he is currently working to protect our heritage. I trust that this short story portrays his strength of character and [contribution as] community champion.”

Since retirement, Wills has pursued his interest as a passionate

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Graeme Wills, 2017 Annual Conference, Townsville, Welcome Function

volunteer to the Qantas Founders Outback Museum in Longreach where he is currently Deputy Chair.

He told IPWEAQ, “I have not been laying idle. I am very involved in the construction of a $14.5m Airpark and light show including the construction on a roof of area 8,000 square metres to cover our display aircraft at the Qantas Founders Outback Museum. This wonderful project has provided a smooth transition following a 40 year working career to now a burgeoning career as a volunteer.”

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Geoff Rintoul

MEMBER PROFILE

Geoff recently completed a stint as Executive Manager Works and Infrastructure with Burke Shire Council and is now looking to move onto his next role.

Geoff is an experienced and pragmatic local government professional who has gained experiences in Local Government, Project Management and leadership in a wide range of industries and especially in the western and remote areas of Queensland.

He holds a Graduate Certificate in Engineering (Port and Harbour) and yes, a strange one, a Master of Environmental Engineering Management and an Advanced Diploma in Building and Construction Management along with quite a few other qualifications in Construction, Management and leadership.

Geoff’s experiences cover the entire cross section of local government including engineering, project management/delivery, corporate and community, planning and governance and give him a unique set of skills in delivering services and advice for the community.

His passion is delivering value for money to communities especially in LG infrastructure.

Gregory Grandstand portal frame up and roof purlins under way.

What was your drive to get you into engineering or public works specifically?

Mmmm! Interesting question.

I suppose it started when I commenced my trade as a Plumber and Drainer with Townsville City Council - that’s a few years ago now. The brilliant aspect of this role was the diversity of work in the trade unlike most trades now where they only focus on a small area in the trade, we covered pretty well everything and indeed everywhere. Our key focus was in the water and sewerage program.

I suppose the key challenge facing the industry that I picked up reasonably early was the amount of work that new developments created for us due to at best pretty ordinary practices and materials.

The amount of fix ups and

replacements was a huge burden on council and for us at the time.

Many reading this would appreciate jump ups on five to six metre-deep sewer collapses. When you have established houses and gardens or pump stations failing due to dodgy pumps, it is not only annoying but expensive to replace.

Even better was not finding water mains in developments because they just were not installed.

I raised these issues with the managers and the Director at the time and they did listen.

Subsequently we started to see improvements in specifications and inspections and a gradual improvement over time.

What projects or experiences have you been involved in that have contributed to your career highlight to date?

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page of a newspaper with a "very good news story"!

I’ve had quite a few really positive experiences with Townsville Council including the development of the on-site sewerage program and the development of a dedicated walk along both sides of Ross Creek from the causeway through to the port! - that was a challenge to say the least.

Gregory Grandstand roof purlins underway

2100 x 600 RBC on the Floriville Road – asset condition was a 6. You can see some treatments to the left of the photo and the condition of the steel in the remains.

25 out of the 49 units were in a serious condition and now due for replacement

There have been quite a few. Early on in my trade we commenced a major upgrade of all our sewer pump stations in Townsville - I managed that for a while and and it was a brilliant experience looking after the coordination of trades, scoping jobs and cost planning. Not too bad for a third/ fourth year apprentice. I suppose the lesson learnt was - Take on an opportunity when given to you and run with it!

My next role was looking after the water and sewerage billing for Council along with the water services and meter replacement.

One of our key achievements was to raise the accounted for water usage from around 60 per cent up to 85 per cent by upgrading several water meters’ connections

to the big users. I had done the business case and the director took this to Council. Sadly there wasn’t much interest for some reason - think it may have been the cost of well over half a million.

So, the boss said just go ahead with it and we will see where it goes. After three-four months of work we had already recovered three times that in revenue and it just improved from there.

Essentially, we were replacing high volume water meters that in most cases were 20-30 years old and then some. I know the boss got a bit of a kicking from Finance and Council but in the end it was a calculated and well-planned risk worth taking. I suppose the lesson learnt was - do your homework and build a case and then take on some responsibility and deliver. Be prepared to manage the detractors that will stand in your road.

My next one was our Water Wise campaign. Started off small with a few schools from memory we had a budget of about $5K. A key plan was to have the ward councillors involved. After three or so years we were sitting on a budget of $100K or so. what was a major achievement was the reduction in water "wastage" at the schools, leaking taps and toilets, irrigation etc etc. The big lesson learnt was - get the councillors on the front

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I suppose my engineering and project management highlights are quite varied they do include the delivery of the Lavarack Barracks Stage IV project for the Department of Defence and Marine facilities for the Townsville Motorboat and Yacht Club when working for Carson Group/Coffey Projects.

I completed a stint with the Port of Townsville as a Project Manager and was a great experience in design management and project delivery and I expect where I started to really appreciate engineering and strategic planning.

Designing a pile system to hold up a wharf isn’t something that you pick up in 30 seconds especially where you have a variable seabed of rock, clay and mud.

My local government highlights are quite varied, and I suppose a pretty normal set of experiences for most.

However, delivering two residential subdivisions for NPARC was an interesting exercise as both were well over budget and program. I didn’t get the program sorted but did get them under budget a point that TSRA were quite happy with.

We started on a fair bit of road works when up in the Cape and this has continued - it’s amazing what you learn over the years especially when working in a port on reclaimed land that helps in building and maintaining roads.

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Gregory Roof on and ready for kitchen and bar

It had us having to design to allow for drainage about 3.5 sq.km of road and neighbouring properties through a single point of discharge. Some just do not appreciate the not so subtle difference at times!

Football oval prepared and stolinised

I delivered a few building projects in my time - from housing, water and sewerage plant and plants and systems gymnasiums and hall upgrades.

My latest experiences and I think some of the more worthwhile ones are those in Burketown and Gregory where we were delivering a new QLR standard football field, which is still under construction and a new grandstand, kitchen and bar area for Gregory. Whilst reasonably small projects, they do have a degree of complexity due to the remoteness and trying to pin down scope. Importantly these projects are a real asset to the respective and regional communities, something I believe a lot take for granted.

The new football over in Burketown did present some challenges. One of the most interesting ones was initially designing the stormwater drainage for the field itself almost overnight.

Although with all these experiences I still say that my most significant career highlight is leading and mentoring those people, including council staff, contractors and consultants along the way in delivering projects for the community. Without them it just wouldn’t happen.

What do you enjoy most about working as an engineer in public works?

There are a couple actually – first one is there is a challenge prettywell every day. It can be a pay dispute, plant breakdown, change in design for stormwater drainage or collapsed culverts that will ultimately cost $1m to replace.

Although I do think the most enjoyable aspect is delivering a service to the community is that it is required and appreciated.

It’s one reason why I like working in the more regional areas. They do tend to be a fair bit more appreciative of both time and resources. They are more tolerant but don’t tolerate BS.

Tell us about your experience as an engineer providing technical services to the community?

Interesting question – it is an area that I do enjoy. A lot of the community don’t actually understand the legislation or reasoning behind LG decision making and do believe they have a right to something! Although it is frustating, explaining the reasons why certain decisions are made and coming up with an alternative or some common ground is one of the most satisfying aspects of the role.

Many reading this will appreciate the situation of explaining to a property owner why a road hasn’t had any maintenance done to it for well over five years and they have a dust problem and there is no budget this year to fix it and the mayor wants a solution. The solution is costed at $100k plus and the Mayor is not happy Trying to explain both jargon and the bureaucracy to members of the public/rate payers is interesting, however well worth the time spent. They may not like it however at least they are aware!

What do you appreciate most about IPWEAQ’s involvement in your career so far?

I believe the key benefit is the opening of the network and especially to like-minded people and professionals.

Whilst we may come across something new, I would expect that someone else has had a similar experience somewhere that you can have a talk to and get some advice and guidance.

The other one is the opportunity for professional development. It is not that easy when you are five hours from any reasonably sized urban areas.

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Football grounds prepared, stolinised and getting watered.

Inspecting the Gregory - Camooweel road after heavy formation grading after a few months to see how it is holding up!

encourage the younger generation to stay in the community with jobs and opportunity, developing skills through traineeships, apprenticeships and the like work.

Targeting those who have left to return. Easily said: somewhat more of a challenge to deliver.

Stormwater discharge point – originally 4 x 375 mm pipes and 3 m x 0.8 m and flood gate. Recent rains showed it works after 80 plus mm in a few hours.

What key advice have you received and/or would you give to others entering the industry?

There are a few.

The first one is that is when you get an opportunity to develop your skills and experience - take it. advice from my long-time mentor but has been so beneficial.

The the second one is, don’t be afraid to ask questions. It doesn’t matter who from or what it’s about. It helps to develop knowledge and skills.

The third one is, "Stay in your office at your peril". Get out and about. Get to know your staff and others within the place you work. It’s amazing the skills and knowledge sets that we have. Most supervisors wouldn’t have a clue.

As a progression to this, meet the community. Those who are fortunate enough to live and work in the smaller communities will affirm it is time very well spent.

What struggles have you encountered within the industry, and how did/do you overcome them? (i.e., environmental, job market, career flexibility etc.)

This is a good question - there are a couple of challenges that I have seen and experienced.

Smaller and remote communities really do struggle with trying to maintain the younger generation within the community and we start to see an ageing population and especially for LG and ageing workforce. A challenge and some areas deal with it better than others, however trying to

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

The other one that I have experienced is the "Revolving door" syndrome of experienced and professional staff filling those key roles. It’s a similar challenge to the first one but is a real challenge for those in the professions such as accounting and engineering and those in some of the trades.

When a diesel fitter can earn fourfive times what they could earn in LG by going to the mines - it’s hard to manage. Conversely it is an opportunity that you can learn so much in a reasonably short period of time that will place you in good stead for the future!

Is there anything else you would like to say?

Working for Local Government has to be one of our most diverse and exciting opportunities for anyone entering the workforce. I can highly recommend the career to anyone who is looking for a challenge, meeting some really interesting people and seeing pretty interesting parts of the country!

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Sam Fitzgerald

EMERGING LEADER PROFILE

Works Manager Maintenance, Western Downs Regional Council Please provide a brief bio: I’ve been working in the local government engineering industry for seven years and am currently the Works Manager for Maintenance at Western Downs Regional Council.

My wife (Mel), daughter (Rosie) and I live on a working cattle

property south of Drillham on the Western Downs. We love the space and quiet, and it’s a reasonable commute from town. I grew up on a cattle farm at Goomburra near Warwick, so I’ve enjoyed getting back on the land. Miles is our closest centre and it’s a great little community. Mel was born here so has qualified as a local. I’ve only been here seven years so have another 20 or so to go!

I enjoy staying active and travelling with my family. Our last trip was a road trip of the New Zealand South Island last February, which was an unforgettable experience.

It was dry at home so it was nice to see some of the lush green countryside. My wife and I are also currently completing renovations to our home. I wouldn’t say I love renovating, but it’s been great to see the transformation and pick up a few new skills along the way.

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What was your drive to get you into engineering or public works specifically?

Seeing the diversity of works as well as the tangible benefits to the community at the end of a project were both big motivators. I’ve also been lucky enough to work with a great team of experienced engineers early in my career which guided my development and showed me that there are many opportunities for career progression and satisfaction in local government.

What projects or experiences have you been involved in that have contributed to your career highlight to date?

The variety of projects available to local government engineers is incredible and an experience I’m grateful to have had early in my career. During my short time in the industry I’ve been fortunate to be involved in projects including: • Upgrade of 30+km of local roads for LNG access • Large flood recovery programs ($80M and $40M) • Comprehensive water and sewer network upgrades • Water Treatment Plant and Sewerage Treatment Plant upgrades • Aerodrome pavement rehabilitation • Intersection upgrades on National Highways • Delivery of annual RMPC and collaborative multi-year planning with DTMR • Rehabilitation of lower order state-controlled roads

• Planning and delivery of 1m+ m2 annual reseal program • I mplementation of a maintenance management system on our local roads In my current role I’ve been exposed to asset management, local government governance, process improvement, as well as risk and liability management.

This is different to what I saw myself doing while studying, but a challenge I’ve enjoyed, nonetheless.

What do you enjoy most about working as an engineer in public works?

What I enjoy most about my role as a public works engineer is being able to see a direct and positive impact to our community as a result of our projects and programs. Seeing longer term improvements as a result of changes to our practices, such as improved programming of our local roads maintenance, also gives a great sense of satisfaction.

What do you appreciate most about IPWEAQ’s involvement in your career so far?

I appreciate the great resources IPWEAQ provides to local government engineers. Variety is something I’ve mentioned in most of my answers so far, but it also means you’re often coming across new challenges. The technical resources IPWEAQ provides are one of my first points of call when this happens, and the community of local government engineers in our district is always easily accessible and ready to offer advice because of the connections made at IPWEAQ events.

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What key advice have you received and/or would you give to others entering the industry?

My advice to others entering the industry is to look after your team and they’ll look after you.

Building a relationship with the crew delivering the projects you’re working on is key to getting good project outcomes, and if you’re open to it, there’s a wealth of knowledge there that will benefit you and your practical understanding of civil construction when starting your career.

What struggles have you encountered within the industry, and how did/do you overcome them? (i.e., environmental, job market, career flexibility etc.)

I don’t consider that I’ve faced many struggles in my career to date. There are challenges that have presented themselves but I’ve always had excellent support from the more experienced engineers in the organisation and wider community. Local government has also been relatively stable, meaning job security or having to travel from home for work have never been major issues.

Is there anything else you would like to say?

Thank you to IPWEAQ for the great work you do and the opportunity to be involved.

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What to do when the dam runs dry

FEATURED ARTICLE

Seren McKenzie Director Infrastructure Services Southern Downs Regional Council Supplying over 5,000 people with water, the Stanthorpe water story.

Background Stanthorpe is a town in southern Queensland in the local government area of Southern Downs Regional Council.

Stanthorpe has a stand alone water supply (ie, no connectivity to any water grids) and the over 5000 residents are supplied by Storm King Dam (‘the Dam’). The capacity of Storm King Dam is just over 2000 ML and the Dam has never run dry in over 60 years, albeit it has come close. Stanthorpe itself does not have a high population growth. However it is a tourist town and accommodates a high transient population due to the nature of the horticulture and agriculture businesses in the region.

Water Management The Southern Downs Region, like many parts of Queensland, has been in drought for a number of years. The drought declaration for the region was revoked in 2017 following rainfall from ex-tropical cyclone Debbie, however was

reinstated shortly after in 2018.

In June 2018 and November 2018 Council moved to Medium (200 l/p/d) and High (170 l/p/d) restrictions respectively. Following another dry summer in 2018/19, Extreme (120 l/p/d) restrictions were introduced in March 2019, and in September 2019 Critical (100 l/p/d) restrictions were brought in. With dam levels still falling and no rain forecast, emergency restrictions of 80 l/p/d were introduced in December 2019 when Storm King Dam levels were so low it could no longer be used and water carting commenced.

Council also engaged contractors to undertake leak detection works and were able to identify a number of leaks in the network that did provide some minor savings of water. The most significant savings were from the change in behaviour of all water users which were encouraged and supported through a number of council initiatives such as shower head exchanges, water tank rebates, shower timers, stickers, education campaigns through schools, online resources, media and regular community updates.

The community updates took the form of a weekly video update on council’s facebook page from the Mayor where previously submitted questions were answered, monthly

water contingency plans presented at council meetings and face to face community Q and A sessions every few months, where water was a hot topic. Council officers worked closely with high and medium business water users, with WEMPs developed for high water users and information packs for all businesses. As Southern Downs Region was one of the first to be faced with an impending water emergency for a medium sized population, there was not a lot of information available from other council’s – Southern Downs staff are regularly asked for assistance from other council’s as they too face the same crisis.

Whilst consumption dropped significantly (figure 1) and the Dam was used for as long as possible, it was clear to council that action needed to be taken to ensure Stanthorpe maintained a supply of water.

Community wellbeing During the drought, along with businesses being asked to use less water and residents being restricted in their daily use, community morale has been greatly impacted. The region has been given a high profile in the media with ‘day zero’ messaging (which council worked hard to negate) and constant images and

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Figure 1: Water consumption for Stanthorpe over time

stories about the Dam running dry and the town of Stanthorpe having no water. The economy suffered with crops not being planted resulting in fewer backpackers, fruit trees reportedly being removed due to them dying, and the tourism sector being impacted as people ‘didn’t want to use the water here’.

The incredible spirit of Australians and helping out a mate has been evident throughout this experience. The amount of water being donated - from truckloads down to small bottled water, was such that two large charity organisations were formed in Stanthorpe to receive and distribute the water. At times there were up to 20 truckloads of pallets of water being delivered through the fundraising efforts of various organisations. There is no doubting the relief this brought to both rural residents having to purchase water due to their tanks

being empty, and to the amount of water being taken from the council standpipes – at times up to 20% of the monthly water used in the town.

Through the community drought funding program, council was able to use some of the funds for residents to pay for carted water – over 300 truck loads of water were distributed across the region under this program. Council also made free showers available to rural residents at the fitness centre in Stanthorpe.

At the peak of the drought, just days after council had moved to Critical water restrictions, the communities’ resilience was again tested with the Applethorpe and Stanthorpe fires. These fires started in Applethorpe to the north of Stanthorpe, before moving south to Stanthorpe where the fire jumped the highway and threatened the town. Council

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worked closely with emergency services and most of the water used to fight the fires was not taken from the town water supply, resulting in little impact on the already low level of water in Storm King Dam. Stanthorpe was now in the media about not only drought and running out of water, but also for the fires. The impact was felt again with people now staying away due to fires and lack of water. However once again, donations for the town flooded in and the region felt the compassion of others.

Determining the options for water supply Although council had a number of options discussed at a strategic level, and some detailed work being undertaken by consulting engineers, there was no definite answer to how to supply the water after the 2018/19 wet season failed to deliver rainfall. Council had previously submitted an

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Figure 2: Historic water volume of Storm King Dam

unsuccessful funding application to build a pipeline some 65 kms between council’s other dam near Warwick, Connolly Dam, which would provide connectivity between the three main dams in the region (including Leslie Dam at Warwick which has a much larger storage capacity).

As part of the process to determine the best option to provide water to Stanthorpe, council realised we needed to better understand Storm King Dam and how it ‘behaved’. A bathymetric survey was undertaken which determined there was approximately 115 ML equivalent of silt in the Dam, resulting in an updated storage curve and more accurate ‘run out’ dates.

Department of Natural Resources Mines and Energy (DNRME) have been close partners in this process and were able to run historical modelling for the Dam, as well as produce a run out model based on historic evaporation and seepage,

climatic conditions and expected volumetric use over different scenarios. Figure 2 shows the historic volume of water in the Dam from 1969 and how it has never run dry. Early on, there was some thought based on the historic modelling that the dam would not run out and there was no need to move through to contingency planning, however council was not prepared to take that risk and engaged GHD consulting engineers to assist with validation of options for council to consider as well as a business case for funding of the preferred option.

GHD undertook a number of modelling cases, including storage predictions based on best case (dam filling up overnight – which it has in the past) through to no inflow which resulted in the dam reaching minimum operating level of 200 ML in January 2020.

This work was being undertaken in July 2019, meaning in the

worst case scenario there was only a maximum of 6 months to construct suitable infrastructure for water to be transported to Stanthorpe. A graph was produced (figure 3) of the YTD rainfall for the past 55 years in Stanthorpe – seeing this really solidified the need for council to take action (coupled with the fact that the long term forecasts were not predicting significant rainfall prior to the expected January 2020 run out date).

Whilst GHD were working through the options report council officers were actively determining the viability of options such as rail transportation of the water. It was established quite early in the process that although a rail line exists between Stanthorpe and Warwick, a number of logistical issues would accompany this option, with the major issue of the lack of available rolling stock for the water transportation being

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Funding submission to the State government to assist in both the capital works elements of the project and the water carting.

During July 2019 council had undertaken an initial request for suppliers to set up a water carting Preferred Supplier Arrangement, even though at this time the fill points and the receival points were unknown. This enabled council to have the PSA ready for use, and later it was refined with the same suppliers once the route was determined.

Figure 3: YTD rainfall over 55 years

Figure 4: Preferred option for water supply to Stanthorpe.

enough to rule out this option (along with issues such as having to pump the water uphill from unloading or truck it to the WTP, nowhere for the trains to ‘turn around’ etc).

The preferred option identified was transporting raw water from Connolly Dam, by trucks, to storage tanks and then into the raw water line through to the treatment plant (figure 4). The additional benefit of this solution is that should Connolly Dam run out of water, Leslie Dam can also be used by reversing the raw water line. Whilst this was the

most logical and economical way to get water to Stanthorpe, there were a number of elements to this project to be quickly determined.

Although it was known we had, on paper, until December 2019/ January 2020 for water supply in the Dam, the unknown was the water quality and how quickly it would deteriorate and remain at a treatable level as the Dam level dropped.

Following council agreement to progress with this option, GHD were engaged to develop it into a Drought Assistance

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Construction Whilst GHD were preparing the funding submission in early August, Newlands Civil, who had just completed the raw water pipeline replacement between Storm King Dam and the Stanthorpe WTP, approached council with a proposal to design and construct 2 x 1ML tanks at the Dam, receival pipework, and 1.5 km of raw water pipe alongside the Dam to join in with the recently completed raw water pipe. This proposal was discussed and agreed to, being the first (and most expensive) element of the project. A decision needed to be made very quickly on this element due to the long lead time on the water tanks. As such, agreement on the design was reached and the pipeline commenced, and completed, while waiting for the tanks. Due to the wait time on the tanks, and the unknown period of time for water quality of the dam remaining treatable, council determined the tanks should have bypass lines so if needed we could fill directly into the pipeline (this would also enable us to have a tank offline if required) if the dam water suddenly became untreatable and the tanks were not yet complete.

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Installation of pipework alongside Storm King Dam for transfer of the carted raw water.

The tanks commence construction.

The tanks completed and in use.

Whilst the tanks and pipe project had commenced, the funding proposal was completed at the end of August and submitted to the State Government; in midSeptember, while visiting the Stanthorpe region following the bushfires, the Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, announced that the project would be funded by the State government, to the amount of $2.4 million for the capital works, and $800,000 per month for water carting through until February 2021. This was a welcome relief for council and the ratepayers of Southern Downs, particularly as this matched the amounts that council and GHD had estimated in the funding proposal – meaning 100% funding for the project. As this was the first project of this nature in Queensland to this scale and to be funded, a deed had to be developed and was not actually signed by all parties until early November 2019.

During this period there was intense media and public interest in the project. This was due to the fact that we had started the pipeline and tank project but had not yet released details on the project – largely as we were still working through the details ourselves as well as waiting on a response regarding the funding submission.

Council made a joint video with Newlands representatives about the project under construction and invited the local media to view the video and ask questions about the project. This occurred on 11 September – just prior to the Premier visiting and announcing the funding of the project.

With the receiving area determined, council needed to work out a number of other elements, including;

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There was intense media interest in the project as well as the whole ‘town running out of water’ and ‘day zero’ approach the media portrayed.

• The safest route for the public and 40 -50 water trucks per day • Upgrades to roads and traffic management changes required on this route • Where the fill area would be and any associated infrastructure • What upgrade would be required to the WTP to treat the different supply of raw water • How to accurately determine how much water each truck was carrying without weighing them every load The logical next element to determine was the fill point for the trucks, as this would determine the route required for the trucks to travel. Initial thoughts were to use an existing fill point in Warwick – however as pointed out by staff, this had limited space and trucks would travelling through a residential area. Staff quickly came

up with an alternative site that was already on the road to Stanthorpe, required only a relatively short extension to the existing raw water line from Connolly Dam, and had enough road reserve that it could be made into a fill point for multiple trucks. The area had previously been used by TMR and adjoined the New England Highway, so staff worked with TMR representatives to quickly gain approval for the site and to come up with an agreed plan for both works to the site and traffic management at the location, which included reducing the speed to 80 from 100 km/hr on the highway to allow trucks to safely turn in and out of the site. Thanks to consulting engineers GenEng Solutions, the designs were quickly developed and approved by TMR. The filling area required widening of the local road that the trucks were turning into from the highway, and full construction of

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the filling area. This was a priority job and was completed by council crews in less than two weeks. Just prior to this, council crews were extending the 300mm ductile raw water main to the site which was about 220 metres away. The work on the ductile water main occurred in early-mid September – the same time the Declaration of State of Fire Emergency for Queensland was active. Council WHS officers liaised with QFES and determined suitable work methods which including travelling back to council’s workshop to allow cutting of the ductile water main in a controlled environment with no risk of fire. The daily pre-starts included discussion on the fire risk and extra measures including additional fire extinguishers on site were taken. Council engaged contract traffic controllers for the traffic management of this job, and although they were involved in the pre-start meeting, unfortunately a fire on site was

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started when the traffic controller parked in the dry grass, resulting in the car being destroyed, but council staff managing to keep the fire contained and out by the time the fire brigade arrived. This was also a reportable incident due to the nature of the event.

In order to accurately monitor the amount of water being carted by the different trucking companies, each with different sized tanks, council decided to install three water fill stations.

These Abbersfield style fill stations were supplied to council as a priority given the current emergency situation, and although the last element of the project to be finalised, were delivered quickly and have worked very well. The raw water main gravity feeds to the fill site, and the three fill stations feed through to five filling points so multiple trucks are able to fill at once, as well as B-doubles being able to quickly fill both tanks. The average fill time is about 13 minutes due to the high pressure at the site of about 350 kPa. The fill stations are set so that the key swipe is set to the volume of each tanker on the truck – meaning auto shutoff when it is full as well as an accurate record of the volume of water carted by each company. This results in fast and efficient payment of invoices as verification of volume carted is quick and easy.

Up to five trucks can fill at the fill station at any time

Traffic management of the fill site reduces traffic to 80 km/hr and the design allows trucks to gather some speed prior to re-joining the highway.

The use of Connolly Dam water, which is known to have higher manganese levels in it than Storm King Dam, meant council needed to add some further treatment options at the WTP in Stanthorpe.

Council engaged a treatment expert for trials prior to the water carting commencing, when council began partial water carting (blending with the Dam) and when

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The receival area and tanks, in operation.

full water carting commenced.

This resulted in a smoother transition once the carting was underway and gave the treatment plant operators confidence in the treatment of the water from another source.

Roadworks and traffic management (speed reduction) were also undertaken at the receival area for the water trucks to safely manoeuvre. This included widening of the road into the dam area as well as full construction of the receival area. Again, these works were undertaken in a very short timeframe in order to reach a target date for completion.

Once all the works were completed, council conducted a full water carting trial day in early December. This was successful, and council moved to partial water carting at about half the daily demand the following week.

This water was blended with the remaining Dam water (in the

pipeline) and allowed the Dam water to continue to be used until mid-January, at which point we moved to full water carting. Due to fluctuations in water use on certain days, and dependant on weather, the tank levels have to be closely monitored and amounts trucked in need to be varied as required.

On average, about 1.2ML of water has been carted per day since full water carting commenced. This equates to about 42 truckloads per day, which are moved from 6am through to about 6pm at night.

As the treatment plant does not operate 24 hours per day, this allows the tanks to be kept topped up throughout the day and then the tanks are full and ready for the treatment plant in the morning when it starts again. Although trucks have to travel through some residential areas of Stanthorpe to reach the receival area, there have been very few complaints about the truck movements.

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Council released media about the route and did a letter box drop to advise of the route and people are generally accepting as they realise this is the only way to get water to the town. Solar lighting has been set up at both the filling and receival points to allow for emergency late night carting – this could be required if the road is cut due to an accident or bushfires, or if there is an issue with water supply or use causing a delay in supply.

Learnings A project as complex as this that has to be delivered in a short time, under intense public and media scrutiny, is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be involved in.

Of course, ideally, we would not be in the situation where we are having to transport water this way, however when you do find yourself in this situation, as sometimes happens in local government, it is heartening to see what we can

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pull together and achieve as public works professionals.

It is critical to draw on your staff and their knowledge – empower them and make them comfortable to come to you with ideas. In our situation, the staff (and our contractors) were the ones who came up with the on the ground solutions once the decision was made on which was the preferred option.

Engaging early with key stakeholders is essential. With such public interest in this project there was a lot of media including interviews (television and newspaper), media events and releases, and community

sessions. Being as open and honest as possible has helped us on this project to maintain the communities trust that they will not run out of water in Stanthorpe.

Understanding what the community is going through is also important, in this case a crippling drought for industry and tourism in this region followed by bushfires.

And finally, remember, just because it hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean it won’t! Thankfully we were not prepared to think we weren’t going to run out of water and as public works professionals we banded together to deliver a solution – it’s impressive what we can do as a local government.

There are always going to be unexpected items in a project like this – we had a best estimate of $2.4 million for the capital outlay and spent $2.6 million.

Given this is not an everyday project that we deliver as public works professionals being less than 10% over budget is quite an achievement.

We are very pleased to welcome JWA as a new Partner to the IPWEAQ Community!

At JWA, we supply composite matting solutions around Australia. Our matting helps projects meet their environmental, heritage and asset protection requirements as well as keeping construction timelines on track.

When site access or ground stabilisation is an issue due to inferior ground conditions, our heavy-duty matting is the solution to your problem.

Supplying matting for more than 15 years, we have developed a wealth of experience to share on your next project.

We have supplied matting to the major civil contractors for stable access across beach sand and boggy ground on airport projects, tunnel works, power stringing jobs, pipeline maintenance and emergency access for flood relief efforts to name only a few.

We chose to join the IPWEA Partner Project to share our experience and to present matting as an innovative solution for ground stabilisation. Our aim is to broaden the idea of what is possible and to expand the current methodology around ground stabilisation in Australia.

Find out more at www.jwaoil.com

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP PATHWAY

Up to 5 CPD hours

The IPWEAQ Learning Hub is a digital learning platform designed for public works engineering professionals to develop their non-technical skills and enhance their careers.

The Senior Leadership learning pathway is designed to provide breadth of knowledge relevant to professionals in senior management or leadership positions.

This is a ten-week development programs delivered through weekly online modules comprising of learning videos, practical tools, tactics and resources to set you up for ongoing success.

WEEK

AUTHENTICITY & TRUST As a senior leader, trust is your ultimate non-tangible asset. It has never been more important for the leaders of corporate Australia to lean into these conversations and provide employees with honesty and action on the important issues. This sense of trust will be deepened or devalued by what is done by the workplace leaders on a daily basis.

Learning video presented by Petris Lapis, leadership consultant, coach, trainer and author.

WEEK

VISION Helping people to understand why they do the work they do, not just the what, shifts good managers into inspirational leaders. The best Vision Statement can inspire loyalty, hard work and innovation however it is in the application of Vision within the daily activities that will truly yield the most benefit.

Learning video presented by Ged Brennan, Managing Director at GenEng Solutions.

WEEK

COMMUNICATION Consciously choose and flex your style of communication to maximise your leadership impact and connect with your audiences.

Learning video presented by Lorena Clayton, Head of Facilitation at Pragmatic Thinking. Pragmatic Thinking is Behaviour and Motivation Strategy company that combine the three elements of behaviour, motivation and design to create programs, initiatives, and cultural shifts within organisations.

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Contact Director, People & Capability Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com 3632 6803

   www.ipweaq.com

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS. WEEK

SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY Our state and local governments make significant investments in the public infrastructure they need to deliver public services to an estimated five mil-lion Queenslanders. Findings by the Queensland Audit Office (QAO) suggest that public works engineering leaders— the right people—lack access to the right information at the right time to make informed decisions.

Learning video presented by Patrick Flemming, Sector Director for Local Government at the Queensland Audit Office.

WEEK

FIVE GENERATIONS There are currently five different generations in the Australian workforce. We explore the differences and similarities and leadership strategies to manage our changing workforce.

Learning video presented by Laura Krebs, Principal Consultant at Effectus Consulting who are specialist consultancy company for leadership development.

WEEK

CULTURE Leadership guru Peter Drucker famously said “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” and Senior Leaders have a significant impact on the culture of a workplace. The creation of a constructive culture and high performing organisation needs to occur through “design”, not by luck.

Learning video presented by Michael Kahler, General Manager Infrastructure Delivery at Urban Utilities and past IPWEA President.

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MANAGING OTHER LEADERS This week’s module centers around the topic of managing other leaders, both from positive psychology theories as well as practical application in the workplace.

Learning video presented by Bernadette Cavanagh, Executive People Leader with experience working in the construction, infrastructure and transport industries. Bernadette specialises in transforming culture through people and has coached many leaders to develop and refine their leader-ship skills to succeed at work.

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PROMOTING ACHIEVEMENTS Promoting ourselves is not something we are taught to do. It often feels unnatural, we fear that it will come across like we are ‘bragging’ and it’s simply easier to either not talk about achievements or direct them away from ourselves. Selfpromotion is a skill and individuals can find a happy medium through learning what to say and how to say it. Realise there are many varied and subtle opportunities to solicit positive feedback. It is not a one-size-fits all approach.

Learning video presented by Andrew Ryan, Director Infrastructure and Planning at Moreton Bay Regional Council.

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BROADENING HORIZONS • Know your purpose • Discover what you are good at • Broaden your horizons Learning video presented by Todd Battley, AECOM Chief Executive Australia New Zealand.

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NEXT STEPS Recap all that we have learnt over the last ten weeks and set final action items to continue your development journey beyond this course.

Closing video presented by Leigh Cunningham, CEO of IPWEAQ.

Contact Director, People & Capability Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com 3632 6803

   www.ipweaq.com Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

WOMEN IN ENGINEERING

Up to 5 CPD hours

The IPWEAQ Learning Hub is a digital learning platform designed for public works engineering professionals to develop their non-technical skills and enhance their careers.

The Women in Engineering learning pathway is designed to target skills and knowledge cited as being most important by women working in public works engineering.

This is a ten-week development programs delivered through weekly online modules comprising of learning videos, practical tools, tactics and resources to set you up for ongoing success.

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KNOWING YOURSELF This modules is all about self-awareness which is the foundation for all future skills development. You need to know who you are first before you can truly learn how to impact others.

Your learning video presenter this week is Teagan Dowler, Diversity and Leadership Coach in the heavy industries, Founder of The BCW and author of Rules of the Game.

ALLIANCES No matter how much we focus on developing our technical expertise, establishing and fostering professional relationships are just as important to our success.

Learning video presented by Kym Murphy, Regional Director at the Department of Transport and Main Roads.

WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND ‘DROPPING THE BALL’ ‘Drop the ball’ is the title of a book by Tiffanu Dufu who is a catalyst-at-large in the world of women’s leadership. Drop the Ball is a memoir and manifesto that shows women how to cultivate the single skill they really need in order to thrive: the ability to let go. In this module about work-life balance we share some of the main principles of the book as well as other insights into how we can rethink this concept.

Learning video presented by Nadia Marks, Director People & Capability at IPWEAQ.

Contact Director, People & Capability Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com 3632 6803

   www.ipweaq.com

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS. WEEK

GRIT Call it grit. Call it courage. Call it resolve. Call it anything you want. In the end it boils down to resilience – the strength of character to face difficulties head on and keep going. In career terms, it’s the ability to face up to your work life’s knocks and not quit when the going gets tough.

Learning video presented by Jenny McMillan, Project Director at the Department of Transport and Main Roads.

WEEK

BIASES Every day we make thousands of judgments that influence how we feel and act. Whilst some of these judgments are conscious and intentional, others occur automatically without our knowledge. These judgments are known as biases. In this module we explore conscious and unconscious biases and what role they play in the workplace.

Learning video presented by Laura Krebs, Principal Consultant at Effectus Consulting who are a specialist consulting organisation focusing on leadership development.

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UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATIONS The module this week looks at the topic of harassment: facts and statistics, workplace practices and practical steps for everyone to feel safe and help others feel safe too.

Learning video presented by Laura Krebs, Principal Consultant at Effectus Consulting who are a specialist consulting organisation focusing on leadership development.

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PUSHBACK A study conducted with women leaders asked the question: ‘assuming a woman’s career success equals 100%, what percentage is accounted for by her effectiveness in negotiating and pushing back”. The response was 60%. One could consider this ability as the most important tool at a woman’s disposal. And most executives learn this through practice.

Learning video presented by Angela Fry, Manager - Toowoomba & South West Region and Vice President of the IPWEAQ Board.

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THE OPPORTUNITIES This module is about understanding the characteristics, skills and mindset that are unique to you and turning them into your biggest assets.

Learning video presented by Dr Jillian Kenny, entrepreneur, speaker, civil engineer and diversity & inclusion advocate.

SUPPORTING EACH OTHER “You can’t be what you can’t see” (Marian Wright Edelman). In this learning context, this powerful quote helps to remind us that people need to see other people, often people like them, succeeding at the type of things they want to do. This module teaches some practical ways in which we can all support one another in our professional pursuits.

Learning video presented by Bernadette Cavanagh, Executive People Leader with experience working in the construction, infrastructure and transport industries. Bernadette specialises in transforming culture through people and has coached many leaders to develop and refine their leadership skills to be successful at work.

NEXT STEPS Recap all that we have learnt over the last ten weeks and set final action items to continue your development journey beyond this course.

Contact Director, People & Capability Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com 3632 6803

   www.ipweaq.com Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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Reef Councils Major Integrated Project; Wastewater Stewardship Initiative

QLDWATER

Image: Tanguy Sauvin

Ryan Cosgrove Project Coordinator and Researcher qldwater Protecting the Great Barrier Reef and its local catchments is a politically fraught topic requiring all parties to do their part in response to growing stressors. Whilst communities living within the catchment have many advantages in being able to access this World Heritage Area, they can also face increasingly stringent environmental requirements. Important new requirements for local communities commenced with the new Reef Regulations which came into effect from 1st December 2019.

The Reef Regulations had a period of extensive

consultation from 2016-2019 and will affect Primary producers, point source industries (e.g. abattoirs) and councils (including sewerage service providers). A key element is that any new expanded or intensified ‘Environmentally Relevant Activities’ (e.g. a new STP due to population growth) must not increase nutrient or sediment pollutant loads flowing out of each reef catchment. For sewerage managers, this approach of “no-net-decline” means that public sewerage services must be managed so that they do not contribute nutrients in addition to those currently allowed in their Environmental Authorities (EA).

In response to the new Regulations and with a desire to improve environmental stewardship (as well as demonstrate the enormous investment councils already make), LGAQ secured funding through the

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Office of the Great Barrier Reef (OGBR) for Stage 1 Strategic Assessment (WWSSA) component of Initiative 1 Wastewater Stewardship in the Reef Councils Major Integrated Project (MIP). qldwater is partnering with the LGAQ to deliver the project which has been running since early 2019.

Council-owned STPs have been calculated to contribute less than 5% of the total land-sourced nutrients flowing to the GBR but can still have significant local impacts if they discharge to waterways. Reef Councils are investing in continuous improvement in local assets and activities to reduce total discharges to the Reef, improve water quality and respond to increasing community expectations and regulations. However, investment in high-tech treatment plants is expensive with diminishing returns for small towns. Councils are increasingly seeking innovative options to improve management of sewerage systems aligned with local and GBRscale catchment stewardship. The WWSSA will benefit all councils through cataloguing alternative solutions and supporting participating councils and key stakeholders to prepare to trial alternative stewardship projects involving wastewater.

The WWSSA includes a number of outputs which will assist councils in mitigating the impact of the new regulations on their operations whilst improving their local catchments. One of these outputs is an options analysis of alternative approaches to the treatment of wastewater. The options matrix is designed to provide a high-level catalogue of treatment approaches allowing councils, consultants and local communities to work together in exploring fit-for-purpose solutions ensuring sustainable investment.

To demonstrate the applicability of fit-for-purpose solutions the WWSSA also included a limited Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of an agreed list of alternative approach treatment approaches. The trials tested within the LCA were identified through two workshops with Reef councils and applications from individual councils. The LCA is an important tool as it provides insights into the social, environmental and economic costs across the life of a potential “trial�.

Assets within the wastewater industry are long-lived so having an understanding of their total cost over time informs better decision making.

Across the Reef Catchment, 18 councils have participated in the WWSSA project and 11 trials were submitted to the steering group for review. The

submissions were of high calibre and represented the continued drive by Local Governments to improve their local catchments and the reef while providing safe, secure and sustainable services to their customers. The 5 trials selected for the LCA provided a broad representation of treatment approaches ranging from; water quality offsets to macroalgae treatment systems to modular membrane technologies.

The next stage of the project is to develop an investment strategy to support trials and seek further funding to reach an implementation and testing phase. This will include the five trials assessed through an LCA as well as alternatives suggested by other councils. Implementation of these trials is being pursued to create exemplars of how other councils can approach affordable improvements in sewage management. The strong participation of councils throughout the project is a demonstration of how the sector, though contributing only a small portion nutrient to the reef, are doing their part in its continued protection.

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qwrap Update Dr Rob Fearon qldwater - The Queensland Water Directorate

through a DNRME-funded bid pool managed by LGAQ, and three have established formal regional Water Alliances.

The Queensland Water Regional Alliances Program (QWRAP) is a multi-partner project exploring regionalisation of water and sewerage services across Queensland. In many jurisdictions, including all of Australia outside regional Qld and country NSW, council water and sewerage services have been regionalised and corporatised.

Over the past couple of decades, there have been repeated calls through national reviews and bodies like Infrastructure Australia and the Productivity Commission to do the same for Qld and NSW.

Each region is at a different level of collaboration and QWRAP funding is focused on encouraging increasing collaboration maturity within and across regions. This is achieved by supporting regional coordinators in five of the regions and providing seed-funding for projects that contribute to increasing regionalisation. QWRAP also convenes regular meetings in all regions and develops research and communication products to explore the benefits of regional collaboration. An independent review by Deloitte has shown that projects and activities funded have led to significant financial savings through economies of scale in addition to promoting regionalisation.

The key benefit of QWRAP is that allows councils to explore the benefits, costs and risks of regionalisation of their services in a way that is optimal for their region. This is only possible through the participation and funding support of the Department of Natural Resources Mines and Energy (DNRME), the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ), the Queensland Water Directorate and over 30 participating Queensland Councils. Since the program commenced in 2011, eight regions have formed regional steering groups (at technical and often political levels) to discuss water collaboration, five are supported

Benefits of collaboration must be balanced with potential risks.

Surveys show that the water and sewerage consistently rate highly in customer views of both importance and satisfaction with services provided by local governments. Many councils and communities express concern with the idea of regionalisation fearing that it is a step towards privatization or at least moves customers further from the governance of their most essential of essential services. In a large state with several hundred water

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and sewerage schemes, many serving very small communities, these concerns must be balanced carefully with potential opportunities from cooperation.

There is no shortage of challenges facing water and sewerage utilities and the well-known rhythm of droughts and flood pressures is being emphasized by increasing customer expectations, regulations and potentially, climate change.

QWRAP has allowed councils to address such issues together and capture some collaborative spirit that is clearly visible across communities facing natural disasters in Queensland and nationally. The three Queensland Water Alliances in the RAPAD (Remote Area Planning and Development Board), WBBROC (Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils) and WIM (Whitsunday-IsaacMackay) regions are continuing to demonstrate their leadership in capturing these benefits and ensuring safe, secure and sustainable services for their many communities.

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Queensland’s Urban Potable Water and Sewerage Benchmarking Report 2018/19

QLDWATER

Dr Louise Reeves Program Coordinator & Technical Writer Benchmarking for the urban water industry is the process of measuring the performance of a service provider against others that are considered to be the "best in class" to identify opportunities for improvement.

Examining service providers with superior performance and identifying what makes that performance possible can help service providers implement changes that will improve their own performance. This results in an evolution towards improved performance and can translate into increased efficiencies and reduced costs. However, working out which service providers are in the same class can be hard, and this is especially the case for Queensland.

Benchmarking for the urban water industry in Queensland is in its infancy, having been confounded by the diversity of the sector and the numerous factors influencing service provider's performance which include; population serviced, remoteness, water source, and age of infrastructure, to name just a few.

In Queensland, urban water services are provided by 69

councils, one non-council entity (RTA Weipa), three bulk water suppliers and two council-owned Distribution Retail Entities (DREs).

Other Australian states and territories typically have either a single authority or a small number of regional statutory authorities.

Performance reporting processes are now well established across the state due to the uptake of the voluntary SWIM reporting process and the mandatory KPI framework introduced in 2014 (see Box). This has resulted in a steady improvement in the quality of reported data and accordingly the confidence in comparisons made using that data.

To aid comparison among diverse service providers in Queensland, all service providers have been divided into five groups based (mostly) on the number of water-connected properties served: Indigenous, small (<1,000), medium (1,000 to 9,999), large (10,000 to 50,000) and extralarge (>50,000).

Sewerage operating cost (OPEX) per property is an example of an indicator that can be used as a measure of the operational efficiency of a service provider. The chief components of operating cost for a service provider include: • Charges for bulk treatment/ transfer of sewerage

SWIM Each year service providers (SPs) must collate and supply significant volumes of data on water and sewerage services to several State and Commonwealth agencies. The Statewide Water Information Management (SWIM) project was created by the Queensland Water Directorate (qldwater) in 2006 to simplify reporting of up to 900+ indicators reported by some Queensland SPs. Legislative changes in 2014 resulted in a change to the reporting requirements of SPs in Queensland, such that all SPs in the state are required to report via the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Framework.

Today, thanks to the SWIM system, swimlocal and data translation tools, SPs are required to report only around 200 indicators in total which are then passed on to State and Commonwealth agencies in their specified formats.

• Salaries and wages and their overheads • Materials/chemicals/energy • Contracts • Maintenance costs • All other operating costs that would normally be reported.

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73 of the 75 KPI reporting SPs used SWIM $2.15 billion spent in 2018/19 operating the $40 billion worth of water and sewerage infrastructure Queensland customers: 2 million water connections and 1.8 million sewerage connections Last year a typical household spend $1,439* on water and sewerage The number water and sewerage complaints was 5* per 1,000 properties There were 7.8* sewerage main breaks and chokes per 100 km sewer main There were 14.9* water main breaks per 100 km water main

The distribution of OPEX per property values for service providers in the chart (each bar is one service provider) shows that the rankings are not strongly correlated with the size of the service provider. This suggests that operating costs for sewerage services are strongly influenced by factors that are not directly related to the number of connections.

In contrast to what might be expected, OPEX costs for larger providers can be substantially higher due to combined influences of regulatory and social requirements for higher a degree of treatment to produce an effluent that can be discharged to the environment or reused. Small and remote communities can employ low-technology solutions such as sewage lagoons, which generally have low operating costs.

555* kilolitres potable water supplied per connection per annum

Costs can also be impacted by other influences, for example, topography, which can affect operating costs through the amount of pumping needed to move the sewage to the treatment plant. With higher levels of sewage pumping comes an associated increase in asset maintenance and energy costs.

Note: *= median of reported values

Download the full report at www. qldwater.com.au/reporting

Real water losses for the 20 SPs that reported in 2018/19 was 78.6* litres per service connection per day

The future of benchmarking qldwater is currently working to develop ‘clusters’ of similar water and sewerage schemes to allow service providers to compare performance at a scale more appropriate to Queensland’s diverse communities. By identifying clusters of service providers or communities that have similar critical cost drivers, we hope to facilitate direct comparisons within the cluster.

Factors in the clustering include the size and degree of dispersion of the water or sewerage network, the sort of sewage treatment that is required (e.g. secondary or tertiary treatment for sewage), and the source of water (e.g. Great Artesian Basin, external supply or dam/weir) which can have very different treatment requirements and associated costs.

The development of the clustering criteria is particularly important because service providers are aware that broader KPI benchmarks do not necessarily compare ‘apples with apples’ and comparisons will be disregarded unless the clustering criteria are credible.

Using Power BI to develop a series of informative reports based on these clusters, the intention is to promote competition by comparison within the urban water industry. Successful competition, by comparison, has the potential to encourage continuous improvement within the sector and perhaps even broader scale industry reform.

For pricing on customised reports or data analysis tailored to your individual service provider, please contact Louise Reeves on lreeves@qldwater.com.au.

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Arundel Wetlands Collaboration Dr Louise Martin-Chew Research & Media Coordinator When developer Villa World needed to manage stormwater discharge from a new residential subdivision, the City of Gold Coastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2011 acquisition of a degraded golf course site in Arundel under the Open Space preservation program became key. Negotiations between Villa World and City of Gold Coast led to an atypical collaboration which has delivered significant environmental, social and economic benefits to the community, and increased biodiversity in this area. The concept, which emerged from community consultation, led to an agreement allowing Villa World to use the Arundel section to deliver the stormwater and recreation infrastructure obligations required under their development application.

The property that council purchased in Arundel during 2011 was designated to become part of the larger Coombabah Conservation Area. However, subject to unregulated earthworks and uncontrolled fill, the Arundel site had an altered hydrology, also causing afflux upstream. It comprised a partially built golf course and a relatively undisturbed buffer area to Saltwater

Aerial view of the Arundel Wetlands, Image courtesy City of Gold Coast.

Creek (which had the highest conservation values on the site).

The area, previously a golf course, formed a transition from paulistine riverine buffer to the existing residential community. Community consultation suggested that residents were keen to see the area utilised as a recreational trail network through a natural park environment.

Negotiations concerning development applications for a residential subdivision adjacent to the Arundel site were taking place at a similar time to Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2011 acquisition. Ultimately Villa World acquired the subdivision. Council

began exploring a partnership under which Villa World would undertake the rectification and rehabilitation of the waterways and wetlands to create the parkland desired by existing residents. On this basis Council would permit water quality improvement and water quantity infrastructure for the residential development to be located on the Council-owned land at Arundel. This private public partnership, delivering integrated and multifunctional parkland, was recognised with an Infrastructure Award presented to the Queensland Division of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.

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This partnership has delivered an improvement to the entire wetlands area, treating stormwater for the upper catchment as well as the development site. Rehabilitation of the degraded site is also complete, with recreational trails now throughout the parkland. Landscape elements include bespoke shelters, wayfinding and interpretive signage and entry markers.

The Arundel site is recognised under the Ramsar convention, with improvement to the quality of stormwater entering the lake and wetland system a significant environmental benefit. Lake Coombabah provides vital habitat to migratory and endemic waterbirds and important fauna. Over 30,000 migratory shorebirds are hosted in the Arundel section during the summer months with Coombabah Lakelands home to 274 species of animals including vulnerable species such as koalas, the Powerful Owl, and Grey-Headed Flying Fox. The Arundel Wetlands Collaboration Submission for IPWEAQ Excellence Awards 2019 notes, “Producing a public open space that seamlessly integrates visual amenity, urban stormwater treatment, flood mitigation, fauna habitat and naturebased recreation opportunities required close collaboration between stakeholders during the project’s planning and construction phase. In contrast to the standard approach of parkland use singularity, all stakeholders were adamant that synergies between the different uses should be celebrated. Of significant importance was the community’s desire to connect with nature through the park’s trail circuit and through access to the broader nature-based trail network within the Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area.”

Image courtesy City of Gold Coast.

Kangaroos at the Arundel Wetlands, Image courtesy City of Gold Coast.

Landscape elements at the Arundel Wetlands, Image courtesy City of Gold Coast.

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Major utility upgrade has flow on effects Daniel Hussey, Project Manager BMD Constructions.

An upgrade to Townsville’s ageing water and sewerage network was pivotal to the sustainability of the growing North Queensland community.

Under a managing contractor model, BMD Constructions delivered one of the biggest utility upgrades in Townsville’s history, installing approximately 20 kilometres of water and sewerage pipework and replacing mains up to 60 years old. The project involved considerable excavations and replacement of old pipework and mains over a large area in variable ground conditions. With aged infrastructure comes a greater likelihood of unplanned failures and, combined with CBD growth in the city, meant infrastructure renewal and upgrade was vital to Townsville’s future.

The project was recognised by the Australian Water Association, winning the 2019 Infrastructure Project Innovation Award.

The upgrade delivered the following benefits: • Improved capacity and efficiency of water and wastewater services to residents and businesses.

• Maintaining water pressure as the city grows.

• Eliminating the potential for

water wastage from ageing water and sewerage network infrastructure services through broken pipes.

• Ensuring Townsville water and wastewater infrastructure can cater for future CBD growth.

• Delivering quality infrastructure through high performing local subcontractors ensured Council benefited through reduced maintenance and improved whole of life for the asset.

Future proofing through improved asset data The major technical challenge on the project was network service operations being unknown to service authorities due to age, poor records, and broken valves.

To reduce the potential for unplanned disruptions, proactive management and close liaison with Townsville Water Operations was vital to understanding the network. Frequent test shutdowns and isolations were performed to identify businesses affected during major isolations, cut ins and shutdowns so that advance notice could be provided.

BMD collaborated with the designers to understand design intents and reasoning behind original alignments, resulting in the development of a system to locate and record positions of underground services. The pioneering concept is based on

a dedicated service location crew conducting investigations ahead of time using a combination of Ground Penetrating Radar, traditional detection tools, sucker truck exploration and digital pick up. This information was utilised to critique designs and propose alternative alignments based on the location of existing services, traffic and stakeholder management, access for plant and equipment and poor ground conditions. This process was fundamental in the success of the project as it: • ensured works progressed with minimal stoppages and/or unnecessary delay costs • provided informed outcomes for stakeholders • gave subcontractors the best opportunities as there was minimal stop/start work activity.

A significant outcome of the project was the transfer of knowledge and quality asset data as a result of confirming locations of the existing assets. This was vital to ensure future operation and maintenance of the infrastructure.

BMD provided extensive ‘as constructed’ information to Townsville City Council, which was inputted into the Council Geographic Information System (GIS). The quality and knowledge transfer of these records was paramount to the future operation of the infrastructure, with BMD

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• Early local industry briefing workshops to ensure participation by the local suppliers and subcontractors.

• Works assigned into trade-based packages requiring increased management but allowed local businesses to concentrate on the works in which they were skilled.

working closely with Townsville City Council to ensure this process was seamless.

Transforming Townsville together The project delivered transformative outcomes for the city of Townsville, not only in the infrastructure delivered but also in the managing contractor style of delivery to maximise local resources whilst achieving value for money for the local population and businesses.

With the project delivered under a managing contractor model, all

onsite works were to be completed under package-based contracts with subcontractors and suppliers.

This provided opportunities for BMD and Townsville City Council to focus on local subcontractor and supplier participation to help deliver the project.

It was the first of a new kind of contract model to incentivise local employment and encourage fair competition. The collaborative commercial framework maximised scope for the Townsville community. BMD proactively used a range of strategies including:

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As a result of this strong focus on maximising opportunities for local businesses, the project achieved 92% of the total hours of work delivered locally, and 96.2% of the project’s $55 million budget spent locally, while also creating more than 300 jobs. On top of this, through high-level project management, forecasting and an open collaborative relationship with Townsville City Council, BMD delivered the program ahead of schedule.

To learn more about BMD’s group of companies engaged in engineering design, construction and land development visit www.bmd.com.au.

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Developing the water industry workforce of the future

QLDWATER

Carlie Sargent Skills Manager, qldwater Queensland’s water industry employs more than 6,000 workers providing water and sewerage services to Queensland’s 5 million constituents. Water service providers include large distribution retail entities, bulk water supply statutory authorities, councils (including 17 indigenous councils), and water boards along with a range of supporting service providers.

The sector faces complex workforce challenges including ageing, issues attracting and retaining staff, competition from other industries and general skills and labour shortages with trends towards rapidly advancing technology, ageing infrastructure

and increasing community expectations. qldwater facilitates the Queensland Water Skills Partnership, the only industry-led skills program for the Queensland industry with 46 subscribers and broad representation across the State.

The Partnership is chaired by Angela Robinson, Operations Development Coordinator, Seqwater. It performs a number of functions including: • securing skills and training funding for industry • producing reports and workforce planning documentation • coordinating industry wide skills/ workforce development projects • piloting training initiatives • information sharing and collaboration opportunities; • and representation for

Queensland on numerous national industry skills committees.

The high risk and highly technical nature of water and sewerage services means that those operating within the sector need to be highly trained and experienced to provide quality drinking water and manage sewerage systems to protect public and environmental health. A failure by providers to supply safe and reliable water and sewerage

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roles typically had gained skills and knowledge equivalent to, or exceeding those gained through a recognised trade, without a structured learning framework or other formal qualification.

services can have major public health and environmental impacts.

The Water Skills Partnership pursues a number of initiatives to support competency development and we explore one of these programs in this issue of Engineering for Public Works.

The National Water Training Package (NWP) is the main vocational training package used for the sector, with relevance to operations and para-professional qualifications. The package covers water and wastewater treatment, construction and maintenance, bulk water supplies, hydrography, metering and other streams within the industry.

The Water Industry Worker (WIW) Program is a custom, industry designed, competency training program focused on the formal recognition of skills and training of employees within the civil construction and maintenance field in the water industry.

Participants in the program undertake either a Certificate II or III in Water Industry Operations and move through the program to a Certificate IV Water Operations and/or Diploma of Water Operations qualifications for supervisory staff. The program provides a practical approach to valuing existing skills and includes an RPL component, acknowledging that experienced staff in these

The program was established in South East Queensland in 2009 with a pilot involving eight local councils, supported by qldwater.

Since the original pilot, Unitywater, Queensland Urban Utilities, City of Gold Coast, Logan City Council and Redland City Council have continued to offer and embed the program in their organisations with support from qldwater through the Queensland Water Skills Partnership.

Involvement in the program has led to positive improvements in workplace practices with on-call staff working across both water and wastewater maintenance teams providing increased flexibility for supervisors when planning works and managing oncall rostering.

Following the success of the program in South East Queensland, a further pilot of the program involving 30 operators was established in North Queensland, with a Project Coordinator employed for a twelve-month period to coordinate the pilot in the Mackay, Whitsunday, Townsville, Cairns and Burdekin Shire Councils. The Project Coordinator is funded by the Queensland Water Regional Alliance Program (QWRAP) and participating councils.

Training workshops are being delivered by Simmonds and Bristow at various locations among the participating councils with feedback showing that the opportunity for operators to learn from each other, compare processes and look at

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individual work practices has been extremely valuable.

Mackay Regional Council’s Manager Water Network, Jason Cocker, said the program “benefits the individual by offering a certification for the work they are already completing and will add skills and knowledge to our existing plumbers. It also gives us a gateway to our young people in the community to take WIW as a career pathway.”

From this latest regional pilot, the Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils, which includes Bundaberg Regional Council, Fraser Coast Regional Council, Gympie Regional Council, North Burnett Regional Council, South Burnett Regional Council and Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council is investigating establishment of the program in their region and exploring collaborative opportunities with the North Queensland regional pilot group.

Bundaberg Regional Council’s Branch Manager, Water Services, Narelle D’Amico, said the program will “leverage off existing skills and provide a framework for ongoing learning and development that helps promote the value of careers in the water industry.”

Expansion of the Water Industry Worker program will be explored further at qldwater’s annual Water Skills Forum to be held in Brisbane on Thursday 5 March at the Brisbane International Virginia Hotel. Register online now.

For more information about the Water Industry Worker program or any of qldwater’s skilling and workforce development initiatives, please contact Carlie Sargent, Skills Manager on 3632 6853 or csargent@qldwater.com.au.

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Engineering and Community Sustainability Frameworks

Dr Kim Polistina Director of JustSust and an Academic (Teaching) at School of Environment, Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University, Lismore.

1 Sustainability from Academia to Action Ten years ago, sustainability was largely a topic for academic debate, rarely gaining front page prominence. In 2020, it is a broad community theme engaging vigorous mainstream political discussion, as the evidence for its urgent practical implementation accumulates. The need for a change in our way of life to more sustainable options is becoming more pressing. Local communities are progressively moving to an understanding that the economic systems they have lived with for centuries are unsustainable in the long term. “Experts” produced from, and mandated to perpetuate, this unsustainable system, are ill-suited to design and direct social change toward sustainability. What can engineers do to convincingly assert that it is engineers as a profession who are ideally positioned to direct the necessary social change to a sustainable system.

In the IPWEAQ 2019 Great Debate there was agreement on both side that engineers are innately flexible and capable of managing and resolving multiple issues simultaneously (Cunningham, 2019). This is integral to the role, regardless of their city or rural location. This translates to a capacity to see situations from multiple perspectives. This capacity is important to the understanding and implementation of a transdisciplinary approach to social change towards more sustainable outcomes.

2 Local to Global Sustainability The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), often used to guide change towards sustainability, are systemic and universally applicable to all nations. Frameworks to guide the implementation of these goals need to move from the monodisciplinary debates around environmental, social, cultural and economic sustainability to a systems perspective of social change that is transdisciplinary in nature. The absence of any form of common implementation framework at the global level, however, prompted the Environmental Management Group (2012) to develop a systemwide framework for the United

Nations. The absence of national level sustainability frameworks is also prevalent. It follows then, that despite overwhelming global documentation on what is required to make this transition to a sustainable world, limited guidance is available on how to co-ordinate such a large agenda at the local community level.

For those attempting to implement social change at this specific local community level, work is conducted with diverse individuals, groups and/or collectives, who would commonly be termed stakeholders. The implementation of this change at a social level is often adopted in various forms by local community groups and individuals and civic organisations.

The responsibility for governance of this change is seen as the remit of local and regional councils.

Although the strength of this change is found at the local and regional community level, the lack of an overarching framework to guide change is problematic.

Current actions to implement change towards sustainability locally are concerted but piecemeal and ad hoc.

Guidelines, models and tools exist and are used with enthusiasm at the local level to implement

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Wind farm, Rottnest Island, Western Australia.

change. For example, different universal frameworks being used for CSF development include but are not limited to: The Natural Step; Ecological Economics; Genuine Progress Indicator; Circular Economy; Circles for Social Life; and the Ecological Footprint; to develop these local frameworks.

Selecting and utilising any one of these models is problematic for a systems approach to sustainability.

Although they espouse a systems perspective, their implementation is, understandably, monodisciplinary. We all work from our own area of expertise â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this is what we have been trained to do. The lack of social change towards sustainability is, therefore, made more complicated by representatives from different disciplines using these frameworks in their isolated contexts, for example, frameworks for engineers, urban planning,

infrastructure development, health and well-being, environmental regeneration protection, and economic development.

Sustainability frameworks are developed for specific problems using the mono-disciplinary expert knowledge and experience of the individual/s developing them.

However, current systems thinking that connects this expertise in a holistic way to other elements of sustainability domains is embryonic. Any attempt at social change towards sustainability is therefore at risk of simply contributing to a never-ending cycle of piecemeal frameworks providing a short-term resolution to social change.

The use of a diversity of models for specific contexts is not the problem, their use in isolation without being incorporated as part of an overarching framework,

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is what weakens the potency and longevity of sustainability.

The challenge for nations is to provide deeply differentiated and context-specific actions to achieve this global sustainability agenda as these global outcomes will be primarily implemented at the local level (Smith, Cook, Sokona, Elmqvist, Fukushi, Broadgate and Jarzebski, 2018).

Human behaviours impact negatively on social change towards local sustainability.

Community Sustainability Frameworks (CSFs) are one avenue to assist in drawing together transdisciplinary experience to harness the complexity of social change at the local level. Engineering is part of this transdisciplinary approach to working alongside local communities to development CSFs to guide progress towards sustainability.

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Pristine waters off Maria Island, Tasmania.

3 Community Sustainability Frameworks Community sustainability frameworks (CFSs) are a means to strengthening social change towards a more sustainable everyday life at the local societal level (Polistina, 2019). Current discussions on CSFs show no common definition or explanation of key concepts other than those that link to selected elements of a specific sustainability domain – environmental, social, economic, cultural and sometimes political.

Within these isolated disciplines CSFs tend to offer a diversity of dimensions and themes and their dilution to focus on a single element of sustainability appears to be the norm. For example, from a health and well-being perspective the Centre for Design and Research in Sustainability (CEDARS)1 provide an overarching view of sustainability frameworks

as “a way to organize thinking about sustainability as well as inform planning, management, and evaluation of activities in order to improve and maintain health outcomes at a population level. The sustainability framework is implemented by project staff and local stakeholders” (2019, page 1). In the corporate literature they monitor dimensions relevant only to economic development including the management process; corporate leadership; environmental awareness, auditing and reporting; and risk assessment (Chofreh and Goni, 2017).

For the most part current sustainability frameworks cover a multitude of mono-disciplinary guidance for the external expert to lead processes and procedures in the community rather than community-led and empowered processes for social change. A

transdisciplinary approach to social change that encapsulates the systems perspective of sustainability is also lacking.

Despite the overabundance of excellent stakeholder engagement at the local level, implementation of local sustainability requires more - it requires community ownership for long term local sustainability. Engineering can play a key role in progressing the development of CSFs. 4 Engineers’ role in CSF The field of engineering has a practical and theoretical understanding of social change and societal and environmental needs. If we were to look at the diversity of research topics selected by research and higher degree engineering students, we would see elements of all the sustainability domains.

Improvement in the processing

1 CEDARS is an initiative of the International Health and Development (IHD) Division of Inner-City Fund (ICF) International Inc. located in Rockville, Maryland USA.

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point that engineers become more than organisers of stakeholder engagement for their projects but participants in a system that progresses community ownership of social change towards sustainability through CSFs. References • Centre for Design and Research in Sustainable Development (CEDARS). 2019. Sustainability Framework Overview. Retrieved on 16th September, 2019 from http://cedarscenter.com/ sfoverview.cfm Green buildings work toward a healthier built environment.

time for stents for heart transplants; gender equality in the engineering industry; evaluation of sustainable haulage options for iron ore transfer in mining operations; efficient train maintenance systems; social and economic sustainability of permanent vs casual labour hire; and controlling bryozoan in water supply networks, are but a few of the topics identified as relevant to the engineering field.

The role of engineers’ in social change towards sustainability, then, is two-fold. On the one hand engineers are a conduit of expert leadership in change through innovative and futures thinking about how engineering can assist others to move toward sustainability. On the other, engineers accumulate knowledge from others by becoming one of many groups who contribute to a broader CSF to help make this change a reality. This knowledge cycles back to help generate seeds of innovation for the engineering field. These two roles are not mutually exclusive but are intertwined, moving from

one to the other throughout the development of knowledge to support social change towards sustainability.

Critical thinking is the forté of engineers. They have the potential to assist communities and local governments to understand the challenge of providing deeply differentiated and contextspecific actions required to achieve the global sustainability agenda at the local level. Critical thinking requires an ability to see others’ perspectives and to draw information form a diversity of knowledge bases.

This includes the ability to incorporate local community understanding and expertise on the idiosyncrasies of a local area.

Drawing this knowledge from local community, civil organisations and governments is key to expanding an engineer’s expertise to include intuitive, flexible and systems thinking approaches. In that way engineers are becoming part of a system of social change rather than simply the drivers of change working in isolation. It is at this

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• Chofreh, A.G. and Goni, F.A. 2017. Review of Frameworks for Sustainability Implementation.

Sustainable Development, 25, 180-188. doi:10.1002/sd.1658

• Cunningham, L. 2019. The Great Debate. Engineering for Public Works, December 2019, 16, 1-111 • Environmental Management Group. 2012. A Framework for Advancing Environmental and Social Sustainability in the United Nations System. Geneva: United Nations • Polistina, K. 2019. Minions, Mates and Linchpins: A qualitative examination of the local social-ecological context of neoliberalist bullying impacting on sustainability domains and responses through community sustainability frameworks.

(Doctorate). Rockhampton: Central Queensland University

• Smith, M.S., Cook, C., Sokona, Y., Elmqvist, T., Fukushi, K., Broadgate, W. and Jarzebski, M.P. 2018. Advancing sustainability science for the SDGs. Sustainability Science, 13 (6), 1483-1487. doi:10.1007/s11625018-0645-3

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Environmental Upgrade takes Graham Andrews Park into Charleville’s Heart

PARKLANDS

Dr Louise Martin-Chew Research & Media Coordinator The redevelopment of Graham Andrews Park is acknowledged for its transformation of a previously barren space into an environmentally diverse area, now planted with native and exotic vegetation, and attracting wildlife and significant community usage. It is located in Charleville (population 3,800) where the eight-year drought was followed, in early 2020, by flooding rains. The township’s main industry is agriculture which has been significantly impacted by weather, creating a greater reliance, in recent years, on tourism and liveability.

Tourism is increasingly important to maintain local business and community spirit.

Graham Andrews Parklands is one of two major parks in Charleville.

While the central King Edward Park has evolved into a sporting complex which houses the local swimming pool, netball courts, tennis courts and a skate park, Graham Andrews is a recreational area. The redevelopment to create it as an appealing and welcoming space has successfully stimulated important community usage and integration. So how has this been achieved?

Graham Andrews Park before the upgrade.

Murweh Shire Council looked to parklands in major cities around Australia to inspire a redevelopment designed to generate amenity for the Charleville community and to assist local environmental diversity. This upgrade has made a sanctuary for wildlife and offers important support for local flora and fauna, with green spaces, areas for picnics, and amenity to attract visitors from elsewhere.

On all these measures the upgrade has been positive. With the introduction of native and exotic flora, wildlife is abundant. Birdlife now includes galahs, kookaburras, willie wagtails, lapwings, yellowthroated miners, wrens, emus and ducks. Work on biodiversity and ecosystems within the parkland

will continue, to provide and maintain habitats to encourage the health of Charleville’s unique natural environment.

Upgrade works included: • New water fountains to the lake area • New grass areas, planting of native and exotic trees • Walkways around the lake and throughout the park • New park furniture and perimeter fencing • Solar lighting for bicycle, walking and running circuits • Free electric barbeques • Interpretive signage • Automatic sprinkler systems • Construction of car parking.

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Community outcomes as a result of the Graham Andrews upgrade are visible with an exponential increase in park usage, the formation of early morning walking and running groups (including Park Run), community celebrations and social activities.

Less structured activities – ball games and children’s usage – are also popular with solar lighting allowing for park use at night

(walking and socialising). The park is well-maintained with council crews clearing debris, ensuring that water systems are operating efficiently, and managing community safety on a daily basis.

Previously, Graham Andrews Parklands offered little value to the town. Its upgrade has made it central to Charleville’s recreational programs and developed

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significant environmental diversity in this place. It has become a highly used facility for the local community, many of whom have been isolated by drought, and a sanctuary for wildlife. With the success of this place-making process, Charleville has embraced Graham Andrews Parkland into the heart of its community.

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Aligning Asset Valuation and Condition Assessment Processes

REFLECTIONS FROM LGFP MASTERCLASS 2019

Stephen Hegedus, Partner, Shepherd Continuing their positive working relationship, IPWEAQ and LGFP once again partnered to host an Asset Management Masterclass titled - “Closing the loop between Asset Valuation and Condition Assessment Processes”.

The objective of the Masterclass was to explore the issue of how asset data being collected is utilised in different ways by public works, finance and asset management professionals. The learnings from the Masterclass highlighted the need for all stakeholders involved with asset data to understand the linkages between valuations and condition assessments, and the overall benefits for Council Asset Management.

To generate discussion and raise issues associated with the theme of aligning asset valuations and condition assessment processes, I delivered the following presentations: 1. T owards Better Asset Valuation Practices • Getting the Timing Right – When to Value What

• Reviewing and Validating the Data • Questions to Ask the Valuer • Indexing vs Comprehensive Valuations 2. Better Condition Assessments Processes • Understanding Condition Ratings • Internal vs External Condition Assessments • Aligning Condition Assessments and Valuations • Data Sample Sizes and Validation Masterclass participants then formed groups of ten to workshop the topics raised during the presentations and reported back on significant issues discussed.

A personal highlight of the Masterclass for me was the Q&A panel session. For this session I joined the following panel members to further explore issues and ideas with participants: • Patrick Flemming, Sector Director Local Government, QAO • Trent Grauf, Manager Financial Services, Noosa Shire Council • Mark Holmes, General Manager Finance, Risk and Governance The level of engagement from council representatives who attended was outstanding with

both the workshop and Q&A sessions generating valuable discussion. Challenges, frustrations, successes and solutions were openly shared by the group with the goal of working toward better asset management practices.

As a result of the Masterclass and thanks to the collective thinking of the participants, the following list of ‘Quick Wins’ were circulated to assist public works, finance and asset management professionals and councils on their asset management journey.

Quick Wins 1. Check if you can collaborate with your neighbour/s to avoid competing for valuation services and/or condition assessment services? Can valuations or condition audits be aligned across councils to minimise competition and maximise cost efficiency (particularly for major asset classes - roads, buildings, stormwater)?

2. Check if infrastructure unit rates are aligned between those used by design teams (and their consultants) for capital works budget planning and rates used

by Finance/Asset Management for valuation purposes?

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NAMS Council Qld Representative Stephen Hegedus presented two papers at the LGFP Conference 2019 as part of the Asset Management Masterclass, presented in conjunction with IPWEA Queensland, to explore aligning asset valuation and condition assessment processes.

3. A re you doing condition assessments? If so, do they align with valuations and are they used for reference to determine remaining lives etc.

If not, can you possibly defer future valuations in consultation with your auditor and get some alignment happening?

6. A re you regularly meeting and talking with asset management, and your infrastructure teams to coordinate and align condition assessments and valuations? If not, can you start doing so!

4. T o get ahead of the curve consider if a smarter condition assessment process is needed i.e. rapid assessments vs detailed assessments (i.e. stormwater assessments)?

7. C heck if asset condition scoring grades you are currently using align with IPWEA condition assessment and asset performance practice note recommendations?

for efficiency (i.e. storm water, passive W&S assets)?

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Peak Services Update on Impending Changes to Ergon Tariffs

Simon Martin Energy Advisory Leader Peak Services As we all know our everincreasing consumption of energy and the rising costs of the market means we need to be on our game more than ever. The Energy team at Peak is focused on providing much needed energy services to Queensland local government to find ways to reduce these overall costs and doing our bit to help councils lower the impact to the environment.

Part of our role as leaders in the energy business is to ensure the sector is informed and updated on any impending changes that may affect Queensland councils and ultimately Queensland communities.

Through our ongoing discussions with Ergon Energy, it has come to our attention that as of 1 July 2020, the demand charge for large sites will be billed on kVA and not kW. Consequently, Council may be penalised for lower Power Factor resulting in a higher cost.

What does this mean in layman's terms?

All sites with a total annual electricity consumption over 100MWh are classified as large

sites. The electricity bills of all large business tariffs include a demand charge. There are exceptions for tariffs 20L, 22L and 37, however these tariffs are currently identified to be made obsolete in 2021 and therefore not applicable in this instance.

The power demanded by the site and supplied from the network is known as “Apparent Power” (measured in kVA) whilst the actual power used to run the facility is known as “Real Power” (measured in kW). Power Factor is a ratio (between 0 and 1) of real power (kW) to the apparent power (kVA).

It is a way of measuring efficient power usage. The closer the power factor is to 1, the more efficiently the site is consuming electricity.

Currently, the demand charge for large business sites is billed on “Real Power” (kW). However, with this changing to be billed on “Apparent Power” (kVA), there may be increased cost implications impacting councils operating budgets.

So how can we help?

In order to prepare against higher electricity costs due to these upcoming changes, our energy team can assist councils to investigate the Power Factor at each of Council’s large sites and specify the Power Factor

Correction System at sites identified with poor power factor to mitigate against these impending changes.

Western Downs Regional Council recently engaged Peak Services to investigate the impact of the upcoming kVA demand charging at its 23 large sites. Peak conducted a feasibility assessment for installation of a power factor correction devices at each of the four sites identified with poor Power Factor. The work comprised a data collection phase followed by a Power Factor Correction concept design phase.

The study indicated the installation of power factor correction systems would provide Council with a total annual saving of approximately $23,000 across the four sites.

All four systems were estimated to payback within two years of operation.

For further information and to understand how the team at Peak can assist your council to be prepared for these impending changes, contact Simon Martin at smartin@wearepeak.com.au

Example of a Power Factor Correction Device

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What makes a graduate?

AMBASSADOR ARTICLE

Maddy Stahlhut IPWEAQ Ambassador With the recent introduction of IPWEAQ student membership, it seemed timely to discuss the transition between university study and the big wide world of employment. As a recent Civil Engineering and Business Management graduate, I would like to share my experiences, offer some guidance and provide some insight into this transition for students, as well as employers, managers and supervisors.

Personally, I was lucky to find myself working within the engineering profession even before I commenced my degree,

as an intern at my local council.

To say I was green was an understatement. I had never set foot into a professional office environment and it was a huge learning curve. However, I was fortunate that the workplace I was walking into included people who understood my inexperience and guided me through the transition.

Fast forward to the end of university, and I found myself starting with a new organisation as a fully-fledged graduate engineer, but I still had first day jitters. At GHD I take part in a well-structured graduate program, which includes a 3-day intensive ‘Career Kick-off’. At the end of these 3-days some of my anxieties were alleviated just by talking to

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other grads and understanding day-to-day things such as how to fill out your timesheet. Personally, this really made a difference, but not all graduates find themselves in this position. Taking the time to ensure that a new graduate is informed on everyday things such as ‘what to wear’ and ‘what time to take lunch’ can help a fresh graduate feel welcomed into their new position.

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On the other hand, it is also extremely important that as a graduate you ask questions.

It sounds simple, but I did not truly realise the importance of asking questions until I was a graduate. Often you are given more responsibility than you may have been as an undergraduate completing work experience, making it critical that you understand the task which has been assigned to you. So, if you don’t understand or even just want to clarify something, make sure you ask. It’s so cliché, but 99% of the time, there is no such thing as a stupid question.

This is where it is also important for supervisors and managers to provide clear instructions, remembering that graduates are often doing something for the first time. Most graduates are always keen to learn and expand their skills, however undertaking new tasks of a technical nature can be daunting, and it always helps when a manager understands this. Providing both positive and

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constructive feedback is extremely valuable, as it helps graduates understand what is expected from them and will lead to a win-win situation for both grads and the organisation they work for.

If you’re a grad and you’re not getting feedback, then ask. Often your managers are busy people, but the vast majority want to see you improve.

Finding a mentor can also be a great way to gain feedback about specific work issues or your career, or even general life milestones.

Mentors do not have to be from the same organisation or even the same profession but having someone you can talk to and obtain advice from is extremely beneficial. I have very recently found myself in the position to be mentoring an engineering student, which has led me to reflect on the influence my own mentors have had on my career to date. You don’t just have to have one mentor either, or to have scheduled catch-ups, it can be very informal.

Mentors come in all forms and

mentoring relationships can come from surprising places, so don’t let them slip through your hands.

Additionally, keeping a record of your workday is a great way to reflect on your accomplishments for the day, as well as what you can improve on. It’s also just super handy if you need to remember what you did 6 months ago – you never know when this will be helpful. Reflection is also a great way to maintain focus when you might feel deflated with your day.

Finally, we come to the most important piece of advice in this whole article. Sleep. Transitioning into full-time work is hard. There are no more late nights where you can skip your 8am lecture. You need to come to work every day, switched on and ready to be your best. There will be days where you aren’t at 100% and this is totally normal; we can’t all be perfect all of the time, but working as a graduate is what you worked very hard for during your degree, so be ready to perform to your full potential!

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LINDSAY STAFFORD

EMERGING PROFESSIONAL

Lindsay Stafford, a Graduate Civil Engineer with AECOM Rockhampton, completed her undergraduate work placement with Gladstone Regional Council and AECOM while studying to complete her Civil Engineering Degree. Lindsay graduated from Central Queensland University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (First-Class Honours) and a Diploma of Professional Practice (CoOperative). Lindsay was also fortunate enough to graduate with the CQU Associate ViceChancellors Medal.

Please tell us about yourself: where are you from, what are your interests, what makes you tick?

LS: I was born in Rockhampton and raised in Yeppoon, so I’ve been in Central Queensland for my entire life, and I wouldn’t change that for anything. (I would rather stick to my small towns than bigger cities any day of the week). I attended high school at St Ursula’s College, Yeppoon before studying civil engineering in Rockhampton.

Outside of my education and career, I love spending my time with family and friends at many of our beautiful locations around the area. Not surprisingly, I love summer, being on the water and keeping myself busy with

any outdoor activity. I think it’s a prerequisite for anyone who grew up in CQ. I try to maintain a healthy life-work balance through sport; outside of work hours, you’ll find me on a football field any chance I get.

Why did you choose a career in public works engineering?

LS: To answer this question, I first need to explain why I chose a career in engineering in the first place (given that during my early teen years I had no clue what a career in engineering meant). My keen interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) related subjects throughout my primary and tertiary education steered me

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towards an engineering career.

In addition to this, I love the challenge of solving problems and delivering solutions.

To me, engineering is a humanitarian field, one that is about making life better for the community. I chose to work within public works engineering, specifically within water infrastructure, as it allows me to visibly contribute to the lives of these communities on a day-today basis. I have the opportunity to assist in delivering a diverse range of projects for local councils and provide work throughout various project stages, from planning and feasibility through to construction and implementation.

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How are you finding life as a Graduate Civil Engineer at AECOM? LS: I love it! I am so grateful for the opportunity to work for such a great company, within such a supportive and diverse team environment. As an undergraduate and for the first year of my career as a graduate, I worked within our Water Resources team, and across the past few months, I’ve been lucky enough to transition into our Water Infrastructure team. Each day I’m thrown outside of my comfort zone and face new challenges, projects and opportunities. Although it can be daunting, every day is different, and I continue to develop my skills and knowledge as a young engineer.

Do you think you faced any particular challenges as a woman studying engineering?

And if so, how did you overcome them? Do you have any particular advice you would offer to other young women thinking of a career in public works engineering?

LS: For me, it was a little daunting entering a workforce which is typically still male-dominated.

However, I believe that the sector as a whole is very supportive of women in engineering. I

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was fortunate enough to find incredible, female mentors during my education and throughout my career, which has been a massive part of my early career development and progression.

My mentors share my experiences and challenges and help me move through good and difficult times.

They’re not only willing to share skills, knowledge, expertise and successes but are also willing to discuss imperfections, failures and areas for improvement. If I could offer two pieces of advice for other young women considering a career in public works engineering it would be to first, find a mentor you trust, someone you can confide in, and second, to never doubt your own ability. I cannot stress the importance of the saying “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.”

What’s been your most significant career highlight to date?

LS: As an undergraduate, I was offered the opportunity to visit Nepal with Engineers Without Borders for a Humanitarian Design Summit as a New Colombo Plan Scholarship recipient. The program is an educational study tour designed to allow engineering students to develop a deeper understanding of the role Human-

Centred Design and technology play in creating positive change within communities of developing countries. The design summit allowed me to develop peoplecentred values and approaches in engineering, design and technology while supporting community members by generating ideas and developing prototypes for projects which aim to build on their current lifestyle.

The summit was an amazing opportunity and reiterated that I had chosen the right career path for me.

What do you appreciate most about your involvement with IPWEAQ? LS: I really appreciate the opportunity to network with likeminded people and knowledge share across the sector through attending conferences. Being younger, finding my feet within a new career (and the workforce in general) was difficult but the guidance, support and mentorship of those I have met through IPWEAQ made the transition from university to work life that much easier. Shaping and guiding early professionals, like myself, to build a diverse workforce has been proven to be successful for the industry, and I believe that IPWEAQ is key in achieving this.

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ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATES GAIN ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE in WIDE BAY BURNETT overcoming bias

Steve Brown Regional Water Coordinator Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils (WBBROC) Many councils across regional Queensland are finding it increasingly difficult to sustain and develop capacity and capability in their water departments. qldwater’s Queensland Urban Water Industry Workforce Snapshot Report 2018’ highlighted a continuing trend of increasing average age of water industry professionals caused by retirements, rationalisations and recruitment difficulties. Many regional councils report difficulty in attracting new engineering graduates to fill specialist positions and there is a general trend for regional engineering graduates to migrate to metropolitan centres or the mining sector for employment.

To address these challenges, the Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils (WBBROC) has implemented an annual program employing engineering undergraduates from Queensland Universities giving them an opportunity to complete the prerequisite supervised professional placement hours necessary for graduation. The program, enabled

by DNRME, qldwater and LGAQ’s QWRAP collaboration, is conducted over the summer semester break and embeds undergraduates from a range of disciplines including civil, chemical or mechanical engineering in real-world water services projects across the six councils in the Wide Bay Burnett region.

The program recognises the difficulty of many undergraduates in securing professional placement hours and focusses particularly on projects that can be delivered remotely. Designed to expose and attract undergraduates to the diverse engineering environments of local government, the program also allows councils to contribute to immersive development of young engineering professionals.

It also aims to promote the increasingly complex and diverse specialisations required in the water and sewerage sector. The undergraduate professional placement program is part of WBBROCs regional water skills strategy that includes operator training and professional development components.

In 2020, three undergraduates from two universities have been contracted by WBBROC to assist Fraser Coast Regional Council’s Wide Bay Water Engineering department in reviewing CCTV footage of sewerage networks as part of a major sewer relining

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program across the region.

Wide Bay Water’s Infrastructure Civil Engineer, Charise BernilAbbott is supervising the sewer relining project on behalf of participating WBBROC councils and has provided the training and guidance to ensure that sewer asset condition is reviewed according to the WSA Sewer Inspection Reporting Code.

Packages of CCTV footage files of up to 370 network assets generated by field staff or contractors have been logged for faults by the undergraduates.

Ms Bernil-Abbott said that the undergraduates are reviewing the CCTV packages to the high standard required under the current WBBROC sewer relining program. The CCTV reviews conducted before, during and on completion of works are foundational in ensuring definition of work-packages and enable WBW to supervise works on behalf of the other WBBROC councils with a high degree of accountability.

A recent field trip to the Hervey Bay area offered the undergraduates an opportunity to better appreciate the contributing factors on sewer assets and the role of CCTV inspections in efficiently targeting programs aimed at managing the operational and compliance impacts at wastewater treatment plants. This appreciation included

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Engineering undergraduates Daniel Nott, Harry Ko, and Ayumi Ichikawa are shown the new purpose-built CCTV field unit in operation by Wide Bay Water’s engineer, Charise Bernil-Abbott, and specialist operators Barry Richmond and Steve Shelton.

a perspective of the complex nature of best-practice integrated management of urban water from the Burgowan Water Treatment plant, through the urban networks to the Pulgul wastewater treatment plant, and ultimately to the irrigated forestry re-use scheme.

Mr Trevor Dean, IPWEAQ Board Member and Executive Manager of Engineering & Technical Services at Wide Bay Water- Fraser Coast Regional Council says ‘The CCTV footage provides trenchless pre and post works inspection assessment of sewer networks to prioritise maintenance and relining operations and to review the quality of remediation works within WBW’s ISO accredited QA framework’. Mr Dean went on to add ‘The CCTV inspections are conducted at four stages through the tender are fundamental in enabling the delivery of a high standard of relining work’.

WBBROC has run a regional sewer relining tender over the last few years to realise significant savings in mobilisation and improved delivery and previously won an IPWEAQ Excellence Award in 2018.

The current relining program administered by Wide Bay Water on WBBROCs behalf is estimated at around $10 million over two years and provides significant efficiencies and savings on the alternate cost of full replacement.

Supervising engineer and WBBROC’s Urban Water Technical Committee Chair, Mr Stephen Jewell said ‘The program provides engineering students with an invaluable opportunity to complete their course requirements while at the same time making a real contribution to the delivery of critical water projects and exposes undergraduates to the potential career opportunities in urban water services sector’.

In his role as Senior Manager with Gympie Regional Council’s Water Business Unit, Mr Jewell has engaged other undergraduates to assist engineering staff with asset register field validations and an urban water demand management project in collaboration with Sunshine Coast University.

A potential follow-on project collating and analysing CCTV generated data across the region will seek to explore the frequency and typology of sewer pipe faults for a range of asset classes including pipe material, diameter, and construction environments. The aim of this investigation is to enable councils to better forecast relining and renewals in future operations and capital works budgets.

Further enquires can be made to Steve Brown, Regional Water Coordinator, WBBROC via steve. brown@wbbroc.org.au

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next generation REPORT Nadia Marks Director, People & Capability Our emerging professionals campaign has resulted in an upward trend in this cohortâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s membership numbers and a notable increase in engagement across initiatives. Our goal is to achieve representation from this group of 20% total membership.

Emerging professional members cite opportunities to connect with other public works professionals and continuous professional development as the two most impactful activities supporting their career growth. In response to this feedback, IPWEAQ has developed several programs and incentives which we invite employers to consider when designing career development plans for their up-and-coming engineering professionals.

Significant membership discounts are available to Graduates up to five years post-graduation.

Benefits reflect full membership status with access to our technical information, regular industry updates and substantial discounts to our professional development courses, RPEQ application and Queensland-wide events.

Branch conferences, technical symposiums and the IPWEAQ Annual Conference are must-attend events for connecting with and growing a professional network. For

U35 membership growth 250 200 150 100 50 0 2014

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emerging professionals, there are opportunities to practice face-toface industry discussions, attend dedicated workshops and for those excelling in their profession the possibility to present a paper in front of our stakeholder audiences.

An increasing number of emerging professionals are taking the lead in presenting on varied topics which have been well received and just as importantly, have developed these individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s skills in writing, preparing visual presentations and speaking in front of an audience. It is critical that employers appreciate the value of registering emerging professionals, and to assist with this we offer discounts to members U35 and Graduates up to five years post-graduation (Bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree).

The path to RPEQ certification can seem complicated or daunting for engineering graduates. IPWEAQ upholds professional standards as an RPEQ assessment entity for civil engineering (public works). Part

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of our role is to support engineers in achieving this career milestone by assisting in developing a three-year CPD plan, explain the requirements and facilitate the application process.

Regular professional development updates are circulated to our network with a focus on technical courses and workshops underpinning several engineering competency areas. Professional development can be accessed through our public course dates or designed as an in-house programs to suit your needs. The sometimes overlooked but equally important element of professional development is in the nontechnical areas. For this reason, we have launched a dedicated 10-week Emerging Professionals online program through the IPWEAQ Learning Hub covering essential interpersonal, business and collaboration skills.

As part of our commitment to

Emerging Professionals those entering our sector we continue to deliver initiatives such as the IPWEAQ Ambassadorship program, invitations to author articles in the EPW Journal and study tour sponsorship opportunities. Engagement with high schools and universities will grow as a result of the foundations developed over the last 18 months. 2020 is set to be an impactful year with targets of reaching over 200 high school students in collaboration with Dream Big Australia and increasing our university student membership to over 100.

We believe that for individuals,

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a career in public works is rewarding, varied and impactful.

For communities, it is essential to have a talented and diverse pipeline of professionals on the horizon to meet the needs of our changing population and the way we live our lives. For these reasons, we value and are proud of our commitment to having a positive influence on the next generation of public works professionals. Our achievements are thanks to the continued support, feedback and collaboration from our members.

We encourage anyone to contact us to be involved in any of our Next Generation initiatives.

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

EMERGING PROFESSIONALS PATHWAY

Up to 5 CPD hours

The IPWEAQ Learning Hub is a digital learning platform designed for public works engineering professionals to develop their non-technical skills and enhance their careers.

The Emerging Professionals learning pathway is designed to provide breadth of knowledge relevant in the beginning stages of your career. This is a ten-week development programs delivered through weekly online modules comprising of learning videos, practical tools, tactics and resources to set you up for ongoing success.

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KNOWING YOURSELF This module is all about self-awareness which is the foundation for all future skills development. You need to know who you are first before you can truly learn how to impact others.

Learning video presented by Teagan Dowler, Strategy and Leadership Coach in the heavy industries, Founder of The BCW and author of Rules of the Game.

YOUR TEAM Your team’ is actually much broader than what you may think. Companies are big ecosystems made up of many parts which may seem quite different in terms of how they operate and their key responsibilities. At times some departments don’t seem to have anything to do with each other at all but in actual fact they are more interlinked and dependent on each other than what may first appear.

Learning video is presented by Angela Fry, Manager - Toowoomba & South West Region and Vice President of the IPWEAQ Board. Angela is an experienced Civil Engineer and Project Manager including working for the Toowoomba Regional Council, Department of Transport and Main Roads and in private industry. Angela also lectured at the University of Southern Queensland in the Faculty of Engineering and Surveying.

FACILITATING MEETINGS AND NOTE TAKING Some of the skills we need to learn in a professional environment don't always sound complicated, such as organising meetings and note-taking, however they are also not usually 'taught' anywhere in our studies. Getting into good habits and practice early will help you move your development focus onto other skills faster.

Learning video presented by Seren McKenzie, Director at Southern Downs Regional Council. Seren was IPWEAQ Board of Director President from 2017-2019.

Contact Director, People & Capability Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com 3632 6803

   www.ipweaq.com

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS. WEEK

WORKING EFFECTIVELY Stepping from a structured study environment to a professional one involves learning a range of different skills, one of which is a different way of working. Not all work environments are the same, but in this module we teach you five guidelines you can use in most environments to work more effectively.

Learning video presented by Petris Lapis, consultant, coach, trainer and author who specialises in what has become known as ‘forever skills’.

WEEK

FEAR People feel fear in different ways, about different situations and different intensity levels, but most people will experience this emotion at some point in their lives. This module aims to break-down the concept of 'fear' and recalibrate our perception to turn this feeling into an opportunity for development rather than an inhibitor.

Learning video presented by Ryan Loomans and Jack Aubort founders of The Pretengineers, Australia’s first podcast dedicated to supporting young engineers.

WEEK

GOAL SETTING FOR SUCCESS Understanding the importance of goal-setting in the early stages of your career will give a big advantage in setting strong foundations for ongoing success. In this module we look at various strategies to set career and personal goals.

Learning video presented by Radmila Desic, Program Manager at the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training.

WEEK

CREATING A NETWORK Having a support network is critical to your professional success. But in an age where we technology allows us to be connected to anyone in the world at the click of a button, are we truly maintaining quality relationships, or are we in fact, more disconnected and isolated than ever? The key is to understand the group of people we need around us to succeed.

Learning video presented by Glenda Kirk Director Infrastructure Services at Mareeba Shire Council and IPWEAQ NQ Branch President.

WEEK

GROWTH MINDSET This week we are going to explore the work of psychologist Carol Dweck and her colleagues on the concepts of growth mindset and fixed mindsets. This theory is particularly relevant in understanding why some people relish in accepting and taking on challenges leading them to success and personal reward whilst so many others shy away from doing exactly the things that would set them on the path of success.

Learning video presented by Nadia Marks, Director People & Capability at IPWEAQ.

4

5 6 7 8

WEEK

9

WEEK

10

VALUES AND SELF LEADERSHIP Our early career years are full of important learning moments as we put the theories we have learnt in our studies into practice and discover that the world of work doesn’t necessarily operate like our textbooks. This week we discuss the importance of identifying core values and handling work situations that may conflict with these values.

Learning video presented by Bernadette Cavanagh, Executive People Leader with experience working in the construction, infrastructure and transport industries. Bernadette specialises in transforming culture through people and has coached many leaders to develop and refine their leadership skills to be successful at work.

NEXT STEPS Recap all that we have learnt over the last ten weeks and set final action items to continue your development journey beyond this course.

Contact Director, People & Capability Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com 3632 6803

   www.ipweaq.com Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

2020 FUTURES CHALLENGE

Final year students studying engineering and related disciplines are invited to participate in the 2020 Futures Challenge.

Nominated students must submit a 500 word abstract of their thesis to be considered by our expert panel. Up to four finalists will be chosen.

Finalists must prepare an A1 poster board to be displayed in the trade exhibition at the Annual Conference. Delegates will be invited to offer feedback on the thesis.

The poster board will:  include key elements of the thesis or research project.  clearly outline conclusions, recommendations and outcomes in a wellstructured presentation  include appropriate text, diagrams, images, tables etc.

Finalists will then deliver a 10 minute presentation at a Plenary session at the end of Day 2 of the conference.

Delegates will vote on the best presentation using the conference app.

Deadlines for submission

Benefits Finalists will receive a complimentary registration to attend #IPWEAQ20 valued at more than $2,000. This offers an excellent opportunity to engage with our community and gain knowledge and understanding of engineering for public works.

Finalists must submit a 500 word report on their conference experience including learnings from the program, other conference features and their Futures Challenge experience. Reports will be published in the December issue of Engineering for Public Works.

The winner will be announced at the gala excellence awards ceremony, 11 November 2020.

The winner will receive a complimentary registration to #IPWEAQ21.

Contact Director People & Capability Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com 3632 6803

All participating students will be invited to present their papers at their next branch conference or other event. They will also receive a one-year complimentary membership of IPWEAQ.

Universities are invited to nominate students by 31 July 2020.

Students must submit their abstract by 21 August 2020. Finalists will be notified by 4 September 2020 and poster boards will be due by 9 October 2020.

How to apply Apply online or contact Nadia Marks

#IPWEAQ20 ANNUAL CONFERENCE Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns 10-12 November 2020

   www.ipweaq.com

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SWQ Branch President’s Report Andrew Johnson SWQ Branch President We did it again – a new record for an IPWEAQ branch conference! 195 delegates joined us in Stanthorpe which was looking renewed after much-needed rain.

Seren McKenzie, IPWEAQ Past President opened the conference program with a presentation on what to do when unprecedented drought affects the region and over 5,000 residents. Seren’s paper is published on pages 31-39 of the journal and is also available in the IPWEAQ Knowledge Centre.

Congratulations to John Tannock who won the Best Paper award for his presentation on the story behind the installation of a monument in Papua New Guinea to commemorate the Battle for Oivi/Gorari in November 1942.

While most of us had never heard of it, it is recognised globally as one of the most significant land battles in the Pacific theatre in WW2. John will present his paper at the 2020 IPWEAQ Annual Conference to be held in Cairns, 10-12 November and I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as we did.

As usual, our successful events are successful because of the commitment of the organisations that support IPWEAQ year after year. GenEng is one of those businesses, which kindly

sponsored our conference dinner at the state-of-the-art $8.5 million education and training facility on the campus of Stanthorpe State High School. This facility offers training in viticulture, oenology, tourism, hospitality and business, and we can confirm that the future of fine dining in our regions is in

great hands. Thank you to all the students who prepared our dinner and served us on the night – we certainly enjoyed the product of your vineyards!

Proterra Group is another business that doesn’t hesitate when it comes to supporting IPWEAQ

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190

195

2017, Dalby 2018, Goondoowindi

123

130

2019, Gatton 2020, Stanthorpe

auction several prizes to raise funds for our President's Charity, Rural Aid. Thank you to everyone who participated and to all winning bidders including Ray Hawkins who took home two of the prizes. and our sector and supported the 2020 SWQ Branch conference as our overall conference sponsor. The Proterra Group also contributed to our conference program with presentations from Shelley Burchett on CCTV stormwater inspections and Michael Shellshear, our reigning Young Engineer of the Year, who joined the panel session on the challenges of technical governance in local government.

Thanks to the generous sponsorship from A&M Civil Contracting, we were able to

And many thanks also to our other sponsors: Brandon & Associates, GHD and Shepherd â&#x20AC;&#x201C; your ongoing support of our community is much appreciated!

Thanks also to our exhibitors for offering delegates an opportunity to view and experience what is available to improve our communities. We also appreciate the prizes donated by exhibitors for our charity raffle.

A total $4,000 was raised for Rural Aid from our charity auction and exhibitor raffle and a generous donation from Michael Kinion.

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195 ATTENDEES 100

+

Members

32

Females

95

Non-members

163

Males

We were also delighted to present gifts to members who had achieved a milestone IPWEAQ membership this year including: Mike Brady (25 years), David Bell and David Jackson (15 years), David Donohue (10 years) and Luke Tanner (5 years). Thank you for being a part of our community!

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CQ Branch President’s Report Celisa Faulkner CQ Branch President A few announcements for CQ Firstly, congratulations to Mackay Regional Council, second best drinking water in the entire world (but only beaten by one point so possibly the best)! Mackay’s Water Treatment Manager, Stuart Boyd and Director of Engineering and Commercial Infrastructure, Jason Devitt travelled to the USA with water samples for judging with 100 other water samples from across the globe.

Congratulations also to Graeme Wills who was recently awarded Emeritus membership. Graeme was CQ Branch President from 20112015 and has played an active role in IPWEAQ for many years.

Congratulations from all of us, Graeme!

Thank you to Adam Doherty, Director, Dileigh Consulting Engineers who has taken on the role of CQ Branch Vice-President.

If you would like to join our committee, please don't hesitate to contact me. Being a branch committee member is not an administrative or organisational role; our branch committees assist with the development of strategic initiatives which respond to the needs of our teams working in each region. Note you do not need to be an engineer!

Our Technical Day at Hastings Deering in Rockhampton will return this year with dates to be confirmed for October. Please mark your diaries now.

But unfortunately I'm sorry to announce that our CQ Branch conference for 2020 has been cancelled owing to current conditions. The published program will remain largely unchanged so you can plan early to obtain permission to attend.

In the meantime, we will have another opportunity to get together at the Annual Conference in Cairns, 10-12 November. If you would like to present at Annual, the Call for Papers will be open next month. I hope to see you then!

Graeme Wills.

Celisa Faulkner and Adam Doherty.

The beautiful Pioneer River, the source of Mackay’s award-winning water.

Top five placegetters in the municipal water category at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting were: Gold: Mission Springs Water District, Desert Hot Springs, California Silver: Mackay, Queensland, Australia Bronze: Quebec Canada 4th: Santa Ana, California 5th: South West Water Authority, North Dakota Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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NQ Branch Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Report Glenda Kirk NQ Branch President

I am very pleased to welcome Victor Mills, Director Works & Building Services, Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire Council who joins the NQ Branch committee.

Welcome, Victor! We look forward to working with you.

The IPWEAQ assessment scheme requires the completion of 150 CPD hours over three years but ideally, 50 hours per year to ensure currency and keeping abreast of changes in technology and the sector. The following hours can be recorded: 1. attendance at IPWEAQ courses and conferences (unlimited hours) 2. contributions to IPWEAQ Working Groups (max 50 hours) 3. formal post-graduate study (unlimited) 4. private study eg reading Engineering for Public Works (max 18 hours) 5. on-the-job learning (max 75 hours)

We have 12 Aboriginal councils within the NQ Branch and we hope to engage with all of them in a more meaningful way going forward.

It is coming up to RPEQ renewal time again later this month and as we all know, external CPD audits conducted by an Assessment Entity or the BPEQ have been underway for the past three years.

Now, however, by signing up to a CPD Scheme administered by an RPEQ Assessment Entity your CPD audits can be progressed internally. IPWEAQ now offers such a scheme.

6. preparation of articles for publication in the journal or papers for delivery at IPWEAQ conferences (max 45 hours per paper) You will no longer need to maintain and submit separate records of your CPD hours â&#x20AC;&#x201C; everything is entered via the IPWEAQ portal. And attendance at all IPWEAQ courses and conferences are automatically recorded against your profile allowing easy tracking and verification of your CPD progress each year. The team at IPWEAQ will alert you if you are at risk of not completing the requisite hours

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

and/or any compulsory programs.

Sign up to the new IPWEAQ CPD Scheme online and see more information on Page 4 of the journal.

To celebrate World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, IPWEAQ launched a photography competition, 'public works through the lens of an engineer'. A high volume of quality submissions offered us an insight into the daily lives and challenges of our engineers. Congratulations to the winner from the NQ Branch, Gopan Mondal from Rio Tinto in Weipa! Gopan will receive a GoPro for his photo highlighting the challenges of bridge repairs in crocodile-infested waters.

I am sorry to have to announce that the NQ Branch conference for 2020 has been cancelled due to new rules and policies on travel and gatherings.

Like everyone, we are hoping life is back to normal as soon as possible but we are at least fortunate to have the 2020 IPWEAQ Annual Conference in our region this year.

So please be sure to register early for Cairns, 10-12 November as we'll all no doubt be very keen to abandon social distancing rules.

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SEQ Branch Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Report Raad Jarjees

SEQ Branch President I am disappointed to announce the postponement of our SEQ Branch conference scheduled for Caloundra 28-29 May. New dates to be advised shortly but likely to be September.

And our SEQ Social event at the Plough Inn, 26 March is now also cancelled however we will schedule a new event later in the year when appropriate.

Team IPWEAQ is planning to participate in the 2020 MS Brissie to the Bay, Sunday 14 June presuming this event continues as planned. Register online with Team IPWEAQ and use the discount code BTBIPWEAQ to receive a 10% discount on the registration fee.

Once registered, please contact Johanna.Vanling@ipweaq.com for your complimentary Team IPWEAQ bike jersey!

To complement your Team IPWEAQ bike jersey, we also have IPWEAQ navy polos (Engineering for Public Works) and white polos (Every Community Needs an Engineer). Please view our available merchandise online at https://www.ipweaq.com/ merchandise and contact Johanna Vanling on Johanna.Vanling@ ipweaq.com to place an order.

Nominations are also open for the 2020 IPWEAQ Excellence

awards! There is a new category this year for coastal engineering.

All nominees are featured in the Commemorative Book please take a moment to review the people and projects delivering exceptional outcomes for Queensland communities. It is our pleasure to coordinate the awards program, now in its eighteenth year, to recognise their achievements.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d also like to invite universities in SEQ to nominate their final year students studying engineering and related disciplines to participate in the 2020 Futures Challenge. Finalists will receive a complimentary registration to attend #IPWEAQ20 valued at more than $2,000. This offers an excellent opportunity for students to engage with our community and gain knowledge and understanding of engineering for public works. The winner is announced at the gala excellence awards ceremony, 11 November 2020 on centre stage with excellence awards winners.

We also now have a membership category for Student and invite full-time civil engineering students and related disciplines eg urban planning, design and surveying to join us for the duration of their university studies. Membership is complimentary however proof of current enrolment is required upon joining and each year for renewal.

Apply online to join our vibrant community!

Commemorative Book available online now!

Please contact Johanna.Vanling@ipweaq.com to order your IPWEAQ polo or bike jersey.

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

2020 EXCELLENCE AWARDS BENEFITS OF NOMINATING FOR AN IPWEAQ AWARD:  Nominees and winners featured in the annual Commemorative Awards Book with the winning project featured on the cover  Winners featured on the IPWEAQ website www.ipweaq.com/2019award-winners  Project of the Year featured in the excellence awards campaign the following year  Gala awards ceremony and dinner attended by more than 450 invited guests and VIPs  Photos of award winners available for publicity purposes  Media releases on all winning projects and individual award winners issued

by IPWEAQ.  Invitations to present award winning projects at key events including branch and annual conferences

Contact Events & Marketing Manager Monica.Robertson@ipweaq.com or

IPWEAQ EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2019 The awards program, now in its eighteenth year, places a spotlight on the projects and people who deliver exceptional outcomes for our communities.

Nominations open 7 February 2020 and close 2 July 2020 Gala Awards Ceremony and Dinner, Cairns Wednesday, November 11 2020 Sponsorship opportunities available.

Contact monica.robertson@ipweaq.com or

3632 6802

3632 6802

   www.ipweaq.com

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qldwater ceo’s report Dave Cameron CEO, qldwater For the first article of 2020, I thought I’d briefly focus on some emerging opportunities and new activities planned – it’s looking chockers already.

• We’ve previously reported the growth in activity from our Sewage and Water Environment and Advisory Panel and have recently received a good response to our call for interest in making it a more formal program with a small investment model to partially support a staff member. At the start of the coming financial year we expect to have a new subscription program supporting a consortium approach to national advocacy on a range of regulatory and policy issues but focussed on emerging contaminants. One potential initial activity is involvement in a Cooperative Research Centre with a focus on contaminants.

• swimlocal continues to grow with new subscribers in Queensland and NSW. Remember – just because it has a heritage in water and sewerage compliance data doesn’t mean that’s the limit of its capabilities – our members and other customers use it for just about anything involving numbers. It is a very cost-effective and robust data

organisation/ integration tool across multiple data sources which is really easy to use – contact us if you’re interested in a demo.

• We will hold a small communities forum and workshop in Goondiwindi on 13/14 May linking with the NSW Water Directorate and Water Research Australia. It will include a technology showcase, case studies, site tour and workshop on the challenges faced by most utilities in providing services to small communities - which may not have the rates base to support water and sewerage services which meet customer expectations and regulatory requirements. It will directly inform our advocacy and roadmap development, but most importantly attempt to show what fit for purpose infrastructure solutions are available or emerging.

• On 11 June we have a lengthily titled “Getting the most out of your existing systems – a focus on networks – our most valuable and largely unseen infrastructure” workshop in Brisbane. The program has largely been developed – recognising our growing body of research supporting the need for different approaches to planning asset renewal in a constrained environment, we

will share member case studies including innovative approaches to network management.

• We are on the cusp of finalising an exciting water treatment trial activity through QWRAP. The technology to be tested is point-of-supply, designed to require minimal maintenance by operations staff, and with cloudbased system monitoring and control.

• We continue to work with the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) inviting greater participation and collaboration on a number of emerging issues. Our work with the NSW Water Directorate has also ramped up, providing many recent opportunities for information sharing and access for our members to useful resources. Acknowledging the ongoing impacts of drought across our jurisdictions, the Directorate has shared guidance materials for new bores, invited representatives in bushfireimpacted regions to participate in planning workshops for dealing with impacts in surface water catchments when there is significant rain, and has participated in planning for our skills initiatives and small communities workshop.

• We hope to partner with Seqwater and others to run

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a research and development sharing workshop mid-year. It will likely be linked to an automated metering event to give members the opportunity to connect with vendors and explore implementation case studies from other utilities, following up from a very well-received workshop in 2017.

On top of this we have our skills forum, annual forum and three regional miniconferences, this year in Gympie, Mackay and Atherton.

The first chapters of our â&#x20AC;&#x153;roadmapâ&#x20AC;? advocacy and collaboration strategy document have been distributed to members and stakeholders for review with a gradual release of others over the coming months. We are in the midst of planning communications and marketing associated with this work, and while it would be presumptuous to say we are proud of the way itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s turning out at this point, the engagement process with members to build content and ideas has been fantastic and we look forward to the challenge of maintaining the support and interest in this important work for the future of our sector.

Roadmap planning sessions at the Annual Forum 2019.

A packed house at the 2019 Emerging Contaminants of Concern Workshop showed a strong interest in the formation of a more formal program to support activities by the Sewage and Water Environment and Advisory Panel.

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adac update Mark Lamont Director, Information & Resources IPWEAQ has a dual role in its stewardship of ADAC. We work to consolidate and develop the framework for current members, and at the same time, continue to expand that membership base. There have been important developments in both areas in recent months.

We have seen an increase in interest from several NSW councils and utilities and are in advanced discussions with them to demonstrate the ways ADAC will benefit their organizations.

Two NSW authorities, Shellharbour and Wollondilly, have recently become consortium members, joining Tweed Heads and Port Macquarie-Hastings as the NSW contingent. They became the twenty-first and twenty-second ADAC consortium members respectively. Both have now had their in-house induction days, run jointly by IPWEAQ and Lions Systems, ensuring their ADAC implementation is technically and strategically supported, and tailored to meet their unique organizational structures. ADAC is about creating consistency and standardization in the way asset owners capture data for their asset management systems and GIS tools. Given that, the more members and councils who participate and share knowledge,

the stronger the process becomes.

There are, however, practical challenges that accompany the increase in membership. The Technical Reference Group (TRG) in particular presents some logistical issues, with twenty-three voices to represent at meetings of the full group. The solution arrived at by our Strategic Reference Group (SRG) is the division of that large group into smaller Communities of Practice concentrated around particular asset types. As a result, we now have smaller groups established for the following asset areas: • Water and Sewerage • Transport • Open Space • Stormwater • Cadastre • Buildings • Electrical/Telecommunications We have designated leads for each group and have begun populating them with representatives from the consortium member organizations. Anyone interested in contributing to those groups in terms of additions or amendments to the ADAC schema should contact me at the details below

so that I can include you in the group which deals with your area of expertise. Finally, I’d like to report on the success of Mackay Regional Council’s recent ADAC industry day, bringing together a range of stakeholders from design, surveying and construction industry, as well as software vendors and council as asset owners. The presentations provided perspectives on all ADAC processes, covering a broad perspective base, including the asset management team, development engineers, and the survey and design office. One of the great benefits of such a day is that it opens the communication channels between various stakeholders, allowing the ADAC framework as a whole to move forward with a shared purpose.

IPWEAQ is planning a similar event involving all consortium members, software vendors and development industry personnel in the first half of 2020.

If you would like to be involved or learn more in general about the ADAC schema, please contact me at mark.lamont@ipweaq.com, or on (07) 3632 6800.

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS. ion New - XML validat e tool availabl L data from validation tool – XM

™

Web based XML validated design data can be ‘as constructed’ or completed en be ed works have to ensure the requir for each council. tly and captured correc

ASSET DESIGN AS CONSTRUCTED

THE CIVIL BIM

ADAC is the Civil BIM (Building Information Modelling) for public works infrastructure.

It is open source and adopted widely by councils and utilities across Australia.

ADAC (Asset Deign as Constructed) is an open source data specification and transport format (XML) for the description and transmission of asset design and as constructed data.

Why adopt ADAC? ADAC enables the easy, reliable and consistent exchange of asset design and as constructed data between asset constructors and asset managers.

ADAC provides for the automation of data entry from any source (once validated via the XML validation tool). This automated process is not a function of asset management software – ADAC is required to achieve this outcome.

ADAC data can be checked for errors, transformed and loaded into asset management systems in an automated and reliable manner and then used to populate asset component registers and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

The ADAC framework offers consistent and accurate results saving time and costs.

Why is ADAC better than alternatives?  It has a broader scope ie more asset classes.  It contains more detail ie more attributes defined at a greater level.  It is open source and independent of other platforms so you are not locked into a particular software solution.

 It is a language for describing assets rather than representing them.  It represents the collective wisdom of our community of public works professionals expert in the management of assets.

What are the benefits of ADAC?  Significant time and resource savings in the electronic processing of as constructed data.  Improved consistency and accuracy of detailed asset data.  Quality control checks on asset data for completeness and integrity.  Beneficial for automated uploading of asset data to GIS, asset management databases and other registers.  Transparent asset registration and valuation processes that deliver improved corporate governance.  Capacity to reconcile donated assets with planning scheme requirements and infrastructure agreements.  Potential to ‘round-trip’ asset data and related information to external customers in a consistent format.  Property developers and consulting engineers experience consistent requirements from councils.

Contact Professional Services Director Mark.Lamont@ipweaq.com

3632 6800

Benefits of Consortium Membership  XML data from ‘as constructed’ or design data can be quickly validated to ensure the required works have been completed and captured correctly.  Technical support from our ADAC forums and resource centre.  Access to the Technical Reference Group. Contribute to the expansion of ADAC.  Network of other ADAC users and forums which offer support and valueadd to asset data processes.  National recognition as an ADAC member.

Size per constituency

Cost*

Councils with < 25,000

$2,000

Councils with 25,000 to 100,000

$4,000

Councils with > 100,000

$7,000

Utility Providers

$7,000

Other Entities

Contact IPWEAQ * plus GST

   www.ipweaq.com

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knowledge centre update Mark Lamont Director, Information & Resources Knowledge Centre User Stats One of the many benefits that IPWEAQ’s knowledge centre affords is its build-in item tracker, a function that allows us to observe user patterns. We can establish which items are in high demand and shape future contributions accordingly. The proceedings of the 2019 annual conference have been attracting increasing attention since catalogued.

Visits to the collections have passed the five hundred mark, and based on previous activity around conferences, that number will see a continual rise across the coming year. Users are still accessing the materials from these events going back to 2016. The Brisbane conference from that year continues to attract doublefigure views every month. More than a hundred papers and the range of technical information contained in the proceedings make compelling and instructive reading for anyone involved in the public works sector. Some collections experience particularly strong growth in response to market conditions or events that produce new legislation and attention. The Queensland Urban Drainage Manual (QUDM) for example, continues to see a steep rise among N.S.W authorities in response to the tragic event I

discussed in my last knowledge centre report. Another is the ADAC collections in response to the increasing number of members joining the consortium. Other collections maintain a consistent user volume year to year, such as our Standard Drawing sets.

What’s New? We are in the process of creating a collection of documents and resources in support of IPWEAQ’s iMPACT tool and the Professional Development courses we have recently begun offering around native title and Aboriginal cultural heritage law. Marrawah Law, a firm specializing in this area of legislation present the workshops for us. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback in response. It is an increasingly important area of law for all councils and infrastructure providers. There is a rapidly growing need to incorporate native title considerations into their development planning.

Since the High Court of Australia handed down its decision in the ‘Timber Creek’ case in March 2019, there have been some significant developments in the compensation space. Timber Creek was the first successful compensation case in Australian legal history, and expert analysis of the decision suggests that every council in the nation will be affected to some degree in its wake. Since the decision four

more compensation cases have been registered with the National Native Title Tribunal. Two of those are in Qld and cover an area that affects five neighbouring local authorities. These developments will quickly become the norm rather than the exception, so we have developed the collections to assist councils in their compliance with the law. They contain primary documents such as the Acts themselves and transcripts from various court rulings, as well as an array of secondary scholarship that expands and explains that primary source material.

Finally, the proceedings from two recent IPWEAQ events, President’s Breakfast and our SWQ Branch Conference, will be available in the knowledge centre from March. For any information about accessing any of these collections contact Mark.Lamont@ipweaq.com. Or on (07) 36326806

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

IPWEAQ Knowledge Centre The IPWEAQ Knowledge Centre is a vital resource for anyone working in the public works sector in Queensland.

The Centre is fully searchable by title, speaker/author, subject, keyword, event or date. Resources available in the Knowledge Centre include: 1. Podcasts of state and branch conferences (accessible only to paid conference delegates or conference proceedings subscribers). The podcasts are accompanied by the

presenters’ PowerPoint presentation so you can follow the presentation while listening to the podcast.

6. IPWEAQ technical publications including Standard Drawings (accessible only to subscribers)

2. Podcasts with accompanying video of all other IPWEAQ events

7. Podcasts of interviews of delegates taken at state and branch conferences

3. Papers submitted for state and branch conferences

8.

Photos of delegates taken at state and branch conferences

4. Articles published in our quarterly e-journal, Engineering for Public Works

The Knowledge Centre is only accessible to IPWEAQ members. Conference podcasts/videos are only accessible to paid conference delegates. Technical publications are only accessible to subscribers of our technical products.

5. Articles of relevance to Queensland practitioners sourced by our Information Resources Manager from other states/territories and internationally.

Join IPWEAQ today to access this vital resource for the public works sector in Queensland.

   www.ipweaq.com Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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working groups update Kurt Prosper Project Coordinator, IPWEAQ A strength of our community is the development of technical solutions by industry for industry.

We currently have four Working Groups developing new and improved resources for our sector and we would like to thank everyone involved in these critical projects: • Street Design Manual (SDM) – Walkable Neighbourhoods • Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) Standards • Standard Drawings • Survey Standards Street Design Manual (SDM) – Walkable Neighbourhoods The SDM Steering Committee met 5 March with the next meeting confirmed for 2 April.

All feedback received, relating to the distribution of the Draft document, has been consolidated and distributed to Working Group leaders. The Steering Committee was encouraged by the quantity and quality of the feedback as well as the overwhelmingly positive response on the draft document.

The feedback has been separated into relevant areas and delegated to specific members of the Working Groups who will synthesise, address and provide

solutions on the collated feedback.

Drawings ready to be published.

The Steering Committee and the Working Groups will continue to meet regularly, pushing towards an April release date for the SDM.

Survey Standards The Survey Standards Working Group met 12 March and is working closely with the CAD Standards Group to provide consistent outcomes to industry.

Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) Standards The CAD Standards Working Group most recently met on the 10 February 2020 to discuss their findings throughout the recent trial phase of CAD Standards and 12d design software.

Feedback received from our CAD Standards Working Group was extremely positive with testing being undertaken on small projects throughout local councils.

Constructive criticism of the CAD Standards primarily revolved around plotting the appropriate colours throughout the design stage. To help this process the group agreed on some small colour tweaks that would help the visual representation of CAD drawings software.

Upcoming Groups We are in the process of creating three new Reference Groups to review the Queensland Urban Drainage Manual (QUDM), Road Design Guidelines and the Supervisor's Handbook for the Construction and Maintenance of Infrastructure.

If you would like to join any of these Reference Groups, please contact Craig Moss, Director Professional Services, craig.moss@ipweaq.com, or Kurt Prosper, Project Coordinator, kurt.prosper@ipweaq.com.

The group will continue to test CAD standards and the newest version of 12d software. The next CAD Standards Working Group meeting is scheduled for 22 April 2020.

Standard Drawings The Standard Drawings Working Group continues to develop recommendations for new Drawings with updated Drawings now under review and approved Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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Welcome to IPWEAQ!

We are very pleased to welcome three new team members at IPWEAQ! (L to R) Kurt Prosper and Daneele McBride.

Dr Louise Martin-Chew

Kurt Prosper Project Coordinator

Daneele McBride Engagement Coordinator

Dr Louise Martin-Chew Research & Media Coordinator

• A massive sports fan with his passion being cricket • Originally from New South Wales, adding another person from South of the border to the office • Favourite band is the Eagles

• Enjoys travel and has visited 15 countries, including camping from Canada to Mexico • Learning Spanish and sign language • Worked in a Ski School in the USA

• Attended nine primary schools in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Darwin

Kurt.Prosper@ipweaq.com

Daneele.McBride@ipweaq.com

Louise.Martin-Chew@ipweaq.com

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

• Has written about visual art and artists as a freelancer for 25 years • Lives on acreage in Redland City with her three children, husband, Rottweiler dog, four chickens and countless native animals

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meet the team - IPWEAQ

LEIGH CUNNINGHAM

NADIA MARKS

CRAIG MOSS

Chief Executive Officer  Leigh.Cunningham@ipweaq.com

Director, People & Capability  Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com

Director, Professional Services  Craig.Moss@ipweaq.com

MARK LAMONT

MONICA ROBERTSON

JOHANNA VANLING

Director, Information & Resources  Mark.Lamont@ipweaq.com

Events & Marketing Manager  Monica.Robertson@ipweaq.com

Relationship Manager  Johanna.Vanling@ipweaq.com

CELINE GILDFIND

KATE O’RIORDAN

DR LOUISE MARTIN-CHEW

Management Accountant  Celine.Gildfind@ipweaq.com

Professional Development Manager  Kate.O’Riordan@ipweaq.com

Research & Media Coordinator  Louise.Martin-Chew@ipweaq.com

KURT PROSPER Project Coordinator  Kurt.Prosper@ipweaq.com

DANEELE MCBRIDE Engagement Coordinator  Daneele.McBride@ipweaq.com

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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meet the team - qldwater

DAVID CAMERON

DR ROB FEARON

RYAN COSGROVE

CEO  dcameron@qldwater.com.au

Director, Innovation Partnerships  rfearon@qldwater.com.au

Project Coordinator and Researcher  rcosgrove@qldwater.com.au

CARLIE SARGENT

DAVID SCHELTINGA

DIANA KISLITSYNA

Project Coordinator – Skills  Carlie.Sargent@qldwater.com

Manager, SWIM  dscheltinga@qldwater.com.au

Project Administration  DKislitsyna@qldwater.com.au

DESIRÉ GRALTON

DR LOUISE REEVES

Manager, Communications  dgralton@qldwater.com.au

Program Coordinator & Technical Writer  lreeves@qldwater.com.au

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

qldwater is a business unit of IPWEAQ

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PRINCIPAL PARTNERS

ENTERPRISE PARTNERS

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SUBSCRIBERS

PUBLIC WORKS TECHNICAL SUBSCRIPTION

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SUBSCRIBERS

PUBLIC WORKS TECHNICAL SUBSCRIPTION

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Engineering for Public Works

MEDIA KIT 2020 IPWEAQ is the peak body representing those working in the public works sector in Queensland.

Our purpose is to enhance the quality of life for all Queensland communities by advancing the skills, knowledge and resources available to those involved in the planning and provision of public works and services.

AN N U AL C O N F ER EN C E

F EATU R E AR TI C L E

R EGI O N AL R EP O R T

M EM BER N EW S

f eatu r e ar ti c l e

m em ber n ew s

r ep o r t

susta ina bility

ALL THE NEWS ON #IPWEAQ19

MBRC STORMWATER PIPE INSPECTION

WESTERN CAPE ENGAGEMENT

MEMBER PROFILE: BRIANNA BARNETT

Concrete Using Recycled Glass

MEMBER PROFILE: PETER HUGHES

IPWEAQ STUDY TOUR REPORT

THE APPROACH TO ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY

3 days, 4 tech tours, 12 streams, 36 papers and 50 exhibitors.

It’s just over a month away – find out what’s happening at #IPWEAQ19 in October. p.14

How Moreton Bay Regional Council have been using CCTV to proactively inspect their stormwater pipes for over 10 years. p.34

Craig Moss reports on his recent trip to western Cape York with LGAQ to engage with indigenous and remote councils. p.38

Meet Brianna Barnett, Senior Works Manager at Western Downs Regional Council.

Brianna talks about her career in civil construction. p.52

A look at field trials by Cairns Regional Council of concrete using recycled crushed glass as a fine aggregate replacement.

We meet Peter Hughes and he shares stories drawn from his long and memorable career in public works engineering.

Ashlee Jesshope reports on the IPWEA Study Tour to the Smart City Expo World Congress held in Barcelona.

Peak Services investigate the need for a holistic approach to energy sustainability.

ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS

Publication dates Four issues per year: • March • June • September • December (conference feature) • PLUS February (Excellence Awards commemorative book)

p r o j ec t o f th e y ear

i w d f eatu r e

m em ber n ew s

c ase stu dy

LOGAN’S WATER QUALITY SOLUTION

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

MEMBER PROFILE: NATASHA MURRAY

NHVR ASSESSMENT TOOL

Logan’s new project combines solar power, commercial battery storage and electro-chlorination technologies to maintain water quality. p.10

An infographic provides an interesting sector snapshot and women who have found success in engineering are celebrated in our IWD feature. p.22

Introducing Senior Transport Engineer at Cairns Regional Council and IPWEAQ’s 2018 Woman in Engineering, Natasha Murray. p.30

The Restricted Access Vehicle Route Assessment Tool (RAVRAT) aiding local governments to assess road suitability for heavy vehicles. p.54

ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS

Bookings due 1st day of prior month eg 1 February for March issue.

Artwork and editorial due 15th day of prior month eg 15 February for March issue.

ISSUE No.13

p.28

p.40

p.54

ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS

www.ipweaq.com

ISSUE No.15

p.18

www.ipweaq.com

ISSUE No.14

C O N F E R E N C E f e at u r e

F E AT U R E A R T I C L E

member news

c a s e s t u dy

CATCH UP ON #IPWEAQ18

GC2018 TRANSPORT LEGACY

MEMBER PROFILE: ALTON TWINE

Assets & development compliance

All the coverage from the IPWEAQ Annual Conference – from attendance statistics, to social photography, to technical papers and beyond. p.15

Winner of the award for Best Paper presented at #IPWEAQ18, Matthew Tilly outlines the transport legacy of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. p.18

Meet Director of Transport and Infrastructure for the City of Gold Coast and IPWEAQ’s 2018 Engineer of the Year, Alton Twine. p.32

Sunshine Coast Regional Council look at the importance of adequate development compliance from an asset managers perspective. p.66

ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS

www.ipweaq.com

ISSUE No.12

www.ipweaq.com

Why advertise with IPWEAQ? Your connection to thousands of professionals delivering projects for state and local government across Queensland.

Engineering for Public Works

is the primary professional publication for the public works and civil engineering community in Queensland.

Distribution:

Online journal with over 146,000 digital impressions; is circulated to approximately 4,700 sector professionals and government officials.

Content:

Each issue features major projects, technical and academic articles, member profiles plus branch news and news from qldwater.

Readership:

Anyone actively involved

in the delivery of public works and services.

MEDIA KIT

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020

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Value-Adds Receive a 20% discount on any additional advertising.

Multi-bookings 10% discount for bookings in two consecutive editions Front Cover - $3,490 per issue  Front cover image Advertorial - $1,200 per issue  Double page spread with 800 word feature article in  Half page 350 word editorial with one high first ten pages resolution image/photo and logo  Full page display ad  Circulated to up to 500 contacts provided by you

EPW reaches approximately 5,500 members, industry partners and local government decision-makers.

Advertising rates and specifications P rices do not include artwork design P rices are exclusive of GST A rtwork must be supplied in high-resolution print ready

 Fonts must be embedded and graphics linked  Files supplied as CMYK colour space  Images must be at least 300dpi at the correct size  Large files can be sent via Dropbox

format - PDF preferred, JPEG, GIF or PNG

N o crop or bleed marks

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD $2,200

TRIM: 1224pxW x 1584pxH LIVE ART AREA: 1064pxW x 1264pxH

FULL PAGE $1,200 TRIM: 612pxW x 792pxH LIVE ART AREA: 532pxW x 632pxH

HALF PAGE HORIZONTAL $780

LIVE ART AREA: 532pxW x 316pxH

1/2 PAGE VERTICAL STRIP $780 LIVE ART AREA: 260pxW x 632pxH

DEADLINES 1/3 PAGE HORIZ STRIP $650

LIVE ART AREA: 532pxW x 210pxH

1/4 PAGE $480

LIVE ART AREA: 260pxW x 316pxH

1/8 PAGE business card

$370

LIVE ART AREA: 260pxW x 158pxH

AD BOOKINGS First Friday of month prior to publication ARTWORK Second Friday of month prior to each publication CONTACT Johanna Vanling Editor, Engineering for Public Works 07 3632 6801 Johanna.Vanling@ipweaq.com

MEDIA KIT

Engineering for Public Works | March 2020