F E AT U RE AR T IC L E MEMBER NEWS D I S A S T E R RE C OVE RY S U S TA I N A BI L I T Y
QUEENSLAND ROAD SAFETY
MEMBER PROFILE: DAVID SEXTON
Cyclone Marcia TOWARDS A ZERO-WASTE Reconstruction Project FUTURE
An holistic view of the road transport system and the interactions among roads and roadsides, travel speeds, vehicles and road users. p.10
Meet David Sexton, a principal environmental engineer and scientist with Engeny Water Management, Young IPWEAQ and recent RPEQ. p.20
A look at the damage, remediation options, design and construction of Statue Bay Reconstruction Project in Yeppoon post Cyclone Marcia. p.48
China’s ban on recycled waste imports has escalated Australia’s War on Waste but Queensland report finds Energy from Waste viable. p.40
ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS
ISSUE No.11
www.ipweaq.com
CONTENTS ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS | SEPT 2018
»»FEATURE ARTICLES: »» »» »» »» »» »» »» »» »»
QUEENSLAND ROAD SAFETY .......................................................................... P 10 ASSET FOCUS: ACCOUNTANTS & ENGINEERS ON USEFUL LIFE ........................ P 30 ASSET FOCUS: BALANCING COST, RISK AND PERFORMANCE .......................... P 34 ASSET FOCUS: POST INSTALLATION CONCRETE PIPE INSPECTION ................... P 36 SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS: TOWARDS A ZERO-WASTE FUTURE .......................... P 40 MAYORAL MESSAGE: JOYCE MCCULLOCH, MT ISA .......................................... P 44 DISASTER RECOVERY: CYCLONE MARCIA STATE BAY RECONSTRUCTION......... P 46 CQ BEST PAPER: PUBLIC BUILDINGS FOR POST DISASTER FUNCTION .............. P 52 ACADEMIC FOCUS: MASTER OF ENGINEERING ................................................ P 70
»»COMMUNITY NEWS: »» »» »» »» »»
CALENDAR OF EVENTS ..................................................................................... P 8 HONORARY MEMBERS ..................................................................................... P 9 COMMUNITY NEWS ........................................................................................ P 16 EMERGING LEADER PROFILE: DAVID SEXTON ................................................. P 18 CONFERENCE FEATURE .................................................................................. P 22
»»BRANCH NEWS: »» »» »» »» »» »»
CQ BRANCH PRESIDENT’S REPORT ................................................................. P 57 CQ BRANCH CONFERENCE WRAP ................................................................... P 58 SWQ BRANCH PRESIDENT’S REPORT .............................................................. P 60 SIMPLY SUPERB – SOUTHERN ROADS SYMPOSIUM ........................................ P 62 NQ BRANCH PRESIDENT’S REPORT ................................................................. P 64 SEQ BRANCH PRESIDENT’S REPORT ............................................................... P 66
»»IPWEAQ REPORTS: »» »» »» »» »» »»
PRESIDENT’S REPORT ...................................................................................... P 6 CEO’S REPORT ............................................................................................... P 14 PORTFOLIO REPORT: NATIVE TITLE & CULTURAL HERITAGE ............................. P 29 YIPWEAQ REPORT .......................................................................................... P 68 PORTFOLIO REPORT: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ...................................... P 75 PORTFOLIO REPORT: TECHNICAL PRODUCTS .................................................. P 76
»»QLDWATER NEWS »» »» »» »»
CEO’S REPORT .............................................................................................. P 78 CALLING ALL OPERATORS .............................................................................. P 80 QLDWATER AWARD WINNERS ........................................................................ P 84 GET TO KNOW RYAN COSGROVE ...................................................................... P 85
Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
EDITOR’S NOTE: Just weeks out from the IPWEAQ 2018 Annual Conference on the Gold Coast and I am excited to bring you the September issue of Engineering for Public Works (EPW). The IPWEAQ team is in the final stages of preparation for #IPWEAQ18, and this conference promises to be the best yet. In the office you can feel the anticipation building as the program has been taking shape over the past weeks and months. Throughout the pages of this issue we’re giving you a taste of the technical and operational content you’ll be exposed to at the conference. And I invite you to review the conference feature on pages 24-28 for an overview of the program and to get a sense of the calibre of papers and presenters we’ll be bringing to you at #IPWEAQ18. For the under 35s, check out the highlights for young public works professionals on page 27 which includes a range of new initiatives such as the Buddy Program and professional headshot photography. Don’t forget to register for the YIPWEAQ Welcome Function! This is just the start of the networking opportunities available throughout conference. Personally, I’m looking forward to meeting and talking to as many people as possible at #IPWEAQ18! Belinda Smith Editor
PARTNERS
IPWEAQ
Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
SUBSCRIBERS
PUBLIC WORKS TECHNICAL SUBSCRIPTION
Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
IPWEAQ is pleased to welcome the following new PWTS subscribers:
IPWEAQ has seen a 70% increase in uptake of Public Works Technical Subscription (PWTS) by Queensland councils for 2018-2019. A recent repackaging of the popular PWTS has resulted in an additional 14 councils joining the existing PWTS community, enabling them to take full advantage of the many subscriber benefits which include: F ull
access to Standard Drawings which can be shared with council’s constituents – valued at $800 per user/access
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discount for the multi-user version of the Queensland Urban Drainage Manual Fourth Edition – valued at $140
A
10% discount on the annual ADAC consortium subscription – valued at up to $700
A
copy of the Lower Order Road Design Guidelines (PDF) – valued at $400
A
copy of Complete Streets: Guidelines for Urban Street Design – valued at $400
C omplimentary
registrations to Queensland’s leading public works conference - the #IPWEAQ18 for CEO, mayor and councillors – valued $1,800 per person
C omplimentary
registration for one council employee to attend #IPWEAQ18 including access to the conference proceedings (podcasts) – valued at $1,800
C omplimentary
registration for a council employee to attend your local IPWEAQ branch conference – valued at $300
T he
opportunity to include notices such as job vacancies in ‘Connect’ our fortnightly e-news service.
Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
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president’s Report It has been a sad time for me with the passing mid-August of my father, Malcom McKenzie. It’s a valuable reminder for all of us to take time to spend with family. However, this sad time was followed by a very happy day when I married my long-time partner, Sonia on 25 August. I would like to thank everyone who voted ‘yes’ last November. At IPWEAQ, we are continuing to progress the new Street Design and Planning Manual (SPDM) with a move now into more detailed development with the formation of two Working Groups for Detailed Design & Standards led by Brad Carey, Coordinator - Engineering & Environment Assessment at Sunshine Coast Council and the Street Planning Working Group led by Paul Eagles, Principal at RobertDay.
Sonia and Seren with pooches at their wedding in August.
Prior to progressing with this next phase of development, we engaged John Derbyshire, FIPWEAQ to undertake a review of current contemporary practices, and what is in the pipeline, across Australia and overseas. John has identified almost 30 references that will be of value to our project.
offers for our members and councils across Queensland. Mark Lamont, our Information Resources Manager will also present to delegates at the 2018 IPWEAQ Annual Conference so please be sure not to miss this valuable session which follows on from a moot court based on a real case which has implications for all councils across Australia.
The IPWEAQ Board recently received a briefing on the new native title and cultural heritage portals under development and we are very excited about the opportunities that this project
The 2018 IPWEAQ Annual Conference is once again shaping up to be another memorable event. These events continue to grow in stature every year and this year’s program suggests this year
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will be our best-ever. We have four technical tours this year, thanks to our hosts, the City of Gold Coast which has plenty of projects to reveal to us following the successful Commonwealth Games. We received an overwhelming number of high calibre submissions from potential presenters this year and as a result, we have added a fourth stream to the program across three concurrent sessions (12 streams in total). There is likely to be a topic and stream to suit just about everyone.
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One of the four streams is ‘technology and innovation’ which features papers on emerging technologies advancing the capabilities of public infrastructure and the City of Gold Coast’s transport and infrastructure’s integration of 3D visualisation technologies. Another stream, ‘investing in safety’ features papers on TMR’s road safety policy for Queensland and a new approach to reviewing speed limits.
Finally, on behalf of the IPWEAQ Board, I am pleased to announce that our CEO, Leigh Cunningham has renewed her contract for a further three year term. Over the past three years, Leigh has worked tirelessly for IPWEAQ and we have continued to go from strength to strength in our membership, member services,
governance processes and our financial position. We look forward to working with Leigh on the next phase of our growth. Just a few weeks now until #IPWEAQ18 and I look forward to seeing you then! Seren McKenzie President
Michael Pascoe is returning as our Master of Ceremonies and with a keynote presentation. Michael will also attempt to moderate the Great Debate with teams arguing that tradition has no place in a modern workplace. And just as we did in 2016 and 2017, we have invested wisely in quality keynote speakers including Michael McQueen who is a leading specialist in demographic shifts, change management and future trends which is critical to our planning for our communities. The toughest gig of the conference this year goes to Young Australians of the Year, Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett, founders of Orange Sky Laundry. Run by more than 600 volunteers across 73 locations, washing more than 7,000 kilograms of laundry for the homeless every week, Nic and Lucas will inspire you with their innovation and social entrepreneurship. And if you’re late for this first session after the gala awards ceremony and dinner the previous night, be ready with your $20 donation to the President’s Charity, MS Queensland. We will have roaming credit card facilities available this year!
Natalie Walsh (MS Qld), Seren McKenzie (IPWEAQ President) and Clancy Feuerriegel (MS Qld).
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calendar Townsville, 17 October 2018 Brisbane, 24 October 2018
#IPWEAQ18
IPWEAQ 2018 Annual Conference Surfers Paradise, 10-12 October 2018 + 12 Streams 3 Days + 4 Tech Tours tors bi + 36 papers + 50 exhi ier public = Queensland’s prem works event of 2018! ce Check out the Conferen for more 3 Feature on pages 68-7 information
SEPTEMBER NEW Critical Risk Management Workshop (CPD hours: up to 7) Sunshine Coast, 12 September 2018 Toowoomba, 26 September 2018 MORE information on page 74. Erosion and Sediment Control Level 3 - Advanced Training (CPD hours: 16) Brisbane, 11-13 September 2018 Type A, B & D Sediment Basin Design Course Brisbane, 13 September 2018
Bridge Inspection Workshop Levels 1& 2 (CPD hours: up to 18) Hobart, 18-20 September 2018
OCTOBER
Mechanistic Pavement Design CIRCLY Brisbane, 9 October 2018 Flexible Pavement Design Principles & Practice Brisbane, 9-10 October 2018 IPWEAQ Annual Conference Gold Coast, 10-12 October 2018 Erosion and Sediment Control Level 2 - Intermediate Training (CPD hours: 8)
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Flexible Pavement Design Principles & Practice Brisbane, 9-10 October 2018 Mechanistic Pavement Design CIRCLY Brisbane, 11 October 2018
NOVEMBER
Erosion and Sediment Control Level 2 - Intermediate Training (CPD hours: 8) Darwin, 5 November 2018 Erosion and Sediment Control Level 3 - Advanced Training (CPD hours: 16) Darwin, 6-8 November 2018 Type A, B & D Sediment Basin Design Course Darwin, 8 November 2018 Bridge Inspection Workshop Levels 1& 2 (CPD hours: up to 18) Brisbane, 20-22 November 2018 Erosion and Sediment Control Level 3 - Advanced Training (CPD hours: 16) Brisbane, 27-29 November 2018 Type A, B & D Sediment Basin Design Course Brisbane, 29 November 2018 International GIS Day International, 14 November 2018
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Honorary Members
Mike Stapleton Deputy Director-General, Customer Services, Safety and Regulation, TMR Appointed to this role in January 2016, Mike oversees the delivery of safety, regulatory and transactional transport services for the department. This division is critical to our current and future transport system, managing the state's regulation, marine, road safety and frontline services for Queenslanders. Formerly Deputy Director-General (Infrastructure Management and Delivery) and General Manager (Land Transport Safety, Mike has worked in the state public transport sector in finance, general management and transport safety roles for more than 20 years delivering key road safety initiatives. Mike’s qualifications include B.Bus, MPA, MANCAP, MNRSS, MAustroads, MQLCSG
Kimberly Swords Assistant DirectorGeneral of Procurement for the Queensland Government Kimberly is responsible for the strategic policy settings underpinning the procurement system, it’s operation and stewardship, as well as directly for the General Goods and Services category and QFleet. Kimberley was previously a Principal at the Nous Group, leading the public policy practice in Queensland. In this role Kimberley has worked across departments, agencies and companies—including Housing & Public Works, the Department of Energy & Water Supply, the Department of Infrastructure, Local Government & Planning, Origin Energy and SunWater. Kimberley has a strong public sector background, most recently as Deputy Secretary in the Commonwealth Department of Environment.
James Purtill Director-General, Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy James Purtill was appointed as the Director-General of the Department of Natural Resources & Mines in July 2015. Since December 2017, James has led the Department of Natural Resources, Mines & Energy. James' previous roles include private and public sector experience. He has served as DirectorGeneral in DATSIP and EPA and as the Queensland Public Service Commissioner. James has consulted broadly on organisational design and was managing director of Landroc Pty Ltd. James holds a Science Degree with Honours from the University of New South Wales, an MBA from the University of Queensland and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Amanda Yeates Deputy Director General Infrastructure Management and Delivery, TMR In this role Amanda oversees the delivery of the integral program of infrastructure projects and the maintenance and operation of the state controlled road network. Amanda’s leadership responsibility encompasses Engineering and Technology, Program Delivery and Operations, RoadTek and New Generation Rollingstock. Amanda was appointed to this role and TMR’s Executive Leadership Team in July 2018. Prior to this, Amanda held senior positions within TMR including General Manager Program Delivery and Operations, Regional Director North Coast and Wide Bay Burnett and General Manager Integrated Transport Planning. Amanda’s qualifications include BEng (Civil).
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QUEENSLAND ROAD SAFETY
FEATURE ARTICLE
Vulnerable users of the transport system are a key road safety issue.
Dennis Walsh General Manager of Land Transport, Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR)
Denis is responsible for delivering improvements in road safety and resilience of Queensland’s transport system in road and rail operations. This includes accountability for Queensland’s $660 million Targeted Road Safety Program, management of the policy agenda and delivery of the community engagement and communication program on road safety.
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Dennis introduced a Road Safety Policy to further embed Safe System principles and culture throughout the organisation. The Safe System involves a holistic view of the road transport system and the interactions among roads and roadsides, travel speeds, vehicles and road users. The Queensland Road Safety Strategy 2015–21 reinforces the Queensland Government’s commitment to a vision of zero road fatalities and serious injuries. The strategy is firmly based on Safe System principles and is framed by the guiding vision that no person should be killed or seriously injured on Queensland's roads.
Qld serious road causalities 2017.
The Safe System puts human physical frailty at the centre, acknowledging that people will make mistakes and the road transport system should be ‘forgiving,’ ensuring the forces in collisions do not exceed the limits of human tolerance. The objective of the Road Safety Policy is to implement Safe System principles, processes and practices that will deliver reductions in the number of fatal and serious injury crashes on Queensland roads. In 2017, Queensland’s road toll resulted in 247 fatalities and more than 6000 hospitalisations. The trend over the past five years suggests that most Australian states and territories, including Queensland, are likely to fall short of targets to reduce fatalities and hospitalisations by 30 per cent by 2020, unless decisive action is taken. Dennis is motivated to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries on Queensland roads. “The road toll represents a significant
The Safe System.
burden – the pain and suffering, economic, social and emotional impacts on the Queensland community are enormous. Across the four pillars of Safe System, we
need to be striving for a higher level of safety.” The development of the Road Safety Policy was guided by ISO
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39001 Road Traffic Safety, an international standard, providing a tool to help organisations reduce the incidence and risk of road trauma. This standard identifies elements of good road safety management practice, focusing on objectives and targets, while guiding the planning of activities that will help realise road safety outcomes by using a Safe System approach. As part of the Road Safety Policy, TMR will develop a road safety network plan and implement minimum safety standards in the planning and design of road infrastructure. The road safety network plan will assist in identifying what level of affordable safety measures can be adopted along corridors across the whole network. This will incorporate the work by Austroads, which has been developed from the ANRAM and iRAP ViDA road safety assessment tools, a series of safety ratings on a scale of one to five for different road stereotypes. The ratings are based on the treatments and features applied to each of the road types. This will help inform expectations in project delivery. Recognising the new road safety network plans will require time to influence the investment planning more broadly across TMR’s infrastructure portfolio, technical standards are also being reset for critical design elements to reflect default requirements to manage safety risk. These standards are to be applied as a norm unless justification is documented in a design exception or planning report. An example of a safety standard to address the headon crash risk on rural roads is to install a one-metre wide centreline on high-speed undivided roads with average annual daily traffic
Installation of Wide Centreline on the Bruce Highway Providing Significant Safety Benefits
of 4000 vehicles or greater. This targets 40 per cent of all head-on crashes by treating 10 per cent of Queensland’s state-controlled road network by length. Queensland has pioneered the use of wide centreline treatments in Australia and a recent evaluation of the treatment on the Bruce Highway is reporting an overall reduction in head-on crashes of 50 per cent. Another example is when signalising an intersection, the policy requires positive provision for controlled right-turn arrows at the time of construction. An exception report is then developed to assess if it is not required to operate at day of opening. This is to mitigate the current situation where many of our intersections with crash problems come forward for Australian Government’s Blackspot and Queensland Government’s Safer Roads Sooner funding requiring retro-fitting of arrows as
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conflicting traffic volumes increase. “At a very marginal cost at the time of installation of new traffic signals, we will make available an important safety option as traffic demand grows. This epitomises what Safe Systems approach is about, thinking in advance about how we can ensure safe operations over the life of an asset,” Dennis explains. Other safety standards target predominant crash types such as run-off-road and intersection crashes in rural and urban environments. Pedestrians, bike riders and motorcyclists are also catered for, acknowledging that 38 per cent of Queensland fatalities in 2017 were vulnerable road users. Additionally, projects must follow the Safe Systems Project Management Control Checklist and apply the Austroads Safe System Assessment Framework across the planning, concept,
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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’
T MOR OU
EAQ18 PW I #
r fo s, ed ty e is ori ari n! gn th ibr itio co au l al re nt rch Co lly ne ea ng ba i es hi lo em r is G re and ubl p e ic P th em ary by d ibr a ac e L th
IPWEAQ Knowledge Centre The new IPWEAQ Knowledge Centre is a vital resource for anyone working in the public works sector in Queensland.
FIN D
The intended outcomes of this Road Safety Policy will ensure TMR has an approach to road safety that assists our technical people in a more practical sense. In the past, the discussions haven’t converged between the road safety experts and road planning and design experts. Everyone can agree we are after safer outcomes. This new approach enables the assessment of key road safety considerations
and indicators consistently throughout all project phases.
AT
Dennis explains this is not a blackbox approach, rather that project development should consider all road users as far as reasonable and practical and safety standards
should be in the mix when evaluating competing factors to inform project planning and design.”
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development, implementation and finalisation phases before commencement approval. This will assist engineers and project managers to proactively identify opportunities and incorporate safety into a project’s scope earlier in development. The inclusion of safety enhancements in business cases will ensure these are fully funded before detailed design.
PowerPoint presentation so you can follow the presentation while listening to the podcast. 2. Podcasts with accompanying video of all other IPWEAQ events 3. Papers submitted for state and branch conferences 4. Articles published in our quarterly e-journal, Engineering for Public Works 5. Articles of relevance to Queensland practitioners sourced by our Information Resources Manager from other states/territories and internationally.
6. IPWEAQ technical publications including Standard Drawings (accessible only to subscribers) 7. Podcasts of interviews of delegates taken at state and branch conferences 8. Photos of delegates taken at state and branch conferences 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.
Join IPWEAQ today to access this vital resource for the public works sector in Queensland.
www.ipweaq.com
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CEO’s Report
Leigh Cunningham with Ross Guppy and Jessica Kahl (IPWEAQ Ambassador).
What happened to 2018? It’s already spring and just a few weeks now until the 2018 IPWEAQ Annual Conference to be held at The Marriott, Surfers Paradise hosted by our colleagues and Commonwealth Games hosts, the City of Gold Coast. Last year, 40 councils were represented at the annual conference held in Townsville and we’re expecting more councils at
this year’s event. If you require a letter for your employer outlining the benefits of attending the conference, please let us know and we will tailor a letter focussed on your particular professional development needs for your position. We have a lot of major projects in progress at the moment including the Street Planning & Design Manual (SPDM), the native title and cultural heritage portals and
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new professional development programs. But we thought we’d really push ourselves and initiate the change to a new corporate structure. As many of you know, I am a corporate lawyer by profession so corporate structures to me are like bridges and roads to you – they need to address current issues but also consider future needs. And given that it requires a 75% majority vote from members to
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change a corporate structure and supporting constitution, it’s not a process to undertake often. IPWEAQ is currently an incorporated association registered with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) under the Associations Incorporation Act (1981). Since we became a registered charity in 2016, it is an appropriate time to consider the type of structure – incorporated association versus Company Limited by Guarantee (CLBG) – that best serves us now and well into the future. As mentioned, we also need to address current issues. IPWEAQ’s constitution has not been updated since 2006 and owing to various ad hoc amendments over the years, there are a number of conflicting rules and many others that don’t respond to the needs of a progressive organisation eg elections currently must be held by postal ballot which is an administrative expense that could otherwise be saved. Incorporated associations were originally designed to be low cost and easier to manage however the ultimate authority over the association did not vest with its members but with the Chief Executive of the OFT which reflects the lower standing of the incorporated association versus the CLBG. When a CLBG is a charity, its main regulator becomes the ACNC and different, less complex laws apply to CLBGs that are charities than to other CLBGs because various provisions in the Corporations Act ‘switch off’. Incorporated associations registered as charities, being
state based charities, must report to both the OFT and the ACNC. CLBGs that are registered charities only need to report to the ACNC. Therefore this legal structure is increasingly attractive to incorporated associations that are registered charities. The first draft of the proposed new constitution and supporting documentation, including a comparison with the current 2006 constitution and reasons for the changes, will be published on our website for your early review together with a form for you to submit queries or concerns. Following six months of consultation with members, we will propose a change to IPWEAQ’s structure, to a Company Limited by Guarantee, at a General Meeting to be held in early 2019. You will be able to vote (not electronically at this stage!) by Proxy as soon as you are happy with the proposed new constitution. Leigh Cunningham Chief Executive Officer
STOP PRESS
IPWEAQ is pleased to welcome A2K Technologies as our new Principal Partner! A2K Technologies fosters innovation through delivering software and hardware solutions, consulting, training, development and managed services. With a great footprint throughout the ANZ region, A2K has strategic partnerships with many major software and hardware vendors, including Autodesk, Microsoft, Adobe, HP, Bluebeam, Ultimaker, Symantec, and Citrix. A2K is a trusted technology advisor to their customers through the breadth and depth of their service offering and technical expertise, their commercial flexibility and high levels of customer service and understanding.
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community news Congratulations to the happy couple! It is with great pleasure we congratulate IPWEAQ President Seren McKenzie on her marriage to long term partner, Sonia. Surrounded by loved ones in a beautiful rural setting, friends and family of Seren and Sonia gathered on Saturday 25 August to celebrate their marriage.
Congratulations President Seren McKenzie on her marriage to long term partner Sonia.
Seren is the first IPWEAQ President to marry while in office and we couldn’t be more pleased for the happy couple.
Key appointments Angelo Casagrande has been appointed Executive Manager Infrastructure Works and Services at Lockyer Valley Regional Council. Angelo is a Civil Engineer with over 20 years’ experience in the delivery of infrastructure projects and services. Dwayne Honor has been appointed Branch Manager Engineering Services with Bundaberg Regional Council. Dwayne is a Churchill Fellow and was previously Project Manager - CBD Revitalisation, working to revitalise the Bundaberg CBD. Congratulations Angelo and Dwayne on their appointments. We wish them every success in their now roles.
Raad goes paper-free SEQ Branch President and Infrastructure Services Program and Technical Services Manager at Ipswich City Council, Raad Jareers, committed to a paper-free office from 1 June this year. After ridding his office of paper – including emptying the bookshelf! – Raad asks those who came to his office to rise to the challenge too. Reviewing papers and plans on his computer screen and taking his tablet with him to meetings, Raad is leading by example. Raad says, "It's neater and more traceable than piles of paper". The paper-free challenge has been taken up across Ipswich City Council with the use of paper to
The stripped-back office of SEQ Branch President, Raad Jareers.
be phased out gradually, section by section. While it has been on Raad’s mind for sometime to convert
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to a paperless workplace, finally embracing a paper-free practice has others thinking about it too.
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Celisa’s Kokoda challenge Congratulations to CQ Branch President Celisa Faulkner who recently completed the 96km Gold Coast Kokoda Challenge!
Welcome
New Members
In what is commonly referred to as the toughest team endurance event in Australia, Celisa completed 96km of winding tracks through the Gold Coast hinterland and 5,000m of vertical elevation. After tackling 73km of the 96km event only to succumb to injury last year, Celisa was determined to finish the challenge with her teammates this time. Despite battling knee and hip flexor pain, blisters, sore feet, aches everywhere, vomiting, upset stomachs, freezing temps and sleep deprivation, the team crossed the finish line at 36 hours 14min and 47sec. Congratulations to Celisa and her team. And thanks to her to her supporters.
• Adebayo Bayooke • Anna Scott • Brad Carey • Damion Beety • David Evans • Giorgio Giaroli • Glen Luscombe • Jeff Miles Congratulations to CQ Branch President, Celisa Faulkner, and her team.
• Jeremy Cox • Justin Kronk • Renee Wise • Richard Bywater
25 years and still going strong Congratulations to John Tannock, an IPWEAQ Fellow celebrating 25 years as a member this past May. Many of you may have met John as he’s a regular at IPWEAQ conferences and he’ll be joining us again at the Gold Coast in October. We look forward to seeing you there!
• Rudy Martignago • Samantha Brown • Sarah Atif • Truong Nguyen
Recent retiree Graeme Wills keeps his ‘hand in’ at #IPWEAQ18 After a stellar career in engineering, Senior Civil Engineer and Partner at George Bourne & Associates, Graeme Wills, has recently retired. Based in the Central West town of Barcaldine, Graeme has been a huge supporter of IPWEAQ. He has previously been a member of the IPWEAQ Board and the CQ Branch Committee. As a dedicated and valued part of the public works community in Queensland, his knowledge and collegial good spirit may be missed at the office but fortunately we are still able to draw on Graeme’s depth of experience as he has agreed to act as Chief Mentor for the Buddy Program at this year’s Annual Conference. More on that on page 24. We wish Graeme all the best – whatever his retirement holds – and we look forward to congratulating him in person at #IPWEAQ18. Graeme Wills at #IPWEAQ17.
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EMERGING LEADER SERIES:
DAVID SEXTON
MEMBER PROFILE
David is a principal environmental engineer and scientist with over ten years’ experience in geomorphology, WSUD, waterway health enhancement, natural channel design, integrated water cycle management, civil design and fish passage. David has worked within all facets of engineering with practice in concept and detailed design, project management, design
management and construction liaison. He is involved in a number of projects for local government, development and mining clients assuming the role of either project manager or principal engineer. David is a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC), and most recently a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ).
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David spoke to Engineering for Public Works (EPW) about his chosen career path and his recent experience becoming a certified RPEQ. EPW: Please tell us about yourself, where you’re from, your interests and what makes you tick. David: Not surprisingly, I like to be on the water. I enjoy all kinds of outdoor activity including boating,
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fishing and camping. I especially enjoy the Moreton Bay area and discovering other parts of South East Queensland. EPW: Please summarise your career to date. David: After university I worked in local government, starting at Logan City Council in the Planning and Environmental Policy area where I focused on assessment site based stormwater quality management plans. I then moved to Brisbane City Council Projects Office where I managed a variety of different projects ranging from waterway health enhancement to water sensitive WSUD stormwater management and fish passage. About six years ago i joined Engeny Water Management where I have since become a shareholder of the company. EPW: What’s been your most significant career highlight to date? David: Working on the Jim Donald Park integrated stormwater system in Ipswich has been a highlight. The project included flood mitigation, stormwater quality improvement, stormwater harvesting, irrigated sports fields and open space integration within the surrounding area. Managing that project from concept to detailed design and construction supervision was interesting and rewarding – and the project was awarded the Stormwater Queensland award for Integrated Stormwater Design in 2016. Becoming a part owner in the Engeny business is significant. Being given a chance to manage a variety of projects. Having the opportunity – and being responsible for – business development and finding new opportunities is a different
experience. At Engeny I am expanding our business and management skills more broadly, and continuing to develop my career in a way that is both challenging and satisfying. EPW: Can you tell us about your experience becoming an RPEQ? David: I decided it was time to become an RPEQ because I was managing the technical lead on a number of projects that I should have been responsible for signing off on – it was my design after all, but I couldn’t sign off because I wasn’t an RPEQ. It meant I always needed to have someone else sign off my work that I really should have been responsible for. Some of the guys in our office had gone through the RPEQ process with IPWEAQ and said the process was relatively simple – providing you had the essential experience. So jumped on the website and worked out what I needed to do that afternoon. I made the decision one Friday afternoon and filled in the application over the weekend. The application process itself was
reasonably easy. I had to do some organising to detail my project experience and referees but that was not too arduous. From the time I submitted my application the process probably took about four weeks. I’m thankful to Mark Lamont and IPWEAQ for making the RPEQ process so simple. If I’d known it was going to be that easy I really would have done it much earlier. EPW: What do you find most satisfying about working as an engineer in public works? David: I enjoy seeing what I’ve designed being built. Sometimes going back after a few years and seeing how it’s performing. I’ve even taken my kids to see some of the projects and they are interested as well. I’m now enjoying sharing a bit about work with my six-yearold daughter. She interested in what I’m doing when she sees me working at home. She always has lots of questions and is very interested in the technical details.
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Actually, the questions can feel endless but it’s fun talking to our budding engineer. At six, she’s convinced she’d like a career in engineering and I’m happy to encourage her. EPW: What do you appreciate most about your involvement with IPWEAQ? David: I’ve only been an IPWEAQ member for a short period but I like getting regular updates on our sector and like knowing about all the events, including the conferences and training opportunities. Of course, I also use the Standard Drawings in my work.
EPW: What would be the one piece of advice you would give to others early in their career? David: Anticipate the time you’ll want to begin the RPEQ process. Start recording CPD early. I did some of that but then I still did have to go back through my calendar and records to bring it all together as I hadn’t recorded everything. Even if you’re not planning on doing it for some time, start recording now so that it’s all there and ready to go when you are. The hardest part is getting started. EPW: Any other comments/ thoughts/wisdom to share? David: My advice would be to focus on the holistic skills
of engineering not just the technical. Business development, understanding and working with clients to ensure their needs are met. Develop those skills – those engineers that have the entire wealth of knowledge generally go a little bit further. Also get involved in the construction if you can. Or at least go and see projects following completion. It’s the best way to improve the design and ensure constructability is considered. You can put something on paper but having the experience of having worked with the guys who have to build it, it makes you a better designer.
RPEQ ASSESSMENT BY IPWEAQ IPWEAQ upholds professional standards as an approved assessing authority for the registration of engineers (RPEQ) in the area of Civil Engineering – Public Works. Why should I become an RPEQ? Under the Queensland ‘Professional Engineers Act 2002’, engineers practicing in Queensland are required to be registered with the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland (BPEQ) or must be directly supervised by an RPEQ. Registration differentiates you as a professional engineer and is confirmation that you have met certain professional, educational and competency requirements.
Who can apply? Applicants need to meet the following criteria: A minimum four year Bachelor of Engineering degree from an Australian university. Where a degree other than this is held, or for overseas qualifications not covered by the Washington Accord, the Assessment Board will conduct an additional assessment to determine equivalency and an additional fee will be charged. A minimum of five years delivering engineering services under the supervision of an RPEQ or equivalent.
T echnical Officers having completed MEPrac may also apply subject to having had a minimum of five years supervised experience. H ave completed 150 hours of CPD for the immediate previous three years.
How do I apply? IPWEAQ can assess applications for RPEQ registration throughout Queensland. Applications are submitted at www.rpeqassessment.com.au with: D etails of all qualifications held relevant to the discipline for which accreditation is sought. U p-to-date, detailed curriculum vitae. D etails of CPD undertaken in the immediate three years prior to application. R eferee statements from three referees who are RPEQ and are in a position to independently comment on the applicant’s work A statement of competency.
How much will it cost? An assessment fee will be payable at the time of application:
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•$ 400 (plus GST) for IPWEAQ members •$ 700 (plus GST) for non-IPWEAQ members
How is my application assessed? Assessments are conducted by IPWEAQ’s expert panel of assessors and overseen by the IPWEAQ RPEQ Assessment Board. Assessment usually takes between six to eight weeks and includes an interview with a panel of three assessors. Successful applicants receive a Letter of Assessment which is submitted to the BPEQ for registration as an RPEQ.
What is the review process? RPEQs are required to demonstrate they have completed a minimum of 150 hours of CPD in every three year period and may be subject to random audits. The IPWEAQ CPD Logbook helps you keep track of your CPD. Submit your application at www.rpeqassessment.com.au For more information, please contact: Mark.Lamont@ipweaq.com
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Join us at Queensland’s premier public works conference
#IPWEAQ18 ON THE GOLD COAST, 10-12 OCTOBER 2018.
Technical Tours with hosts of the 2018 Commonwealth Games: •O ceanway (Coast Engineering & Bikeways) • Gold Coast Bridge Site Tour • Gold Coast Light Rail • Water & Waste.
Keynotes • F inance commentator and conference MC, Michael Pascoe •N ic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett of Orange Sky Laundry •S ocial researcher and futurist, Michael McQueen • Director-General of TMR, Neil Scales
36 Papers across 12 Conference Streams • Underground Infrastructure assets • Sustainable communities • Investing in safety • Technology and innovation • Resilience and recovery •G overnance •A nd more
www.ipweaq.com/gold-coast
Plus •T radition has no place in a modern workplace Great Debate •N ative Title Moot Court and IPWEAQ’s Native Title Governance Portal launch •D epreciable life vs serviceable life panel discussion • I PWEAQ Excellence Awards Gala Dinner celebrating achievements in public works. •B uild knowledge (and 16 hours CPD), see public works projects undertaken for 2018 Commonwealth Games firsthand, and network extensively with a diverse range of public works sector peers and leaders.
#IPWEAQ18
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#IPWEAQ18 Conference Feature
A PREMIER PUBLIC WORKS EVENT 3 Days + 4 Tech Tours + 12 Streams + 36 papers + 50 exhibitors =
Queensland’s premier public works event of 2018!
#IPWEAQ18, our 2018 Annual Conference, is fast approaching with just over a month before we kick off at the Marriott Resort, Surfers Paradise on October 10. The Marriott is an amazing venue and we will be taking full advantage of the tropical weather with our Day 1 Welcome Function being hosted poolside. Day 1 of the Conference also sees our delegates set off on 4 amazing Technical Tours which have been organised by our Conference Partners, City of Gold Coast. The Technical Tour options this year range from exploring Gold Coast light rail, a water and waste facilities tour, an Oceanway cycle tour and a Gold Coast bridges site tour. We are sure there will be a tour of interest for all our delegates. More information on our tours can be found on our Annual Conference Site – please note some of the tours have limited availability, so be sure to register early to avoid disappointment. Day 2 begins with Gold Coast Mayor Councillor Tom Tate welcoming delegates to the official opening of the conference and a program overflowing with high calibre presentations, panel discussions and our IPWEAQ
Futures Challenge Project. Due to the overwhelming number of outstanding paper submissions we received for consideration for the first time we have added and additional stream to the conference program. The topics to be presented across Day 2 and Day 3 of the conference are varied and cover many aspects of public works engineering, technology, sustainability and asset management, to name a few. The streams range from safety, technology and innovation, sustainability, infrastructure assets, stormwater assets, resilience and recovery plus many more – there is guaranteed to be a topic of interest for all our delegates!
Master of Ceremonies and keynote speaker, Michael Pascoe.
A few key highlights include presentations on: Replacement of the original Gateway Bridge expansion joint bearings City of Gold Coast Transport and Infrastructure's integration of 3D visualisation technologies into its planning and delivery process Work driving safety: How well is your organisation managing the risk
Goodbye NDRRA, Hello DRFA – Preparing councils to manage
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Social researcher and futurist, Michael McQueen
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#IPWEAQ18 Conference Feature asset reconstruction funding after the next natural disaster
Regional airport pavement challenges, needs and innovation
Data validation and condition assessment of council stormwater assets Dealing with the unplanned
More than a sporting event: the transport legacy of GC2018 (from the winner of the 2017 Futures Challenge).
Orange Sky founders Nic Marchesi and Luc Patchett.
We also have our Best Papers from our 2018 Branch conferences being presented and we are fortunate to be welcoming a speaker and best paper from the IPWEA NZ courtesy of our exchange program: How to plan for an earthquake event: Essential data collection approaches for underground infrastructure condition assessment (Best paper NZ Conference) Safety and freight on the New England Highway - Darling Downs District's strategic approach (Best Paper SWQ Conference) Technology - Tried, tested and reviewed (Best Paper NQ Conference)
Public buildings for post disaster function - structural engineering design experience (Best Paper CQ Conference) Having 36 outstanding papers being presented across consecutive streams will present a challenge for our delegates in deciding which presentation to attend. Fortunately to make your decision a bit easier,
Tech tours: Oceanway, Gold Coast bridge, light rail, water and waste.
IPWEAQ will be recording all presentations and they will be made available via the IPWEAQ Knowledge Centre post conference. If our amazing range of tech tours and outstanding program aren’t enough, our headline keynote speakers Michael McQueen and Nic and Lucas from Orange Sky Laundry, together with our Master of Ceremonies and keynote presenter, Michael Pascoe will keep you engaged throughout. We will also have 50 exhibitors on display, our MS Queensland
Ambassador Colin Chandler onsite finishing his artwork which will be auctioned during the conference to raise funds for our President’s Charity, MS Queensland… plus our most anticipated social function, the Excellence Awards Gala Dinner and our closing ceremony at the Surfers paradise Surf Club. Three days jam packed with activity, knowledge sharing, innovation, entertainment, great food, amazing company, networking opportunities and celebrations. What more could you ask for?
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#IPWEAQ18 Conference Feature
EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Recognising and celebrating the public works projects delivered for Queensland communities and the outstanding people who deliver them. In a nutshell, this is what IPWEAQ’s Excellence Awards is all about! There are so many outstanding infrastructure works and development projects happening in and around Queensland at the moment. You only have to look within your local community to identify at least one project underway to improve the way you commute, live or play. The importance of celebrating these projects and recognising the value they add to Queensland communities is something we’re passionate about. Maintaining our current assets, building our future communities, and ensuring that the people of Queensland continue to be supported by our infrastructure is what this series of works represents.
We celebrate individual projects across different categories including but not limited to asset management, road safety, innovation and sustainability. Regardless of budget, the value and improvement they bring in our Queensland communities needs to be acknowledged and celebrated. We also celebrate the outstanding achievements of people in ensuring these and other important public works projects are fully realised. There are four categories in our People Awards: Young Engineer of the Year, Woman in Engineering, Engineer of the Year and introducing a brand-new category for this year, Team member of the year, which recognises non-engineers and includes supervisors, works officers and other support staff. Our excellence awards program has been growing in popularity and recognition year on year in both the local and state
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government sectors as well as private engineering firms. And receiving an award nomination is a major accomplishment, recognising nominees for their outstanding work in our communities. We have received over 50 outstanding nominations this year, with growth in many of the project award categories and all of the people award categories. For the first time we have a project nomination submitted by one of our smaller Far North Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Councils – evidence that the reach of the Excellence Awards is growing. IPWEAQ are proud to host Queensland’s leading public works awards program and to be associated with all nominees. We wish everyone the best of luck and look forward to celebrating excellence on October 11 2018.
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#IPWEAQ18 Conference Feature
art for a cause We have been extremely fortunate to have artist Colin Chandler agree to donate a piece of his beautiful artwork to be the major prize at our Annual Conference Charity Auction – taking place as part of our President’s Charity fundraising efforts for MS Queensland. Col began painting seascapes over 45 years ago. His work is held in private collections internationally and the Beach Boys chose his art ‘Cold Wave’ to be the backdrop for their 2016 world tour. Col will be onsite finishing off the piece during the conference, so be sure to check out the artwork he is donating and have a chat – he has incredible stories to tell! Not only is Col a passionate artist, he is an equally passionate surfer and has many surfing stories and adventures to share. He has surfed around the world from Costa Rica and Mexico to the Maldives and many points in between. What makes Col all the more amazing – yes there is more to this talented man than his passion for art, sculpture and surfing – is that he continues life with his passion for art and surfing while living with MS. Col is just over 60 years old now and has had MS for about 10 years. Whilst his MS has had a significant impact on his mobility, he hasn’t let it impact his love for surfing, as Col himself admits ‘my surfing isn’t pretty but I don’t care’. With MS affecting Col’s
ability to stand and balance on a board, he’s had to work on ‘new ways of surfing’. He’s taken up knee boarding which allows him to still be out in the sea catching his beloved waves. Most extraordinary, Col shares stories of having to crawl into the surf with surfboard in hand, and crawl back out again. He has even had to crawl all the way back to the carpark! Always positive, Col says it has been a great way to meet people and make friends as people readily offer assistance. “Having MS doesn’t mean you can’t achieve your goals. You just have to change the way you chase them and be patient with yourself. It’s not all a fairy tale of ‘beating the odds through will and determination etc’, although
that helps. It’s as much about hard work and believing you can do it and remembering to have a giggle or three along the way. It also means being proud of yourself for TRYING.” Our charity auction will be held during afternoon tea on Friday 12 October from 3.00pm - 3.30pm. If you would like to place a bid but are unable to attend or you would prefer to place an anonymous bid, please connect with Paula Paul to manage that for you.
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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.
Young IPWEAQ Career Pathways
Contact our Director, Professional & Career Development, Craig Moss to design a pathway to your career destination including cadetships and RPEQ.
Discounts
Young IPWEAQ members receive a 40% discount on their membership subscription and 20% discount on the IPWEAQ annual conference registration and 50% discount on branch conference registrations.
Dream Big Project
Jessica Kahl’s award-winning project to encourage high school girls in Years 10-12 to consider a career in engineering.
Young Engineer of the Year
At our annual excellence awards ceremony, we acknowledge a young engineer who has achieved excellence.
Futures Challenge
Final year students studying engineering and related disciplines are invited to present their thesis or research project at the IPWEAQ annual conference. Read more about the Futures Challenge.
Emerging Leaders
We recognise four emerging leaders in public works each year. See our journal, Engineering for Public Works.
Conference Program
Members under 35 years of age (YIPWEAQ) are encouraged to submit an abstract for inclusion in IPWEAQ’s annual conference. If successful, their conference registration is complimentary (value $1,500)
Welcome Function
Join us for a special conference welcome for our Young IPWEAQ members at the IPWEAQ annual conference - Gold Coast, 10-12 October 2018.
Buddy Program
Our senior members accompany a Young IPWEAQ at the annual conference introducing them to colleagues and guiding them with decisions on what sessions and streams to attend for their particular career path and interests.
YIPWEAQ Ambassadors: Jessica Kahl and Joshua Flanders
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www.ipweaq.com
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#IPWEAQ18 Conference Feature
YOUNG PW PROFESSIONALS IPWEAQ’s Annual Conference is always a first-class professional development experience and at #IPWEAQ18 we are showcasing some exciting initiatives designed specifically for our new and emerging public works professionals. Throughout the 3-day conference, young people are provided with numerous possibilities to learn from a broad range of experts and thought leaders through technical presentations, discussion panels, technical tours and an array of formal and informal networking opportunities. At IPWEAQ, we aim to support the sector by helping create a generation of young public works professionals who are informed, engaged and excited about the ways in which public works engineering can change the world. #IPWEAQ18 highlights for young professionals: YIPWEAQ Welcome Function – an informal lunch with peers and mentors where you can connect and network with experienced and emerging public works professionals including IPWEAQ Ambassadors Jessica Kahl of Aurecon and Joshua Flanders of Cairns Regional Council. Professional headshots – those under 35s attending the lunch are also invited to make the most of the onsite professional photographer to have a high quality, professional headshot
taken. A business portrait (commonly known as a headshot) will provide the polish on your professional profile, ensuring you’re making a good first impression. Buddy Program – be partnered with public works gurus who’ll help you make connections between career pathways and the conference program, enabling you to maximise conference learnings and networking opportunities. Our thanks to our Chief Mentor, Graeme Wills who recently retired Partner at George Bourne and Associates. The Great Debate – ‘tradition has no place in a modern workforce’? Watch as IPWEA NSW Ambassador, Cate Fennell from Parkes Shire Council and Matthew Brennan, a graduate engineer at George Bourne & Associates take to stage to argue the topic. Joining them is IPWEAQ Past President
(and father of Matthew), Ged Brennan. Futures Challenge – final year students studying engineering and related disciplines – including Matthew Soldatenko from QUT, Madison Stahlhut from University of Southern Queensland and Lindsay Strafford from CQUniversity – present their thesis or research project at the conference. Delegates will vote using the Conference App for the best presentation with the winner announced at the IPWEAQ gala awards ceremony and dinner that evening. The winner receives a complimentary registration to the next IPWEAQ annual conference valued at over $2,000. REGISTER NOW using discount code YIPWEAQEXT to secure a 20% discount on your registration.
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#IPWEAQ18 Conference Feature
INCREASE YOUR VISIBILITY AS A CHAMPION OF PUBLIC WORKS IN QUEENSLAND This is shaping up to be IPEWAQ’s best conference ever and we still have some fantastic opportunities available for your organisation to join us as a sponsor at #IPWEAQ18. Put your business front and centre, increase your reach and exposure to new clients and reconnect with customers and contacts you’ve lost touch with…
The Charity Auction is our newest sponsorship category providing exclusive and incredible brand exposure throughout the conference and across IPWEAQ social media channels. What’s more, proceeds raised through this event go to support MS Queensland. You can find more details about this wonderful initiative on page 25 of the Journal. Please contact Paula Paul to discuss available opportunities.
10% discount to the prices below for our Partners
Number Available
Cost *inclusive of GST
IPWEAQ 2018 Annual Conference Sponsor (Diamond)
Exclusive
$13,200
Exhibitors Trade Display FULLY SUBSCRIBED
Multiple
$4,400
Excellence Awards Gala Dinner SOLD
Exclusive
$6,600
Welcome / Closing Functions
Exclusive
$3,300
Lanyards SOLD
Exclusive
$2,200
Satchels SOLD
Exclusive
$3,300
IPWEAQ Futures Challenge
Exclusive
$2,750
Keynote Presentation
Multiple
$2,200
Technical Stream
Multiple
$1,100
4
$1,100
Morning / Afternoon Tea Breaks
2
$2,200
Coffee Cart SOLD
Exclusive
$4,400
Charity Auction – Raising funds to support MS Queensland
Exclusive
$4,400
Excellence Awards
Multiple
$1,100
Lunch
POSITION VACANT #IPWEAQ18 Conference Buddy Program Mentors • J oin the YIPWEAQ Welcome Function luncheon on 10 October 2018 to meet your ‘buddy’
About you Ideally you will be a senior public works professional or engineer with at least ten years' experience in any discipline. You will have the ability to build rapport quickly with like-minded young professionals and you will have a desire to help shape the future of public works by supporting the development of the next generation. In just 2.5 days, you can make an impact, working with our graduate and emerging engineers.
•G uide your ‘buddy’ in selecting conference sessions to suit their chosen career path and interests
Join Graeme Wills Chief Mentor of the Buddy Program – and recently retired Partner from George Bourne & Associates – and make a contribution of a different kind to public works in Queensland.
•C onnect with and introduce your ‘buddy’ to peers throughout the 2.5 day conference program
Register via the online form on our website or contact IPWEAQ CEO, Leigh Cunningham for more information.
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NATIVE TITLE & CULTURAL HERITAGE
PORTFOLIO REPORT
Mark Lamont Information Resources Manager IPWEAQ’s Native Title and Cultural Heritage (NT/CH) Portal project is well underway and has now reached the stage of IT development. That means all the groundwork has been completed, in the form of extensive process mapping and flowcharting of the complex legislation and various segments that make up the compliance system. All these materials are now in the hands of our developers. The first fruits of those labours will be presented at the IPWEAQ Annual Conference in October. We are holding a Moot Court as one of the conference sessions, in which the people from Marrawah Law will present a scenario showing some of the consequences that arise from non-compliance with the Native Title Act (1993). This session will be followed by a presentation of the first prototype of the portal, demonstrating how it can be used as a tool to ensure public works infrastructure is undertaken in strict accordance with the law. Equally importantly, it will also offer a way to extend due respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander law and customs, and the cultural heritage that exists out of their long occupancy of the land. The Cultural Heritage element of the portal will guide users through the various conditions and requirements that must be satisfied to ensure minimal harm is done when carrying out publics works projects upon land which is likely to contain artefacts, natural features or areas of cultural significance. It will provide the legislative requirements needed, as well as offer guidance as to which Aboriginal party should be consulted, and the appropriate manner is which that consultation should be undertaken. IPWEAQ is committed to having the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples included as part of the portal development and have been working to ensure that happens. We are currently in the process of forming an expert advisory group composed of mainly Indigenous members working within the law, academia, and nongovernment organisations, who can provide feedback and direction to updates and reports that will be sent to them at every step of the development. We are also engaging an intern from Griffith University’s Gumurrii centre, a dedicated support unit for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander students. That intern will work closely with the IPWEAQ staff to make certain all matters of cultural sensitivity are handled in accordance with the respect and diligence due them. In response to interest raised at the NT/CH Seminar hosted by Central Highlands Regional Council at Emerald in June, we are making a list of council offices across the state who are tasked with Native Title and Cultural Heritage work. This will enable us to form a communication group for sharing ideas and ensuring we address the needs of people doing the hands-on work of compliance, and incorporate those needs into the portal development. This group will also be vital when it comes to asking councils to do testing of the tool for us in order to get feedback and make any adjustments that are deemed necessary. IPWEAQ will also be providing a complete backup service to users, who will be able to call our office at any point of the process with queries or for advice on the compliance system or practical workings of the portal. Any councils who would like to be included in that working group can send the contact details for their Native Title and/or Cultural Heritage officer to Mark.Lamont@ ipweaq.com and I will keep them up-to-date with the project.
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bringing accountants & ENGINEERS TOGETHER ON USEFUL LIFE
ASSET MANAGEMENT FOCUS
Tony Brett MBA, B. Fin Admin, CPA Senior Vice President Local Government Finance Professionals Queensland Manager Finance & Customer Services, Lockyer Valley Regional Council Why do accountants and engineers have such difficulty agreeing on useful lives? Is there a way to bring the different factors together for a common understanding of what it means? Or should we agree to disagree? Recap on definitions From an accounting point of view, useful life is defined through the Australian Accounting Standards AASB 1021 ‘Depreciation’ & AASB 116 ‘Property, Plant & Equipment’. These standards identify that useful life is most commonly expressed on a time basis taking into account the following considerations: Potential physical life at projected average rate of usage and assuming adequate maintenance The time over which the asset can remain efficient having regard to technical obsolescence
The expected commercial life of the product or output from the asset The time over which legal rights and entitlements exist Useful life is usually the shortest of the above and it should be adjusted according to circumstance. Useful life from an asset management perspective is usually the period over which the asset is expected to provide the required level of service based on its economic life or physical life. Economic Life is defined as the
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period until the asset ceases to be the lowest cost alternative to meet the required level of service, and physical life is the period until the asset ceases to provide the required level of service due to physical deterioration or other similar reasons. Other ‘useful lives’ It would seem therefore that the two different ways at looking at useful life have much in common and it should be fairly straight forward to come to a consensus when the accountants and engineers sit down to work it out. However, in practice it is not that
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simple. Depending on the context and perspective, other definitions of Life are introduced, making the issue more complicated. These other terms include: Engineering Life or design life relates to the overall time the asset is designed to last. This is not necessarily the same as the time it is in use, mainly due to redundancy. Life in use is the time over which the asset is used, whether or not the service standard is appropriate. An example of this may be when there are insufficient resources to replace the asset at the desired intervention point, and therefore it continues to be in service even though it should have been replaced. Alternatively, it may be that the asset was replaced earlier than needed due to political or aesthetic considerations. Renewal Life refers to the expected time that will expire before the asset is renewed. This may be the intervention point before the asset becomes unserviceable, or it could be a planning timeframe for works scheduling. Remaining Useful Life. Not to be confused with useful life as it is a sub component of useful life (Useful life is made up of the asset’s current age plus its remaining life). However, as an asset gets older, the remaining life becomes more important as this will have the most effect on planned replacements, budgeting and resource allocation The use of these terms may be appropriate in different contexts
Poor planning: Predicted vs. planned asset renewals.
– engineering life is particularly useful to compare actual asset performance against planned performance and could be used to make decisions around types of materials or methods of construction. Renewal life and remaining useful life are important when reviewing budgets and forward work schedules, while the life in use can be a good measure of how accurate your useful life assumptions are. To come to an agreement accountants and engineers need to clarify which expression of useful life they are talking about, and what they are using it for. What will the future hold for useful lives? The concept of standard useful lives for roads within the local government sector has been discussed in various forums. For those who implemented it, this would have seen certain road types allocated a life based on averaged data gathered
from around the state. From an accounting and auditing point of view this would have made things significantly easier but there are issues when comparing the standard lives with the actual practices of different councils. At the complete opposite end to standard useful lives, with improved data collection and modelling, councils may use different useful lives per segment and per component. From a planning perspective this would provide excellent information for asset management and future works programs but will this help us to make any better decisions or will it create unnecessary administration overheads in managing and justifying the data? It is likely that for most councils the reality will remain somewhere in between the two extremes, but accountants and engineers should take the opportunity now to discuss which way they want the future to develop. Doing this
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Towards understanding For engineers, estimated useful life is only one consideration when planning works. Condition assessments, agreed service levels, resource availability, and political considerations should have a greater weight in decisions around renewals than just the estimated useful life. For accountants, the stakes are much higher. The inclusion of depreciation in two of the three sustainability ratio indicators has increased pressure on accountants to ensure that useful lives are as long as can be reasonably justified. Councils are at risk of being deemed ‘unsustainable’ where useful lives are too short and therefore depreciation is too high. The publication of this information in the annual Queensland Audit Office Report to Parliament may give rise to ill-informed and unnecessary criticism of the financial situations of those council’s whose ratios are outside of the target range.
Taking the time to have a conversation about useful lives
Some things to consider in coming to an agreement about useful lives: Clarify exactly which expression of useful life you are talking about. Useful life is an estimate based on the best information available at the time. Make sure any uncertainty is acknowledged in your assumptions. Document your assumptions together. Don’t make decisions in isolation and engage with other stakeholders before changing things up. Make sure that you are reviewing the lives on an annual basis, and where condition data is changed, make sure this is updated in the asset system and check the impact on remaining useful life. Do a reality check to see if your lives reflect your current practices. Your asset management plan may say that you replace an asset when it reaches a certain condition rating, but if the reality is that more often than not this does not happen, then you need to rethink your useful life. Ensure your renewal practices in the field inform the components and useful life decisions in your Asset systems. E.g. Is your
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first seal coat included in your Pavement with 60 years life, or as part of the Seal with 15 years life? In conclusion Accountants need certainty for depreciation calculations and backup for the assumptions used when it comes to audit. Engineers need useful lives that can be used for planning and evaluation purposes and a baseline for their asset management plans. While not necessarily agreeing to disagree, it may be possible to have a different life for each different purpose as long as it is clear which life is being used for which purpose. Asset systems should be able to accommodate additional fields to cater for a number of different lives which can then provide the data for both the accountants and engineers. As partners in a long-term relationship, accountants and engineers must develop a good understanding of each other’s needs, be willing to compromise, and most importantly, take the time to communicate on a regular basis. If this can happen then many issues can be solved before they become a problem.
questi o ur o
at ns
This has also increased audit scrutiny of useful lives to ensure that the ratios are being calculated correctly and not being manipulated to ensure the ratios are within the recommended limits. Although they are not necessarily willing to accept standard useful lives, auditors will do comparisons of different organisations to see if there are any outliers that may be pushing the envelope and require further justification of the calculations.
and what they are actually used for will go a long way towards understanding the different points of view and needs for accountants and engineers. It should be acknowledged that while the data is used for different purposes, these different needs are not incompatible.
ask y
together will improve the chances of reaching agreement on how to estimate useful lives, and if different measures are required.
EAQ18 W P #I
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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.
GETTING IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME WITH CONSISTENT DATA ASSET DESIGN AS CONSTRUCTED
TRANSFORMS BUSINESS
Consortium Members: • Brisbane City Council • Bundaberg Regional Council • City of Charles Sturt • City of Gold Coast • Gladstone Regional Council • Lockyer Valley Regional Council
• Logan City Council • Mackay Regional Council • Moreton Bay Regional Council • Queensland Urban Utilities • Port Macquarie-Hastings Council • Redland City Council • Rockhampton Regional Council
• SA Water • Sunshine Coast Council • Toowoomba Regional Council • Tweed Shire Council • Unity Water • Whitsunday Regional Council
ADAC Vendors
ADAC Implementation Partners
• 12d Solutions • Keays Software •S ofoco Pty Ltd plus Duprez Construction Services Pty Ltd (ADACX)
• Lion Systems • Door 3 Consulting
ADAC (Asset Design as Constructed) is a non-proprietary data specification and transport format (XML) for the description and transmission of asset design and as constructed data. Incorrect, missing or redundant data can cause your organisation significant time delays and money. ADAC is a strategic solution through quality data capture and management for government and utilities. ADAC is available for asset owners at no cost, however we encourage you to become a member of the ADAC consortium. Benefits of membership include the ability to influence the ongoing development, governance and expansion of the specification. Consortium members also receive access to documents, tools and materials developed to support ADAC implementation and an opportunity to shape the strategic direction of ADAC in conjunction with BIM. We have a panel of ADAC vendors and implementation partners which have been screened to ensure they possess the capabilities required to implement ADAC and to assist you with ongoing support.
Contact: Craig Moss Craig.Moss@ipweaq.com | Phone: 3632 6804
www.ipweaq.com Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
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balancing cost, risk & performance
ASSET MANAGEMENT FOCUS
Tim Heldt BEng (Civil), PhD (Steel Structures) National Leader – Structures, Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) The structures team at the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) is on a mission to change the way transport infrastructure assets are managed. The priority for the next few years will centre on bringing the disciplines of structural engineering and asset management together for a better outcome. As ARRB’s chief technology leader, future transport infrastructure, I believe this is an area where the team can get the most value from its work around bridges. We often focus on the design and construction of new structures. But if you look at the asset portfolio, probably 90 per cent of the money has been spent. We have already built a whole bunch of bridges – so the question becomes, now that we’ve spent that money, how do we get the best value out of it? How do we provide the best service with it as opposed to saying let’s just build some more bridges.
From a community point of view, I think there’s a lot of value to be had in trying to do this more effectively. Making good decisions on the repair and maintenance of bridges has often been hampered by a lack of good data and the fact that condition assessments were not as reliable as people supposed and is only part of the picture. It is possible to gather more data and pursue more intensive monitoring of bridges, including through new technology – but this would cost more money and may not necessarily bring better outcomes. It is important to make better decisions with the same imperfect data Let’s make sure that the simple data we have now is being used more effectively and that will help identify the areas where we really need more data and we can allocate resources to get that targeted. A key to this is gaining a better understanding of the decision to be made and not making it in isolation. A fundamental principle of asset management is to understand that the focus was not so much the asset as the service it provides. So, if you have a bridge in a poor state, the question is do we need to fix it now? Who uses it and what
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service is it providing? If it’s the only route to local sale yards, you have to do something about it. But if this is a bridge providing access to a number of rural properties and occasionally a truck uses it but there’s an alternate route that means an extra 20-kilometer trip, then you might say ‘we can’t get to that for some time’ and you might put a load limit on it. You are still providing a service for most users and there’s an alternative with a slightly higher economic cost for some users. It’s about taking a step back. There may be a bridge that needs repair, but the real question is who is using it and what are they using it for? The asset is a conduit to provide the service. It’s not the end game. Particularly in the structural space, that is something we need to think more about. Asset management is about getting the balance right between cost, risk and performance. One problem has been people’s faith in condition ratings based on visual monitoring and this is subjective. For example, a Federal Highway Administration study in the United States in 2001 that showed that there are significant inconsistencies in bridge condition
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ratings with up to 50 per cent in some cases being questionable. The point is that condition assessment is an input to a decision, but it is very uncertain so don’t place too much emphasis on it. Structural engineers say ‘you give me the info and I can calculate capacity’. But an Austroads research reports shows you will get a range of answers from different people – so even when we do all our calculations it’s a guide, it’s not precise – it’s an input. So you can spend bucketloads of money on this and actually not get a much better answer.
Another issue to be addressed was the way people viewed risk when it came to bridge condition. As engineers we look at likelihood, we look at consequences, bundle it up into numbers and try to make decisions based on that. If we go to court, the courts don’t look at it that way, so there’s a need to change the way we look at and manage risk as part of the whole exercise. Effective record keeping is a key issue, and this should be done with the legal process in mind, and that’s a big challenge – particularly in a large, complex organisation where people typically retain a lot in their head and so on.
While the industry is starting to draw on asset management principles and doing a better job of collecting data, there is a need to focus more on decisions – including the way they are reached and the way they are documented. Our passion at ARRB for the next five years is going to be taking the asset management principles – which arguably have only consolidated in recent years into an accepted body of knowledge – along with some of the disruptive technologies emerging around data, putting that together with structural engineering and saying ‘hey we can get a better result by putting all that together’.
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POST INSTALLATION INSPECTION OF CONCRETE PIPES
ASSET MANAGEMENT FOCUS and advocates for the interests of the industry to all levels of government. CCF QLD understands the local, state and national issues facing the civil construction industry.
James Burgess Policy and Research Officer – Client Services, Civil Contractors Federation (CCF) QLD
Andrew Ruffles Executive Director of the Concrete Pipes Association of Australasia (CPAA) RISK OF INCREASED COST PRESSURE ON LIVING & HOUSING: Local Government Stormwater Policies on Post Installation Inspection Background The Civil Contractors Federation (CCF) QLD is the peak industry body for the civil construction industry in Queensland. CCF QLD prides itself on being the voice of the civil construction industry
The Concrete Pipe Association of Australasia (CPAA) represents manufacturers of steel reinforced concrete pipe and associated products who are committed to the use of the relevant Australian Standards as the benchmarks in industry. The Association promotes excellence in design, manufacture, application, and technology of steel-reinforced concrete pipe and associated products. CCF QLD and CPAA have identified industry concerns regarding local government post installation inspection and defects categorisation procedures with reinforced concrete pipes during and after the construction of stormwater drains. Regrettably, these trends have resulted in increasing cost pressures on building materials, infrastructure construction, and property development which will impact on Queenslander’s cost of living. Local Government Regulations – Australian Standards and Harmonisation Standards Australia maintains evidence-based industry
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standards for the manufacture and installation of reinforced concrete pipe in the form of AS/NZS 4058-2007 — Precast concrete pipes (pressure and nonpressure) and AS/NZS 3725-2007 — Design for installation of buried concrete pipes. Adherence to these standards ensures product durability for the life of the asset. In addition, by setting standards for design, manufacture and installation it ensures installation techniques which prevent damage and provide support for the life of the asset. By contrast, Queensland’s Local Government authorities adhere to their own specifications and regulatory processes which can substantially differ from the appropriate Australian Standards, noted above. As such, the inconsistencies between the authority and Australian Standard lead to installation practices which undermine Stormwater infrastructure quality. Additionally, civil contractors are required to follow an array of local government specifications during the construction of Stormwater infrastructure further complicating the process. “No Cracks” Policy – Arbitrary and ineffectual Specific industry concerns have been identified regarding local
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government authorities who employ so called ‘no crack’ policies in their respective specifications covering Stormwater Drainage installation. ‘No crack’ policies include caveats which allow for hairline, crazing and shrinkage cracks. However, these ambiguous statements are often open to subjective interpretation by local government officials who undertake the post-installation review process. In contrast to the individual local government specifications, the Australian Standard AS/ NZS4058:2007 – Precast Concrete Pipes (Pressure and non-Pressure) addresses reinforced concrete pipe quality and defects classification. The Standard is performance
based and requires the pipe manufacturer to carry out a number of tests to demonstrate compliance. The acceptable design crack width within Australian Standards is 0.15 millimetres measured as set out in the Standard. In addition, evidence shows acceptable design cracks have no significant effect on the performance of an installed pipeline. 1 Cracking in concrete pipes can be caused by a number of factors during the construction and installation process. The CPAA provides guidance on the assessment, categorisation and remedy for such cases.2 Hairline and circumferential cracks do not threaten the structural
integrity of the pipe and often repair themselves. This self-repair process is known as autogenous healing and is well documented worldwide. 3 Local government authorities often misdiagnose localised hairline cracks as those which undermine a pipes long term structural integrity. As such, the disqualification of all cracks now occurs due to a failure by local governments to accept evidence and through inflexible and arbitrary criteria such as a “no cracks” policies. This makes no sense when the pipe is designed to limit cracking to 0.15 millimetres under its design or service load. Inflexible and arbitrary judgements; lacking evidence, lead to the imposition of demands on
1 CPAA,
Engineering Guideline. The facts about cracking in steel reinforced concrete pipes. CPAA, Engineering Guideline. Circumferential Cracking. CPAA, Engineering Guideline. Longitudinal Cracking. CPAA, Eng. The facts. 3 CPAA - Technical Brief. Autogenous Healing. 4 CPAA, Technical Notes, Crack Measurement by CCTV – The Facts, and American Pipe Association video 2
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local civil contractors such as the requirement for unnecessary and costly repair or removal of newly installed pipe. CCTV as an Inspection Method Local Government authorities often utilise Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) technology to inspect installed pipes in order to confirm acceptable condition of the asset after the installation period. CCTV can be an effective technology for inspection of concrete pipes which provides visual evidence of circumferential, longitudinal and other cracks in addition to poor installation, obstructions, misalignment and catastrophic damage. Local government authorities are additionally employing CCTV to assess the serviceability of concrete pipes and to measure potential cracks. However, current CCTV technology is not able to accurately measure crack width or, importantly, depth in concrete. Furthermore, engineering experts have conducted research on CCTV accuracy which resulted in the consensus view that CCTV did not produce images of the required resolution to measure cracks at the accuracy necessary.4 Civil contractors, suppliers and industry groups have indicated concern over the increasing use of CCTV for crack measurement by Local Government authorities. Education and Training Industry stakeholders have indicated that local government staff members responsible for quality control measures following the installation of concrete pipes 4
often make subjective arbitrary decisions regarding cracks. The combination of unclear specification and inappropriate CCTV technology leads unqualified staff members to compel civil contractors to remove or repair newly installed drainage systems. Regardless of the intent of local government ‘no cracks’ policies, staff members often impose subjective arbitrary decisions based on spurious evidence. In addition, quality control investigators often make casual assessments of what constitutes a ‘crack’ using rough eyeball judgements. As a consequence, civil contractors are faced with prohibitively high costs to their business when directed carry out unnecessary repairs. An improvement in contractors, sub-contractors and local government staff member’s education and knowledge is required to ensure the installation of quality Stormwater infrastructure. A lack of training has resulted in installation practices which undermine the usability to the asset which imposes an unnecessary cost burden on rate payers. As such, there should be a mandatory requirement for the provision of quality training aligned to national standards in civil construction pipe laying. Increasing Cost Pressures The above trends have resulted in major short and long term cost pressures on Queensland’s communities through avoidable costs on local governments, civil contractors and on property
development. Queensland’s civil construction industry is negatively impacted when local governments require repairs on newly installed reinforced concrete pipes. In addition, these trends have also resulted in delays on local government infrastructure development imposing costs on ratepayers. Industry members and local governments are also increasingly using alternative materials for storm water drainage construction which will now result in shorter asset life spans which will impose longer term cost factors on Queenslanders. Civil contractors ultimately pass these costs onto property developers which greatly contribute to higher housing costs. Further, delayed local government infrastructure projects impact on property development timelines and consequently leads to dramatic increases in housing costs for Queenslanders. These unnecessary costs occur at a time when cost of living pressures for first home buyers are already excessively high. Recommendations We propose the following recommendations: Local Governments should revise “no crack” policies to reflect evidence-based Australian Standards and acceptance criteria. Terminology should change to ‘defects classification’ in preference to ‘crack’. Local Government Works Inspectors should be trained to understand the conditions
CPAA, Technical Notes, Crack Measurement by CCTV – The Facts, and American Pipe Association video
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regarding what constitutes a defect or ‘crack’ – as stated in the local government specifications. Local Government authorities should ensure a transparent evidence-based process for classifying defects and ensure this aligns with the relevant Australian Standard. Queensland’s local governments should begin a process of harmonisation by aligning their regulations and policies with the Standards Australia’s AS/NZS4058:2007 – Precast Concrete Pipes (Pressure and non-Pressure) and AS/ NZS 3725-2007 — Design for installation of buried concrete pipes.
CCTV should be recognised as an effective tool for identifying gross defects but also be recognised as having limitations when being used to accurately define minor crack widths. A mandatory requirement should be initiated for the provision of quality training aligned to national standards in civil construction pipe laying for contractors and Local Government employees. References • Autogenous Healing, Technical Brief. Concrete Pipe Association of Australasia. • Circumferential Cracking, Engineering Guideline. Concrete
Pipe Association of Australasia. • Crack Measurement by CCTV – The Facts, Technical Notes. Concrete Pipe Association of Australasia. • Longitudinal Cracking, Engineering Guideline. Concrete Pipe Association of Australasia. • Post Installation Inspection, American Concrete Pipe Association. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ffv1gP4LyCs. • The Facts about Cracking in Steel Reinforced Concrete Pipes, Engineering Guideline. Concrete Pipe Association of Australasia.
Load testing of pipe
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TOWARDS A ZERO-waste future
SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS
Brian Jackson Director of Asset and Projects Services, Consulting and Technical Advisory, Peak Services Peak Services is Australia’s only infrastructure services company focused on local government, wholly owned by the Local Government Association of Queensland. An expert in all major asset classes, Brian has a Bachelor of Science (Chemistry) degree and a Master’s Degree in Project Management.
Report finds Energy from Waste (EfW) viable in Queensland China’s ban on the importation of recycled waste has escalated Australia’s War on Waste, with households, policy makers and engineers looking to find real solutions to our growing landfill problem.
Commissioned by the Local Government Association of Queensland, the Viability Assessment of an Energy from Waste Industry in Queensland (Report) aimed to identify if EfW solutions can help reduce the 5.4 million tonnes of waste disposed to landfill in Queensland each year.
Single-use plastic bags are banned, #BYOcoffee is cool and now a new report has found Energy from Waste (EfW) to be a viable solution for reducing landfill in Queensland.
As the lead author of the report, I believe there is no doubt that EfW is rapidly being recognised within the state as an opportunity to, not only address the issues relating to waste management, but also the ongoing issues with electricity
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supplies for regional and remote areas. EfW is well established in many other countries, including those in Europe, United Kingdom, Asia and North America, with proven track records of 20 years plus. In those countries EfW technologies are rapidly evolving to include smaller and scalable options, resulting in significant improvement on landfill practices. The Report aimed to analyse the future viability of select, proven and safe EfW technologies and the conditions in which more advanced forms of EfW (for example anaerobic digestion, refuse derived fuel, refuse derived fuel with power plant and gasification) may be expected to develop. Queensland is a geographically large state with fairly low population densities comparatively. We can learn a lot from how other countries are using EfW technologies, but what works in Sweden may not work in Brisbane. And what works in Brisbane may not work in Birdsville. Given this our research focused on three key questions: Are proven EfW technology options currently available that are viable in Queensland? What are the key factors that are most likely to influence the viability of EfW and reduce reliance on landfills as a waste management strategy? What proven EfW technologies are sufficiently scalable and diverse to provide solutions across all Queensland regions? Findings we presented in the
Technologies evaluated as part of the report
report were derived from a high-level financial model which evaluated the performance of a range of EfW technologies, as a function of a range of input factors including technology costs, recyclables revenues, feedstock composition, landfill standards, electricity revenues and landfill levy charges. By testing the projected relative costs of EfW technologies as these parameters changed, the model identified the key factors that may support an EfW industry. It should be noted that the assessment didn’t try to determine waste management costs with a degree of accuracy that can be relied upon for investment decisions or policy change, as future market conditions are inherently
uncertain. The model used a Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), expected feedstocks and other factors as a reference point for viability assessment, with consideration given to waste transport distances, general waste flows and a cash flow calculation algorithm for capex and opex. Councils were also categorised into broad sectors to enable identification of the ‘most viable’ EfW technology based on its waste characteristics. The Model then computed the cash flow of the different EfW options for a period of 15 years starting from 2025. Cash flow was then discounted back to the base year using a Weighted Average Cost of Capital
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(WACC) and divided by the net present value of the general waste for that period of time. The result is the Dynamic Generation Cost (DGC), which is the average cost per tonne of waste discounted to the base year. The DGC was then used to compare and rank the different options for each variable tested. Waste management in Queensland, like other parts of Australia, is categorised into household and commercial, with household waste managed by Local Governments and commercial entities choosing their waste services providers according to differing criteria. Last year 5.4 million tonnes of waste generated in Queensland was disposed to landfill, representing a huge loss of valuable materials and energy to the Queensland economy. Technologies evaluated as part of the report are shown in Table ES1. Their relative capacities to reduce landfill volumes and contribute to energy supply are also shown.
DFPP in Darmstadt
Although a recognised EfW technology, Land Fill Gas (LFG) capture does not reduce landfill volumes and was therefore not considered a key component of a zero waste to landfill strategy. Its inclusion in the modelling and report findings was for comparison purposes only to demonstrate the relative effects of policy and
EfW Combustion Process
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other variable changes on the EfW technologies examined. Further, Mass Burn incineration was not considered based on what we are seeing in best practice environments and will policy makers want to create behaviour and an industry that is indiscriminate and discourages waste recovery?
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EfW viability outcomes were based on regional clustering of Local Government Areas, with relative rankings of technologies that may present the most advantageous outcome to that area.
Under more favourable conditions, more advanced technologies such as Refuse Derived Fuel Production with a Power Plant become more economically viable for larger volumes of waste.
Policy and investment is vital in supporting the viability of EfW technologies. Across Queensland, one size does not fit all. EfW technologies need to be appropriately scaled and positioned to achieve efficiency and support viability.
A network of suitable technologies and appropriate transfer mechanisms will be required to maximise EfW viability and landfill volume reduction.
The primary investment and policy levers appear to be landfill levy, CSO (electricity) subsidy levels, supporting feedstock volumes and composition and landfill standards. Anaerobic digestion, a technology that replicates the anaerobic decay process that occurs in landfills under carefully controlled conditions, was found to be the most financially viable EfW technology across the state.
Notably, AD has the least effectiveness in reducing waste to landfill while RDFPP has the highest effectiveness in reducing waste to landfill. AD requires large scale segregation of organic waste, contingent on significant changes in waste collection services and waste producer behaviour. The assessment of an EfW industry in Queensland is subject to a vast number of variables that are complex and require significant further work to improve and quantify levels of certainty and evaluation of EfW in the
Queensland context. Consultation and detailed assessment will also be required with respect to public acceptance including utilising the available technology to effectively respond to and manage environmental, social and governance implications. Local Governments across Queensland recognise that current waste management practices are unsustainable. An EfW solution is a viable option to support zero waste to landfill, but further detailed analysis and assessment is required to realise the benefits of an EfW industry in Queensland. Peak in collaboration with the LGAQ are planning and delivering a zerowaste study tour through Europe UK and USA to further investigate zero waste economies utilising energy from waste technologies. Please contact Peak Services on (07) 3000 2148 or hello@wearepeak. com.au for more information.
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JOYCE McCuLLOCH, Mayor of MT ISA
MAYORAL MESSAGE
Current projects in and around the city - Less than two months into the new financial year and there are already a number of major projects underway in the city, with even more projects shovel ready and waiting. Mayor Joyce McCulloch said the Council was committed to utilising majority local workforce and suppliers, ensuring support to the local economy while upgrading community infrastructure. Currently, the Library, Civic Centre and Aquatic Centre are receiving much needed attention; with a combined spend of $2.88m, with almost $1.2m being state and federally funded. This work has seen the Library undergo full upgrade of airconditioning, and the Civic Centre airconditioning upgrade is nearing 85 per cent completion. Mayor Joyce McCulloch said one of the most exciting projects was the city’s aquatic centre, which is currently undergoing extensive renovation. “This is a major project which will benefit so many sections of our community,” Cr McCulloch said. “The project including full renovation of change rooms,
repair of pool expansion joints and partial retiling, structural analysis of grandstand and flooring and conversion to meeting/kitchen/ serving facility of area under grand stand, installation of disabled lift and access chair for pool, relocation of entrance and upgrade of kiosk, resurfacing of interface area between family fun park/skate park and pool area, installation of barbecue area and shade, relocation and upgrade of first aid room, and upgrade and uplift to grandstand appearance. “This will be stage one and we are currently investigating ongoing grants and funding to continue additional planned stages.” Worth $326k and fully funded under the Safer Communities funding stream, the city’s CCTV system operating platform has been upgraded and installation of additional CCTV units with two already installed at the lookout and upgraded camera units at Family Fun Park and Skate park. Camooweal Town Hall has received some love with $40k of upgrades including Installation of flag poles, repairs to electrical and lighting, doors and stairs. We are currently investigating restumping options for building.
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The build of No. 3a Reservoir has received $873k funding under Building Our Regions 3, with a total spend of $1.7m spend for the project. Currently the hillside excavation down to the footings has been completed and the tender is being awarded for design and construct. The Isa Street Bridge is shaping up to be a major project worth $6.61m, with $3.67m funded under the Bridge Renewals Program and Transport Infrastructure Development Scheme. The relocation of sewer main has commenced with directional boring completed south of bridge. $1.2m worth of prefabricated beams and culverts has been ordered and we are awaiting delivery dates before construction begins. 100 per cent funded under TMR Blackspot funding, $305k will be spent on an upgrade to Camooweal and Mary Streets intersection. The design is nearing completion, and includes upgrades of intersection/islands and Mary St school pedestrian crossing. Mount Oxide Rd Diversion Design/ Investigation will see a spend of $106k. Currently, site locations have been identified, and floodway
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and approach designs are in progress. Animal Management Facility will see a total spend of $440k, fully funded under Works for QLD. A survey of the facility is underway with the review and upgrade of the facility to follow. Cr McCulloch said the year was already shaping up to be a busy one, with many projects in the pipeline, and many funding opportunities being sought. “I’m extremely proud to say that this council is extremely active in pursuing grants and funding for every area of this city,” she said. “We’re committed to revitalizing this city, but doing it in a responsible way, a way that doesn’t hit our ratepayers at every turn.”
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Gateway to your profile, professional development and resources
Access the IPWEAQ Portal at: https://ipweaq.eventsair.com/ MemberPortal/ipweaq-master-contact-store/ipweaq-member-portal
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CYCLONE MARCIA STATUE BAY RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT
DISASTER RECOVERY FOCUS
Stuart Doak Manager, Infrastructure Projects, Livingstone Shire Council 1.0 INTRODUCTION On 20 February 2015, Severe Tropical Cyclone Marcia crossed the Queensland coast north west of Yeppoon in Central Queensland as a Category 5 cyclone, causing extensive damage to the coastal township and its infrastructure.
The ferocious seas inflicted the most severe damage on an exposed section of the coastal Scenic Highway at Statue Bay, 7 kms to the south of Yeppoon. A 600 m section of the Scenic Highway was severely eroded and undermined by pounding waves, and a number of slip failures occurred on the steep cliff-face above the damaged road. This paper describes the
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damage, remediation options, funding arrangements, design and construction of the final solution, which transformed a narrow, substandard, potentially dangerous section of road into a safe, multi-user carriageway, capable of withstanding future severe storm events. 2.0 EMERGENCY RESPONSE Immediately after the cyclone had subsided, the Scenic Highway was
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determined as unsafe for road users and was closed to traffic. Fortunately, an alternate route was available as a detour; however, the route passed through residential areas. Council commissioned a geotechnical consultant to investigate the stability of the cliffface and the road to determine if the road could safely be reopened to road users. A number of recommendations eventuated that saw the cliff face de-scaled, safety barriers installed to protect traffic and the road re-opened to a single lane of one-way (southbound) traffic. Council’s primary concern was the safety of road users. 3.0 REMEDIATION SOLUTION AND FUNDING APPROVAL Council engaged specialist consulting engineers to undertake further detailed geotechnical investigations and determine long term remediation solutions for both upslope and downslope failures. The solutions were proposed to the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) in support of an application
for Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA) funding for the project. 3.1 OPTIONS INVESTIGATION 3.1.1 Upslope
Options investigated included:
improved alignment. 3.2 SCOPE OF WORK
The best options were determined as: Upslope:
Installation of draped mesh and rock fall fences;
installation of soil nails with shotcrete surfacing to stabilise the higher risk areas of the cliff face;
Installation of soil nails and shotcrete;
including sub-horizontal and strip drainage;
Pile wall;
Downslope:
3.1.2 Downslope
construction of a gravity block ocean protection revetment wall with mechanically stabilised earth (MSE) embankment;
Re-grading of batter slope;
Options investigated included: Reconstruction of the road embankment and batter stabilisation with large rock armour (500 – 1,000 mm); Gravity block revetment wall with stabilised embankment; Bridge / viaduct structure; 3.1.3 Options Assessment
The above options were assessed utilising a multi-criteria analysis, including constructability, capital cost, ongoing maintenance costs, increased safety for road users and
reconstruction of the road with increased formation width to facilitate a previously unattainable off-road pathway. The sketch below shows the scope of the work proposed. 3.3 APPROVED FUNDING After substantial negotiations with the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, the above scope was agreed and funding approved as below, based on concept level cost estimates: Table 1 – Approved NDRRA Funding NDRRA Restoration (Category B)
$9.67 M
NDRRA Betterment (Category D) – capped
$2.00 M
LSC contribution (Category D + Complementary)
$4.80 M
TOTAL
$16.47 M
Scope of the work proposed
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4.0 PROJECT DELIVERY
4.1 VOLUMETRIC EASEMENTS
Critical to the timing of the project was the design of the upslope soil nail solution. The lengthy soil nails meant intrusion into private property below ground level which necessitated a requirement for volumetric easements. The easement acquisition path (either through resumption by agreement or compulsory acquisition) was a complex and timeconsuming process, and had the potential to extend the project towards the critical deadline of 30 June 2017.
NDRRA funding is provided on the basis that the eligible actual cost of reconstructing the asset is reimbursed, based on the agreed scope of work. The funding conditions mandated that the work had to be completed within two years after the (financial) year in which the event occurred, ie, in the case of Cyclone Marcia, by 30 June 2017. The final cost of the project and the funding distribution is still in the process of being finalised; however, it is anticipated the final project cost will exceed $20 million.
Before approaching individual property owners, Council wanted to be certain about which properties were going to be affected by easements so as not to create unnecessary anxiety and distress. The final design resulted in five properties being affected by volumetric easements, which were located about 3.0 – 4.0 m below the surface, and had little material impact on the host property. Ultimately, the easement acquisition process took around five months to complete and were all acquired by agreement with the property owners. 4.2 DETAILED DESIGN A consulting engineer was engaged to undertake the detailed design and documentation for the downslope and upslope works in December 2015. 4.2.1 Downslope
The ocean protection wall was designed as a gravity block and
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mechanically stabilised earth revetment wall using locally produced Keppel blocks (1.4 m wide x 850 mm deep x 500 mm high weighing 1.1 tonnes each), physically tied to horizontal reinforcing layers of geogrid throughout the earth embankment behind the wall. The MSE material was akin to a railway ballast to ensure good drainage through the material. The geogrid is connected to the Keppel blocks via a friction grip between the vertical block layers. 4.2.2 Upslope
The upslope stabilisation design included: Approximately 1,300 soil nails between 12-15 m long at a declination angle of 15-25 degrees, at 1-2 m horizontal and vertical centres; Sub-horizontal drainage between soil nails; Almost 5,300 m2 of shotcrete in 2 layers – 1st layer 50 mm min thickness with F82 mesh / 2nd layer 150 mm min thick coloured with F81 mesh 4.3 CONSTRUCTION 4.3.1 Combined Contract
Council initially offered the work as a single construction contract to ensure the risk of the interface between the upslope and downslope components rested with, and was managed by, the one contractor, and to make the package sizeable enough to attract Tier 1 or Tier 2 contractors. This was done as a two stage tender process, consisting of an Expression of Interest (EOI) from contractors, followed by an Invitation to Tender (ITT) offered to the contractors shortlisted in the EOI phase.
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As it would not be prudent to award a contract involving the installation of the soil nails without firstly having secured easements (or at least legal access for their placement), tender award was governed by the volumetric easement timing. Unfortunately, the volumetric easement negotiations with residents were delayed by the protracted upslope design, and the critical decision was made to expedite the downslope design and tender the downslope works as a separate contract. This would allow the downslope work to be constructed while the volumetric easements were being secured, and enable the upslope work to be tendered and constructed after the completion of the downslope work. 4.3.2 Downslope Contract
The downslope contract was procured through a two stage tender process. One tenderer offered an alternative Design and Construct (D&C) tender with a significant saving, involving their own similar design utilising a larger prefabricated concrete block (3.0 m long x 1.0 m high x 0.5 m deep weighing 3.5 tonnes each) and Tensar grid reinforcement. Unfortunately, after award of the contract in September 2016, there was delay in producing the design and at the Contractor’s request, Council extracted and undertook the design for the Contractor’s alternate wall. Delays were exacerbated by the foundation conditions, and this resulted in the downslope work not being completed by the time the volumetric easements were resolved and the upslope work was ready to be commenced.
4.3.3 Upslope Contract
The upslope contract was also procured through a two stage tender process. The contractor undertaking the downslope contract was the lowest tenderer, and they were awarded the upslope contract as well, for the following primary reasons: competitively priced tender; the constrained overall site area would have made it very difficult for two separate upslope and downslope contractors to operate side by side; and the looming funding deadline would not allow both contracts to be undertaken sequentially. 5.0 QUEENSLAND RECONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY (QRA) Due to the value and complexity of this project, QRA was closely involved in the project throughout. QRA representatives were regularly kept abreast of progress and problems as they arose. They were of great assistance to Council's project team in identifying eligible activities and works, providing advice on the NDRRA process and providing support throughout the project.
6.0 CHALLENGES
6.1 NDRRA DEADLINES
The original completion date for funding purposes was 30 June 2017 and all eligible work not completed by the designated date would have to be fully funded by Council. As Council had been advised that a request for an extension of time (EoT) was unlikely to be successful, a substantial amount of ratepayers’ money was at risk for Council if the eligible work was not completed by the due date. As it became evident that the works were unlikely to be completed by the 30 June deadline, an EoT until 31 December 2017 was applied for in November 2016. However, a decision on the success of the EoT application would not be known until May 2017. Ultimately this EoT was granted. Despite the deadline being extended to the end of 2017, the works were still unable to be completed within the extended timeframe. In November 2017, Council once again applied for an EoT until 30 June 2018, which was ultimately granted in May 2018.
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This was a high profile project from the outset, as it involved the closure of one of the coast’s major transport links, and diversion of a significant amount of traffic through residential areas. Traffic control measures were installed on the detour and were quite successful in controlling vehicle speeds in particular. Comment on social media was regular and prolific, and often from the same contributors. The major issue that had to be managed was the dust generated from the soil nail drilling process as the designers had precluded the use of wet drilling. This made it difficult to control dust emanating from the drilling rigs, and many of the residents in the vicinity were affected by the regular intrusion of dust. This was dealt with by offering affected residents a comprehensive internal and external cleaning of their properties. Council established a database of interested residents and regularly issued community update reports via this distribution list. These reports, along with regular drone flyover footage, were posted on Council’s website. 6.3 TERMINATION In early March 2018, the prospect that the works would not be completed prior to the expiration of the non-negotiable funding deadline became very real. On 14 March 2018, Council made the difficult decision to terminate both contracts and take over the remaining works. 6.4 COMPLETION OF THE WORKS BY COUNCIL
Council then proceeded to install a
Project Manager and Construction Manager, and work through the process of engaging the staff, subcontractors and suppliers previously engaged by the contractor. This process was done expeditiously and successfully to the point where productive work recommenced on-site within one week of termination of the contractor. Almost all previous staff, subcontractors and suppliers were re-engaged.
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From a position of being faced with multi-million dollar cost of non-reimbursable work, Council completed all but a minor amount of eligible work by 30 June, and opened the Statue Bay link to traffic on 26 July. 7.0 CONCLUSION The reconstruction of the Statue Bay road link has been the most complex and challenging infrastructure project ever
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Generally, the community was very patient and accepting of the protracted design and construction period. Some adjacent residents were long-suffering and Council is very grateful for their patience and understanding.
T MOR OU
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Aerial vision of the completed project can be viewed on Livingstone Shire Council’s website at https://www.livingstone.qld.gov. au/1190/Statue-Bay
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Notwithstanding the prolonged reconstruction timeframe, the final outcome of the project has resulted in an enhanced and resilient section of the coastal highway which will serve the community for many decades to come.
FIN D
undertaken by the Livingstone Shire Council. While the NDRRA funding deadlines initially appeared adequate, it became evident throughout this project as the different challenges arose, that the deadline precipitated many critical decisions that may not have been made otherwise.
EAQ18 PW #I
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PUBLIC BUILDINGS FOR POST DISASTER FUNCTION
CQ BRANCH CONFERENCE BEST PAPER
Stuart Grallelis MIEAust, BEng (Civil/Structural), Ad Dip Eng (Civil) Structural Engineer, DiLeigh Consulting Engineers Stuart Grallelis is a Senior Structural Engineer with more than 10 years of experience within the engineering and construction industry. Stuart has worked in a variety of engineering roles in both the public and private sectors, delivering a range of engineering projects covering residential, commercial, industrial and government sector buildings and infrastructure. Stuart has been involved in the design and delivery of the Queensland Cyclone Shelters program and cyclone refuge assessments with Project Services, as well as countless designs for structures in the cyclonic region of the Queensland coastline, including design of the recent Local Disaster Co-ordination Centre in Yeppoon. CQ Branch Conference Best Paper: Public buildings for post disaster function – structural engineering design experience
Background Not all public buildings are built for post disaster function, but a majority of post disaster function buildings are public infrastructure. Buildings of this nature are not constructed very often, but many local and state government bodies may have exposure to them, be it in a design, construction, maintenance, operational or asset management capacity. As such, it is important to understand the inputs, impacts and considerations specific to a building of this nature. Key considerations Building importance level Wind loading and cyclonic wind effects Flooding and/or storm surge Earthquake Fire and bushfire Place of refuge Pre/during/post event operations Project application Post disaster function structures in Queensland are primarily designed to withstand cyclonic events, generally for the purpose of post disaster recovery or as a place of refuge. The normally public nature of the buildings requires consideration of stakeholder needs outside of the primary post
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disaster function of the structure. This results in the need to tailor the design approach to achieve desired outcomes, requiring a carefully considered balance to be struck between the form and the function of the building. Often, these two aspects can be at odds to each other in the design process. This can be detrimental to the capability to provide an efficient and suitable engineering design, particularly if the client and/or stakeholder focus is on the aesthetic or form of the building. To this end, there is greater importance in defining the necessary inputs and expectations at the preliminary phase of design – particularly with respect to providing relevant advice and sometimes education to enable informed decisions to be made and compromises reached, alleviating the potential of later issues arising. Some examples of such considerations include: Definition of the building importance level or alternatively, adoption of user defined return periods Definition of windspeed by standards or by defined cyclonic category
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Automower Navman mower data.
Siting and orientation of building for flood, surface flows, wind directions, debris potential, etc. Physical and planning constraints for allotment or road reserve, accesses, parking Material selection and suitability and the impact on efficiency of construction Building purpose and amenity Building form with respect to developing a shape conducive to loading conditions and incorporation of protective and load effect reduction aspects (wind vortex disruption, cyclone shutters, ventilation, etc.) Two examples of such projects are the Queensland Cyclone Shelter Program (2012/13) and Livingstone Shire Council’s Local Disaster Co-ordination Centre (LDCC) (2017/18). The Queensland Cyclone
Shelter Program provided State Government funding for the design and construction of cyclone shelters to provide critical emergency shelter to communities in Central and North Queensland during and following a cyclonic event. $58.5 million for 10 shelters along the Queensland coast (3 alternatively funded and delivered) Multi-Purpose year round sports facility for community use Coordination center and place of refuge for 750 people during cyclones Category 5 cyclone rated (306km/hour wind gust). The shelters are: Capable of providing protection from winds up to 306kilometer/hour experienced in a Category 5 cyclone
Located outside storm tide inundation areas and not vulnerable to landslip and creek or river flooding Located so that the floor level of the shelter building will be above the height of a 1-in10,000-year storm tide event or a 1-in-500-year defined flood event Located sufficiently away from significant hazards such as hazardous materials, large trees, power or communications towers and potential sources of large windborne debris Located in communities where large numbers of people are at risk of storm tide inundation, or Located in a centre away from the coastline to which a coastal community at risk of storm tide inundation can safely evacuate prior to the impact of the cyclone.
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LDCC sacrificial zones
Yeppoon shelter
These shelters help make Queensland safer and more resilient in the event of a cyclone.
external corners and roof edges, debris screening and protective shutters.
The shelters are not only used in emergencies, they also operate as multi-purpose sports facilities and are available for year-round use by the community. As such, they were designed to accommodate various community activities, whilst being capable of full lockdown and use as a place of refuge at any notice. The building was designed to incorporate many aspects to suit this need, including internal water storage, controlled ventilation systems, wind vortex diffusers at
The Livingstone Shire Council’s LDCC provided a number of challenges to the project team to ensure design and construction delivery outcomes met the expectations and requirements of all stakeholders. Initial budget of $5 million 10-week design timeframe 12-month scheduled from commencement to completion
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Required to be utilised as a public amenity and pre/ during/post disaster function center 3 story building with sacrificial zones and self-contained for post disaster relief operations Category 5 cyclone rated (306 kilometer/hour wind gust) The LDCC building was to be utilised as a community hub, including commercial tenancies and public spaces and facilities throughout the building, with the top floor being used for
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IPWEAQ is pleased to welcome Shepherd Services as our newest partner!
Weipa shelter
The location of the building within a public space resulted in a requirement for aesthetic considerations to be met with, adding complexity to the design. Where possible, the incorporation of aesthetic aspects into the engineering of the structure was made possible. Despite the compressed timeframes of the project and requirement for many compromises along the way, the design and delivery teams produced what has been a successful building outcome for council and the community.
Learnings: Define design requirements at the outset Understand client expectations (form vs function) Ensure all stakeholders are on the same page Ensure the design team have a shared vision Design to fit the purpose to achieve a positive outcome.
e autho th r at
Implementation or initiatives This project referenced the Design Guidelines for Queensland Public Cyclone Shelters. These guidelines primarily address the safety for people in the shelter and provide a method of assessment to ensure the shelter is ‘fit-for-purpose’. They address the temporary use of a building or portion of a building, with basic amenities to provide safe shelter for a large number of people during severe tropical cyclones.
These guidelines are to be used in conjunction with the relevant classifications contained in the Building Code of Australia for the use of the building when not being utilised as a cyclone shelter – in this case a multi-purpose sports facility.
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local emergency services and coastguard operations. In addition to this, the building was to be designed for full lockdown during a cyclonic event with the disaster co-ordination facilities operating from the top storey.
EAQ18 W P #I
An asset and GIS consultancy, Shepherd Services can help with: •P ractical civil infrastructure asset management planning •A sset auditing and revaluations •A nalysis and enhancement of asset management systems and processes •K nowledge Information Mapping System (KIMS) that simplifies and interprets MapInfo data •E xpertise with MapInfo Professional, GBM Mobile, ESRI (including Arcpad, ArcGIS and Dekho) and Conquest •R oad Condition Assessment tool (RACAS) to gather data and incorporate into asset management work programs • F lood Damage services - assessment and QRA Submissions •W orkforce training and development services •B ureau service providing technical advice. 07 4911 2716 info@shepherdservices.com.au Shepherd Services Pty Ltd GPO Box 422 Brisbane Qld 4001
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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.
Advocacy Submissions to federal and state governments on matters affecting the public works sector in Queensland.
Local Government Association Queensland (LGAQ) – sharing articles in Engineering for Public Works and Council Leader.
TMR – Principal Supporter. Regular dialogue, sharing of information and resources, involvement with Roads & Transport Alliance.
Our business unit, Queensland Water Directorate (qldwater) is the central advisory and advocacy body for Queensland’s urban water industry.
Joint asset management task force.
State government – regular meetings with ministers, collaboration on matters affecting infrastructure across Queensland.
Management of the Queensland Urban Drainage Manual on behalf of joint owners, the Brisbane City Council and Department of Energy & Water Supply (DEWS).
Board of Professional Engineers Queensland (BPEQ) – joint presentations to councils on RPEQ. Engineers Australia (QLD) – joint training programs, joint task force to address infrastructure pipeline. IPWEAQ to address future demand for skilled, competent work force.
Councils – monthly communication with mayors and council CEOs. Partnership with industry and service providers.
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www.ipweaq.com
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CQ Branch President’s Report I’m pleased to report that the CQ Branch Conference held at Barcaldine, 13-15 June 2018 was a great success. You can see the conference wrap up overleaf but some of my personal highlights included Best Paper ‘Public buildings post disaster’ by Stuart Garalelis (page 50), the ‘Chip for charity’ to raise funds for MS Queensland, and how well the under 35 contingent were represented at the conference. I’d like to take this opportunity to again thank long-term friends and our corporate sponsor George Bourne & Associates. At the conference we also discussed the possibility of running 1-2 hour webinar-style sessions in the future. A number of great topics suggested and the committee is currently exploring options to see if we can make this happen. Visiting Barcaldine, and the western towns in our branch, are critical to our strong sense of community. There is nothing like the hospitality of the locals. Professionally, it is invaluable to learn about the challenges they overcome with ingenuity and ‘out of the box’ thinking. At the branch meeting, we developed an initiative which may help council’s do more work internally - a checklist or processstyle document for standard jobs
These documents would offer guidance about where to start, what approvals might be needed, what standards to look at for very simple jobs. For example, one particular job discussed, was installing a small minor cross drain for a rural access road. The concept for these process documents is that they would help those councils that don’t have the knowledge in-house but do have staff who with some guidance, would be capable of handling the job. The CQ Branch will be investigating this further. Preparations are now underway for the CQ Technical Forum in November at Hasting Deering in Rockhampton. The date is still to be confirmed and we will advise shortly. We have also scheduled the CQ Branch Conference for June 2019 in Rockhampton with our valued hosts, Rockhampton Regional Council. Finally, I look forward to catching up with everyone at the IPWEAQ Annual Conference next month. It’s a packed program and I am especially keen to hear Michael McQueen who is a specialist in demographic shifts – my home town of Gladstone and others like it are susceptible to the risks inherent in sudden movements of people and their earning capacity. Celisa Faulkner CQ Branch President Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
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BARCALDINE BROUGHT IT!
BRANCH NEWS
Known as the Garden City of the West and with a population of just 1,500 people, this small country town hosted our amazingly successful CQ Branch Conference in June. Held across 2.5 days and with a program jam packed with interesting tech tours, presentations and unique social functions, our Barcaldine conference is certainly one that will be remembered for years to come. We had 15 partners and exhibitors make the long trek 100kms east of Longreach to join us to display their latest innovations and products and even had a live demo from one of our partners, Delnorth. We had a great turn out of graduate engineers with 18 in attendance and thoroughly enjoyed the presentation from Hayley Ovenden and Ben Ash on ‘Graduate Engineers Out West’. Best Paper of the conference was awarded to Stuart Grallelis of DiLeigh Consulting Engineers for his paper on ‘Public buildings post disaster’ which you can read more about on page 50.
At the end of day two our delegates got their golf on all in the name of fun, with our predinner charity chipping contest to raise much needed funds for MS Queensland. The conference dinner was a unique social event, hosted at the historical Barcaldine Radio Theatre, near the amazing Tree of Knowledge monument, and followed by a screening of ‘The Greatest Showman’. Thank you to McCullough Robertson Lawyers
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– who hosted our dinner and movie event as our ‘Back to Barky’ sponsors as they have historical roots in the town. We would like to also thank our hosts and Barcaldine community stalwarts George Bourne and Associates for your tremendous support in bringing our event to your beautiful town. All CQ Branch Conference materials can be found in the IPWEAQ Knowledge Centre.
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SWQ Branch President’s Report Organisation is underway for the 2019 SWQ Branch conference to be jointly hosted by Lockyer Valley Regional Council and Somerset Regional Council and held in Gatton and Esk. Please mark your diaries for 7-8 March 2019. And please consider presenting a paper or if you have suggestions for papers you would like delivered, please don’t hesitate to contact Craig Moss. We would love to hear about your success stories but we are also interested in projects that didn’t go so well which offer valuable lessons for all of us. We are delighted to welcome Luke Tanner, Goondiwindi Regional Council onto the SWQ Branch committee. Luke has been the Works Manager at Goondiwindi Regional Council for the past five years. Another SWQ Branch committee member, Andrew Johnson has been appointed to the IPWEA Queensland Foundation as a trustee. The Foundation oversees the application process for the international study tour and awards scholarships. The latest recipient of a study tour scholarship is Ashlee Adams, Toowoomba Regional Council. Ashlee will be travelling to Barcelona in November to join the Smart City Expo World Congress Immersion Tour. SWQ branch member, Mike Holeszko of Southern Downs
Luke Tanner of Goondiwindi Regional Council at SWQ Branch Conference.
Mike Holeszko of Southern Downs Regional Council at SWQ Branch Conference.
Regional Council won the Geoff Wilmoth award at the 2017 IPWEAQ Annual Conference in Townsville and was unable to
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deliver his award-winning paper in Rotorua in June. However, we are delighted that our colleagues at IPWEA NZ have invited Mike to
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present at their 2019 conference to be held in Wellington in June.
More information on the workshop is available on page 78.
There have been a few other movements of our members across the region including:
I look forward to seeing many of you on the Gold Coast next month for another memorable IPWEAQ conference and gala awards ceremony. Good luck to nominees from SWQ for the following projects:
Angelo Casagrande – now at Lockyer Valley Regional Council Chris Gray – Acting Director Infrastructure Services, Scenic Rim Regional Council while Patrick Murphy travels the countryside. Andrew Johnson has been appointed Director Operations at Somerset Regional Council in anticipation of Tony Jacob’s retirement following 15 years of service to the council. And we have a few SWQ branch members presenting at the 2018 IPWEAQ Annual Conference on the Gold Coast in just a few weeks: Community Driven Flood Risk Management Planning for Rural Toowoomba Townships Rodney Betts & Mark Page: Toowoomba Regional Council & Engeny Water Management Data Validation & Condition Assessment of Council Stormwater Assets Sean Rice: Proterra Group
We look forward to celebrating your projects with you at another memorable awards night! Angela Fry SWQ Branch President
Western Downs Regional Council
Chinchilla Works Depot Project
Somerset Regional Council
Brisbane Valley Rail Trail (Toogoolawah to Moore)
Toowoomba Regional Council
Toowoomba Regional Council Toowoomba Regional Council Toowoomba Regional Council Western Downs Regional Council Toowoomba Regional Council Western Downs Regional Council
Charlton North Catchment Stormwater Detention Basin (CNCSDB)
City Hall Auditorium and Annex Refurbishment
Boundary Street Upgrade Project Toowoomba City Golf Course Cycleway
Western Downs Region School Zone Pedestrian Safety and Traffic Efficiency Initiative Toowoomba City Golf Course Cycleway
Western Downs Region School Zone Pedestrian Safety and Traffic Efficiency Initiative
The Master of Engineering Practice: A pathway to registration as a Registered Professional Engineer Queensland in Civil (Public Works) Shane Simmons: University of Southern Queensland The new IPWEAQ Critical Risk Management workshop (up to 7 CPD hours) has just been launched and it is coming to Toowoomba, 26 September 2018 so please register early to secure your spot. Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
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SIMPLY SUPERB – SOUTHERN ROADS SYMPOSIUM!
Sunshine, blue skies and discussing lower order roads made for an amazing event in beautiful Toowoomba. In partnership with Toowoomba Regional Council and the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), we hosted over 160 delegates at the stunning Empire Theatre for our 3 day Southern Roads Symposium during the last few days of May. We had 20 presentations from subject matter experts on topics as wide and varied as ‘Applications of Geosynthetics, Lime stabilisation’
and ‘Seal Design and methods’ to name a few. Our exhibition space was in the beautiful Empire Theatre Church – a very unique venue for our exhibitors – and was very well attended by our delegates. The site visit on day 1 saw our delegates take part of a tour of the Toowoomba second range crossing and was followed by our welcome function at The Annex – where the canapes, drinks and service were excellent. Our Symposium dinner on day 2 was held in the Armitage Centre
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at the Empire Theatre. The share plates and entertainment were a hit – a big thank you to our dinner sponsor, the Proterra Group. We would also like to thank our delegates, sponsors, exhibitors and partners for helping us make our Southern Roads Symposium the great success it was. A special thanks to both the Toowoomba Regional Council and TMR for their contributions as well. All materials from the Southern Roads Symposium are available in the IPWEAQ Knowledge Centre.
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NQ Branch President’s Report Mid-year is always a busy time. Since the NQ Branch Conference in April, we’ve all been focussed on finishing projects scheduled for the financial year and preparing budgets for next year. Following a highly successful conference in Cairns, the NQ Branch committee is busy planning for 2019, proposed for Mackay in April. Each of the four regional IPWEAQ branches have claimed a month each year to hold their branch conferences and April now belongs to NQ so please note your diaries accordingly. Our regional branches are becoming quite sizeable with around 137 delegates this past year in SWQ, CQ and NQ. This makes it a little more challenging when choosing locations however, Craig Moss, our Director Professional Services is developing plans for greater engagement with our colleagues in remote areas.
Women in Careers Workshop’ at St Monica’s College.
Critical Risk Management (up to 7 CPD hours) – Townsville, 25 October
Most of you are well aware that random RPEQ audits are in progress so please be sure you are keeping up with your annual quota (to attain or maintain) of 50 CPD hours. You don’t want to attempt 150 hours in one year at the last minute! Professional Development courses planned in the north and across the border include:
Managing Unsealed Roads (up to 16 CPD hours) – Cairns, 3031 October
Erosion and Sediment Control, Level 2 Intermediate Training (up to 8 CPD hours) – Townsville, 17 October
Bridge Inspections Levels 1 & 2 (up to 18 CPD hours) – Darwin, 26-28 February 2019
Type A, B & D Sediment Basin Design (up to 8 CPD hours) – Darwin, 8 November Administration of Construction Contracts (up to 16 CPD hours) – Cairns, 21-22 November
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If there’s any specific training required for your council, please contact Craig and he will tailor a program specifically for you and your team members. And speaking of team members, this year’s excellence awards has a new category for the people awards – Team Member of the Year - to recognise anyone in your team who contributes to your projects. This includes supervisors, Works Officers and other support staff who are not engineers (managers and administrators). If you haven’t done so as yet, please be sure to register as soon
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represented at the conference with presentations from: Gary Everson, Cairns Regional Council - delivering his Best Paper award winning presentation on ‘technology – tried, tested & reviewed’
Gary Everson, Cairns Regional Council.
as possible for the 2018 IPWEAQ Annual Conference – this includes the annual excellence awards. Up to 16 CPD hours are available including participation in any of the four Technical Tours courtesy of our colleagues at the City of Gold Coast. The NQ Branch will be well
Joshua Flanders (IPWEAQ’s new Ambassador) also from Cairns Regional Council - use of waste recycled glass in concrete as a partial cement and fine aggregate replacement Justin Fischer and Anthony Folan, Cassowary Coast Regional Council – Flying Fish Point rock revetment, remediation and application of fish friendly features. At a local level, Natasha Murray, NQ Branch Committee member, has been busy encouraging high
school students to consider a career in public works engineering. Natasha presented to two groups of students at a ‘Women in Careers Workshop’ at St Monica’s College in Cairns to explain engineering and its various disciplines and specifically what is involved in public works engineering Natasha also coordinated a team which hosted a trade display at the Careers and Employment Expo in Cairns earlier in the year. Our sincere thanks to Natasha for all her efforts working with future engineers for our sector. I look forward to catching up with you at the 2018 IPWEAQ Annual Conference and look forward to representing a strong contingent from the north. Bruce Gardiner NQ Branch President
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SEQ Branch President’s Report Thanks to our Principal Partner Komatsu for hosting our most recent Technical Tour at their Wacol facility on 20 June 2018. The Komatsu Wacol facility functions as a sales, service, assembly and remanufacturing site for mining and construction. With six main buildings across 61,000 square metres of land, it’s an impressive operation with mining and construction machine assembly, service workshop and remanufacturing functions, and a fully enclosed wash bay building, boiler-maker and track press shop, and an extensive paint-shop building. Rainwater harvesting, energy efficient lighting, temperature controlling insulation and a bioretention basin are all featured on site. And a particular highlight is Komatsu's Condition Monitoring Services' oil-testing laboratories. October is around the corner and we will soon be descending to the gorgeous city of the Gold Coast for the state conference. I am waiting for this opportunity to learn and share experience and catch up with friends and colleagues about the latest trends in the industry. As for me I have been away in Sweden for 5 weeks visiting family. It was a very warm summer and I enjoyed swimming in fresh water lakes in and around Gothenburg
and also the beaches of the North Sea. So much has changed in Europe since my last visit in 2015. Many things are going towards a smart city and in fact may be too smart, in that you pay for your car parking through an App or SMS. You also need an App to pay for your transport and sometimes for your food. Lots of places and even bank refusals to take cash and instead they use a system called Swish, to pay through your smart phone or mobile. That even includes paying for a honey jar outside a farm gate using Swish to a mobile number. Climate change is apparent and clear when you see such hot dry summer that is causing forest fires in Sweden. So much has changed that most of Europe could not cope with the heat wave. I also managed through my IPWEAQ contacts to meet with Göran Werner, Managing Director, Technical Services for the City of Molndals. We spent most of the day looking at their organisational structure, processes and infrastructure asset design, planning and construction. In the afternoon we toured the town and inspected some roadworks, line marking and bike ways. Raad Jarjees SEQ Branch President
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Light poles and directional sign truss structures
Edge of concrete /asphalt path line marking
Bikeway and Pedestrians line marking
Council’s fleet of electric cars
Lunch at the Hills Golf Club at Gothenburg
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YIPWEAQ Report Our YIPWEAQ campaign has resulted in a 50 percent increase in YIPWEAQ members since 1 July 2017. Our goal is 200 representing 20% of our membership by 30 June 2019. There are a number of initiatives focussed on the next generation of public works engineers and their involvement in our community including the soon-to-be-launched Buddy Program at the 2018 IPWEAQ Annual Conference on the Gold Coast. If you would like to become a mentor for one or more of our YIPWEAQ engineers – who potentially may become your boss 15-20 years from now! – please contact me and a sincere thanks to Graeme Wills for taking on the role of Chief Mentor. See more about the Buddy Program on page 69.
YIPWEAQ 200 161 110
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At this year’s conference, we’ll also be launching the new YIPWEAQ Welcome function with an opportunity for our YIPWEAQs to meet each other and their mentors before we depart for the four Technical Tours.
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We were delighted to see a high proportion of YIPWEAQs including several graduate engineers at the CQ Branch Conference in Barcaldine, 13-15 June 2018. It is critical that employers appreciate the value of registering their graduates and younger engineers for IPWEAQ courses and conferences and to assist with this, we offer a 25% discount on the registration for YIPWEAQ to attend conferences and a 50% discount for our branch conferences. Register your graduate and younger engineers (under age 35) for the 2018 IPWEAQ Annual Conference before 14 September to receive an additional 20% discount off the already discounted YIPWEAQ registration fee. Please apply the discount code YIPWEAQEXT when processing on the event portal. Young engineers at the IPWEAQ CQ Branch Conference
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Another feature of our conference program is the Great Debate. This year’s topic is ‘tradition has no place in a modern workplace’ and we have two younger engineers on the team including IPWEA NSW’s inaugural Ambassador, Cate Fennell (Parkes Shire Council, NSW) and Matthew Brennan, a graduate engineer at George Bourne & Associates. Matthew joins the Negative team and
will be opposing his father, Ged Brennan (IPWEAQ Past President) on the Affirmative team. This in itself should make for an interesting debate. Cate will be joining Ged on the Affirmative team. In the last issue of Engineering for Public Works, we announced our new IPWEAQ Ambassador, Joshua Flanders, a graduate engineer at Cairns Regional Council. Joshua impressed us at the NQ Branch Conference with his presentation – and confident public speaking – on the use of waste recycled glass in concrete as a partial cement and fine aggregate replacement. Joshua also sailed through a media interview with ease and maturity. Joshua joins our inaugural Ambassador, Jessica Kahl. Looking beyond our current intake of YIPWEAQ, we’ve participated in a number of career fairs this year including the University of Queensland and Griffith University career fairs and the Cairns Career and Employment Expo. Additionally, NQ Branch committee member, Natasha Murray delivered a presentation to St Monica’s College in Cairns to encourage girls to consider a career in public works engineering. To assist with the message, Natasha took along Pocket Sally courtesy of our IPWEA NSW colleagues and utilised our new flyer, ‘What is public works engineering?’. The 2018 Futures Challenge will once again feature final year engineering students delivering their theses on poster boards in the trade exhibition followed by presentations on stage at the close of Day 2. This offers an excellent opportunity for students
Matthew Tiller from QUT winner of the Futures Challenge
to engage directly with you and receive your feedback on their work, then present in front of an audience of 400+ of their future peers. Two of last year’s Challenge participants were offered jobs as a result of their presentations. Following the Futures Challenge, we’ll be announcing the 2018 Young Engineer of the Year at the gala awards ceremony and dinner. Won by Aaron Meehan of South Burnett Regional Council in 2017, this is a coveted award which heralds our future leaders. So please be sure to join us at #IPWEAQ18 and send along your graduate and younger engineers for this valuable learning and networking experience. Leigh Cunningham Chief Executive Officer
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Master of Engineering INTEGRATED LEARNING EXPERIENCE
ACADEMIC FOCUS under supervision of their immediate engineering supervisor and senior supervising engineer
Andreas Helwig Engineering Practice Leader USQ HES CES/MEE, Member of EA National Articulation Committee Andreas.Helwig@usq.edu.au Shane Simmons Post-graduate Coordinator USQ HES CES/MEE, IPWEAQ Assessor Shane.Simmons@usq.edu.au Prof. Kevin McDougall Head of School: USQ HES Civil Engineering & Surveying Kevin.McDougall@usq.edu.au Using Workplace Integrated Learning Experience to Fasttrack Tertiary Engineering Studies and Engineering Accreditation Introduction In the engineering profession, workplace integrated learning (WIL) is perceived as a necessity for graduation from an engineering program. Typically this is to gain practice based experience by: Horizontal transfer of knowledge through working
Everyday application of their fundamental or phenomenological knowledge in engineering; hands-on applications and use of relevant standards and industry codes Interaction of engineering activities and compliance to legislative legal requirements Deeper investigation and discovery of engineering phenomena-based processes unique to their chosen discipline and overlapping into other multi-discipline engineering or professional strands. WIL allows a body of practicebased experience to accumulate during an individual’s career that is relevant and ongoing to advance professional engineering accreditation. Engineering Articulation accreditation In the past 30 years, articulation from an advanced vocational trade to an engineering academic pathway has been made possible by the objectives and flexibility provided by the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).
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Those with vocational engineering qualifications can now enter tertiary education to continue their career development and increase their engineering functional capability. In recognition of this trend and career articulation pathway, Engineers Australia (EA) has accreditation for: Associate Engineers based on graduation with a 2 year Associate Degree in Engineering. Stage 1 Technologist based on graduation with a 3 year Bachelor of Engineering Technology or Bachelor of Engineering Science degree, plus post-graduation e-portfolio demonstrating an equivalent of 5 years of appropriate engineering experience after graduation. Stage 2 Chartered Technologist based on achieving Stage 1, plus continuing demonstration of a high degree of specialisation in a technology area of choice, and documented e-portfolio of continuing professional management and development. Stage 1 Professional Engineer based on graduation with a 4 year Bachelor of Engineering Honours degree, or additional accreditation by completing an accredited Masters
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Engineering Degree, plus post-graduation e-portfolio as evidence of equivalency to 5 years of appropriate industrial experience since graduation. ďƒˆ Stage 2 (Chartered) Experienced Professional Engineer is available to Stage 1 professional engineers demonstrating a high degree and depth of specialisation amongst their broader professional discipline, plus verification by an e portfolio of their continuing engineering professional leadership and management skills development. ďƒˆ Stage 3 Executive Engineer (Leadership and Management) by accredited e-portfolio career verification of a multi-discipline engineering and professional career interface development that is based on demonstrated complex engineering enterprise leadership. Queensland Registered Professional Engineer accreditation by the BPEQ, is based generally by equivalency to Stage 1 Professional Engineer with demonstrated depth of experience and body of practice-based WIL knowledge in a specific accredited discipline strand specialisation. External professional bodies such as IPWEA are used as third party impartial assessors for accreditation in specific discipline strand specialisations. Engineers Australia, for Chartered Engineer accreditation provides a similar function in many different discipline strand specialisations. Gradually over the past 30 years, there has been a change in perception of the inter-relationship between the different accredited engineering roles. Traditionally
these roles were seen as being hierarchical in nature, based on the level of academic qualification. However with the change in complexity of engineering technology enterprise and its increasing connectivity, gradually a new perception emerged that engineering teams need to comprise all of these roles working together in a multi-discipline manner to develop, manufacture, operate, de-commission and recycle engineering assets and systems. Legally, review and compliance sign-off responsibility in many areas still remains vertically hierarchical, but this is driven by prescribed legislative compliance linked to academic and professional body accreditation. However, there is a perceived need for a horizontal continuum of these accredited and equally important roles to produce agile business focussed and industrial based engineering teams. Development and change in the function of accredited engineering roles continues apace to changes that are occurring in engineering enterprise, particularly as automation and fast manufacturing CAD/CAM processes are changing the engineering corporate landscape. Career progression pathways Many individual engineering personnel start from an engineering trade vocational background, and when their accumulated practical engineering skills and knowledge piques their curiosity and desire to understand more, which may lead to undertaking additional academic education. Articulation pathways allows non-matriculation mature age students to enter tertiary education. Many universities offer bridging tertiary preparation
pathways for vocational engineering trade personnel to enter into a 3 year Bachelor of Engineering Technology or Engineering Science degree, or a 4 year Bachelor of Engineering Honours (BENH) degree. The alternative linkage to bridge engineering personnel with low or no matriculation tertiary entrance score and whom may have advanced technical trade vocational qualifications (e.g. TAFE Certificate III and IV in engineering disciplines) is the Associate Engineering degree program. Traditional university academic pathways allow graduates of the 2 year Associate degree programs to enter the 4 year professional Bachelor of Engineering honours degree with credit. The combined pathway for both the Associate Degree and Bachelor of Engineer Honours degree programs typically adds up to between 4.5 and 4.75 years of study with any engineering practice requirements. Upon graduation, there is a nominal 3 to 5 years of industrybased WIL experience required to gain EA Stage 1 Professional Engineer accreditation. It can take between another two to five years experience at EA stage 1 professional engineer to gain RPEQ accreditation in Queensland. Using Work Integrated Learning experience for Technologists to your advantage – the Master of Engineering Practice program At the request of Engineers Australia in 2002, the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) developed the Master of Engineering Practice (MEPR) which is a WIL based program for industry experienced Technologists in the major strands of engineering to be eligible
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for graduate membership as a Professional Engineer. The MEPR program commenced in 2004 and is equivalent to a 1.5 year program comprising a maximum of 12 units of study and a practical residential school, which can be reduced by WIL based engineering competency claims to a minimum of 6 units of study. The MEPR program, provides the opportunity to increase the breadth and masters level technical skills in an engineering discipline, whilst also allowing the opportunity for professional practice and management development, within the core program. Graduates also benchmark their professional e-portfolio in preparation for future chartered professional engineer accreditation submission. Since 2017, the Public Works and Infrastructure major has been offered as a specialised subdiscipline of civil engineering. This new strand is specifically developed for Local Council or Transport Engineers. It allows a choice of specialisations relevant to engineering professionals engaged in this sector of the engineering services industry. Overall, there are seven discipline strands offered: Civil Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Power Systems Engineering, Public Works and Infrastructure Engineering, and Structural Engineering specialisations. Successful MEPR program graduation with an unblemished academic record normally results in EA granting Stage 1 Professional Engineering accreditation immediately on presentation of the MEPR testamur and a legal
A New Practice pathway for experienced Associate Engineers
copy of the graduate’s academic testamur and transcript. In 2017, USQ extended its practice pathway access to allow industry experienced Associate Engineers to potentially reduce their study load beyond the recognised prior learning credits granted on admission. Pertinent WIL industrial experience can provide up to an additional 4 units of credit towards the Bachelor of Engineering Science (BENS). This allows upon graduation the fast-tracking of EA Stage 1 Technologist accreditation and a potential entry point into the USQ MEPR program. The USQ BENS practice pathway is an opportunity to develop a WIL based e-portfolio to prepare for EA Technologist Stage 1 competency accreditation. It also offers the opportunity to fill in minor gaps in technical knowledge when their WIL portfolio is scrutinised against the core discipline courses nominated for potential credit. Currently the BENS Practice Pathway is offered for three disciplines, i.e. Civil Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Successful completion of the USQ BENS practice pathway assists fast tracking Technologist accreditation with Engineers Australia. Technologist accreditation then allows potential articulation entry into the MEPR program. As an
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example, a BENS graduate with Technologist accreditation in Civil or Environmental engineering can potentially articulate into the MEPR Civil Engineering, or Public Works and Infrastructure Engineer strands; and on a case by case assessment of pre-requisite knowledge into the Environmental Engineering strand. The difference between the Practice Pathway and the Bachelor Engineering Honours outcomes? The USQ practice pathways link an Associate Engineer to Stage 1 Professional Engineer through the 3 year BENS degree, to possible Stage 1 Technologist accreditation, and then articulation into the MEPR. In a best case scenario this would result in a minimum total of 4.25 years of study to attain Professional Engineering status via the BENS practice pathway from an Associate degree. In the worst case this would be 4.75 years which is the same as a normalised Associate Degree articulation into the BENH program. But with the practice-based pathway there are two potential fast-track career accreditation points. The intermediate accreditation is to Technologist level, while the end game result is to attain full Stage 1 Professional Engineering after graduating from the MEPR program. The overall flexibility of these practice-based pathways allows study part-time and online, with a
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few residential week long practice based courses, to allow peer activities and instruction from teaching staff to occur.
Developing the complex ‘DNA’ of a lifelong Engineering Career
T MOR OU
AT
If your point of origin entry is from a vocational engineering background, then the USQ Practice Pathway along with the WIL experience accumulated in your industry employment can benefit your continuing educational pathway-based tertiary study and articulation to a professional engineering career. Both Associate Engineers and Technologists with 5 years industrial WIL experience relevant to their discipline, can benefit from the USQ Practice Pathways to attain Stage 1 Professional Engineering quicker than the traditional academic Associate degree and BENH academic pathway.
interest in the use of your WIL to further your engineering career using the USQ practice-based programs.
FIN D
engineers in later careers.
E
Conclusion Workplace integrated learning (WIL) is a necessary practicebased body of knowledge that all engineering professionals and para-professionals must accumulate. Similarly, continued professional development (CPD) is a key part of this process to keep both technical skills updated and continue professional engineering business based skill evolution. Both of these can be captured via a practice-based e-portfolio. Referring to the following diagram, the e-portfolio of any engineering role is like a genetic zipper. One side strand of the DNA and its half-ladder components are engineering and science based tested fundamental knowledge and principles. The other side strand of DNA with its own half ladder step piece are the experience based professional practice and physical engineering domain discovery knowledge. The zipper that brings these two disparate knowledge bases together is reflective thinking. These three elements together define the unique and continuously developing ‘DNA’ of any engineering role career. The longer the zipped together engineering ‘DNA’ of increasing knowledge and practice-based learning becomes, the higher the potential for career recognition, accreditation and potential useful engineering outcomes to underpin the future of society which is an engineer’s ultimate customer. Replicating parts of this ‘DNA’ in upcoming generations of engineering roles is the much needed mentoring role of senior
EAQ18 PW I #
Please contact the USQ or authors if you have any questions of Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.
CRITICAL RISK MANAGEMENT
Delivery
Delivery (1 Day)
– moving beyond systems and processes Learning Outcomes M ove beyond process, documentation,
review and analysis S timulate thinking about appropriate risktaking when making decisions E xamine the influence of risk appetite and risk attitude U nderstand risk appetite and risk attitude so risk can be better managed D iscover how emotional literacy at both the individual and group level can be used for understanding and managing risk attitudes D evelop a framework to be created for ongoing learning and increased risk management effectiveness.
Who should Attend This course has been specifically designed for people tasked with the management of risk at all levels within the organisation.
Typical attendees include: M anagers E ngineers P roject Managers P lanners and designers S upervisors, and W HS officers Attendees should have an existing understanding and experience with risk management system and process.
CPD
7 hours
Learning strategies L ectures C ase studies G roup discussions I n-class activates W orked examples
Content C auses of injuries in construction W ork process model R isk management process C ritical success factor R isk taking R isk appetite R isk attitude S etting appropriate risk thresholds E motional literacy
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Register online at www.ipweaq.com/courses or contact
Phone 07 3632 6800 info@ipweaq.com
www.ipweaq.com
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
PORTFOLIO REPORT
Kevin Miller Manager, Learning & Development Risk management – taking it to the next level The recent Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) report of the Prudential Inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has highlighted that the risk culture in the CBA leaves a lot to be desired. Decisions have been made and risks taken that do not provide a fair outcome to all stakeholders. The report states the CBA has failed to meet the community’s needs and the standards expected of a systemically important bank in Australia. It also noted that Risk Management must avoid being process focused, but instead, be outcome focused to ensure the business is not “consumed by process”. iRisk management is recognised as an essential contributor to organisational and project success, since it focuses on addressing uncertainties in a proactive manner in order to minimise threats, maximise opportunities,
and optimise achievement of objectives. Despite a growing range of supporting systems, processes and tools, in practice risk management often fails to meet expectations. The most significant Critical Success Factor for effective risk management is the one most often lacking: an appropriate and mature risk culture. Research and experience both indicate that the attitude and resulting behaviours of individuals and organisations has a significant influence on whether risk management delivers what it promises. Effective decision making is the primary role of manager's. Decisions made, should pass the “Should We?” test and the “Can We?” test. Decisions need to be challenged at all levels in the organisation. The cultural focus of challenging the decisions made will uncover bias, conflict of interest, additional information and address unmanaged emotions. Two risk-related factors are particularly influential when individuals or organizations challenge how much risk can be taken in a risky and important situation. These two key factors are risk appetite and risk attitude, which have central and
complementary roles. Both risk appetite and risk attitude are used as mediating factors to set an appropriate risk thresholds in any given situation. Risk appetite is an internal tendency to take risk in a given situation, and it reflects organizational risk culture and the individual risk propensities of key stakeholders. But unmanaged risk appetite can lead to the wrong outcome. Risk attitude is a chosen response to risk, driven by perception, and it can act as a control point to ensure that the right amount of risk is taken, so that the achievement of objectives is optimized. Putting both risk appetite and risk attitude together into a single framework provides a practical approach that enables individuals and organizations to make and challenge decisions about risk. IPWEAQ is offering a new workshop to address this topic. Critical Risk Management – moving beyond systems and processes has been specifically designed for people tasked with the management of risk at all levels within your organisation. For more information, please contact Kevin Miller on Kevin.Miller@ipweaq.com or 07 3632 6804.
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TECHNICAL PRODUCTS UPDATE
PORTFOLIO REPORT
Craig Moss Director, Professional Development In the time since our last Technical Products update, Ross Guppy has taken up the role of Program Manager – Assets with Austroads. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ross for his dedication and professionalism in working with our key sector stakeholders in the development and management of all of our technical products. Congratulations on this appointment and we all wish you well for the future. Over the past three months, progress has been made across a number of the programs with significant progress in the Street Planning and Design Manual. Street Planning and Design Manual (SPDM) Steering Committee The steering committee continues to meet on a monthly basis to provide strategic direction for this project. Work to date includes: ensuring all relevant stakeholder groups are
represented on the steering committee, working groups, and industry advisory groups development of a project time-line and identifying critical milestones development of a business case including a cost/benefit analysis communicating the benefits of the SPDM to key stakeholders and seeking their input for consideration defining the charter and action plans for the working groups identifying and applying for potential funding sources This group will regularly review the outcomes from the working groups and provide advice and feedback as required to keep the project on track. Literature Survey At this early stage of the project, it is essential the steering committee and working groups had a thorough understanding of contemporary practice in Australia and overseas in order to set the direction for the project. John Derbyshire has been commissioned to undertake a survey to review existing literature,
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as well as identify what is currently ‘in the pipeline’. This body of work has been completed with a comprehensive report composed to support the findings. It is acknowledged that additional information will come to light as the project progresses and the report will be updated accordingly. An important conclusion arising from the review is a need to apply a safe system design approach at all stages of the planning and detailed design process. This must apply to personal safety and security, as well as traffic safety. This report will be accessible to interested stakeholders via the IPWEAQ Knowledge Centre. Working groups The Detailed Design a& Standards Working Group lead by Brad Carey and the Street Planning Working Group lead by Paul Eagles have been established and are meeting on a regular basis with the current focus on defining the scope of work for each group and ensuring representation is reflective of industry needs. This includes identifying content matter experts who will be able to contribute to the development of the final product.
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As specific ‘work packages’ are identified and work commences, each group will review the draft content of the other group to ensure compatibility and connectivity of content. If you would like further information about the work being undertaken in this project, please contact the Project Manager, Trevor Parminter. trevor@ rovertreviews.com ADAC It has been an enlightening exercise to research the history of ADAC and see how far this product has progressed. The ADAC schema is a credit to all of those who have been involved in its development and a product that our sector should be rightly proud of. We are currently experiencing an increase in enquiries wanting to know more about ADAC and a number of stakeholders eagerly awaiting the inclusion of the electrical and communication categories. The IPWEAQ Board has recommended that a 3 year strategic plan be drafted to support the ongoing direction and development of ADAC. This will be achieved through a process
of consultation and collaboration with key industry stakeholders while referencing the existing report from a previous strategic planning workshop.
discuss this issue with TMR prior to the next meeting and report back at the next meeting. A decision will be made on maintaining these drawings in the set.
The ADAC Technical Reference Group (TRG) met on 2 August focusing on reviewing the Open Space category with some discussion on the electrical and communications asset classes. One of the points for discussion that came out of this meeting was the determination of mandatory attributes. Members and other stakeholders are encouraged to provide input into what attributes are to be mandatory and those that are non-mandatory.
The Group discussed the obligation to include a disclaimer on the use of the drawings on the index page and also on each drawing. It was agreed that if adopted it must communicate the need for any solution to consider the need to be fit for purpose. IPWEAQ will seek expert advice on wording and report back to the group. To support this initiative, the group has developed a system and process to track changes to updated versions of the drawings, capturing the purpose, the reasons and those consulted in making the change.
Please provide any feedback to me via email: craig.moss@ipweaq.com Standard Drawings The Standards Drawings Working Group met on 5 July at Redland City Council with our next meeting scheduled for Moreton Bay Regional Council on 5 December. The Group continued the previous discussion on the use of deflection bars on bicycle paths as many councils are no longer using these. It was agreed that IPWEAQ will
TMR discussed their new SD1452 for the installation and rehabilitation of sight boards. They provided a video that demonstrated the way the new design for these signs reduced the potential spearing hazard caused by the previously compliant sign stiffeners. The video clearly showed the benefits of the new design. This standard drawing can be accessed via the TMR website.
PUBLICATIONS
Purchase and download IPWEAQ Publications at http://www.ipweaq.com/technical Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
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qldwater ceo’s report Dave Cameron CEO, qldwater The Queensland Water Regional Alliance Program (QWRAP) has been in place since 2011 and with thanks to the sustained efforts of LGAQ, has received a grant from the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy for a further four years commencing 1 July 2018. Outputs from the work to date are available at https://www. qldwater.com.au/QWRAP. While the grant has been increased and it is a very positive thing for the industry in regional Queensland, it only includes financial support for the five most mature regional collectives which unfortunately leaves some uncertainty around the effort being built in North and Central Queensland, and growing interest in North-West Queensland. qldwater will continue to support activities in these locations and advocate for inclusion in the broader program. The grant extension follows a positive Deloitte Access Economics review of the program: “…(QWRAP)… is a program that focuses on building collaborative models to deliver urban water and sewerage services on a regional basis.
QWRAP represents a potentially effective mechanism to develop regional economies of scale to realise the four dimensions of water security, reliability of supply, water quality and appropriate water pricing.” The review suggests benefits from the program to date are likely to range from $1.9 million to $4.0 million, but also notes significant data gaps in benefit data suggesting a much higher return on investment, posing a challenge for stakeholders to address with the program going forward. Earlier this year we undertook a review of our strategic priorities, and a short summary is provided here. These topics have been identified as key challenges facing Queensland’s urban water and sewerage services into the future, and will be used to shape our advocacy, work program and event themes. Six of the ten are being considered in some way as part of our annual forum at the Gold Coast in early September 2018. 1.Data transforming the water sector Broadly, this priority incorporates many things from the growing interest in smart/automated data monitoring tools being increasingly adopted, to what you can do with that data. It is the latter where qldwater has attempted to provide
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leadership, championing industry benchmarking for many years within and among utilities, and with regulators. Our Statewide Water Information Management System and published annual benchmarking reports have laid a solid foundation, and the next phase proposes to further ‘drill down’ to understand value and costs at a scheme level through clustering. 2.Strategic sector-wide investment The ‘infrastructure cliff’ concept has previously been presented in journal articles but the overall theme of smart investment given declining resources is fundamental to our work. The priority incorporates working with LGAQ and the Queensland Government on grant reform, and the TOTEX concept including financially sustainable infrastructure solutions. The annual forum will include an address by a Productivity Commissioner and panel session, specifically focussing on this work. 3.Regional innovation Incorporating QWRAP and other regional collaborative activities, this priority focusses on a regional-scale view of services for customers – looking beyond local government boundaries for value and efficiency.
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4.Harmonising water regulation The priority seeks to take a holistic approach across all regulatory areas, including water security, drinking water, environmental management and economic regulation. 5.Resource recovery and renewables This has become a hot topic internationally with many successes in resource recovery (particularly from sewage) in Europe and other places. Fostering innovation is crucial, however it is important to also understand that models which may have worked overseas can’t necessarily translate directly to Queensland conditions – due to factors like distance (between treatment activities and potential end users of recovered products), characteristics of wastewater, prevailing treatment technologies and scale of plants. We will strive to build understanding of options and their economic viability, and encourage appropriate trials. 6.Catchment resilience in a changing environment Focussing on broader catchment health, this priority looks beyond specific impacts, for example a point source discharge, to innovative, fit-for-purpose solutions which achieve desired goals more effectively, including offset mechanisms and bubble licenses. 7.Understanding and exceeding customer expectations This priority includes building greater understanding of supply and demand factors and positively influencing behaviour, the impacts of demographic change, as well as pricing and affordability.
8.Building jobs in a changing industry Incorporating the work of the Water Skills Partnership, the priority focusses on adapting workforces to meet future skilling challenges through job redesign, re-skilling and up-skilling, and building career pathways and recognition. 9.Next gen water A consideration of trends, issues and industry disruptors and technologies to support change, including communities of practice around ‘smart’ water initiatives. 10.Small remote and nimble A recognition of the particular challenges of providing sustainable services in regional and remote locations, affordable technologies which exploit the advantages of remote locations (including space) and consider issues of distance between communities, boom and bust population cycles, and population decline. qldwater's main objective is to be the central advisory and advocacy body within Queensland’s urban water industry, acting as a collaborative hub, working with members to provide safe, secure and sustainable urban
water services to Queensland communities. The work of QWRAP and identified strategic priorities strongly reflect this objective, and our network has never been stronger, with excellent attendances and interactions at our most recent events including our skills forum, SCADA/cybersecurity workshop and regional conferences at Cloncurry, Goondiwindi and Bundaberg and the growth of other information sharing efforts including our online fora. There are countless examples of service providers working together on common solutions, a willingness to foster exchanges. Particular thanks to Unitywater, Queensland Urban Utilities and Logan City Council for agreeing to mentor scholarship recipients from regional Queensland recently, and other hosts of industry networking events (Cloncurry, Goondiwindi, Bundaberg and City of Gold Coast). While the challenges facing the sector require efforts from all levels of government and stakeholders, the approach to 2019 is exciting. Dave Cameron CEO qldwater - The Queensland Water Directorate www.qldwater.com.au
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CALLING ALL OPERATORS
WATER FOCUS
With over 70 service providers managing an asset base of almost $40 billion and employing almost 6,000 workers, the Queensland water industry plays a significant role in providing safe, secure and sustainable urban water services to 4.9 million customers across Queensland. However, those services may be under threat in a number of regions through emerging critical shortages of water and wastewater treatment operators.
According to qldwater CEO Dave Cameron, this issue has been building for some years with enough evidence now emerging to suggest that the industry is potentially on the brink of a crisis. “When qldwater first started seriously looking into industry workforce planning around the start of this decade, the idea of an ageing workforce and skills crisis were relatively new, and there was a sense that the Global Financial Crisis had probably worked in our favour by helping keep people in
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these critical job roles longer than they had otherwise planned.” “We talked collectively about building careers and structures for improving the uptake of new starters, and these are core to our philosophy behind programs like Operator Certification. However, some of the vacancy rates and turnover we are starting to see in both published data and anecdotally are cause for concern. If you happen to be in a region with strong competition for skills, for example from the resources
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sector, you are likely starting to feel the pinch, but even regions which have historically had no issues with attraction and retention are making noise,” Mr Cameron said. 1.1 Case study: Banana Shire Council Banana Shire Council stands out as an example of a Council which is challenged by the regional employment market, in spite of a range of different and innovative approaches attempting to address the problem. According to Mr Anthony Lipsys, Manager Water Supply & Sewerage, their focus has been on promoting the lifestyle advantages of their workplace and targeting particular workforce segments including people with young families and grey nomads seeking short term relief operations roles while travelling in Queensland. “We have also been open and welcoming to staff from culturally diverse backgrounds to fill operational vacancies and encouraged employment of more women who now comprise 37% of our treatment workforce. This combined with other innovative workforce strategies have helped to improve employee retention rates in the short term,” Mr Lipsys said.
advantage of a lull period to access a cost-effective resource. Implementing greater flexibility in managing annual leave so migrant employees could meet family commitments in their country of origin. Offering a nine-day working fortnight to ensure the workplace was more familyfriendly in an attempt to keep staff from leaving to the resource sector where working hours are significantly longer and require more time away from family. Creating a checklist for managers to conduct an ‘honest dialogue’ with applicants for positions about what it’s like to work in the region and in their organisation to create a better ‘fit’. This included, for example, flying preferred applicants to the region and driving them around for a day to show them the distances between schemes and the local towns, and clearly explaining the social and cultural
aspects of the region. Offering a rent assistance program to attract applicants to the region. Engaging pre-retirees to help mentor staff to develop their technical writing skills. This is particularly important for those staff for which English is their second language. “In spite of all of this we continue to experience a number of long term vacancies and it typically takes us up to 90 days to recruit new employees into vacant treatment roles. Our record is 173 days to recruit two trainee assistant treatment plant operators, but we have a number of current active vacancies, and even our efforts to go to the market for relief operators have been problematic.” 1.1.1 Other regional Queensland drivers
Attracting and retaining appropriately skilled staff in remote areas remains a significant challenge, with applicant pools
Other initiatives trialled have included: Establishing a partnership with a local engineering consulting firm which provided a junior engineer to undertake a specific network modelling project at Council. Upon conclusion of the project, the consulting firm got an employee back who had the advantage of Council experience and the Council was able to take
Age profile of Queensland Water Industry - comparison of 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 Snapshot Reports
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Simin Sabah, Principal Water Engineer taking Water Connections Tour participants on a technical tour of Banana Shire Council water infrastructure.
typically reducing in number with distance from the southeast corner and away from major coastal centres. Further, in many small and remote locations, Councils have an obligation to act as an employer to support economic development for communities, which can arguably contribute to inefficiencies in service delivery and broader sustainability. However, the tyranny of distance is not the only thing driving regional skills shortages.
Nicholas Zischke water treatment operator
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Council water and sewerage employees, including those employed in the southern part of SEQ, are not as clearly identified as part of the water industry as they are in discrete water utilities
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instead participating in enterprise arrangements along with other Council service staff. This can act to limit the potential for incentive structures making Councils less competitive compared with other industries within a region. The ageing employee profile of the water industry workforce has also been repeatedly identified by employers as one of the most critical workforce issues. The qldwater 2016 Snapshot Report prepared for the Queensland Water Skills Partnership showed that approximately one third of water employees were over the age of 51. Anecdotal feedback confirms a high rate of turnover amongst younger operators, suggesting that the industry does well in retaining older workers but are struggling to recruit, train and retain younger workers to help improve longer term workforce planning and meet current capacity requirements. In general, the water and sewerage industry is not often marketed as a strong career prospect and more can be done to attract and retain a diverse workforce. “The initiatives trialed by Banana Council are a good start,” said Mr Cameron, “but more can be done at regional and whole-of-sector scales to improve attraction to the industry”. 1.2 Solutions? Whether you believe that there is an emerging crisis or not, there are clear limitations in traditional local government recruitment and retention techniques for water industry operations, and there is no “one size fits all” solution. “The industry is currently an exciting and rapidly changing
Sarah Elmes water treatment operator
work area,” said Mr Cameron, “but understanding particular workforce segments and what motivates employees at different stages of their careers is fundamental”.
period, and we are keen to hear your ideas. Contact csargent@ qldwater.com.au or on 07 3632 6853.
As a minimum, we likely need to deal with the apparent decline in young people entering operational roles, as well as take a sector-wide approach to attracting experienced employees to Queensland. This will be a focus for Water Skills Partnership research in the coming
(And if you have anyone with water or wastewater treatment experience and a burning desire to work in Moura in a key role on either a permanent or temporary basis, we’ll put you in touch with Anthony).
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QLDWATER AWARD WINNERS
WATER FOCUS
Once a year we get the opportunity to recognise the efforts of some of the people in our industry who play a crucial role in keeping our drinking water safe and our wastewater collected and treated efficiently. Established in 2010 by qldwater in conjunction with the Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA), the Operator and Young Operator of the Year Awards recognise the achievements of operational staff employed in the Queensland water industry. The awards aim to encourage outstanding operational performance of Queensland water industry employees and are presented to operators who showed excellent performance, initiative and all-round attention to detail. It is with great pride that we announced the 2018 qldwater Young Operator of the Year and Civil/Allrounder of the Year at the WIOA Annual Queensland Water Industry Operations Conference Awards Night held at the Logan Sports Centre in June. Described by his peers as the go-to liaison for ‘challenging’ customers, an excellent role model for his team and a regular contributor to his employer’s ideas portal, the 2018 Young Operator of the Year – Andrew Hanifin from Unitywater – sets an excellent example at work and out in his community.
Andrew coaches kids’ sports and acts as a crisis phone councillor for the Salvation Army when he finishes his day job. He also makes time for further studies having completed all his water industry worker training requirements as well as a Cert IV in Plumbing and Drainage. The 2018 Operator of the Year Civil / Allrounder was awarded to Brad Millful from Logan City Council. Brad has been in the water industry for 24 years and a champion for learning and development for much of that time. As a leader for the SEQ water industry worker program Brad has been a mentor for over 75 field staff, a contributor to training materials and a representative on various industry and technical advisory groups. Aside from trade qualifications, Brad has achieved a Cert IV Training and Assessment, Diploma of Water Operations and Diploma of Project Management. With a focus on continuous improvement, Brad instigated a range of business improvements above and beyond the requirements of his role. Above all, Brad is a much-loved bloke and a fantastic contributor to his organisation and the industry more broadly. Congratulations also to Tony Cover from Goondiwindi Regional Council who won the AWA Leon Henry Operator of the Year award and Gary Fenwick from QUU who
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Young Operator of the Year Andrew Hanifin from Unitywater with qldwater’s Carlie Sargent.
Operator of the Year Civil / Allrounder was awarded to Brad Millful from Logan City Council.
was highly commended for the same award. Glenn Twite from Townsville City Council also picked up best paper by an operator.
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RYAN COSGROVE
GET TO KNOW
Hi everyone! I am a Researcher and Project Coordinator for IPWEAQ’s water directorate, qldwater. I have a bachelor’s of Environmental Management and Business Management and have been in my current role for over a year. Prior to working at qldwater I was in the Environment and Engineering team at Lion. When I am not undertaking research into water and sewerage utilities or visiting the remote councils I enjoy getting out on the mountains for rock climbing. My weekends are often spent out climbing in the Glasshouse Mountains or down south in the various mountains around the Scenic Rim. I have been rock climbing for close to three years and met a number of my close friends through the sport (trusting someone with your life builds strong bonds). I find climbing a great sport because it is not only physically challenging but very mentally challenging. The aspect of trying to solve a puzzle using your own body many metres off the ground to get to the top of a climb is strangely appealing to me. Once reaching the top of a climb no matter where you are the view is always rewarding. I competed at the Queensland state sport climbing titles in 2018, and apart from injuring myself on the second climb and having to bow out, I also discovered that competing is not as fulfilling
On Mt Ngungun, Sunshine Coast.
as outdoor climbing (competition climbs is undertaken indoors on set routes). There are many forms of rock climbing such as alpine, mountaineering, sport, traditional On a sport climb in NSW near Coffs Harbour. and bouldering. I the grades are a simple numbering predominately do system 1 being the easiest and sport or traditional climbing. 38 being the hardest completed Sport is where a route has been climb in the world. To put it into ‘developed’ by other climbers perspective the Kangaroo Point through bolting. stairs are roughly a grade 3 and Traditional climbing follows a ladder would be a grade 8. The along the path of being aimed at mark of achievement is climbing adventuring. For traditional climbs a 20 – this grade means you can you carry your own ‘protection’ generally find climbs anywhere (cams, nuts and hexes) you place you go. I am at the stage where into natural cracks or crevices on I can climb most mountains that the rock wall as you climb. interest me and enjoy looking for new heights to conquer. Within all styles of climbing there is a grading system to help Thanks for reading up about one a potential climber know if it’s of my hobbies, I hope to see you outside their abilities. In Australia out on the rock one day! Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
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meet the team - Engineering LEIGH CUNNINGHAM Chief Executive Officer Leigh.Cunningham@ipweaq.com
CRAIG MOSS Director, Professional and Career Development Craig.Moss@ipweaq.com
CARLA CARO Management Accountant Carla.Caro@ipweaq.com
CELINE GILDFIND Management Accountant Celine.Gildfind@ipweaq.com
JOHANNA VANLING Relationship Manager Johanna.Vanling@ipweaq.com
MARK LAMONT Information Resource Manager Mark.Lamont@ipweaq.com
PAULA PAUL Director, Events & Marketing Paula.Paul@ipweaq.com
BELINDA SMITH Director, Marketing & Communications Belinda.Smith@ipweaq.com
Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
KEVIN MILLER kevin.miller@ipweaq.com Manager, Learning and Development Kevin has more than 36 years’ experience in civil construction management, contract management, contract procurement, construction supervision and plant operation. Kevin has an Advanced Diploma of Civil Engineering and a Masters in Engineering Science (Project Management) as well as qualifications in Civil Construction, Frontline Management, Occupational Health and Safety and Training and Assessment. Most recently employed with Evolution Road Maintenance Group in the development of training and assessment systems and resources, Kevin has also previously worked with Worley Parsons/Rio Tinto, TMR and Civil Contractors Federation Qld.
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meet the team - QLDWater DAVID CAMERON CEO dcameron@qldwater.com.au
RYAN COSGROVE Project Coordinator and Researcher rcosgrove@qldwater.com.au
ROB FEARON Director, Innovation Partnerships rfearon@qldwater.com.au
CARLIE SARGENT Project Coordinator – Skills Carlie.Sargent@qldwater.com
DAVID SCHELTINGA Manager, SWIM dscheltinga@qldwater.com.au
DIANA KISLITSYNA Project Administration DKislitsyna@qldwater.com.au
DESIRÉ GRALTON Manager, Communications dgralton@qldwater.com.au
qldwater is a business unit of IPWEAQ
Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
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Engineering for Public Works
MEDIA KIT 2018 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.
F EATU R E AR TI C L E
M EM BER N EW S
BI G Q U ESTI O N S
SU STAI N ABI L I TY
EXC EL L EN C E AWAR D S
F eatu r e ar ti c l e
l egal ar ti c l e
Water A rticle
THE GOLD COAST’S GOLD MEDAL PERFORMANCE
MEMBER PROFILE: TOM BRADSHAW
BRIDGE ASSET MANAGEMENT
FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
NEW LOOK BUILDING TELLS AN OLD STORY
TRANSFORMING ROADS FOR SUPERCARS
QLD CONSTRUCTION LAWS OVERHAUL
SILVER LINING IN THE SEWERS
The Games showcased some amazing athletic feats – and the seven year marathon run by the City of Gold Coast was also an epic journey. p.10
Meet Tom Bradshaw, a specialist water infrastructure engineer with over 20 years’ experience in the public sector and private consulting firms. p.18
Bridge asset management can feel like a fire fighting exercise. ARRB asks, is it time to consider the issue from a different perspective? p.24
Over the next 10 years, the forecasted replacement cost of local government infrastructure assets is expected to grow by 18.6%. p.59
Cairns’ oldest public building has been restored to its original beauty as part of a $8.69 million project. p.10
Maintaining City of Gold Coast’s Surfers Paradise street circuit for the Supercar motorsport spectacular. p.22
All participants need to understand how the new laws will affect their organisation.
Better management of sewerage systems for Wide Bay Burnett Region. p.61
ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS
ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS
www.ipweaq.com
ISSUE No.10
Publication dates Four issues per year: • March • June • September • December (conference feature) • PLUS February (Excellence Awards commemorative book)
QUEENSLAND URBAN DRAINAGE MANUAL
www.ipweaq.com
ISSUE No.9
E XC E L L E N C E AWA R D S
F e at u r e a r t i c l e
l e ga l a r t i c l e
Wat e r A r t i c l e
FEATURE ARTICLE
S pecial Feature
technical focus
Water Article
CITY OF GOLD COAST’S AWARD SUCCESS
TO B-DOUBLE OR NOT TO B-DOUBLE
LAWFUL POINT OF DISCHARGE
MAREEBA’s WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT UPGRADE
Countdown to Gold Coast 2018
State Conference Preview
Transform your business with ADAC
Water at the heart of smart cities
The historic Sarawak Avenue Steel Footbridge awarded for engineering innovation and excellence. p.18
How a rural council is planning for its aged road network to meet current and future needs.
The updated Queensland Urban Drainage Manual removes confusion about LPOD requirements. p.78
Award winning innovation strikes the balance between environmental and financial sustainability. p.86
A regional city’s efforts to deliver the best games ever.
A look at what to expect from Townsville, October 2017.
The strategic benefits from the release of ADAC version 5.0.
Cairns regional Council’s investment in smart water strategies. p.72
p.10
FOURTH EDITION
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.
p.46
ISSUE No.8
p.10
p.12
p.57
ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS
www.ipweaq.com
ISSUE No.7
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 almost 75,000 digital impressions; is circulated to approximately 5,500 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.
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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 F ront cover image Advertorial - $1,200 per issue D ouble page spread with 800 word feature article in H alf page 350 word editorial with one high first ten pages resolution image/photo and logo F ull page display ad C irculated 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 Belinda Smith Editor, Engineering for Public Works 07 3632 6801 Belinda.Smith@ipweaq.com
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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.
IPWEAQ Membership Join us today!
Why become a member? As an IPWEAQ member, you’ll have all the resources you need to succeed and grow in your career in the public works sector.
Member benefits:
Regular updates on developments and issues impacting your career through our quarterly e-journal, Engineering for Public Works and e-newsletter, Connect
Discounts for our highly-regarded professional development program
Discounts for our must-attend conferences and events
Discounts on IPWEAQs leading-edge technical products and publications
MEMBERSHIP FEES 2018-19
Access to industry-specific content in our Knowledge Centre
Opportunities to contribute to our renowned technical Working Groups which deliver solutions that benefit Queensland communities
We represent your interests to government ensuring your voice is heard
Who can become a member?
Membership of IPWEAQ is open to anyone actively involved in the delivery of public works and services in Queensland including technical officers, supervisors, fleet managers, project managers, finance and HR professionals, councillors and consultants.
Members under age 35 $170 plus GST
Our Young IPWEAQ program offers opportunities for those in the early phases of their careers, to acquire the knowledge, skills and support required to advance in the sector.
APPLY ONLINE AT WWW.IPWEAQ.COM/MEMBERSHIP For enquiries, please contact Johanna Vanling, Relationship Manager 07 3632 3803 | Johanna.Vanling@ipweaq.com
Engineering for Public Works | Sept 2018
Annual $280 plus GST