Roads & Infrastructure July 2021 by Prime Creative Media

JULY 2021

PLAYING THE LONG GAME

InEight’s Brad Barth on infrastructure lifecycle planning Official media partners of

DIVERGING FROM THE NORM A look at novel designs for Bruce Highway upgrade AFPA 2021 SYMPOSIUM What to expect at the event

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JULY 2021 CONTENTS

& INFRASTRUCTURE The Premier Cranes and Rigging team at the West Gate Tunnel Project in Melbourne, see page 32.

COVER STORY

12 I nEight Chief Product Officer Brad Barth on long-term infrastructure planning

PROJECT REPORT

16 B ruce Highway Upgrade: A look at design novelties in the upgrade of Caloundra Road to Sunshine Motorway

AfPA

18 A look at AfPA 2021 Symposium 20 AfPA Member Profile: In conversation with WesTrac’s Michael Kelly

ISCA

22 Building tomorrow’s sustainable infrastructure

NATIONAL PRECAST

24 Precasting with Hollow Core Concrete

ROADS REVIEW

40 John Deere Grade Pro Series

26 Industry leaders review diversity in the construction industry

42 Shuttle Buggy SB2000ex

ASPHALT NEWS

44 Dynapac’s CA35D vibratory roller

28 Sripath brings sustainable asphalt to Australia

INFRASTRUCTURE IN FOCUS

EQUIPMENT HIRE

47 Specialised hiring with Preston Hire

EVENTS

32 Premier Cranes and Rigging on West Gate Tunnel Project

48 Women in Industry Awards: Message from the event’s ambassador

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

49 IPWEA Transform 2021: Future of public works

34 Building Information Modelling: What’s the hype about?

TECHNOLOGY AND EQUIPMENT

36 BildGroup on the performance of Wirtgen cold milling machines 38 Cat RM400 reclaimer and soil stabiliser

CONTRACTS AND TENDERS

50 An overview of the latest tenders and contracts from around Australia

REGULARS 4 Editor’s note 6 News roadsonline.com.au

SO WE HAVE A SKILLS GAP, BUT IS THE BORDER THE ONLY ISSUE? AS PRODUCTION FOR THE JULY EDITION of the magazine was progressing, Victoria was forced to enter a new round of circuit-breaker lockdown to contain a new outbreak of the Coronavirus, shattering hopes that international travel can resume normalcy in the foreseeable future. While the roads and infrastructure sector might seem to have been pardoned the severe impacts that some other sectors, such as hospitality, are going through, there are concerns within the industry that the ongoing border closure will lead to huge gaps in the skilled workforce. In late May, two of the nation’s leading transport industry associations, Roads Australia (RA) and the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) made a joint submission to the Standing Committee on Migration, wherein they warned that the federal government’s massive road and rail project pipeline would not be easy to deliver without access to specialised skills from oversees. The new round of nearly $15.2 billion infrastructure investments announced in the Federal Budget for 2021-22 would only amplify the issue, they noted. “The Federal Budget contained major investments in training opportunities – and of course these are welcome. But the delivery of such training takes time, and the shortages being faced by industry are immediate,” RA and ARA noted in their submission. But while the two authorities have called on the federal government to update the Priority Skilled Occupations List to include specialist skills critical to their respective sectors, Engineers Australia is taking a different approach. In the same month, the engineering peak body called for an overhaul of the current skilled migration program, noting that the current system was no longer working in filling the skills gaps. “Demand for engineers in Australia will always outstrip supply from domestic entry level graduates. A skilled migration program will, therefore, always be needed,” the Engineers Australia submission paper said. “However, what matters more is how the migration program is structured to ensure it delivers on the policy outcomes that include increased national engineering capability. In this regard, change is necessary.” Engineers Australia has called on the government to establish an inquiry to investigate the barriers keeping migrant engineers from working in their designated professions, hoping the enquiry can help break down the barriers that prevent skilled migrants from making a full contribution within the industry. Identifying those barriers, as Engineers Australia has pointed out, will perhaps lead to deeper questions the sector will have to answer as a conglomerate. As a migrant privileged to have moved to Australia via the skilled migration program, I can say that the migration is only the first leg of a long journey. What we do to retain and engage that migrated skill, to empower the already skilled workforce to assume a position in par with their qualifications, is a learning curve we are only beginning to traverse.

Tara Hamid Editor, Roads & Infrastructure Magazine 4

ROADS JULY 2021

PUBLISHER Christine Clancy christine.clancy@primecreative.com.au MANAGING EDITOR Sarah Baker sarah.baker@primecreative.com.au EDITOR Tara Hamid tara.hamid@primecreative.com.au JOURNALISTS Shanna Wong shanna.wong@primecreative.com.au Tom O’Keane tom.okeane@primecreative.com.au DESIGN PRODUCTION MANAGER Michelle Weston michelle.weston@primecreative.com.au ART DIRECTOR Blake Storey DESIGN Kerry Pert, Madeline McCarty BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Brad Marshall brad.marshall@primecreative.com.au CLIENT SUCCESS MANAGER Justine Nardone justine.nardone@primecreative.com.au HEAD OFFICE Prime Creative Pty Ltd 11-15 Buckhurst Street South Melbourne VIC 3205 Australia p: +61 3 9690 8766 f: +61 3 9682 0044 enquiries@primecreative.com.au www.roadsonline.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS +61 3 9690 8766 subscriptions@primecreative.com.au Roads & Infrastructure Australia is available by subscription from the publisher. The rights of refusal are reserved by the publisher. ARTICLES All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format.

Roads & Infrastructure Australia is owned and published by Prime Creative Media. All material in Roads & Infrastructure Australia is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without the written permission of the publisher. The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published. The opinions expressed in Roads & Infrastructure Australia are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated.

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NEWS

Image courtesy of NSW Government.

CIMIC-GHELLA JV CONTRACTED FOR M6 MOTORWAY

CIMIC Group’s CPB Contractors and UGL, in a joint venture with Ghella, have been selected by the New South Wales Government to deliver stage one of Sydney’s M6 motorway. The design and construction contract

for the motorway is set to generate approximately $1.95 billion to the CIMIC Group companies. Stage one of the construction will connect south Sydney to the city’s motorway and highway network. This will result

in improved journey times and reduced congestion. The $2.5 billion stage one will also reduce the number of trucks in local streets and traffic, with alternate routes for freight another benefit of the construction. The contract will also deliver an underground motorway, connecting President Ave, Kogarah and the M6. The construction will include additional tunnels, ramps and shared cycle and pedestrian pathways as part of stage two of the motorway upgrades. Work on the project will commence in 2022 and is expected to be completed by 2025.

Seymour Whyte has won a contract for the Pound Road West upgrade project in Melbourne, following a collaborative tender with Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV). The upgrade project will improve access in and around the Dandenong South employment hub. The project includes building a new bridge over the Cranbourne rail line to connect Pound Road West and Remington Drive, as well as strengthening and resurfacing the Frankston-Dandenong Road bridge over the Cranbourne/Pakenham rail lines. The project also involves the widening of Pound Road West and Remington Drive

from two lanes to four lanes over two kilometres, extending from Abbotts Road to South Gippsland Highway, Dandenong South in Melbourne’s southeast. Also included as part of the contract are upgrades to four intersections, building a new shared walking and cycling paths on both sides of the road, and installing road safety barriers to lower the risk and severity of road traffic accidents. Seymour Whyte’s General Manager for Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, Courtney Hoops said value engineering and sustainability were a key focus on this project. “The project is targeting an ‘Excellent’

Image courtesy of Seymour Whyte

SEYMOUR WHYTE TO DELIVER POUND ROAD WEST UPGRADE IN MELBOURNE

sustainability rating for project design and as-built assessment, from the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) – Australia’s peak industry body for advancing sustainability outcomes in infrastructure,” Hoops said. The work will start in October 2021.

Image courtesy of Metro Tunnel.

METRO TUNNEL TBMS REACH FINISH LINE

Joan, Meg, Alice and Millie, the four tunnel boring machines digging the twin nine-kilometre Metro Tunnel in 6

ROADS JULY 2021

Melbourne, completed their work in late May after 20 months of construction. TBMs Joan and Meg dug their final 670 metres under Swanston Street from the State Library Station site. TBMs Millie and Alice began tunnelling in December 2020 to complete their final 1.8 kilometre leg under St Kilda Road and the Yarra River. Together, the four tunnel boring machines have moved through over 250,000 tonnes of concrete, tunnelling an average of 90 metres per week. The Metro Tunnel project will add five

new underground stations in the busy Metropolitan Melbourne, with the nine-kilometre rail tunnel running from the west of the city to the south-east as part of a new Sunbury to Cranbourne/ Pakenham line. Melbourne Airport Rail services will also run through the Metro Tunnel to provide passengers with an under 30-minute service from the airport to the CBD. The Metro Tunnel is set to be completed by 2025.

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NEWS

The equivalent of more than a million used car tyres can now be recycled to make high quality crumb rubber bitumen for Australian roads in a partnership between Puma Bitumen and Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA). Through two significant equipment investments – partly funded by TSA – Puma Bitumen has dramatically expanded its manufacturing capacity and widened the range of crumb rubber technology for both sprayed seals and asphalt currently available in Australia. Two mobile crumb rubber blending units were commissioned in Western Australia to become a permanent part of Puma’s supply chain, capable of producing highly stable crumb rubber binder with rubber contents up to 24 per cent. TSA

contributed $200,000 to the upgrade. On the east coast of Australia, Puma’s Townsville site has also been upgraded to allow production of crumb rubber binder, with $50,000 in TSA funding. The Townsville plant successfully produced the first batch of crumb rubber modified sprayed seal binder in April. In the 2018/19 financial year, TSA approved 13 new crumb rubber roads projects. The successful delivery of those projects will create a potential market demand for the Australian resource recovery industry of 11,700 tonnes per annum – the equivalent of more than 1.5 million EPU. TSA has invested more than $6.3 million nationally to fund real-world outcomes for tyre- derived products like crumb rubber.

Image courtesy of Tyre Stewardship Australia.

PUMA BITUMEN EXPANDS CRUMB RUBBER BITUMEN PRODUCTION

Image courtesy of Downer.

DOWNER QLD ASPHALT PLANT APPROACHES COMMISSIONING

Downer has almost finished commissioning its Amann HRT RAH100 Asphalt plant in Brendale, featuring Australia’s first counter flow hot recycled asphalt (RAP) dryer. According to Downer, the plant, located in Northwest Brisbane, will be home to one of the most advanced production facilities in Australia.

The facility has incorporated energy efficient and automated components, allowing it to exceed European standards for similar facilities. In the counter RAP dryer, recycled asphalt is fed into a purposed built dryer that uses convection heat rather than a direct flame. This means that the recycled asphalt can be heated to 160 degrees celsius and is not reliant on heat transfer from super-heated aggregates in the same way as standard asphalt plants. The Ammann HRT plant is therefore capable of producing a 100 per cent recycled asphalt mix or high-quality mixes with 50 to 70 per cent RAP as standard. Trials have already been conducted at the plant, with the asphalt produced from the trials being used in the pavement which is featured in the entry road to the site.

These trials included the production of 10-millimetre Asphalt incorporating 40 per cent hot RAP addition plus five per cent recycled glass (500 tonnes), a 14-millimetre warm mix asphalt containing 50 per cent hot RAP addition (400 tonnes) and a 20-millimetre asphalt containing 65 per cent hot RAP addition (900 tonnes). Work is also underway by Downer at a Reconomy facility situated at the same site. The Reconomy facility, part of Downer’s recycled economy solutions, helps divert waste from landfill by processing, separating and cleaning street sweepings, gully waste, glass fines and nondestructive digging waste into individual components that can be readily reused in established markets, replacing virgin materials.

VICTORIA PASSES ELECTRIC VEHICLES TAX The Victorian Parliament’s upper house has passed the ‘Zero and Low Emission Vehicle Distance-based Charge Bill 2021’, more commonly known as the EVTax. Set to come into effect from July 1st, EVTax places a standalone tax on electric vehicles per kilometre rates depending on characteristics of the vehicle: 2.5 cents for 8

ROADS JULY 2021

electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles and 2.0 cents for plug-in hybrid vehicles. Among the requirements of the bill, owners of a Zero or Low Emission Vehicle (ZLEV) are required to lodge an initial declaration within 14 days of the July 1st start date, to be used to calculate the distance travelled of the coming months and years.

According to modelling by Climate Council, at least 75 per cent of new car sales need to be electric by 2030 to help Australia achieve net zero emissions by 2035. Electric Vehicle Council estimates that in 2020 there were 6,900 electric cars sold in Australia, accounting for 0.7 per cent of total Australian car sales.

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NEWS

AUTODESK CONSTRUCTION CLOUD EXPANDS GLOBAL FOCUS WITH WORKFLOWS SUPPORTING ISO 19650

Autodesk has released a new series of workflows for Autodesk Construction Cloud that can help customers comply with ISO 19650, a global design and construction information management standard. These

new workflows offer a robust set of tools to define a structured and standardised process for publishing, sharing and storing project information. Global customers using Autodesk Build,

Autodesk BIM Collaborate and Collaborate Pro, Autodesk Takeoff and Autodesk Docs can now also choose to primarily store their project data in Europe – a common customer request for projects in the region. Standardisation across the construction industries allows teams to build more efficiently and create stronger collaboration among all project and company stakeholders. ISO 19650 was introduced to ensure firms meet specific requirements, including standard naming conventions often defined by each country and calls for project data be stored and managed in certain ways. The uniformity helps teams streamline processes, become more efficient and create a safer, more secure and more predictable approach to data governance. Designed and developed in close collaboration with Autodesk customers, new workflows within Autodesk Construction Cloud empower teams to efficiently configure, organise and distribute documents across the project lifecycle to support ISO 19650 requirements.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE TRANSURBAN ANNOUNCES LEADERSHIP RE-SHUFFLE Transurban has announced new additions to the Transurban Group Board, with three members joining the company in non-executive directorial roles. Patricia Cross, Craig Drummond and Marina Go have beed appointed board positions. This comes after the group announced that Neil Chatfield and Samantha Mostyn would retire from the Transurban Group Board at the conclusion of the company’s annual general meetings. All three of the announced members have extensive experience in both executive and nonexecutive roles, both domestically and internationally. DECMIL ANNOUNCES NEW BOARD APPOINTMENTS Decmil has announced two new additions to its board with two new non-executive 10

ROADS JULY 2021

directors. Vin Vassallo and David Steele joined the company’s board formally from 14 June 2021. Vassallo has over 25 years’ experience in the Australian infrastructure sector, including serving as the Group Executive of Development for Transurban. He has worked in Australia as well as overseas. Steele has over 35 years industry experience, including senior operational roles across resources, energy and infrastructure sectors globally, as well as in Australia. LENDLEASE ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP TEAM Lendlease has announced a change to the structure and make-up of the Group’s global leadership team. As part of the structural changes, Lendlease’s Australian operations will be consolidated and operate as one region. Dale Connor has been appointed to the position of Chief

Executive Officer, Australia. Three new global roles will be created for the company’s Development, Construction and Investment activities. These new roles will be filled by David Hutton – Group Head of Development, Hans Dekker – Group Head of Construction and Kylie Rampa – Group Head of Investments. A new position of Global Chief Operating Officer will be introduced to lead operational consistency between Lendlease’s four operating regions – Australia, Europe, Americas and Asia, as well as driving strategic growth initiatives. This role will be filled by Denis Hickey, who will also retain his position as CEO Americas. CEO, Digital, Bill Ruh will continue to lead the digital transformation of Lendlease and its projects through data, advanced analytics and new technologies.

#TeamLifting

GOING FOR THE ‘LONG GAME’

IN INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING HOW CAN AN INTEGRATED PROJECT CONTROLS PLATFORM HELP MANAGE LARGEENTERPRISE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS THROUGH THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATIONAL LIFECYCLE? AND WHO CAN BENEFIT MOST FROM IT? ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE FINDS OUT IN A CONVERSATION WITH INEIGHT CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER BRAD BARTH.

he ‘long game’ is the term InEight uses to describe the operational life of large infrastructure assets beyond their construction phase. According to Brad Barth, Chief Product Officer at InEight, “It’s really the perfect term for it. Because it recognises the fact that construction is only the beginning for large projects like major tunnels, motorways and bridges. Construction is an intense stage with lots of risk, but then

the owners must maintain and operate the assets that were built over a lifecycle that averages 30 to 50 years and can, in some cases, last up to 100 years.” It is for such large-scale infrastructure projects that Barth believes an integrated project controls platform, such as the solution InEight provides, can offer maximum benefits to asset owners, as well as the other parties involved. An integrated project controls platform, as he explains, can tie together the scope, cost and schedule of roads and infrastructure projects – the three points of the triangle that define every project’s

success. “From the owners’ perspective, there are many questions that need to be answered long before the contractor gets involved. With a digital approach like the one InEight offers, the owner can connect the three aspects of the project controls triad – which are the scope, the cost and the schedule – to get a better picture of risks during the funding stage. This will then help optimise those factors as the project progresses into design and construction, and later into operation,” he says. Barth uses the example of asphalt versus concrete pavements to elaborate further. “The asphalt versus concrete pavement argument is a classic example of this. Both options have different profiles in terms of short-term and long-term costs, as well as construction timelines. Also, the raw material prices for both tend to fluctuate all the time. By being able to look at what the current costs for each option are and the long-term implications, including

Integrated project controls platforms offer benefits for large-scale infrastructure projects.

ROADS JULY 2021

COVER STORY

The digital twin facilitates easier long-term maintenance for projects such as bridges and roads.

the maintenance costs, asset owners can evaluate the required short-term trade-offs from the cost and schedule perspective to arrive at better decisions.” BUILDING A HISTORY Another way by which a connected technology platform can help leverage maximum benefits for owners, Barth says, is by building historical data. “One thing that a digital tool like InEight provides is creating some benchmarking and some history,” he says. “A public owner like a government will have many projects. Each of those projects are of course different from the other, but at the component level, there are similarities across most of those projects. If you can track those at an atomic level, they start to build up a history. “So, as you are capturing information about the built aspect of the project, you are also continually building benchmarks about that asset that are going to help inform future projects with similar characteristics. So, the tool is not just helping you identify risks and control costs on the asset you’re building, but it’s also helping you gain more knowledge that can be applied on the next asset that has some of those same components.” And if any changes to the scope, cost or schedule become necessary, the owner’s expectations can be adjusted accordingly. “Once you lock in what you want to achieve (the scope), then all you are doing is continually measuring everything against

the assumptions that went into the plan to see if you have achieved what you expected on all three points in that triad, which helps answer questions like: Did we get the scope that mirrored the design specifications? Did we achieve the cost that we expected? Did we achieve the schedule that we expected? “Unlike software, which is built digitally in a highly controlled environment, construction projects happen in the physical world. So, there are always going to be unknown situations that need to be accounted for. Be it the weather, site conditions, resource availability…anything can conspire against you achieving your expectations, so you have to continually evaluate expectations and outcomes to know if you are on track or not.” NARROWING THE GAP In May this year, the Grattan Institute published a report revealing that Australia’s transport infrastructure costs are above the global average, with about 25 per cent of projects ending up costing more than the government expected when construction started. The report, “Megabang for megabucks: driving a harder bargain on megaprojects,” suggested that government-owned infrastructure projects in Australia needed more competition, smarter procurement, and greater transparency. Barth says there are two ways by which InEight’s portfolio of capital project management software can help

enterprises narrow the expectation versus delivery gap. The first, is by getting the risks properly reflected in estimates and schedules. “I think our industry has recognised that going over budget or over schedule is a common challenge. The way to address this challenge, primarily, is to get more visibility on the risks for the project,” he says. “A lot of times when you hear any project has gone over budget, the immediate reaction is that the contractor must not have performed very well. Whereas it might come down to the expectations not being realistic in the first place. In the absence of real historical data, human beings tend to plan optimistically. That means we don’t often do a good job, between the owner and the contractor, of identifying what the risks are and incorporating those risks into the budget and into the schedule. With better planning, and better historical data, we can set more realistic targets.” Next comes better visibility throughout the construction stage, which allows owners and contractors to better coursecorrect, he adds. “When you are not in a collaborative digital approach, the owner is often waiting for the contractor to submit a report, maybe once a week if you are lucky, or once a month. So, a lot of times, things that drive the budget or schedule overruns are not identified until you get towards the end of the project and then roadsonline.com.au

you have very few options to correct them. Whereas if you’re tracking the assumptions as you go along, not just looking backward at the outcomes, you can then make adjustments to keep the cost and schedule under control while preserving the scope that justified the economic investment in the asset.” Barth emphasises that having more time to address issues earlier can put more options at the owner’s disposal to keep the project on track. “It also avoids the ripple effect of having to divert funding or resources from other projects to deal with surprises.” EMBRACING THE DIGITAL TWIN CONCEPT An answer to the lack of visibility described above is offered by the digital twin concept, as Barth explains. Simply put, the digital twin, is a virtual representation of the work being done during and after construction of the asset. It allows a connected data flow of the asset’s information from creation to completion across traditionally siloed teams, providing a timeline of executed work. “A digital twin facilitates the connection between the virtual world and the physical world. With any construction project, the digital twin essentially becomes the real-time, virtual representation of the physical asset. It serves as a great source of answers to

questions related to what has been built, and what is planned to be built. “What’s more, because the digital twin is virtual, it facilitates simulations and ‘what if?’ scenarios that you can’t do in the physical environment, while providing much of the same context as the realworld environment. So, things that you otherwise might not have realised until you go out into the physical environment, the virtual environment puts that context at your fingertips,” says Barth. But that only goes part of the way, he adds. “Being a permanently available replica and record of the physical asset, a digital twin also serves to facilitate easier maintenance over the project lifecycle. What this means for a major infrastructure project is that you can use the InEight digital twin to record all the ongoing changes or even the regular inspections carried out on the project. “This information can be fed into the digital model as both structured and unstructured data and that’s the beauty of the InEight solution: it’s not a proprietary mechanism. So, we don’t expect everybody that touches the project to be using InEight tools. They might be using other tools and creating information that then gets fed into the digital twin. For example, a specifications document received from a guardrail supplier as a PDF file can become part of the digital twin,

The digital twin is a living digital replica of the asset and its data. 14

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with that document connected directly to the relevant guardrail elements in the 3D model. The important thing is that all the as-built information ends up in one place.” This is a far cry from how the infrastructure industry has traditionally done things, as Barth notes. “Previously, if you needed any information about the completed project, you would have to rummage through banker’s boxes full of printed documents, or maybe, if you were lucky, search for the information in a thumb drive that had a whole bunch of PDF files in it. “But a digital twin gives you all that information in one place, and it’s all connected within the context of the 3D model. So, all of the project’s stakeholders, including the owner, contractors, the inspectors, the material suppliers and the engineers can access the latest data as the project is being built. Then the owner ends up with a digital twin that reflects the as-built information so it can be used throughout the life of the asset.” With projects like roads and bridges designed to last for generations, the ‘long game’ approach to project planning, with the digital twin as the outcome at the end of construction, paves the way for owners to ensure the successful operation and maintenance of the asset in the future, starting from the present. InEight’s cloudbased software is making this desirable approach a reality today.

DIVERGING FROM THE

NORM

THE CALOUNDRA ROAD TO SUNSHINE MOTORWAY UPGRADE, PART OF QUEENSLAND’S BRUCE HIGHWAY UPGRADE PROJECT, HAS SEEN A NUMBER OF NOVEL TECHNOLOGIES IMPLEMENTED INCLUDING THE FIRST DIVERGING DIAMOND INTERCHANGE DESIGNED IN AUSTRALIA. ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE FINDS OUT MORE.

ith the Sunshine Coast one of the fastest growing regions in Australia, interstate migration has rapidly increased since the onset of COVID-19. As such, upgrades to the highways and roads connecting these states have become more important than ever with safety, traffic flow and network efficiencies all potential benefits to be reaped. The 1700-kilometre Bruce Highway that connects Brisbane and Cairns is one such crucial highway, with construction on the section between Caloundra Road to Sunshine Motorway (CR2SM) having started in May 2017. The project was issued by Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and was contracted to Fulton Hogan and Seymour Whyte in a joint venture with Arup and Jacobs assisting with design. TMR North Coast Regional Director Scott Whitaker says increased traffic flow resulting from the CR2SM project is hoped to contribute to regional growth, reduce peak-hour congestion and provide better access to local roads. FEATURES: The project sees the Bruce Highway between CR2SM upgraded from four to six lanes with a two-way service road for local traffic being developed on the western side of the highway between Steve Irwin Way and Tanawha Tourist Drive. Titled the Frizzo Connection Road, preconstruction data found that more than 63,000 vehicles travelled on the Bruce Highway CR2SM stretch. The purpose of adding the service road, 16

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according to Whitaker, was to separate long-distance traffic from local traffic, allowing the highway to function as a highspeed, high-volume corridor with improved flood immunity. Construction began on the service road in 2017 with the Frizzo Connection Road now open to traffic in both directions. In addition, building the Frizzo Connection Road provided the opportunity to improve active transport infrastructure, with more than nine kilometres of new lanes and pathways installed for bike riders and pedestrians. The Caloundra Road interchange has been transformed into a Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI). In addition, a direct link to the western service road for commuters travelling north from Brisbane is available

through a connection via Exit 188. With the CR2SM project opening in stages, the first stage of the DDI became open to traffic in November 2019 and was fully operational by December 2020. Off-road cyclist and pedestrian paths were also added during the DDI upgrade with construction beginning in 2017 and completion expected to be reached in late June. Part of the DDI works also saw two new bridges being erected over the Bruce Highway, allowing a 6.5-metre high-vehicle clearance. These bridges officially opened to traffic in December 2019. The Sunshine Motorway Interchange upgrade is currently in its final stages of construction with the northbound entry

The new dedicated pedestrian and bicycle bridge at the Sippy Downs interchange.

PROJECT REPORT

CR2SM project is the first project in Australia featuring a Diverging Diamond Interchange.

ramp between Sunshine Motorway and Bruce Highway set to open to traffic this month. The motorway interchange is complete. The last remaining ramp connecting Sunshine Motorway motorists northbound to the Bruce Highway opened at the end of June. According to TMR, before construction began, the northbound exit between Bruce Highway and Sunshine Motorway experienced regular congestion and a high crash record. DIVERGING DIAMOND INTERCHANGE While the standard diamond interchange is a familiar feature of Australian roadways, CR2SM project is the first project in Australia featuring a Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI). DDIs are a twist on traditional interchanges. The interchange design leads two directions of traffic to temporarily cross to opposite sides of the bridges, allowing for exiting vehicles to turn off easier, while those remaining on the road can continue on with less stops. “The idea of the DDI was first floated during the tender phase,” says Whitaker. “DDIs have been used with great success in other countries, with almost 100 now operational worldwide. The majority of these are in the United States.” “Traditional interchanges have right-turning lanes in the middle of the road and drivers must wait for oncoming traffic to pass before turning right. A DDI moves right-turning motorists to the edge of the interchange allowing them to turn right without giving way to, or blocking, traffic coming the other way. Synchronised traffic signals, line marking and signage guides motorists,” explains Whitaker. First built in France in the 1970s, the DDI increases traffic efficiency and road safety through decreasing the number of stopping points. “Incorporating the DDI at Caloundra Road significantly reduced the interchange

footprint on the former Beerwah State Forest from 35 hectares to about six hectares, as compared against the footprint to the original reference design,” says Whitaker. Tying in the vertical geometry from the existing ramps to the new DDI alignments was a project challenge that saw the east to west connection lifted by almost three metres. The DDI replaced two of Caloundra Road’s loop ramps. This change saw the installation of traffic signals that increased the needed size of lane storage to 2.5 times what was existing. The lanes also had to be doubled when installing signals for the second loop which affected the east to west flow of traffic. Whitaker notes that through TMR’s traffic performance modelling, the DDI shows to be providing better levels of service to commuters since its opening in December last year. “The long traffic queues and the number of crashes have reduced,” says Whitaker. “In Australia, it [the DDI] is an emerging interchange form that responds to increased demand to find different ways to manage traffic volumes within budget and land constraints.” PROJECT CHALLENGES The project has so far seen more than 22 construction stages and over 90 traffic switches with 13 of these switches occurring within one month and up to five concurrent switches occurring in a single night shift. “With a constrained footprint to work within, high traffic volumes, significant variances in geometry and limited existing network capacity made staging, the number of switches and Temporary Traffic Management (TTM) logistically complex, even for a large project,” says Whitaker. The project saw complex TTM staging and construction while teams still had to manage existing traffic numbers. To overcome this, a dedicated team was appointed to oversee all aspects of planning for traffic switches with meetings being held at six, four, two and one weeks prior to the traffic switches being made. NOVEL TECHNOLOGY The DDI, however was not the only new innovation applied at the CR2SM. The Trimble SPS985 GNSS Rover linked to a Trimble GNSS base station; or more simply known as a Tiny Surveyor was also introduced during the project.

The Tiny Surveyor is a remotely operated machine that allows human surveyors to spot out line markings from a safe distance from the traffic site itself. “It works up to 10 times faster than marking out on foot and uses far less paint than the previous manual method. Using GPS technology helps achieve an accuracy of two to three centimetres,” says Whitaker. “A test of a 1.5-kilometre strip with three lines to mark out was completed in 90 minutes; this would normally take three surveyors four and a half hours to complete.” Drones, or flying robots that can capture images were used by surveyors to capture aerial data and images, allowing for mapping and estimating traffic movements. With application of these technologies developing greater understandings of how these machines work in real-world applications, Whitaker believes that novel technologies such as these will continue to be adopted within the construction industry, resulting in greater time and cost savings. FLOOD IMMUNITY Construction during the CR2SM saw above-average rainfall. With the Mooloolah River floodplain situated adjacent to the CR2SM project site, managing water that could damage nearby communities and environmental habitats was crucial. It was here that another innovation, the high-efficiency sediment (HES) basin, was introduced. HES basins function by capturing storm water or tailwater, which is water with sediment runoffs, and adding clarifying agents to settle the sediments. Water can then be recycled for agriculture uses with the sediments potentially returned to productive land. Innovations like these have won the CR2SM project a number of awards including the 2019 QMCA Contractors Innovation Award for new industry applications alongside the 2020 QMCA Ian Harrington Collaboration Award which recognises positive impacts in the civil infrastructure sector. With the CR2SM just one project in the entire $10 billion Bruce Highway Upgrade Program, Whitaker says the TMR will continue to create “an infrastructure legacy that will benefit the Sunshine Coast region for generations to come.” The CR2SM is expected to reach competition in July 2021, dependent on the weather conditions. roadsonline.com.au

A LOOK AT AFPA 2021

SYMPOSIUM

‘ROADS GOING FULL CIRCLE’ IS THE THEME SELECTED BY THE AUSTRALIAN FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT ASSOCIATION FOR THE AFPA SYMPOSIUM 2021. AFPA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER CARLOS RIAL AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS NORBERT MICHEL, ROBERT VOS AND ANNA D’ANGELO SHARE THEIR INSIGHTS ON THE PROGRAM.

n August this year, AfPA Symposium 2021 will bring together speakers and attendees from around the world to the AfPA online event to share their views and experiences around a central theme of circular economy. As AfPA Chief Executive Officer Carlos Rial explains, the title of the conference, ‘Roads going full circle’ refers to the need for the infrastructure sector to become circular and to incentivise circular economy solutions to respond to the challenges of climate change, carbon emissions and reducing the use of virgin natural resources. “We chose the theme of circular economy for the symposium to showcase what our industry is and can do to deliver our part in utilising renewable materials from waste to help address a growing national circular economy challenge. This will contribute to reducing our carbon footprint and emissions, reducing energy usage and also utilising sustainable energy generation practices. We also will continue to promote the use and reuse of some of the planet’s most recyclable materials such as asphalt,” Rial explains. In view of the COVID-19 uncertainties, this year AfPA replaced its biennial International Flexible Pavements Conference with an online Symposium as the risk of holding a face-to-face conference remained too high. “A key element to this event,” Rial adds, “is to bring international best practice to Australia and share our expertise internationally. The only way to do this at the moment is to pivot to an online event – our Symposium. It is hoped that in the years to come we can return to holding our showcase international conference, however I do believe that the online element will now forever be included to 18

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further expand our outreach.” As key takeaways from the Symposium, Rial says participants will learn about how the flexible pavements industry is doing its part to support Australia’s shift to circular economy practices. “Our flexible pavements industry is continually improving its practices to ensure the health and safety of our people. We are leading in engineering research and development to ensure our largest asset by value – our roads – is safe, reliable, affordable and embracing of the transport needs of tomorrow.” The Symposium is divided in three main streams: Health and Safety; Sustainability and Circular Economy; Engineering and Construction. Each day will focus on one of the core streams with the content being delivered through a combination of presentations and panel session. HEALTH AND SAFETY STREAM Norbert Michel, AfPA Executive Director for Victoria and Tasmania will be leading the Health and Safety stream. He says the stream will focus on providing a solid foundation for engaging discussion. “Safety and providing for a safe working environment across the industry is of paramount importance for AfPA and its members. The Symposium will explore these themes and will invite a number of high-profile plenary keynote speakers from Australia and overseas to outline the challenges facing the industry in terms of improving mental health and wellbeing, undertaking work under live traffic and promoting the closure of roads as a default for undertaking work,” says Michel.

AfPA’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fulton Hogan Industries, Matthew MacMahon will open the Symposium and challenge attendees to embrace the philosophy that safety is not a role or a dedicated item of focus for select individuals assigned the task of managing this within an organisation, but rather that it a responsibility to be borne by all. The plenary session led by Wayne Schwass will address several sensitive topic areas, including how normalising mental health and acknowledging emotional wellbeing have become paramount in today’s fast paced world. It will also outline how having these difficult conversations can and do positively change lives. There are two parallel sessions focussed on exploring worker health and industry initiatives. Some of the key areas to be explored include embracing technology to improve worker safety, effecting change through mandating improved delivery practices, emerging challenges, and opportunities for adoption of overseas experiences to improve worker health and safety. “The Health and Safety Day will set the right frame of context for everyone attending the Symposium to embrace the culture of safety in all that we do and challenge attendees to identify safety opportunities throughout the technical sessions being delivered across the Symposium,” says Michel. SUSTAINABILITY AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY STREAM AfPA National Sustainability Director Robert Vos will be leading the second day’s

Norbert Michel, AfPA’s Executive Director for Victoria and Tasmania.

Robert Vos, AfPA’s National Sustainability Director.

Anna D’Angelo, AfPA’s Executive Director of Technology and Leadership.

program, focussed on sustainability and circular economy. According to Vos, this session is well matched to ‘Roads going full circle’ theme with plenary keynote speakers from the US and Europe sharing their progress on ‘Embedding sustainability in procurement of roads.’ Plenary presentations in this stream cover US Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Sustainable Pavements Program with a particular focus on embedding circular economy principles in the tools and support material provided. This is supported with updates on Australian systems to measure and deliver best sustainable practices for roads infrastructure. Europe and the US Asphalt Associations provide updates on how contractors are building resilience and sustainability into their flexible pavements. Additionally, the European Oil Refiner Association will share scenarios for refineries to meet climate goals for 2050. There are three parallel sessions, named ‘change drivers’, ‘achievements to date’ and ‘solutions on offer.’ “All of these share an excellent overview of Australian and international achievements in driving change to thinking,

understanding the advantages in circular economy thinking and recognising the well-established role of the road sector in delivering increasingly sustainable roads and road products,” Vos says.

cost effectiveness. Use of renewable materials from the waste stream into roads without compromising quality will also be key theme of discussion. The Engineering and Construction Day will be presented in three parallel sessions: Materials and Engineering, Testing, Construction and Maintenance. During these technical sessions there will be time for questions and answers and opportunity to engage with the authors. Director of National Centre Asphalt Technology (NCAT) Randy West, Leslie McCarthy from Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), NCAT Assistant Director Fan Yin and Carsten Karcher from the European Asphalt Pavement Association (EAPA) are the confirmed speakers for the day. The AfPA Symposium 2021 follows the successful 18th AAPA International Flexible Pavements Conference and Exhibition 2019, which was themed ‘Our everlasting roads: Enabling future mobility.’ This year, in addition to the traditional knowledge sharing from the presentation of papers and addresses from keynote speakers, there will also be a series of workshops and panel session opportunities at the Symposium.

ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION STREAM The third and last day of the Symposium will focus on Engineering and Construction. AfPA’s Executive Director of Technology and Leadership Anna D’Angelo will be leading this stream. The theme of the day, according to D’Angelo, will be ‘Maximising performance and durability.’ “AfPA has 50-plus years of driving continual improvement through the sharing of best practice, in particular as it relates to the technical engineering and construction of road pavements. Within Australia we are seeing a rapid change in the expectations of purchasers seeking longer lasting roads,” says D’Angelo. The stream will discuss the practises to support the implementation of circular economy and sustainable solutions and how the advancements in technologies related to pavement design and construction can improve durability and

roadsonline.com.au

AfPA

MEMBER PROFILE MICHAEL KELLY, PRODUCT SALES SPECIALIST AT WESTRAC, SHARES HIS EXPERIENCES IN THE ROAD CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. 1. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN AN AFPA MEMBER AND WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME ONE? When I started my role in 2017, I had been talking with Caterpillar about increasing WesTrac’s awareness of the road construction industry. We wanted to communicate to the industry that Caterpillar and Weiler were keen to engage. Joining AfPA was suggested and I moved the business down the path towards membership. The decision to engage with AfPA was about networking to create relationships, but most importantly to understand the industry so WesTrac can better meet its needs. 2. HOW DID YOU START YOUR CAREER IN THE ROAD CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY? I came to the road construction industry through a range of different roles in WesTrac over a 13-year period. Just prior to my current role, I was the Product Specialist for Machine Attachments. In that role I started developing connections to sell skidsteer cold planer attachments and I had also had experience looking after spare parts for the legacy Bitelli products. My interest in road construction products developed from there. When the opportunity came to move into to the role of Product Specialist for Paving and Compaction Products, I jumped at it and the rest is history. 3. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT ROLE AND WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE? I am the Product Specialist for Paving and Forestry products for WesTrac, which is the Caterpillar and Weiler dealer in NSW and ACT. My role is to understand the products in my portfolio to support sales reps in their interactions with customers 20

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the changing perception of those two manufacturers in the industry. 6. WHAT IS A RECENT CHANGE YOU HAVE SEEN IN THE INDUSTRY AND HOW ARE THE COMPANIES PREPARED FOR THAT? I think the rise of technologies that give greater machine accuracy, safety and efficiency. WesTrac, Caterpillar and Weiler are all passionate about this. Customer feedback to manufacturers (Caterpillar and Weiler) through the dealer (WesTrac) is fundamental to the development of technologies that meet the industry’s needs. Likewise, the level of support we can provide customers to integrate new technologies into their work sets us apart from so many others. Michael Kelly, Product Sales Specialist for Paving and Forestry Products – NSW and ACT, WesTrac.

so that we supply machines that truly meet customer’ needs. I also forecast market behaviour with the manufacturers (Caterpillar and Weiler) to make sure we have machines in stock in the correct consistency required to support our market. 4. WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT YOUR CURRENT ROLE? I have gone to some great places and met interesting people throughout NSW doing handover and training when the machines are delivered. We live in a big country and I love to get out and about and see our gear at work. 5. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE INDUSTRY? That we have started to raise the profile of Caterpillar and Weiler products and

7. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS MOST INTERESTING ABOUT THE ROAD CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY? The diversity of the skill base. You don’t have masters of one specific task on a road construction site; the staff typically are a jack-of-all-trades. Be it driving a truck , paver or cold planer, you see people doing multiple tasks on a site. 8. HOW HAS BEING A MEMBER OF AFPA BENEFITTED YOU IN THE INDUSTRY? I have met some great people who have mentored me. I can ask questions and gather information for WesTrac to better inform our ongoing engagement with the industry. 9. WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE FUTURE? To further develop WesTrac’s knowledge of the road construction industry through partnerships with our customers.

AUSTRALIAN FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT ASSOCIATION

Registrations Open

AfPA 2021

International Flexible Pavements Symposium

Roads going full circle Online Event 3 - 5 August 2021

Event Sponsor

Day 02 Sponsor https://bit.ly/3pu1Uu2

Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia

BUILDING TOMORROW’S

SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

INFRASTRUCTURE SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA CEO AINSLEY SIMPSON TALKS ABOUT THE VALUE OF SUSTAINABILITY AT THE ISCA CONNECT 2021 CONFERENCE.

he ISCA Connect 2021 Conference held on May 19 in Sydney brought together industry players and thinkers to look at the future of the infrastructure industry, including the role the sector will play in building a resilient and sustainable future economy. ISCA Chief Executive Officer Ainsley Simpson opened the conference by directing participant’s attention to the period for which the decisions made by the industry today will impact future generations. “Our decisions today, will last well beyond our own life expectancies. The infrastructure decisions we are making with urgency and good reason today will be with us for the next 50 to 100 years. So now, more than ever, it seems it’s time to safeguard the future,” she said. “As a purpose driven member-based not-for-profit, ISCA has honoured its commitment to support the infrastructure market in both Australia and New Zealand, with 15 per cent of the team now based in Auckland and Wellington,” she noted. “We also recognise that in the future we have an obligation to do more. Our vision is a positive future for people, planet and the economy. We will ensure that other nations share the same positive outcomes and benefits that we are helping catalyse here in New Zealand and Australia, in order to expand our horizons and our impact,” Simpson said. “Over the next six months, we will be transitioning to be known as the Infrastructure Sustainability Council. The Infrastructure Sustainability Council is the authority on sustainable infrastructure. We’ve been certifying sustainability performance since 2012 across Australia and New Zealand. To date, we have $206 billion worth of capital value under rating that spans more than 120

ROADS JULY 2021

Ainsley Simpson, ISCA Chief Executive Officer at ISCA Connect 2021 conference.

different assets and over 260 projects.” She further highlighted how ISCA’s Infrastructure Sustainability rating scheme is helping evaluate sustainability across the planning, design, construction and operational phases of infrastructure programs, projects, networks and assets. “Some of the tangible impacts of the Infrastructure Sustainability rating scheme include lifecycle stage savings such as 68 per cent in energy consumption, 34 per cent in water consumption and 11 per cent in diversion of waste from landfill. And that’s just across 38 projects. The impact extends to 1.2 billion customer experience improvements through transport, utility and social provision,” she noted. “With infrastructure enabling 70 per cent of Australia’s emissions, we have an enormous opportunity to do more. This is the decade for decarbonisation. We are driving emission reductions by rewarding resource efficiency from low emission material sourcing, rewarding design optimisation that reduces material volumes and rewarding reuse at the end of life,” she added. BUILDING RESILIENCE With panel discussions on building capacity for a circular economy future, the day-long conference was an opportunity to look at

challenges testing the resilience of Australia’s infrastructure. Romilly Madew, CEO, Infrastructure Australia, offered a recount of the devastating 2019 bushfires and how it disrupted essential infrastructure such as energy grids and water treatment facilities. “In a single week in January 2020, more than 1400 telecommunications facilities went offline because of bushfires, jeopardising the safety of many thousands of people,” she said. New South Wales Minister for Transport and Roads, Hon Andrew Constance brough attention to the rapidly developing impacts of climate change, warning that the conversation in Australia around the issue is still “immature.” “If you have a look at the maturity of the [climate change] debate in Europe, and what conservative government is doing in the UK versus what’s happening here, we’re not even in that ballpark,” the Minister said. Concluding the day, Simpson encouraged participants to seek the opportunities amidst the adversaries. “Our infrastructure system and all its parts has been tested over the last little while. We heard [today] honest accounts of how all of these shocks and stresses have impacted people personally, their organisations and their ecosystems. We heard that betterment, restorative, and circular are the way forward. We also heard that we need to value what we already have,” she said. “But if you were listening, you would have also heard that all of the levers we have available to us when it comes to sustainability are aligning. Policy, planning, procurement, investment and insurance. We have never had this level of synergy. So, my question to you is: Are you ready to seize this opportunity?”

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SETTING THE

BAR HIGH

HOLLOW CORE CONCRETE IS A MASTER PRECASTER MEMBER OF NATIONAL PRECAST CONCRETE ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA. ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE CATCHES UP WITH MANAGING DIRECTOR PETER HEALY TO SEE HOW THE PRECASTER SUPPORTS MAJOR RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN VICTORIA. The Hollow Core Concrete plant in Melbourne’s Laverton North.

t pays not to burn your bridges, as Hollow Core Concrete Founder and Managing Director Peter Healy came to learn back in the 80s. As one of his early engineering career posts as Branch Manager for McConnel Dowell, he managed projects in water well drilling and industrial pavements in the middle east. It was here that he first had the idea for setting up a manufacturing plant for pre-tensioned hollowcore planks after coming across the technology from Europe. Impressed with the possibilities that pre-stressed precast concrete and the new hollowcore concrete extruders offered, he thought it would be a great opportunity to set up a plant in the Middle East. But then, 24

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the oil prices dropped overnight. “The company moved back to Australia, and I moved with them,” says Healy. An opportunity arose and Peter took the plunge to commence his business. He bought the piece of land in Melbourne’s Laverton North, where Hollow Core Concrete sits today, and the rest, as they say, is history. “Interestingly, the first contract that I won was with the company that I had left. That’s why they say never burn your bridges,” says Healy. And not just that, Hollow Core Concrete has helped build bridges too – among a host of major commercial, residential and infrastructure projects delivered since its establishment in 1988.

THE COMPANY TODAY Though started purely with manufacturing pre-stressed hollowcore planks, Healy says he soon realised more was possible, and required, with the precast technology. Since then, the company has expanded its capabilities to produce pre-stressed concrete sections in all shapes and sizes, from T-beams to columns, staircases, wall sections and any odd shapes that projects may require. If requested by clients, the team also designs and manufactures post-tensioned T-beams and slabs. The hollowcore concrete casting extruder in the plant runs across a production line 120 metres long, with ability to produce prestressed hollowcore slabs of 60 megapascal (Mpa) strength in lengths up to 17.5 metres.

The hollowcore planks have an advantage compared to solid floors, in that they are approximately 40 per cent lighter. The high quality of the concrete used means the concrete reaches 32Mpa strength within less than 12 hours, which enables rapid manufacturing. Providing columns, beams, stairs and hollowcore floor planks for MCG in Melbourne, the EastLink Freeway works with the construction of the ventilation structures at each end of the EastLink Freeway tunnel and manufacturing the noise walls, freeway barriers and bridge abutments for the recent Monash Freeway and West Gate Freeway upgrades are only some of the projects the team has undertaken to date. To solve any technical issues that may arise while designing or handling the concrete sections, Hollow Core Concrete has a team of in-house structural engineers who make sure technical challenges can be overcome with experience. From designing concrete wall sections with precisely located voids for attaching staircases to resolving how a 50-metrelong T-beam can be lifted with cranes and

transferred to the project site, Healy says the experience of the engineering team is very valuable to the success of Hollow Core Concrete’s projects. “I am very appreciative of my staff. Building a strong team has been key to our business growth,” says Healy. MASTER PRECASTER MEMBERSHIP Hollow Core Concrete is a Master Precaster member of National Precast Concrete Association Australia, which according to National Precast’s Chief Executive Officer Sarah Bachmann, is now a must-have when awarding a precast contract. The initiative by National Precast came in response to discussions with external bodies such as government authorities and tier one builders, who had experienced cost blowouts resulting from quality and other issues. “Most head contractors just don’t have the time to do their own proper checks. It’s too late when we get the call after inferior precast has been supplied and find out that a member has not been used. There’s just not a lot we can do, unfortunately. That’s why we have introduced Master

Precaster,” Bachmann says. A requirement of wearing the Master Precaster member badge is that the precaster must have satisfactorily completed one of National Precast’s stringent audits and comply with the Master Precaster Code of Conduct. It’s a step above what a Precaster member must pass, and covers eight areas, including: industry contribution; track record; financial stability; technical skill; factory capability; quality management; safety management; and environmental management. The bar, as Bachmann admitts, has been set high. But it’s also necessary to ensure reduced contract risks for contractors. As Hollow Core Concrete is leading the way with quality prestressed precast concrete manufacturing, Bachmann encourages more precasters to follow in the company’s footsteps. “Precast is a growing sector and we want to make sure specifiers and users have a positive experience and use it again. That means doing our bit to lead the industry, to ensure our members at least are doing the right thing and to raise the bar,” she comments.

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ROADS REVIEW FOR THE JULY ROADS REVIEW COLUMN ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE ASKS ROAD CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY LEADERS: ‘HOW CAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES ENCOURAGE MORE DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE?’

LISE SPERLING, STATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NSW/ACT, AFPA Long term, meaningful and sustainable collective change requires a process of honest reflection, collaboration and a commitment to defined measurable outcomes. We urgently need to adopt this approach to address the long-standing lack of diversity across the building and construction sector – aligning systemic workplace practices, leadership and culture to prioritise inclusion. Workplace diversity drives innovation and productivity for business and the economy. There is no one-size-fit-all solution. Businesses need to understand their profiles and their needs and champion a range of tools to encourage diversity as underpinned by organisational policy, professional development, peer support and mentoring opportunities.

JAYNE WHITNEY, CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER, JOHN HOLLAND Our industry has a responsibility to reflect the world we live in, which is why John Holland is committed to championing diversity across our projects and offices. We show our commitment to diversity by partnering with recruitment programs for people who have faced barriers to entering our industry, empowering our people to work flexibly, programs to help accelerate women into operational leadership positions, and closing the gender pay gap. We know greater diversity in construction is possible, but it needs leadership to challenge the way things have always been done.

JON DAVIES, CEO, AUSTRALIAN CONSTRUCTORS ASSOCIATION (ACA) The Australian Constructors Association through the Construction Industry Culture Taskforce is working to develop a Culture Standard to improve the culture of the industry and encourage diversity. The Culture Standard will address problems preventing construction from being an employer of choice. It will seek to set a new standard for working hours and flexibility, health and wellbeing and diversity and inclusion. Industry customers will be asked to support this cultural shift by adopting the Standard as part of their procurement requirements whenever they buy construction services. The draft Culture Standard will be released shortly for public consultation. A better construction sector is in Australia’s interest, and everyone can help by providing feedback.

ROADS JULY 2021

ROADS REVIEW

MICHAEL CALTABIANO, CEO, AUSTRALIAN ROAD RESEARCH BOARD (ARRB) Doing it is a stronger outcome than talking about it! Highlighting the advantages of diversity in the construction sector is the key to success in creating a new sense of energy and drive in the delivery of the next wave of Australia’s infrastructure construction work. Diversity in the workplace leads to a diversity in problem-solving abilities and creates opportunities for creative solutions to the unique challenges we are all facing on the journey to an integrated mobility future. We must create new solutions to develop a unique suite of infrastructure outcomes to deliver for the community the next generation access to future mobility solutions. We simply cannot do what we have always done or build what we have always built!

DANTE CREMASCO, EXECUTIVE GENERAL MANAGER, ROAD SERVICES, DOWNER It starts with examining the culture and critically assessing the status quo and as a result, determine the path forward to create an environment that values, encourages and enables diverse thinking, experiences and perspectives. Downer’s analysis has led us to want to do better in creating this environment so that a diverse workforce can flourish. Our company initiative, ‘Own Different,’ promotes an inclusive culture so it becomes part of our DNA, which will see more diversity in our workplace.

JUSTINE ROMANIS, NATIONAL MANAGER, PROFESSIONAL DIVERSITY AND STEM, ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA The issue of diversity in the workplace is important for the attraction and retention of talent, staff engagement and, in some cases, the ability to secure projects. However, having a diverse workplace is only half the approach. The benefits of this diversity of thought will not be recognised unless employers provide an inclusive work environment, one where staff are confident to share thoughts, contribute to outcomes and feel valued. Companies need to create an environment where different thoughts, approaches and opinions are welcomed and celebrated. It is an important cultural shift in many organisations and should be led at all levels of management. The benefits of the diversity of an organisation can then be truly realised.

If you or someone at your organisation is an industry leader and would like to be a part of this monthly column in 2021, please get in touch with Editor, Tara Hamid: tara.hamid@primecreative.com.au

roadsonline.com.au

MAKING ASPHALT

BETTER

SUSTAINABLE ASPHALT REJUVENATION AND ASPHALT MODIFICATION USING ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY ADDITIVES IS OFTEN PERCEIVED IN THE INDUSTRY AS EITHER IMPRACTICAL, OR TOO COSTLY. SRIPATH TECHNOLOGIES WANTS TO CHANGE THAT VIEW. ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE REPORTS.

ROADS JULY 2021

ASPHALT NEWS

company’s technical team has developed over the years. In 2006, Srinivasan was already a “grizzled veteran” of the industry – as he refers to himself – when he set out to establish the Sripath Technologies business in New Jersey with a small team. When asked about where his knowledge of the pavement industry came from, Srinivasan’s answer is simple: “You could say I’ve got tar under my fingernails. I was in the bitumen industry for the better part of ten years before forming Sripath.” Having worked as materials engineer in the civil, structural and aeronautics industries, including as Vice President of Technology for the world’s largest roofing business, GAF Materials Corporation, he already “had the pulse of the bitumen industry” when Sripath was launched, as he recalls. “Roofing and paving use a lot of the same raw material sources. When you have been in the roofing industry for so long, you know about the issues affecting the paving industry as well.”

ReLIXER is Sripath‘s ‘Green’ asphalt rejuvenating bio-oil, engineered for High RAP mixes.

hen Sripath Technologies, a USbased company with a global footprint, first introduced their bio-oils based asphalt rejuvenator product ReLIXER to the market in 2013, it culminated over 18 months of research and development by the team. Made with a blend of bio-oils and green ingredients, ReLIXER mixes with reclaimed asphalt pavements (RAP) and reclaimed asphalt shingles (RAS) – commonly used in the US for roofing purposes – to rejuvenate the bitumen in the paving mix, allowing the reuse and recycling of high levels of RAP, while minimising need for virgin bitumen and aggregates. Thereby, this product restores lasting functional performance while reducing carbon footprint. ReLIXER, as President Krishna Srinivasan tells Roads & Infrastructure, is just one example of innovative products the

STARTING SMALL As Sripath Technologies took its first steps in developing products to “make asphalt better,” as the company’s slogan suggests, the search for an environmentally friendly bitumen rejuvenator became one of the key projects that put Sripath on the path to recognition. “We have a passion to bring new products and new ideas to the market. Most of our products are new ways of looking at solving problems that the industry faces every day,” Srinivasan says. Even though the US market for asphalt rejuvenators was relatively non-existent in 2006, Srinivasan says he knew the need for more recycling was an issue the industry would need to deal with eventually. Coincidentally, around the same period, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in the US was working on promoting the production of high-quality high RAP mixtures and had initiated an Expert Task Group (ETG) in 2007 with the aim of advancing the use of RAP in asphalt paving applications. “When we started developing the ReLIXER asphalt rejuvenator, there was hardly any market for it in the US. We were ahead of the times, but we worked the problem from a fresh perspective, trying to figure out where the industry was headed and that led us to the whole concept of RAP management,” says Deepak Madan, Chief Marketing and

Business Development Officer. Research by the team and collaboration with the roads authorities led to ReLIXER being successfully used in the heavily trafficked Illinois Tollway – a 750-kilometre multi-lane highway. The Tollway Authority was looking for a way to increase their recyclables percentage without compromising performance specifications. ReLIXER passed all laboratory tests and proved to be the most dosage efficient option for the project. In 2015, after two years of development and testing, ReLIXER was commercialised in the United States. Since 2017, Sripath has helped lay out millions of tons of high RAP mixes using ReLIXER in projects worldwide including in Canada and Southeast Asia, with the rejuvenator also marketed under the ReJUVN8 brand name in some countries. FOCUS ON SOLUTIONS For a company of their size, Sripath invests heavily in research and development for new products and innovative technical solutions. Apart from their flagship asphalt rejuvenator, Sripath offers a range of unique polymers, bitumen modifiers and oils to improve the performance of bitumen and asphalt mixes. All these products, Kate Brough, Director of Digital Marketing and Branding says, were developed to address long-standing issues facing the asphalt industry. One such problem in the industry is related to dispersing styrene-butadienestyrene (SBS) into bitumen. Here too, Sripath’s solution followed a practical approach, as Brough explains. “Polymers are very important to the road building industry, but despite all of the good properties they bring to asphalt, historically trying to disperse SBS into bitumen has been like trying to disperse chewing gum in water. These two materials just do not like each other,” she says. Sripath’s answer to this issue was PGXpand, a unique and highly compatible polymer modifier that helps Polymer Modified Asphalt (PMA) producers eliminate or reduce their SBS content and reduce viscosity. “We started by asking the question ‘is there a different way to look at this?’ and the answer was in the molecular composition of bitumen. So rather than reinforcing one aspect of the bitumen, we chose to reinforce another aspect of it to deliver the same level of performance. And along the way, we discovered that you could be more energy efficient and obtain materials that dissolve roadsonline.com.au

more easily into bitumen, while providing exceptional high temperature properties and rusting resistance.” More recently and following intensive research, Sripath developed SriCote, an amine-free anti-stripping agent that provides an answer to the moisture and fuel resistance issues in demanding applications. “Many aggregates around the world are deficient. They need anti-stripping agents to help better bind bitumen to the aggregate and resist stripping due to moisture and ageing. Historically, the anti-stripping agents of choice have used an amine-based formulation which has had question marks about health and environmental safety,” Brough says. “So, we set out to develop a more healthconscious anti-stripping agent, and as always, we wanted it to not only be safer, but to also perform better, while being easier to use and handle. Out of this effort came our new antistripping agent.” SriCote is used to produce binders with an enhanced moisture and fuel resistance. It significantly improves Tensile Strength Retention (TSR) and jet fuel resistance values in asphalt mixes even at low use levels. Some of Sripath’s other products for the bitumen industry include the PGXtend asphalt modifier, used for increasing the high temperature stiffness modulus of the binder, and ReNUBIT, a special blend of petro-chemical oils, developed for improving polymer compatibilization and low temperature properties for both the paving and roofing industries. ROADS AS FUTURE MINES With all their research and development, Sripath seeks to develop products with four key characteristics: sustainable, superior performance, practical and economical. “Most of the time, when you want to use an asphalt additive that’s environmentally friendly, you end up paying a premium price. That was never our philosophy as a company. We are in the business of making products that are easy to use, deliver performance, are sustainable and at the same time, provide cost benefits to our customers and the community at large,” says Srinivasan. “Moreover, for us asphalt recycling is not just about preventing material from going into landfills and using it as a filler for future roads. What we have done with ReLIXER, is develop materials that add more value to the recycled asphalt; in other terms, we upcycle it. In this way, our roads can be our future 30

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Sripath offers a range of asphalt rejuvenators, polymers, compatibilisers and modifiers for asphalt improvement.

mines or future refineries, from which we can draw valuable raw material indefinitely.” With the need for high quality asphalt growing worldwide, Srinivasan sees a strong potential for Sripath’s solutions in Australia and elsewhere in the world. SRIPATH ASIA PAC Sripath recently registered its company in Australia, under the banner of Sripath Asia Pac, to better support the Asia Pacific market, including Australia and New Zealand. When asked about the key solutions Sripath can offer the Australian market, Madan says the answer is multi-faceted. “Australia is a net bitumen importer. So, anything that can help reduce bitumen usage will be beneficial to the country as it helps improve the balance of trade. Also, worldwide, the supply and the quality of bitumen is being threatened by various factors. We see ourselves to be at the nexus of great change within the industry, and we are a technology-driven company trying to deal with the challenges the industry faces going forward.” Ravi Rajagopalan is the General Manager for Sripath Asia Pac. Having only recently finalised the paperwork for registering the company in Australia, Rajagopalan has already begun conversations with customers, academicians and key industry players to identify areas where the company’s products can best be applied. “One of the things that we do everywhere we go, and what we plan to do here in Australia, is to work with the leading thinkers, the leading academicians, the leading

Department of Transport people, and the leading consultants. We give them a chance to work with our products, have an open technical exchange, so that they can develop a trust for our material,” Rajagopalan says. The approach, as Rajagopalan sees it, comes down to Sripath being a technical company at its core that follows a ‘small company’ model when it comes to customer service and technical support. “We are not here to just take sales orders and ship our products to customers. One of our key differentiators is that we become an extension of our customers’ research and development departments and we guide them throughout the operation, helping solve issues one by one with the strong support from our network of global affiliates,” says Rajagopalan. “That’s what makes the experience of using our products different, it’s the customer relationship and the 24/7 support,” adds Brough. Still in its early days in the Australian market, Srinivasan can already imagine Sripath becoming a key player in the industry for asphalt rejuvenators, polymers, compatibilisers and modifiers. “We are here to stay, we want to be associated with success stories in Australia, like we have been in the rest of the world. And for that, we are ready to collaborate with the industry,” Rajagopalan announces. * All of Sripath Technologies’ product names are trademark registered and properties of Sripath Technologies.

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LIFTING WITH THE RIGHT

APPROACH

WHEN PREMIER CRANES AND RIGGING WERE INVITED TO HELP WITH PREPARATORY CIVIL WORKS AT THE WEST GATE TUNNEL PROJECT, THEY KNEW THIS COULD BE THEIR BIG BREAK. THE PROJECT HOWEVER, PROVED TO BE MORE VALUABLE FOR THE COMPANY THAN THEY ORIGINALLY THOUGHT.

The Premier Cranes and Rigging team at the West Gate Tunnel Project in Melbourne.

t was December 2017 and work at the West Gate Tunnel Project in Melbourne’s west was slowly picking up after a year and a half of community liaison and planning. Two of the first tasks before beginning the twin tunnel construction under Yarraville between the West Gate Freeway and the Maribyrnong River were to install protection barriers along the busy West Gate Freeway and remove existing light poles and overhead gantries. Luckily for Premier Cranes and Rigging, a fast-growing Melbourne-based crane 32

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business founded by mates Steve Warton and Matt Clark, they were among the first crane companies to get called in for the job. “It was the classic turn of events,” says Warton. “We had already worked with some key people in charge of arranging the contractors on two separate projects. A couple of these were the Williams Landing Railway Station and the Ravenhall Prison projects. From their experiences working with us, they knew about our ‘can do’ approach. They also knew we had experience working on

tier-one infrastructure projects, so they came to us first.” The initial project scopes were narrow. The first task involved site establishment and installing the road barriers along the existing freeway. The second one was more complex and involved removing existing overhead gantries and light poles. The team at Premier Cranes were ready to give it their best shot. Premier Cranes already had an in-field crew of fifty to sixty and a crane fleet mostly featuring Liebherr cranes from 20 to 350 of tonnage, as well as a fleet of Frannas,

INFRASTRUCTURE IN FOCUS

including AT40, and five MAC25 plus the AT20 units - All tier-one compliant. A year later, the work stream had multiplied, and the Premier Cranes crew on the project had grown closer to 100 people. A ‘CAN DO’ APPROACH From the early stages of work at the West Gate Tunnel Project, Warton says they backed their experienced crews. “Our key leaders of that time worked closely with our crane crews, they really led the boys to get it done the right way. Together we just brought the right attitude to the table. Every day and every night, we strived to be better.” This ‘can do’ approach of always saying ‘yes’ and helping with extra tasks inevitably saw the profile of Premier Cranes rise with the engineering teams on the project. “The project had very sharp timeframes because of the road closures. So, by getting our hands dirty and getting our ‘one percenters’ right, we made sure that we were doing more work every night than planned for that timeframe. Our drive, past experience and our understanding of the work streams also helped the young engineers on the ground deliver on their responsibilities,” says Warton. “As an example, the industry standard would be to sling the heavy gantries up, then stand back and wait for someone else to undo the strong, complex connections; whereas our crews just got in to get those connections undone themselves. This is just an example of our approach. And very quickly the word spread.” With the eventual arrival of the massive Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) and construction officially starting in early 2019 on the tunnel’s North Portal in Footscray, the scope of work for Premier Cranes became a lot bigger. With that, the next round of challenges started for the team. FACING CHALLENGES From lifting 30-40 tonne precast concrete beams and 12 tonne planks within tight areas and restricted head heights to helping locate and install the 57-ton steel rings at the tunnel entrance, every day at the project presented new challenges that the experienced Premier Cranes team had to navigate through. With the workload reaching extraordinary levels by this time, Warton says the team had to work hard to keep up with the standard they had set. “It was the classic ‘duck underwater’

example. On the surface, we were presenting well to our clients. Beneath the surface, we were paddling faster than anyone would know,” says Warton. But the busy work schedule, which continued through 2020 and even during the COVID-19 restrictions in Melbourne, was also a blessing for Premier Cranes. Through this period, Warton says, the business learned to bring structure to the day, and get a better handle on things, by discovering #TeamLifting with their people, a company philosophy focused on growing and lifting the team and clients alike. “When we initially joined the West Gate Tunnel Project, we were seen as these ‘new kids on the block’ by others in the industry. Nobody thought that we would be able to keep up as the project ramped up. They were wrong,” says Warton. “We knew, however, that for Premier to be sustainable and scalable in the medium and long term, we had to get more structured. Now that itself was quite a journey.” STRUCTURED TO SCALE In many ways, involvement in the West Gate Tunnel Project was a journey Premier Cranes was destined to be a part of. As Clark explains, it highlighted and encouraged the them to build a scalable structure through a full systematisation of the business, which started with the company setting out its Strategic Intent. “Premier’s Strategic Intent sets out where we want to go as a business, and a key aspect of that is empowering our people. We realised, through reflection over the past few years, that if we want to be able to scale, we need to specialise our people in their respective departments,” says Clark. “So even though now we still have people who wear multiple shoes, eventually as Premier grows, we will easily specialise by filling every position as described on our organisational map. Our aim is to make it easier to recruit and on-board new high calibre people and of course new equipment. We know that it’s only by empowering our people and giving them the responsibility to get the result that together we can push to achieve our Strategic Intent.” THE ONLY DIRECTION IS FORWARD Going forward, the Premier Cranes team are eager to replicate their approach used on the West Gate Tunnel Project to be a part of similar and bigger lifting projects. Already, the team has taken on more

Premier Cranes and Rigging has a fleet of Liebherr cranes from 20 to 350 of tonnage.

projects such as the Hurstbridge Line Upgrade, the Monash Freeway upgrade, and early boring works on the North East Link project. “The value we add with our structure is clearly showing,” Warton says. As work on the infrastructure projects picks up, the team at Premier Cranes are ready to take on the work peaks better than ever before. “As a crane business that started with basically nothing and became one of the leading crane companies in Melbourne, we have high aspirations. With the infrastructure work boom that’s going around now, we can certainly replicate our value proposition on all future projects for the clients’ benefit, and for our team,” says Warton. “With the alignment of our business processes at the backend, we are confidently responding to the short- and long-term needs on these projects. We have committed to other work streams and we are now showcasing ourselves further with our in-house Engineering and Project Management teams.” With a high level of cadence, decentralised leadership, a shared vision, and the cranes to back it, Warton heralds #TeamLifting as an approach to be rivalled. roadsonline.com.au

BUILDINGINFORMATIONMODELLING:

WHAT’S THE HYPE ABOUT? ERROR-FREE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION IS THE HOLY GRAIL OF ALL PROJECTS – BUT RARELY ACHIEVED. BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING (BIM) WORKS TOWARDS THIS GOAL, AS EXPERTS FROM CIVIL SURVEY SOLUTIONS EXPLAIN. Building Information Modelling gives better insight to architects and engineers during planning and construction.

ivil Survey Solutions (CSS) is an Autodesk partner and authorised software developer, assisting customers in the survey and civil infrastructure industries with premium technical support, training services and development of industry-driven software solutions. CSS Director Andrew English believes conventional means of communicating design and construction data are approaching their use-by date. “Traditionally, civil designers have presented paper plans to collaborators and clients. A shift is leaning towards digitalbased scenarios, which is why we are helping businesses to move towards digital as well,” he says. BIM is a process that enables collaboration between architects, engineers, contractors, construction professionals and building maintenance teams through the planning, design, construction and maintenance of a project. Centralised and accessible data models allow contractors, designers, 34

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architects, engineers and project managers to directly communicate on the same data, identify design conflicts and coordinate construction. Initially, BIM was closely associated with building design – where the design disciplines of architecture, structural engineering and MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) benefitted from a single building model which effectively eliminated design conflicts. The downstream benefits of BIM included better data for project management, construction scheduling and post-construction auditing. Now, the civil infrastructure industry is being drawn into the BIM process – ranging from the infrastructure surrounding a building project, such as car parks, access roads, storm water, sewer and landscaping to significant highway and rail projects, encompassing civil, structural and electrical disciplines. There has already been one major revolution in the relationship between design and construction in infrastructure. As

civil contractors invested in GPS-operated equipment, pressure was brought to bear on the design industry to provide the finished road design in a digital format which could be downloaded into earthmoving equipment for accurate and more automated grading. This replaced the use (although not the legal requirement) of traditional long section and cross sections output from civil designers. So how will BIM affect the construction contractors as the demand for BIM in infrastructure increases? CSS anticipates that designs will become more accurate through BIM, resulting in less variations through the construction phase reducing the exposure of the end customer to unexpected construction costs and delays. In the UK, where BIM has been used to deliver major projects, a study of the service found that it can lead to a 20 per cent reduction in build costs, 47 to 59 per cent increase in overall project quality as well as 35 to 43 per cent reduction in risk. As CSS Technical Services Manager Shane O’Rorke explains, BIM helps minimise the risk

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

of error and re-working. “By centralising the data, designers are able to see different assets and infrastructure. All tasks can be completed in a collaborative environment. There are less errors and rework because, from start to finish, different operators are working on the same model. Everyone is seeing the same stages as everyone else.” The Autodesk Construction Cloud delivers to the architecture, engineering and construction industry via a unified platform. The platform provides secure centralised document management, gives designers real-time design progress and annotates design clashes. Autodesk design, construction and maintenance applications all link with this unified platform, enabling model coordination and project analytics. Authorised users can make changes and assessments, whether they are in the office or in the field. As O’Rorke explains, the BIM model can be used by multiple teams during the design, construction or maintenance phases. “Traditionally, an architecture firm may focus on the building and separately engage

civil designers for land development design. The BIM process allows for the parties to work a lot more collaboratively. “What’s revolutionary is that all the data is now mobile so it can be accessed from the cloud, anywhere. With centralisation of data, everyone can be working off the same information”. Major construction projects have now successfully used BIM internationally, with successful implementations in the US since 2003, South Korea since 2010 and the UK since 2016. In Australia, the software has been used to aid major construction projects such as the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the Sydney Metro Northwest Rail Link, Perth Stadium and Regional Rail Link in Victoria. In July 2019, Queensland announced a policy which mandated the use of BIM in construction of all new government construction projects with estimated costs surpassing $50 million. As a company, CSS is focussed on supplying the industry and businesses with the design tools, training and support to complete BIM projects.

Autodesk Construction Cloud being used at University of Iowa.

Autodesk’s AEC Collection – which includes software programs spanning architecture, structural engineering, civil engineering and survey is an example of a collaborative workflow where different discipline designs can be aggregated in Autodesk’s unified platform. “We are firmly involved in the design and construction field, for both civil engineering and surveying industries. At the core of what we do, we help to optimise what clients need to deliver in their daily design life.”

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BUILT TO CONNECT

THE ROLLS ROYCE OF THE

MILLING MACHINES BOASTING THE LARGEST FLEET OF WIRTGEN COLD MILLING MACHINES IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE, BILDGROUP CEO STEPHEN HILL SPEAKS TO ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE ABOUT WHY THE GERMAN BRAND HAS ALWAYS BEEN HIS FIRST CHOICE IN ROAD PROFILING EQUIPMENT.

“Y

ou can name any of the big projects in Melbourne and we have probably been on them,” says Stephen Hill, Chief Executive Officer of the BildGroup. He is not exaggerating. The Monash Freeway widening, the Norfolk Island airport runway, the City Link re-surfacing, the West Gate Freeway and the Tullamarine Freeway widening are only a few of the projects where BildGroup has been the profiling contractor. BildGroup’s journey as a business began in 1979 and for many years, the company operated under the banner of the Bitu-mill Group, carrying out road profiling projects across Victoria and the rest of the country. Over the years, the company diversified into new areas such as civil and landscaping and this year, the group underwent a re-branding, changing its brand identity to the BildGroup to represent its four core businesses: Building, Infrastructure, Landscaping and Development.

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Today, the BildGroup has a 440-plus strong team and is supported by over 1000 subcontractors across Australia each year. The group continues its road profiling and asphalt paving business under the Bitu-mill brand, while the BildCivil branch represents the team’s infrastructure division. Besides having completed an impressive portfolio of civil and infrastructure projects, there’s another thing the company prides itself on: Owning the Southern Hemisphere’s largest fleet of Wirtgen cold milling machines, in addition to other Wirtgen equipment such as Hamm rollers, Kleemann screening equipment, Voegele pavers and Streumaster spreaders. When it comes to road milling machines, Hill says the BildGroup only uses Wirtgen. “That’s because of the association we have

had with the brand for so long. We originally started with American built machines many years ago but in the 1990s we changed to Wirtgen and we have only used Wirtgen since,” says Hill. “We believe that they are the Rolls Royce of the road milling machines. Their technology and what goes into those machines is far better than anything that their competitors produce.” FLEET UPGRADE In its fleet, the BildGroup has approximately 70 to 80 Wirtgen cold milling machines, a dozen Hamm rollers and two Voegele asphalt pavers. More recently, BildGroup has acquired a handful of W 210 Fi milling machines from Wirtgen and Hill says he is impressed with the features.

BildGroup’s Wirtgen W 210 Fi milling machine at work on Darlington Upgrade Project in Adelaide.

TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT

BildGroup was part of Albert Park resurfacing project in Melbourne.

“We are constantly in conversation with Wirtgen about their latest gear. In the past, when we were able to travel, we would go to Germany and Wirtgen would demonstrate their latest machinery to us and then we would go and purchase the latest models of that machine,” says Hill. Wirtgen launched the W 210 Fi machine in Australia last year and the BildGroup was among the first ones to try the machines out in the field. This year, Hill says he wants to order more of the large milling machines for his fleet. When asked what he was impressed with in the W 210 Fi, Hill says the feature upgrades were a key selling point for he and the team. “This model is a step change from the previous model. It has a lot more features, it’s more user friendly, it has some innovations on it which wasn’t in the previous models and so we believe going forward it will make us more efficient and better at what we do,” he says. THE INTELLIGENT F SERIES Wirtgen’s F Series models, including the W 210 Fi machine, are settings new standards in terms of milling performance and machine efficiency. In the automatic mode, the Mill Assist standard assistance system provides the optimal balance between performance and operating costs. This not only improves milling performance, but also reduces diesel, water, and pick consumption, as well as CO2 emissions. The machine operator can also preselect a working strategy from ‘Cost-optimised,’’ ‘Performance-optimised,’ or ‘Milling texture quality’. For example, it is possible to define the required milling texture quality on a scale of 1 (coarse) to 10 (very fine) in advance at the

touch of a button. Mill Assist also automatically controls the two-speed Dual Shift powershift transmission. Together with the diesel engine, the intelligent control of the twospeed powershift transmission extends both the upper and lower range of possible milling drum speeds. At lower speeds, fuel and pick wear can be significantly reduced. At higher speeds, high milling pattern quality is ensured even in the case of high area performances. OPERATOR INTEREST Hill says he finds it’s easier to attract a good skillset with a Wirtgen fleet. “A lot of operators in the industry would rather operate Wirtgen machines than other machines. That’s because they are better to use, they are smarter to operate and they do allow more ease of use,” says Hill. Shortage of good operators is a serious issue for businesses like the BildGroup, as Hill elaborates. “Particularly in Victoria, at the moment we are struggling to keep up with the demand from projects. Our biggest challenge is finding new people for the business. We can go and buy as many machines as we need but if we can’t get people to operate them, there’s no point in having them.” It’s more of a challenge for the BildGroup because they are committed to hiring only professional operators. “We want to make sure that when we do send people out, they do the job that’s to our standard and we don’t end up with brand damage or issues as a result of not having properly trained people operating our machinery.” Having the latest profiling machines on the

market goes a long way for the BildGroup, but their professionalism is also manifested in how they maintain their equipment. “I think we provide a good service because we’ve got one of the best fleets, we’ve got the latest profiling machines in the marketplace, and that helps us obviously with efficiencies and productivities. The fact that we buy new gear with the latest technology that is well serviced and looked after means our reliability and ability to deliver is greater,” says Hill. “Plus, we have a lot more safety and environmental controls on our gear. We have better dust control and lower emissions from our machines because they are new and they all meet modern emission requirements. So having the new gear does provide definite advantages in many respects.” THE FUTURE With a full pipeline of roads and infrastructure projects in Victoria and across the country as part of the Australian Government’s $110 billion infrastructure investment program, the BildGroup looks ahead to continued diversification and growth. Having started with road milling and diversified into building, infrastructure, landscaping and development, Hill says the group will grow in each branch of the business and seek avenues to diversify even further. “Since starting our civil business over 10 years ago, we have diversified our service offering and today the Bitu-mill name only represents a part of what we do,” says Hill. “Bitu-mill is a great part of our history, and we will continue to build on that expertise, but our business is now much bigger and more diverse than just road milling. We will keep on looking for new opportunities to further grow and diversify.”

BildGroup was engaged in profiling the runway for Alice Springs Airport.

roadsonline.com.au

CAT RM400

The RM400 Rotary Mixer builds upon its predecessor to provide proven results in a range of projects.

RECLAIMER AND SOIL STABILISERS WITH THE GROWING DEMAND FOR MORE SUSTAINABLE ROAD CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE SOLUTION, ROAD BASE RECLAMATION AND SOIL STABILISATION ARE BECOMING A COMMON SIGHT.

tabilising sub-grade for road base or reclaiming existing road base with the right dry or liquid additives will allow new or existing road to be built and upgraded with less virgin material. On top of that, it has been proven that stabilised road bases are more resilient to flood damage than conventional road base. With the growing demand, Caterpillar recently announced the release of RM400. RM400 is powered by Cat C9.3B powerplant delivering up to 19 per cent more power than its predecessor RM300. The RM400 design is focused around three key principles, namely ease of operation, productivity/mix homogeneity and ease of maintenance with minimal downtime. THE OPERATOR ANGLE In the current operational climate, finding a skilled operator for any machine can be a challenge. Be it the expansion of machine fleet or intake of new operators, it can be time-consuming and costly to train a new operator. With that in mind, 38

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the RM400 is designed to shorten the operators’ learning curve. The operator station is equipped with simple and intuitive controls that are easy to learn. Controls are ergonomically grouped by functions for easy access. Once the setup is done, the operator can steer the machine with his left hand and control depth, drive and key operation functions with his right hand on the multifunction joystick. Automatic features to exit and return to cutting depth save time and help ensure consistent depth for every cut. With Caterpillar’s full left and right sliding cab capability, the operator will have a good all-round view of the machine with very few blind spots. To further improve on visibility, the new high definition (HD) onboard display allows up to six cameras mounted around the machine to eliminate blind spots. ENHANCED PRODUCTIVITY Productivity in reclamation and soil stabilisation revolve around two main

components, which are speed of operation and quality of mix. For power and speed, the RM400’s new electronically managed four-pump, four-motor drive system provides excellent traction and rim pull. To achieve good mix quality, the amount of time the material remains in the chamber with rotor running directly affects the mix quality. A good operator will always work on an optimal machine and rotor speed to achieve the best mix in terms of gradation and homogeneity to achieve optimal productivity. Unlike most machines in the market, Caterpillar not only offers different rotor speeds, but also offers a choice of three different rotors which complement different sites and material. This promotes production of high-quality mix even at higher operating speeds. For asphalt road base reclamation and light granular soil stabilisation, the ‘Universal’ rotor is a popular choice because of its exclusive mix and gradation capabilities. This rotor has 200 tungsten bits with a kicker paddle in front of every stand-off.

TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT

“A GOOD OPERATOR WILL ALWAYS WORK ON AN OPTIMAL MACHINE AND ROTOR SPEED TO ACHIEVE THE BEST MIX IN TERMS OF GRADATION AND HOMOGENEITY TO ACHIEVE OPTIMAL PRODUCTIVITY. ”

The machine’s cab features the latest technology, including simple controls and a multi-function joystick.

These paddles help toss the material in the chamber allowing it to actively engage itself with liquid and dry additive applied. This rotor option also comes with a ‘breaker-bar’ attached in the rotor chamber to help pulverise any loose chunks of asphalt in the chamber leaving behind a well graded mix. When working on more cohesive soil or clay, a ‘Combination’ rotor can be used. Equipped with only 144 pieces of 22-millimetre tungsten bits, this rotor generates less resistance allowing it to

perform well in cohesive material. It is also capable of working in light asphalt road base reclamation sites. A dedicated soil rotor used primarily on granular and sandy soil is also available. REDUCED DOWNTIME To keep the machine running with minimal down-time, the RM400 has features to reduce maintenance time and intervals. One unique function is the auto engine cooling package cleanout system. After every 30 minutes of work, the cooling fan

will run on reverse to clean the cooling package. Serviceable components are all easily accessible by simply opening the hydraulically driven engine hood and few side panels. Whether it is scheduled maintenance, repairs or daily check points, it can all be easily accessed from ground level. The machine also comes with extended service intervals like 500-hours for engine oil and 3000-hours hydraulic oil. An optional air compressor and variety of removal tools help you replace bits and toolholders quickly. With Caterpillar’s strong dealer distribution network in Australia, parts and support is just a phone call away. Cat dealers are ready to help customers with service options for both the engine and the machine. Please contact your local Cat dealer or visit www.cat.com for more information.

The RM400 can be applied in a range of projects thanks to a range of three different rotors.

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GRADE PRO SERIES: A MOTOR GRADER FOR NEW AND SEASONED OPERATORS

ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE TALKS TO MATT GOEDERT, SOLUTIONS MARKETING MANAGER AT JOHN DEERE ON THE BRAND’S AUTOMATION JOURNEY THUS FAR AND THE BENEFITS THE GP SERIES AND ITS AUTOMATED FEATURES CAN OFFER THE INDUSTRY.

nsuring a level project base is crucial for any infrastructure project. Uneven surfaces can blow budgets out of proportion and produce low-quality work. Traditional motor graders, however, can be difficult to manage by both new and seasoned operators with repetitive movements and multiple switches to manage. American manufacturing company, John Deere, understands this plight, having just released two new enhancements in its Grade Pro (GP) series, designed to aid operators of any skill level. A HISTORY OF AUTOMATION “We launched what was the industry’s first mastless grade control system in John Deere’s motor graders back in 2019,” says Goedert. “We were already using the same technology in our forestry and agriculture manufacturing equipment and realised we could re-apply it to our motor graders to allow customers to jump in and go to work.” The innovation that John Deere used

to facilitate this was their own encoded cylinder technology. While this enabled the GP’s cables to be stored away, improving safety levels and reducing set-up time, it also formed the base for John Deere’s later automation inventions. From here, John Deere would continue to introduce automation features, including its two newest enhancements: The Auto-Pass and the Auto Shift Plus. The Auto-Pass feature programs machine movements at the beginning and end of grading passes. The feature adjusts the speed of these movements and rotates the blade 180 degrees, simultaneously placing the blade on the ground while preparing for the next pass. “When used in combination with our smart grade system, the Auto-Pass also enables the blade to automatically turn to a pre-set grade,” says Goedert. The Auto-Shift Plus, meanwhile sees the GP functioning without an inching pedal, reducing one extra movement for the operator.

According to Goedert, this helps operators stop the motor grader completely, without stalling, allowing for smooth movement around obstacles. These two features join the existing four enhancements: Auto Articulation, Blade Flip, Machine Pre-Sets and Machine Damage Avoidance. As the name suggests, the Auto Articulation feature automatically articulates the blade when the machine is moving forwards or backwards and allows the operator to manually override the control for greater precision. “The Blade Flip mirrors the blade angle so when you’re making a grading pass and you turn around, at the press of the button you can flip the blade,” explains Goedert. Machine Pre-Sets enable the operator to pre-select settings for time saving. The operator can create a transport button, automatically stowing the blade and turning the hazard or beacon lights on. “Machine damage avoidance really helps

The GP series is designed to aid operators of any skill level.

The GP series offers six enhancements, cross sloping abilities and a snart grade control system. 40

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TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT

with newer operators as it automatically prevents the blade from ramming into steps or tyres,” says Goedert. “Each of our automation features builds on the previous, and when you think about construction machines becoming fully autonomous, this is something that we have to take baby steps in, so it becomes less of a big jump,” says Goedert on the overall goal of these enhancements. Goedert, however, asserts that automation is not removing skills from operators. “All of these features are targeted at removing redundant features that all operators have to do regardless of skill level,” he explains. To develop these automation features, John Deere relies on the opinion that matters most: the customers’. “We interview what our customers’ pain points are, what they do or don’t like and something we constantly hear is that it’s difficult to find skilled operators,” says Goedert. DESIGNED FOR THE OPERATORS “Our engineering focus is to make things easier for our operators so that the new guys coming in can be proficient without having had 30 years of experience. This is important to us as it’s part of consistently looking for ways to improve John Deere’s machines.” Through greater automation and decreased operator movements, inexperienced operators can focus their attention on managing the material, resulting in a higher quality of work. “When we talk about accuracy, and really the productivity, that’s where it’s going to benefit the inexperienced operator the most,” says Goedert. “When an inexperienced operator is turning the machine, they are moving a lot

of different functions at the same time, from articulating to steering the tyres to rotating in the opposite direction, a lot of the time they are doing it one step at a time.” According to testing completed by John Deere, an inexperienced operator is 32 per cent faster at turning the machine around using the GP’s automated features. For experienced operators, the GP series allows drivers to pick and choose the features they want to use, while improving their comfort and reducing repetitive movements. “We found that utilising this technology reduces operator input by up to 50 per cent depending on the application of the machine, and the more inexperienced the operator is, the higher that number goes,” says Goedert. While all six features are optional with the GP series, purchasing a smart grade control will automatically include all features. SMART GRADE CONTROL “Having this smart grade control with remote support is huge,” says Goedert. “It allows our dealers and operators to have remote display access, so if a customer has an issue and the machine is far away, they can have access to view the grade control monitor and troubleshoot the issues and fix it remotely.” Files can also be remotely transferred, ensuring all site members have up-to-date plans. Another benefit is the ability to monitor, and provide support to new drivers while they are operating. “An owner can be looking at the screen while operators are running it and if there’s a wrong setting or a more efficient way to move material, they can coach them through it,” says Goedert.

Having the smart control also acts as an assurance in the event of a breakdown. Being able to detect problems and correct them rather than having to wait for a repair man lowers the chance of incurring overbudget costs. “When we looked at these features and combined it with the smart grade, we saw from our testing that there was a 15 per cent improvement in productivity for faster completion time,” says Goedert. “And that’s pretty amazing if you think about creating new roads and grading.” CROSS SLOPE Regardless of features or smart grade remote, machines in the GP series are also equipped with a John Deere Cross Slope – another automation innovation that allows the operator to dial a cross slope into the monitor. Once dialled in, this allows the operator to manually control the blade from one side, while the other side will automatically move to maintain the designated cross slope percentage. “This is a huge tool for operators; when we were conducting tests, we saw a 35 per cent rise in grade quality with road maintenance,” says Goedert. With time marching on, these “30-year veterans” will soon be retiring, and with this shift comes changing expectations of equipment and technology. “The young operators expect all this comfort and new technology, so giving them that is really what differentiates us in the marketplace,” says Goedert. “We’re not done developing though, we continue to listen to our operators, new or seasoned, and what they need to do a good job.”

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SURGING AHEAD WITH THE

SHUTTLE BUGGY SB2000EX THE SHUTTLE BUGGY HAS BEEN A CRUCIAL PIECE OF EQUIPMENT TO PROJECT SITES SINCE ITS INTRODUCTION IN AUSTRALIAN MARKETS NEARLY 24 YEARS AGO.

efore the shuttle buggy, pavement failure due to asphalt segregation was a recurring problem. Delivery trucks had to dump hot mix asphalt (HMA) directly into the paver causing a slew of problems. Engineers realised that being able to re-mix the HMA before feeding it to the paver, was the key to increasing pavement quality. And hence, the earliest Shuttle Buggy was born. As a material transfer vehicle (MTV), the Shuttle Buggy’s key purpose is to transport and remix HMA between the asphalt truck and paver. The SB2000ex Shuttle Buggy is purpose built for the Australian market by infrastructure equipment and service supplier Astec. The SB2000ex distinguishes itself using advanced technology to remix the asphalt at an evenly maintained temperature. With an ability to save time and costs while increasing pavement quality, construction company Fulton Hogan is just one of Astec’s many clients who are thrilled with the product. “The SB2000ex comes into a world of its own,” says Alister Clarke, Surfacing Manager Infrastructure Services at Fulton Hogan. “It enhances the entire asphalt placement process by allowing non-segregated and uniformed heat transfer of the asphalt material which ultimately improves the rideability of the final road surface.” “One of the reasons we decided to go for the SB2000ex is because during transport to site, the buggy is still below a legal weight without putting another dolly underneath,” says Clarke. “This comes with a huge costs savings by not incurring additional float charges”. Coupled with the buggy’s low weight and narrow wheelbase, the SB20000ex has a steering radius that allows for sharp turns in tight situation. It can also be easily placed on transport trailers without restrictions. 42

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CONTACTLESS PAVING A common issue before the introduction of shuttle buggies were bumps in the pavement, a direct result of truck to paver material transfer. “The paver had to be virtually stopped to allow the truck to dump the HMA into it, “says Clarke. This type of transfer also could cause spillages directly in front of the paver which was detrimental to the durability and a consistency of the road surface. The SB2000ex facilitates continuous, nonstop paving by separating the truck unloading from the paving process. Operators can either choose between using a dump hopper which is a large storage bin, or a windrow head which can pick up material to bring it the paver. The dump hopper has been purposely sized for mass discharge from standard haul trucks, while its front hopper design allows trucks to unload fast. “It can store up to 20 tons of HMA mix within the dump hopper, storage bin and conveyors, allowing dump trucks to unload The SB2000ex Shuttle Buggy is purpose built for the Australian market.

as soon as they arrive on the job site, driving profits by eliminating truck delays and keeping the paver moving” says Clarke. BLENDING OF THE MIX Being able to evenly re-mix the product before adding it to the paver is half the battle to ensure pavement quality. The SB20000ex is able to achieve this continuous mixing through its triple pitch auger design. A single auger design can pull materials away from the sides of any storage bin, however, for asphalt materials, this does not evenly re-mix the hot products. By introducing a triple pitch auger, the asphalt material can be pulled evenly across the length of the bin, ensuring uniform mixing of both larger and smaller particles and the product temperature. The SB2000ex has been engineered for Australian conditions to provide the most consistent blending of HMA in terms of temperature and sizing, eliminating the common issues of thermal and material segregation that compromises the resulting asphalt mat.

TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT

The triple pitch augers provides uniform remixing across the entire width of the front hopper with the correctly sized and pitched augers remixing the contents of the storage bin. This mixing action is done through a unique Astec remixing technology that equalizes traction within the design that requires far less torque to drive the system resulting in a lower cost of ownership. “The technology ensures large and small particles have been evenly remixed for a consistent continuously blending of the hot mix,” says Clarke. “Our crew are able to monitor heat transfer on a regular basis through a hand-held infrared camera to ensure the material temperature is uniform and consistence which is of the utmost importance, especially when it comes to cold weather and wind chill situations.” A slat conveyor runs from the bottom of the hopper and feeds the discharge conveyor. The augers are the ideal size for remixing the material and carefully moving the material back to the paver while keeping the conveyor chain out of the mix again reducing the cost of ownership. FEATURES Another innovation from Astec is the industry’s first FXS fume extraction system, installed as a standard equipment across all Astec Shuttle Buggies. This particular core feature directs the fumes and heat away from the machine which enhances vision and operator comfort. The main operator’s platform has

undergone major redesign work from previous models to provide unobstructed views around the machine from its elevated and outward sliding control station. “This provides excellent line of sight, making for a safer and more efficient working environment. This unique design allows for clear all round operator vision, including seeing the people working around or near the machine,” says Clarke. For even more “Smart Technology” to enhance operator confidence and greater efficiency, these new Shuttle Buggies can be fitted with an optional Auto Tracking Package. This function automatically maintains and adapts to changes in paver speed and material flow, without the operators input. “This aids in the uniform distance between the shuttle bugger and paver,” adds Clarke. “In my opinion, all forms of automation can help with key deliverables and are often sought after in road construction.” The SB20000ex allows engine access by lifting the hood with a hydraulic mechanism while full hinged doors allow operators access to areas that are commonly needed for routine maintenance checks, from the radiator to the coolers and hydraulic pumps. The C1 has a hydraulically powered lockout system eliminating the need of going under the machine to put the safety lock into position when servicing is required. Multiple emergency stops are installed as a standard safety feature and all moving parts are enclosed to minimise the risk at pinch points and for increased safety around hydraulic drive components.

“Allowing easier access to machine components saves time and potential money when troubleshooting machine issues,” says Clarke. With numerous innovative design features as standard on the SB2000ex and SB3000e translates to a smaller crew requirement and an increase in the overall end of job productivity, profit and customer satisfaction we believe. BUILD QUALITY The materials to create the shuttle buggy are no less important than the role they play. All conveyors on the SB2000ex are outfitted with a durable offset sidewipe roller pin protector link chain for dependable in-service reliability. The auger flights are made of superior abrasionresistant cast Ni-hard material, and the conveyor floors are covered with thick Chromium Carbide wear plate linings. The floor of the paver loading conveyor C3 is insulated against heat loss with rails installed at the bottom of this conveyor that helps protect it from any damage that could be caused by the impacting with the paver. “Due to all the “Class Leading” operational features the SB2000ex Shuttle Buggy offers us we’ve been able to provide our clients consistence rideability and greater durability than ever before,” says Clarke. “We already have two SB20000ex in our fleet and we are keen to see what other innovative products Astec will come up with.”

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ROLLING UP IN THE WORLD

WITH CA35D

DYNAPAC’S CA35D VIBRATORY ROLLER HAS THE ABILITY TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES SCALE UP WITH ITS HIGH COMPACTING POWER AND LOW-COST OPERATIONS. ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE EXPLAINS. The compact CA35D vibratory roller is suitable for a wide range of projects from major roads to pipe trenches.

wo years ago, Sydney based civil construction company, T&I Civil, was in the market for a new vibratory roller. Having just started the business, owners and brothers Ilhan and Tolga Cengiz were searching for equipment that was reliable and would save them money in the long-term. After an extensive period of research and trialling, T&I Civil chose Dynapac’s new CA35D vibratory roller. “Working in the industry for more than ten years, we already recognised Dynapac as

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a top brand in the compaction and rolling market,” says IIhan Cengiz. The Swedish designed CA35D is capable of completing a wide range of projects from major road to pipe trenches due to its compact design, yet high compaction power that comes from its 30-millimetre thick drum and optimised compaction parameters. “We’ve really benefitted from the CA35 due to its strong compaction performance, part of that is a thicker drum skin than you would see on a standard vibratory roller. Because the drum shell is the part that is exposed to

the most wear, having a thicker drum gives greater compaction power and increases wear life of the machine,” says Cengiz. With an operating weight of 12300 kilograms and sitting at 5600 mm in length and 2890 mm in height, the CA35D is a compact designed vibratory roller that still packs a punch. “With the thickness of the drum and the size of the machine, we can actually use the machine for a range of different tasks,” says Cengiz. “When we’re doing minor earthworks, we

TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT

can still achieve the same soil compaction effect as a larger roller due to the compaction power and it saves us money as we don’t have to hire another machine in.” INTUITIVE DESIGN Cengiz also reports finding the CA35D very easy to operate. “The controls are really intuitive on the CA35D with a Compaction Meter System that helps our operators realise when optimum compaction has been reached.” The meter system can also detect fragile areas in the compaction that can help increase the quality of work and decrease recompacting later down the track. Ergonomic features such as an airconditioned cab, rotating suspension seat and vibration dampened platform have been added for operator comfort. The CA35D has also been designed to give the operator a bird’s eye view of the area being compacted and the entire worksite as a whole. Cengiz cites a recent industrial estate in Sydney where this was highly beneficial. “During this project, we had certain areas where we had to compact gravel close to, or up against walls, so the visibility of the CA35D actually helped because we were able to see how close we were and work around things.” FUEL EFFICIENT But to T&I Civil, it is also about the reliability and fuel efficiencies of the machine. “The daily servicing of the machine is also a lot easier since the bonnet opens upwards on gas struts and doesn’t need any manual hydraulic pumping, this helps with accessing the machine’s components,” adds Cengiz. The fuel efficiencies found in the CA35D are due to Dynapac’s Efficiency Eccentrics system, a novel method of designing the machine’s eccentric weight to optimise fuel efficiency. This improvement sees the shape of the eccentric weight change, resulting in less weight counteracting the machine when the vibration is starting up. The result is two-fold, a lower energy consumption when initiating the vibration which allows for a decrease in engine size. All of this while maintaining the same compaction performance as the previous weight design. “That was one of the driving factors for us,” says Cengiz. “Because fuel consumption adds up to a huge cost when you look at it over a long period of time.”

DYN@LINK DATA Another defining feature of the CA35D, is the Dyn@link telemetry system. The Dyn@link system records live machine data on the run and sends the data back to a system which can be viewed on any devise with an internet connection. Dyn@link can even be installed on machines made by other manufacturers, aiding with fleet visibility, control and maintenance.

consistently when we do our daily pre-starts, we know we need to fix it before anything happens,” explains Cengiz. “Another cool safety feature is the operator seat interlock. If it doesn’t feel the operator’s weight on the seat while being operated, it automatically stops [the machine].” “All these features are really important, especially when working on high-profile projects like T&I Civil does,” says Cengiz.

A thicker drum means higher compaction power and better maneuverability.

“The data is really useful for us to keep track of the machines, including how many hours it has clocked and where it’s located for both security and maintenance,” says Cengiz. The location of each machine can be sent to the owners, with an ability to set up geofences that send an alert if a machine leaves a defined perimeter. Machine parameters such as fuel consumption, engine load, coolant temperature and machine error codes are also regularly updated, allowing for greater owner visibility of on-site problems leading to better trouble shooting and productivity. “It is something that’s easier for us in the office to keep track of, rather than travelling out to ensure everything is ok,” says Cengiz. And coming from a small business, Cengiz is one who appreciates the time and cost savings afforded by this data. “The data tells us a lot about the economics of the machine itself and at what point the machine is costing us more, whether it’s repairs or fuel consumption. And at the end of the day, we are in the industry to make money, so that definitely helps.” This data also plays a key role in improving safety for T&I Civil. “If there’s something wrong with the machine or a problem that comes up

SCALING UP With the CA35D providing the power needed for larger ventures, Cengiz reports a shift towards grander commercial warehouse projects. “The CA35D provides the power of a larger machine without having to upgrade anything, so it has actually opened up another market for us with the capacity to take on these bigger jobs,” says Cengiz. “It has also given us the production abilities that we need to keep up with the sites’ budgets and economics.” To Cengiz, Dynapac has been changing industry norms for a long time. “I honestly think they are at the fore front, the fact that they have the telemetry system makes a big difference for us in our ability to expand further without having to spend the time to go out and actually inspect the machine.” According to Cengiz, what Dynapac provides from a managerial perspective is peace of mind. “They’ve combined that electronic and old school approach in one machine, and everything the CA35D has provided has given us the confidence in that decision we made two years ago to go with Dynapac.” roadsonline.com.au

ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE MAGAZINE

SUPPORTS THE INSIDE WASTE INDUSTRY REPORT 2021 If you work in or provide a product or service to the civil works or construction industry, we want to hear from you! To better understand the markets for recovered materials Roads & Infrastructure is conducting a survey on the appetite, barriers and opportunities for boosting the use of recycled content material in civil works and construction. Scan the code below and help us map out the demand for recycled materials by taking this 4 min anonymous survey.

To find out more about the magazines that cater to the waste and recovery industry, get in touch with Chelsea Daniel-Young by email on Chelsea.daniel@primecreative.com.au or call +61 (0)425 699 878

EQUIPMENT HIRE

A SPECIALISED

HIRING SERVICE

WITH ITS UNIQUE APPROACH TO CUSTOMER COLLABORATION AND RELIABLE PRODUCTS, PRESTON HIRE’S SUPER EARTHMOVING IS BETTING ON ITS REPUTATION AS ONE OF THE INDUSTRY’S MOST TRUSTED MACHINE HIRING BUSINESSES.

xpanding the established Preston Hire business has now allowed for the creation of Super EarthMoving, the newest and one of the fastest growing division of Preston Hire. At only four months old, the EarthMoving team is already making an impact on the industry offering a differing approach to excavators and their applications. Preston Hire Earthmoving Specialist Jason Green says the business’ unique approach to customer care and service is what sets the hiring service apart. “We are looking to provide cost effective choices to customers. Everywhere, customers are spoilt for choice in today’s market, but we feel like our experience with construction clients can help to provide greater solutions for customers,” Green says. As one of Australia’s premier hiring services, Preston Hire already has extensive experience in the machine hiring industry. Building upon the business’ high-rise construction, lifting and access machinery hire services, Preston Hire saw an opportunity to expand its operations. Rather than attaching the earth moving division to one of Preston Hire’s many services, the organisation sought to develop a dedicated area of the business for earth moving equipment from the ground up. The result is a specialised service, consisting of the major components which have led to Preston Hire’s continued success in the industry – these being industry and project guidance for customers and continued support for customers in their construction, infrastructure, civil and commercial needs. Having an existing network of hiring services has enabled Preston Hire’s new department to flourish. Customers of the Super EarthMoving department are guaranteed to receive helpful industry guidance. Currently consisting of eight varying weight class excavator models, the Preston Hire fleet

offers a range of machines to suit a variety of projects and business sizes. Ranging from 1.7 to 22 tonne operating weights, the Super EarthMoving machine line ensures that customers can find the best machine for the right project. The SY16C mini excavator is the lightest in operating weight at 1750 kilograms, offering services for smaller projects. The product is also environmentally friendly and cost efficient, with lowered fuel costs. In comparison, the SY215C excavator is suited for larger projects, with its 22,600-kilogram operating weight. Tailored for a range of applications, the robust excavator is ideal for harsh settings. The Super EarthMoving department features SANY machinery, an earthmoving and construction machinery provider of cost effective and reliable machinery. Super EarthMoving selected SANY as the division’s main provider, due to their wide range of excavating vehicles, as well as the growing size of their machinery supply within Australia. As Green says, the range caters not only for different operators, but also different working environments. “We apply the same principles that we would with other departments, we place a greater emphasis on understanding the project itself rather than just the customer,” he says. “We’ll ask questions around the scale of the project, and that way we can serve customers to their individual needs, rather than just apply a broad approach to machinery hire.” This approach enables the Super EarthMoving department to be effective for a much wider range of customers, whether they are private contractors or larger construction customers. Understanding the requirements of the project itself ensures that the customer can select an appropriate hiring package, instead

of repeat visits to a machine hire business. “You don’t just quote the customer on what they want, you try and dig a bit deeper to understand the project, in that way we take a project manager approach,” Green says. With the new Super EarthMoving department, Green says the priority is to ensure that customers and contractors alike can rely on a specialised service. With Preston Hire’s strict workplace, health and safety structure and quality policies, operators as well as customers can remain safe while operating hired products. These policies include a contractor induction, confirming that all operators and users of the machinery can remain safe while working on site. “We try to apply consistent principles to our earth moving gear in terms of safety. We understand the customers’ needs as they come, and we have policies in place to help accordingly,” Green explains. The Preston Hire Super EarthMoving department is set to further expand its services. Currently offering machinery within New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, the business is looking at the best way to also cater for demands from other states.

Preston Hire Earthmoving Specialist Jason Green posing with a SANY machinery.

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WOMEN IN INDUSTRY

AWARDS

n this month’s column as Women in Industry Ambassador, I wanted to reflect on my secret to success – my team. I truly believe that your success is only as good as the team structure, rapport and networks that you build, all of which lend themselves to the overall success of the company. Hearing that I work for a highly technical automation company that sells complex automation and cloud solutions is not what people expect when they meet me at an event and ask what I do. Especially when I begin by explaining that I am in marketing. Eyebrows are quickly raised, and I know everyone wonders how I ended up here. If I think back on my career, I too sometimes ask, “How did I get here?” From the outside, it might seem like a slow rise to such a senior position, but the journey to head of the marketing division at ifm has been so quick in my eyes. My career has seen me travel pathways filled with triumph, hurdles, and yes, at times, disappointment. But throughout it all, I’ve had a supportive team around me. While not everyone may have a ‘dream team’ when starting out, I believe you get out of teamwork what you put in. Whether a man or woman in any role within any industry, if you bring a level of energy and conviction of belief to your career journey,

The Women in Industry Awards celebrate outstanding women from the industrials sector.

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Rachael Ashfield, 2021 Women in Industry Ambassador.

the hard work will pay off and successful results will follow. Even better is when you have worked with a team for a period and have developed great synergies – this builds a solid foundation for success. Together you build excitement, engagement and a dynamic that people want to be a part of. Departments can see the rewards of their participation with you when they see the outcomes of the material you produce because of their contribution towards the end goal. As long as you are passionate, believe in yourself and strive for your best possible outcomes, you will be assured of career

success and job satisfaction. It may not be easy and will possibly be a bumpy road along the way, but remember to celebrate the small victories. It is easy to overlook all these important milestones when you are busy working hard for the career highs. Luckily, Women in Industry is here to help you acknowledge these small wins. We are the supportive team you can count on to be cheering for your success, the network of like-minded women here to help build the excitement and engagement that will see you ooze confidence and work towards those big overarching career highlights. Ultimately the foundation of success of women in any industry is the innate desire to achieve results and strive for success in your chosen field. Being able to participate, network and apply your own understanding of people and what drives them will build a strong supportive team to help both individuals and businesses succeed. One day, your team might even nominate you for a Women in Industry award. Until then – nominate yourself. We’ll be here, ready to support you. Nominations for the 2021 Women in Industry Awards are now open. Visit www.womeninindustry.com.au to submit a nomination.

EVENTS

FUTURE OF PUBLIC WORKS AN OVERVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS FROM THE TRANSFORM 2021 CONFERENCE, ORGANISED BY THE INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC WORKS ENGINEERING AUSTRALASIA VICTORIA IN MAY.

hallenges and opportunities in delivering infrastructure projects in a digitally connected and collaborative environment were among key topics of discussion in this year’s Transform 2021 conference, organised by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) Victoria in May. Luke Belfield, Acting Victorian Chief Engineer at the Office of Projects Victoria (OPV) presented a Technology keynote and described the progress made thus far by the OPV in implementing the Victorian Digital Asset Strategy (VDAS). November 2020 saw OPV implement the Digital Build program to execute the visions set out in VDAS, a program initiated in March 2020 to change the way the Victorian Government departments and agencies plan, deliver, operate and maintain the assets they manage. In the first quarter of 2021, Belfield said OPV’s Digital Build had one project running across the VDAS stream and another one under the Offsite Construction stream, which aims toward higher productivity through expert, yet practical, offsite and modular construction approaches and advice. “We are entering a period of significant government-stakeholder collaboration, with interviews and reviews across transport, education, health, corrections and others,” Belfield said. Some of the pain points identified by OPV across the Victorian infrastructure projects include extended planning approvals processes, time-intensive procurement processes and poor transparency in project controls. The increasing design complexity and duplication of design data are seen as other barriers. Working together, the Digital Twin Victoria and the Digital Build programs are aiming to reduce these uncertainties and transparency issues to streamline workflows. “The Digital Build system will be a framework of efficient data processes that talk to each other between organisational functions,” Belfield said.

Luke Belfield, Acting Victorian Chief Engineer

“It seems pretty simple, but it’s actually very complicated.” “From this system, valuable and precise data will be issued to other databases with design information, discharging clear asset data for incorporation to asset databases, project performance and tracking data for regular reporting and aggregation of portfolio risks and positions. “For geospatial contribution into Digital Twin Victoria, the digital representation of Victoria’s data, and finally to a project repository organised and growing over time for performance trends, benchmarking and lessons learned. This system will be piloted across various sector projects to test applicability versus scale, commercial arrangements and discipline of Victorian projects.” Belfield said the Digital Build programme was aiming to have the offsite guidance ready by the fourth quarter of this year, advising how to plan, design and procure a wide variety of infrastructure assets with offsite methods, this includes buildings, roads, railways, rolling stock and systembased assets used in Victorian Government infrastructure. An example of the issues the Digital Build project is helping with in its projects is utility relocation, Belfield explained. “Having a better understanding of where utilities are located is possible with 3D

visualisation. Providing that information to contractors will enable them to better optimise their design to minimise any disruption or movement of utilities. “We often have projects paying for multiple investigations of where utilities are located, even though it might have only been a couple of years apart between different investigations. “Working with Digital Twin Victoria and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, a program of work will gather up all the utility asset data from all the projects across Victoria and house it in their system for use for projects.” While that all might sound overwhelmingly complex for smaller civil work organisations and councils, Belfield believes the process of digitalisation does not need to start big. “I would say that the benefits are different for different complexities of projects. But the return on investment is often short and companies that invest wisely in this, begin by understanding what level of sophistication you need,” he said. “Some organisations don’t need a full suite of sophisticated systems. Some just need to be able to manage certain things a better way. So focus on your risks and what is your big pain points. Those four pain points that we’re focused on in the Victorian Government, they are the same points that often see a loss of efficiency through delivering projects.” The conference included presentations across seven technology streams, including a focus on how sustainable design and digital technologies are transforming public works engineering, and how ‘soft’ skills development can transform individuals and teams to ensure successful outcomes. Wrapping up the two-day conference, what David Hallett, Chief Executive Officer of IPWEA Victoria concluded from the Technology stream presentations offered a summary of the discussions. “Emerging technologies improve outcomes, efficiency and customer service, with data visualisation the key to effective communication and decision-making.” roadsonline.com.au

CONTRACTS & TENDERS

CONTRACTS IN BRIEF ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDES AN UPDATE ON SOME OF THE CONTRACTS AND TENDERS RECENTLY AWARDED OR PUT TO MARKET ACROSS THE AUSTRALIAN INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR.

NEW SOUTH WALES M6 Motorway stage one contract awarded Transport for NSW has awarded the design and construction contract for the M6 stage one to CIMIC Group’s CPB Contractors and UGL in a joint venture with Ghella. The M6 stage one will deliver the missing link from Sydney’s south to the wider Sydney motorway network to remove more than 2,000 trucks a day from surface roads. The project includes construction of twin four-kilometre tunnels linking the M8 Motorway at Arncliffe to President Avenue at Kogarah, ramps between the main motorway tunnel and the surface intersection at President Avenue, tunnel stubs for a future connection south to extend the M6, and a new intersection at President Avenue including the widening and raising of President Avenue at this location.Provision is also being made for new shared cyclist and pedestrian pathways connecting Bestic Street, Brighton Le Sand. The project is expected to cost around $2.6 billion, and open to traffic late 2025. Delivery partners confirmed for Western Sydney Airport railway Canadian company SNC-Lavalin and independent consulting company, HKA and Infrastructure Nation, have been jointly

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appointed as integration and delivery partners for Sydney Metro on the Western Sydney Airport project. SNC-Lavalin, a leading engineering, rail and construction company with recognised international rail expertise, was part of the consortium selected by the federal government in 2017 to deliver core component of the concept design for rail infrastructure on the project. Under the terms of the new six-year contract, SNC-Lavalin, HKA and their local partners will support Sydney Metro’s inhouse resources to support the project development, helping develop the project’s integration and delivery tools, systems and procedures. Tender process starts to find Sydney airport metro rail operator The tender process has started to find an operator for the new metro railway line that will service Greater Western Sydney and the new Western Sydney International (NancyBird Walton) Airport. The successful tenderer will also be responsible for providing trains and fitting out all six stations for the mega Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport project. The contract includes: Building the six brand new railway stations; supplying brand new

driverless trains; building and operating the stabling and maintenance facility at Orchard Hills; installing tracks, signalling, mechanical and electrical systems; and operating Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport, including all maintenance work. The contract is expected to be awarded by the end of 2022. QUEENSLAND CIMIC’s UGL secures $150M contract at Kidston pumped storage project CIMIC Group’s UGL has secured a contract for the design, construction and installation of a high voltage transmission line from Kidston to Mt Fox in Queensland, and a new 275kV switching station located at Mt Fox. The contract will provide revenue to UGL of approximately $150 million. UGL is currently performing early works and mobilisation for the contract with its client, Powerlink, in support of the Kidston Clean Energy Hub in Queensland. The McConnell Dowell/John Holland joint venture had earlier been selected for delivering the Kidston Hydro 2 (K2-Hydro), part of the Kidston Clean Energy Hub. WESTERN AUSTRALIA Earthworks contract awarded for $10M Port Hedland upgrade Pilbara Ports Authority has awarded a $10 million earthworks contract to Queenslandbased civil engineering contractor MGN Civil. The earth-working contract, part of the Stage 2a Port Hedland Spoilbank Marina development project, includes constructing the marina basin footprint and establish ground levels. MGN Civil has committed to sourcing 80 per cent of contractors and suppliers from the Pilbara. MGN Civil has also recently been awarded the $33 million contract for Stage 2c, which will include the construction of breakwaters to protect the marina from rough ocean conditions. The tender for Stage 3, to design and construct marine structures including the boat ramp and marina pens, is currently advertised on the Tenders WA website.

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