EPW September 2016

B RANC H NEW S F EATU RE ARTICLE ac a d e mi c F O C U S Q L D WAT E R

vale fairweather

future demand

students on high rd wasp wars

A warm tribute to IPWEAQ founding member p.10

Infrastructure Australia CEO Phil Davies sets course p.12

How effective is Icarus?

Danielle Lester explains p.66

The ultimate benchmarking challenge p.18

ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS

ISSUE No.3

www.ipweaq.com

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ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS

CONTENTS

ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS | SEPTEMBER 2016

»»ipweaq NEWS »» PRESIDENT’S REPORT ....................P6 »» CEO’S REPORT ...............................p8 »» MEET THE TEAM ............................P9 »» vale ian fairweather ................p10 »» nQ PRESIDENT’s REPORT ...............P20 »» best paper natasha murray .....p22 »» SWQ PRESIDENT’s REPORT ............P30 »» CQ PRESIDENT’s REPORT ...............P46 »» best paper chris shields ..........p48

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Welcome to the third issue of Engineering for Public Works (EPW). This is our biggest edition yet and is packed full of timely and relevant articles covering projects such as the Brisbane Airport’s New Parallel Runway; the federal government’s Infrastucture Plan and TMR’s new traffic management design qualification.

This edition we are featuring our first academic article from Danielle Lester, PhD candidate and a guest lecturer at the University of Queensland.

I would like to thank all our contributors for their excellent submissions, EPW is truly on its way to becoming the peak publication for civil engineering and public works in Queensland.

None of this would be possible without the continued support of our wonderful Members, Partners and Supporters. I hope you all enjoy the September issue of EPW!

»» MEMBER PROFILEs .......................P58

Sharon Wright Editor, EPW Sharon.Wright@ipweaq.com

»» Val shannon ..............................p58

»»TECHNICAL FOCUS

»» andrew foster ..........................p59

»» maximising learning outcomes..p34

»» seq PRESIDENT’s REPORT .............p60

»»upcoming events »» state conference ......................P7

»» IPWEAQ Director Professional Development, Craig Moss, shares his plans for IPWEAQ’s professional development program.

»» tbc adac xml data transfer ......p62

»» Chris Power, UPG Geospatial Applications Engineer, explains the functionality (and the many acronyms) of IPWEAQ’s Asset Design As Constructed (ADAC) schema

»»FEATURE ARTICLES »» planning for change in demand......p12 »» Philip Davies, Infrastructure Australia Chief Executive Officer shares the future projections for infrastructure demand.

»» brisbane’s new parallel runway...p24

»» NPR Project Director Paul Coughlan explains the construction and design aspects of Brisbane’s new parallel runway.

»» bridges of the southern downs .....p28 »» Cr Tracy Dobie, Mayor of Southern Downs Regional Council, tells us about the extensive infrastructure program she has undertaken to improve the region’s roads and bridges.

»» enduring concrete road bridges ...p42 »» Chris Dowding, TOD Consulting, explains their award winning joint project with Gympie Regional Council.

»» managing change for projects.......p50 »» Lee Wilson of Wilson Partners Law shares his insights on managing legislative change.

»» managing traffic at roadworks.....p54 »» TMR Project Manager, Coryn Hedges, hails the new traffic management design qualification.

»» students take the high road...........p66

»» Danielle Lester FRICS, PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, explains how the Icarus program helps budding young engineers.

»»QLDWATER NEWS »» QLD WATER CEO’s REPORT ..................P16

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS Renew your IPWEAQ membership today to receive the member rate for registration to our state conference to be held in Brisbane, 8-10 November ($300 discount). This is the premier event for those working in the public works sector in Queensland.

You will also receive the discounted member rate for our professional development program including Managing Risks on Lower Order Roads to be launched shortly along with a free PDF copy of the guidelines.

Our purpose is to enhance the quality of life for all Queensland communities by advancing the skills, knowledge and resources available to those involved in the planning and provision of public works and services so get involved today!

Membership fees annual

$270 plus GST

under 35 members

$160 plus GST

Don’t forget to use your post nominals: MIPWEAQ (Member) FIPWEAQ (Fellow)

Renew online at www.ipweaq.com/membership

»» meet the team............... ..................P17

Enquiries

»» wasp wars .......................................p18

Carlie Sargent Director | Member Services +61 7 3632 6801 carlie.sargent@ipweaq.com

»» Desiré Gralton, Communications Manager qldwater, introduces their new ultimate water and sewerage benchmarking challenge.

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president’s Report I was challenged recently to look at the skillset of successful engineers 20 years from now.

And like anyone, I first turned to Google to see what others had predicted and as you might expect, there are a lot of opinions already on the subject.

The commentary so far comes from varying organisational perspectives including government, academia, industry associations and other stakeholder groups. Interestingly though, there was some commonality of thought.

Engineers of tomorrow need to be exceptional change agents. Change will not only come via technology but through developing standards, environment protection, economic drivers, community expectations and social media. Some change has not yet been predicted; some of it will be driven by natural disasters and some by key global events that cause tidal waves that reach even our remotest regions.

There will be many challenges ahead for engineers arising from the relentless pace of technology.

Our roads as we understand them will become a part of history as autonomous vehicles rule more compact streets and highways which in turn will be ruled by technology monitoring, operating and maintaining the network.

But what is so different to now?

We deal with a lot of change on a day-to-day basis, particularly in local government. Every day we’re confronted with change whether it is a new material or product or technology we need to implement if we are to achieve a better result for the communities we serve. The standards that govern our work are continuously changing as the economic and environmental boundaries we work within move and expand rapidly.

Our stormwater drainage systems will efficiently clean water as it passes through the network and a street light will be much more than a mere means for lighting our streets with multiple parties utilising the pole and the light for various functions including security, research and marketing. In fact, all our infrastructure will likely have some functionality above and beyond their original purpose. So what about the engineers who design, build and manage these assets?

Successful engineers need to be flexible and willing to try new ways. They must continue to learn, be informed, maintain currency and look globally to understand changes that are ahead before they arrive on our shores. The successful engineer will not be a purist and will not hold on to the adage, ‘but this is how it has always been done’. The successful engineer will understand the limitations of their knowledge and experience and work cooperatively with those who have that knowledge and experience.

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

The successful engineer will have advanced skills in communication and negotiation and understand EI (Emotional Intelligence) allowing them to work effectively in teams of other successful engineers delivering projects we cannot begin to imagine.

And finally, the successful engineer of the future, and of today, will understand change, be a champion of its benefits, plan for its arrival and predict the outcomes of decisions made before it arrives.

I am so pleased to have this opportunity to play a part in the future direction of IPWEAQ, an organisation which values the sharing of our experiences and networking and which, just like engineering, needs to adapt and change to a future design or become irrelevant to our Under 35 members and future generations.

After a successful NQ Branch conference in Lucinda last month and a visit to our colleagues across the Pacific at IPWEA NZ with our CEO, Leigh Cunningham, I now look ahead to our state conference in Brisbane, 8-10 November 2016.

This is my home turf and I cannot wait to welcome you all to Brisbane in what is shaping up to be one of our best conferences to date.

Joe Bannan President

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IPWEAQ 2016 The premier gathering of those working in the public works sector in Queensland.

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre

8-10 NOVEMBER 2016

Conference Delegates

Conference MC

Approximately 400 delegates will join us in Brisbane for our annual conference. Don’t miss this opportunity to network with your colleagues and to learn and share best practices within the public works sector.

Conference Theme

The conference MC this year is Michael Pascoe, one of Australia’s most experienced and thoughtful finance and economics commentators with four decades in newspaper, broadcast and online journalism. Michael will also deliver a keynote presentation on economic conditions and how they will impact public works across Queensland.

The theme for the conference is ‘collaborative engineering’ which will be featured across 12 streams and keynote presentations.

Streams

Keynote Speakers

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Stefan Hajkowicz CSIRO Scientist, author of Global Megatrends: Seven Patterns of Change Shaping Our Future Michael Pascoe Economics Commentator Ian Healy Australian Cricketer Julie Edwards ‘From Technical Expert to Effective Leader: improving outcomes through effective communication and influence’ Dwayne Honor Churchill Fellowship recipient Neil Scales Director-General, TMR Kylie Mercer Registrar, BPEQ Paul Coughlan New Parallel Runway Project Director, Brisbane Airport Corporation Incoming LGAQ President (to be announced in October) www.ipweaq.com

Integrated planning: getting it right Law versus engineering Spatially speaking Building it together The wet stuff Think smart, work smart Looking after the future Getting it done: robust project outcomes Getting it right: innovation in pavements Structures: yes, they can be exciting!

From strategy to design The leadership toolbox: what no-one tells you about leadership

New events for 2016 Fireside Chat lessons from someone who has been there and done that The Great Debate ‘women make better engineers than men’.

Social & Networking Functions Welcome function and networking Gala awards ceremony and dinner Closing ceremony and networking

IPWEAQ 2016

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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CEO’s Report The theme for this issue of Engineering for Public Works is ‘Managing Change’ at every level whether it is organisationally, in a project or structure, the change we see in our communities or within ourselves.

I for one do love change. Change to me is renewal and an opportunity to make something better than it was. And rarely does some thing or any one not benefit from an adjustment; we can all be better than we are right now.

Change to me is also about vitality.

By the time you finish reading this sentence, 50 million of your body’s cells will have renewed. We are physically hard-wired for constant, fast-paced change. So why then do so many people resist it?

Particularly since resistance in itself is a painful process – it involves angst, frustration and sleepless nights.

History is littered with organisational failures and none more legendary and symbolic than Kodak’s failure to adapt to its changing marketplace. In the 1980s, Kodak commissioned extensive research into the core technologies and likely business disruption of digital photography.

Yet in the 10 year window it had to adopt, anticipate and secure a leading market position, it failed to do anything other than

repeatedly change its CEO in favour of one who would stay true to the past sending Kodak down a fundamentally flawed path from which there was no way back.

The message for us at IPWEAQ is to remain alert to our changed environment and to focus on the future and to do that, we must listen to what our younger engineers – the future successful engineers Joe refers to in his President’s Report – need from an association that represents the public works sector they will serve 10, 20, 30 years from now. It is not enough for us to anticipate there are changing needs but to act upon it. And as I celebrate my first year with IPWEAQ, I’m aware that some past practices and traditions may no longer serve an evolving institute and a new approach is required.

This does not mean that an organisation doesn’t respect and honour those that founded and nurtured it along its path in the same way the founder of Kodak, George Eastman is still revered.

Ironically, Eastman twice adopted disruptive technologies then witnessed the demise of his brand when successors failed to follow his lead. Similarly, we pay tribute in this issue of Engineering for Public Works to Ian Fairweather, one of our first staff members and parttime secretary from 1987 to 1992.

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

We have a plan for the future of IPWEAQ, of continuing relevance and responsiveness and that of a truly professional learned society.

The first part of this process is ‘listening’ and this is a favoured pursuit of our team based in Brisbane – not just listening to those who already have a clear voice but to those who rarely say anything yet have a lot of value to add.

What we’ve learned from many one-on-one discussions with our members and from the feedback forms you complete, is that networking and sharing information, learnings and resources are the reasons you join IPWEAQ and why you remain a member. With this in mind, we have developed a comprehensive program and social calendar for our state conference in Brisbane, 8-10 November 2016 to maximise these outcomes for you. There will be an IPWEAQ booth at this year’s event and we – myself, Carlie, Craig, Erin, Ross and Sharon – look forward to continuing our discussions with you. This will be the premier event for those working in the public works sector.

See you then.

Leigh Cunningham CEO, IPWEAQ

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meet the team CARLIE SARGENT | Director, Member Services Carlie.Sargent@ipweaq.com Carlie manages the IPWEAQ Excellence Awards, Member Services and the RPEQ Assessment Scheme. Carlie has held a number of roles in professional associations, most recently with CPA Australia as the Queensland Director and Corporate Social Responsibility Manager and was previously the Manager of the Institute of Management Consultants.

ROSS GUPPY | Director, Technical Products Ross.Guppy@ipweaq.com Ross has over 30 years’ experience in the road and transport infrastructure sector, including 28 years with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR). During Ross’s time with TMR, he held various specialised engineering and senior executive roles, and was accountable for managing the Technical Documents Program.

CRAIG MOSS | Director, Professional and Career Development Craig.Moss@ipweaq.com Craig has worked in the civil infrastructure industry since 1985, including senior roles in the government and private sectors. He combines 19 years’ practice as a technical professional with 12 years’ experience as a learning and development specialist to assist in the enhancement of practical knowledge and skills that benefit the individual and the employer.

ERIN KNUDSEN | Office Manager and Professional Development Coordinator Erin.Knudsen@ipweaq.com Erin has worked in the training industry for the past 14 years for both private and government organisations. She has held a unique combination of experience in teaching, management, administration, training development, compliance and consulting. She has successfully implemented innovative professional development and certification programs.

Erin will work closely with our new Director Professional & Career Development, Craig Moss to develop and implement IPWEAQ’s new program.

SHARON WRIGHT | Director, Marketing and Events Sharon.Wright@ipweaq.com Sharon is a public relations and communications professional with extensive experience in the corporate and social enterprise sectors. She was a founding member of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Foundation, London and most recently, the Assistant Editor for IN Noosa Magazine.

JEANETTE SAEZ | Director, Finance and Administration Jeanette.Saez@ipweaq.com Jeannette has over 26 years bookkeeping/finance experience in both the private & government sectors. In 2000 she launched her own finance and administration consultancy which services a range of clients including IPWEAQ, Marling Group and Muir Marine Qld to name a few.

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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va le i a n fa i r w e ath er JOHN DERBYSHIRE, ENGINEER ( RETIRED ) PAYS TRIBUTE TO IAN FAIRWEATHER, IPWEAQ SECRETARY FROM 1987 TO 1992.

A life of community service If you want a job well done, go to a busy person. Ian Fairweather certainly fell into that category.

As well as having a demanding engineering career, he made significant contributions as a volunteer to the engineering profession and many community organisations.

Born in 1926, his childhood was spent in Eidsvold, Monto, Blackall and Nanango, towns where his father, Jack worked for the local Councils, firstly as overseer of works and subsequently as the engineer. Jack later worked at the Brisbane City Council and as Shire Engineer at Inglewood.

Ian was educated at Gatton Agricultural College and Downlands College Toowoomba.

He then undertook his civil engineering degree through Melbourne University. The first 10 years of his career was with the Queensland Irrigation Commission working on a number of irrigation schemes. At Mareeba, he played a significant role in the planning of the Tinaroo Dam irrigation system.

Ian had never planned to work

in local government, but it was suggested that he apply for the position of Deputy City Engineer at the Townsville City Council. He commenced that role in 1958, and following the retirement of the highly respected Phil Brazier in 1962, Ian was appointed as City Engineer.

He was approached to apply for the position of Chief Engineer and Manager of Brisbane City Council’s Works Department. He held that position from 1972 until his retirement in 1985. After 1985, he worked as a consultant on a variety of regional projects and lectured part-time at university.

Ian played important roles in restoring Townsville after Cyclone Althea (1971) and Brisbane during and after the 1974 floods. He was a member of the Brisbane Counter Disaster Committee. He became the first Local Controller of the Brisbane SES, developing it into a viable voluntary organisation.

Ian was a great supporter of the engineering profession, particularly local government engineering.

In 1977, he was Chairman of the Queensland Division of the Institution of Engineers Australia.

He provided significant support to

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

the Local Government Engineers Association of Queensland (subsequently renamed the Institute of Municipal Engineering Australia Queensland Division and now IPWEAQ). From 1987 to 1992, Ian was employed as the part-time secretary to the LGEAQ/IMEAQ. He was held in high regard by the profession, his staff and the community he served. He had a positive influence on the careers of many engineers within and outside his own organisations.

His community service was significant. It included Rotary and leadership roles in organisations associated with the Catholic Church.

He also pursued a variety of other personal interests, including an Arts degree and further university studies in environmental science, theology and painting.

Until his passing on 6 April 2016, Ian shared a wonderful life with Enid whom he married in 1952.

They had two daughters and four sons (one son died in infancy) and 13 grandchildren.

Having been encouraged to write about his life, he completed an autobiography titled An Unfinished Interval. It is a great read and can be found on his son Michael’s website, http://mfa.net.au/news.

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Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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planning for change in demand

FEATURE ARTICLE

PHILIP DAVIES, INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER EXPLAINS THE FUTURE CHANGES IN INFRASTRUCTURE DEMAND.

select projects that deliver the best outcomes for our growing communities.

Much like Australia’s other states and territories, Queensland is faced with a number of challenges when it comes to planning for future infrastructure needs.

In February 2016, we delivered the first 15-year Australian Infrastructure Plan, which set out a clear pathway of reforms to address today’s infrastructure gaps and meet the challenges of tomorrow.

infrastructure projects, planning to increase capacity on Queensland’s infrastructure networks, and infrastructure networks across the country, must begin now.

Queensland’s population will grow significantly to reach 6.4 million over the next 15 years, an increase of almost two million people from 2011.

Most of this growth will be concentrated around the State’s South-East, with regional hubs such as Townsville, Gladstone, Cairns and Mackay also likely to experience rapid growth in their populations and economies.

This will place increased pressure on the state’s infrastructure, as will the projected growth in Queensland’s mineral and gas exports which rely heavily on road, rail and port infrastructure.

This will be particularly evident in Gladstone, where there has been unprecedented investment in LNG development.

Given the long lead times on major

A key recommendation in that Plan is that Australians Governments should increase funding for investments in projects and technologies that make better use of existing infrastructure.

In practice, this means embracing technologies that drive greater efficiency across our infrastructure networks.

existing

Investing in technologies that allow operators to generate, collect and use data will be fundamental to driving real improvements in the efficiency of infrastructure service delivery.

As the nation’s independent infrastructure advisor, Infrastructure Australia plays a key role in helping governments

For example, intelligent transport systems can triple the utilisation of an asset through better management of the road network and the vehicles using it.

Mitchell Freeway extension bridge piers

Better use infrastructure

of

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On urban roads, management and monitoring systems can improve traffic flows by collecting, storing and analysing data on traffic counts, travel times, congestion, incidents and faults through sensors at intersections.

and create investment certainty.

Across suburban and intercity rail networks, automatic train control and signalling systems can improve efficiency and safety.

That’s why, alongside the Plan, we have released a revised Infrastructure Priority List which sets out the projects and initiatives that our Board believes represents the most productive use of our infrastructure funding.

By continuously monitoring the movements of trains on lines and at stations, these systems provide real-time data to central management systems. These technologies reduce the scope for human error, automatically detect faults and allow trains to travel at shorter intervals, enabling the safe scheduling of more frequent train services Importantly, these relatively modest investments can deliver significant productivity gains and improvements in customer experience.

Long-term infrastructure planning must also go hand in hand with a robust process for selecting projects that deliver the best outcomes for the community.

Adding a project or initiative to the List follows a rigorous process that ensures that we provide a high quality selection of nationally significant infrastructure solutions for all levels of government to pick from.

This means moving beyond a simple cost benefit analysis to take account of the economic, social

and environmental impact of both the problem being addressed, and the solution being proposed – as well as the project’s strategic fit and deliverability.

One area in which both the public and private sector can do better is in the quality of Business Cases formulated for major projects. We need to see better alignment of project proposals with an identified problem, rigorous assessment of potential options and meaningful engagement with communities at each stage of the development process.

With the gap in infrastructure funding set to widen, project proponents must also actively consider a broader range of possible funding options when planning for new infrastructure investments.

While these initiatives generally do not alleviate the need for largescale projects, smaller investments can sometimes delay the need to build expensive new projects.

Selecting the right projects Investing in the right infrastructure is also critical. If we are to increase the quality of infrastructure investment and cater for future demand, long-term, integrated land-use planning must be a priority for all Australian governments.

In addition to reducing costs, longterm planning allows governments to better prepare for changes in demand, identify emerging issues

Hon Paul Fletcher, Minister for Urban Infrastructure launching the Australian Infrastructure Plan in February 2016

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to change, what the problem is we need to solve, and most importantly why.

That’s why we have recommended that the Australian Government initiate a public inquiry, to be led by a body like Infrastructure Australia, to assess the existing funding framework for roads and develop a pathway to road user charging reform.

Mitchell Freeway extension June 2016

Diversif ying the pool infrastructure funding

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There are ultimately two ways that public infrastructure can be paid for: either by taxpayers with an allocation of government spending, or directly by the user through for example, electricity bills or road tolls.

The states and territories can no longer rely on taxpayer funds alone to meet infrastructure needs, particularly in the face of increasing budget pressures to fund welfare and health services.

This is why diversifying the pool of funding available for public infrastructure investment must be a major priority when planning for changes in infrastructure demand.

One of the major opportunities to do this, as identified in the Plan, is changing our approach to how we pay for roads. Currently the taxpayer is directly involved in funding road infrastructure across its planning, delivery and operation.

This approach is problematic as it means road funding is at the mercy of the annual budget cycles

of governments, and exposed to a variable policy landscape. It is also problematic as this system is fundamentally unfair as taxpayers subsidise all road users, while those who use the network less are in effect paying a subsidy to support those who use it most.

Moving to a more sustainable model of charging for road use will be complex – and will involve bringing the community on the journey to understand what needs

Considered and well-thoughtthrough infrastructure investment is one of the most effective ways to manage population growth and changes in infrastructure demand.

If Australian governments adopt the recommendations in our Plan and undertake targeted reforms aimed at the improving how we plan, fund and manage our infrastructure, we will be well placed to harness our projected population growth.

For more information, visit http:// infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/

Infrastructure Australia Chairman, Mark Birrell; Minister for Urban Infrastructure, Paul Fletcher; Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull; CEO and Managing Director of Brisbane Airport Corporation, Julieanne Alroe; Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce and former MP for Brisbane, Teresa Gambaro

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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qld wat e r ce o’s r e p or t As our regional events draw to a close for 2016, we are focussed on major activities in September including Technical Reference Group (TRG) meetings, and our Innovation Forum on the 14th and 15th.

Now in its third year, the forum has become very important in how we engage and plan the rest of the qldwater work program.

There are no “calls for papers” or straight technology presentations, every person involved has been hand-picked and are required to be very focussed in what they present. Our key regulators are directly involved in the event with a couple of Directors General and DDGs confirming.

This event commenced as an attempt to educate the then water minister about some of the challenges facing the industry and the importance of not being distracted by new technologies.

The term “innovation” can encourage this stigma and as we recruit presenters, it’s very apparent that our members often don’t associate what they do to manage within limited resources as “innovative.” To qldwater and its TRG, “innovation” is about creating value for customers. This could be in the form of greater efficiency leading to reduced costs, or by improving the product or service. If we have to call the

Forum something different in 2017 to convey this, so be it, and ideas are welcome.

The Forum will open with a day of fun on the 14th at Colleges Crossing/ Mt Crosby which includes a tour of the Seqwater Westbank treatment plant and Eastbank heritage-listed pump station, the Ixom Best of the Best State-wide Water Taste Test, and a number of other activities. The 15th is all business, where we aim, through a series of presentations, panels and workshop sessions to: • Improve the understanding of where value and potential improvements exist in water and sewerage businesses, for the benefit of utilities and key decision makers including regulators.

• Celebrate some great project initiatives where proponents have undertaken strong options analyses and achieved the right balance of community needs, growth, costs and other often competing factors.

• Tease out the characteristics which makes these projects work, introduce new ideas, and promote further collaborative opportunities among members and the regulators through qldwater.

Looking forward to seeing as many member representatives there as

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

possible; please head to http:// www.qldwater.com.au/2016Innovation-Forum for more information.

I’d like to acknowledge the huge effort of our staff in pulling this event together, particularly Desiré and Michelle in Heather’s absence, but also our TRG representatives for driving this initiative. Corralling all the different ideas is a major challenge, but the advice we’ve been getting has become extremely important in shaping how we continue to develop qldwater as an effective membership body.

Dave Cameron CEO qldwater The Queensland Water Directorate T: (07) 3632 6854 M: 0407 761 991 W: www.qldwater.com.au qldwater works to strengthen the Water Industry, through leadership, support and representation for its Queensland members. We provide technical input into policy development, guidelines, and coordination to respond to the needs of a changing industry.

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meet the team ROB FEARON | Director, Innovation Partnerships rfearon@qldwater.com.au Rob commenced with qldwater in 2006 as CEO and is currently the Director, Innovation Partnerships. Rob’s current major project focus is the Queensland Water Regional Alliances Program and he has also recently undertaken significant work on the industry led Code of Practice for Pumping Stations and Networks. Rob has over eighteen years of experience in water industry roles across Local, State and Commonwealth Governments.

MICHELLE HILL | Manager, Skills and Strategy mhill@qldwater.com.au Michelle commenced with qldwater in 2010 and is responsible for managing the Queensland Water Skills Partnership program and industry capacity building projects as well as other strategic projects that emerge. Prior to her role at qldwater Michelle held a number of roles in Business Systems, Training and Industrial Relations in the non-profit sector.

DAVID SCHELTINGA | Manager, SWIM dscheltinga@qldwater.com.au David commenced with qldwater in 2011 and is responsible for managing the State-wide Water Information Management (SWIM) program. David has worked on indicators and assessment frameworks at local, State and national levels for over 15 years and has vast experience with running training sessions and workshops. He currently works remotely from Hervey Bay. DESIRÉ GRALTON | Manager, Communications dgralton@qldwater.com.au Desiré has over fifteen years’ experience in Public Relations and Communications with a particular focus on community engagement and corporate publications. Desiré commenced with qldwater in 2011 and works part-time managing qldwater’s website, communications such as newsletters and promotional materials and assisting with event planning and other projects.

HEATHER GOLD | Project Assistant hgold@qldwater.com.au Heather manages qldwater Member Services and stakeholder engagement. She also coordinates conferences and manages events and industry communications including website management. Heather comes from a background in hotel management and project management in real estate and has been with the Queensland Water Directorate since 2006.

TOM BROOKE | Administrative Assistant Tom.Brooke@ipweaq.com Tom recently joined the IPWEAQ team as Administrative Assistant after graduating from Brisbane Grammar School in 2015. He is currently studying a Bachelor of Business and Journalism at the University of Queensland and is a keen footballer both as a player and junior coach. Tom assists both IPWEAQ and QWD on a variety of projects.

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wasp wars: the ultimate test

WATER ARTICLE

DESIRÉ GRALTON, COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER QLDWATER, INTRODUCES THEIR NEW ULTIMATE WATER AND SEWERAGE BENCHMARKING CHALLENGE - WASP WARS Google the term “benchmarking” or attend any industry event and be prepared to be inundated with the connotations and meanings surrounding this new buzzword... but the art of turning data into useable information is something few industries have mastered.

Benchmarking is vital because it opens the strategic dialogue around the services we offer to our customers and how to sustain them in a financially constrained environment. However, let’s face it, interest in key performance indicators is reserved for the focussed few, unless you have a special angle. With WaSP Wars – we may have just cracked it!

At qldwater, the prospect of better data and benchmarking truly excites us. Since the introduction of our Statewide Water Information Management (SWIM) project in 2006, indicators have been streamlined from 900+ to around 200 indicators, saving qldwater members significant amounts of time and money in reporting. Today around 90% of all service providers report to State

and Commonwealth agencies via SWIM and the quality assurance of data is greater than ever before in Queensland.

As water and sewerage services play such an important role in our health and wellbeing, the sector is regulated by a number of Queensland Government Departments. Data from water

service providers also helps to inform the Bureau of Meteorology, Australian Bureau of Statistics, and other regulators. The introduction of DEWS’ new mandatory KPIs (which must be publicly reported) in 2014/15 came with a commensurate reduction in the number of statutory plans required, following significant advocacy by qldwater.

For the first year, the results have mostly been presented as raw data, but over time, service providers, government agencies

Denis Heron from Wide Bay Water “trumps” Trevor Harvey from North Burnett Regional Council at Hervey Bay.

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“WaSP Wars contains real SWIM data reported for the first year of mandatory KPIs, warts and all. The indicators have all been derived from raw KPIs and deliberately chosen to give smaller service providers the same chance at winning a round as larger ones.

Eventual winner Peter Vermeullen from Central Highlands Regional Council (centre) feigns disinterest in Emerald.

or other interested parties will start publishing more communityfriendly and readable materials.

Enter WaSP Wars: the ultimate benchmarking challenge for water and sewerage service providers.

Based on the old time favourite Top Trumps card games (or Pokemon or any other trading card game for those from a different time), the aim is to collect all of the cards in a deck by getting a higher score than your opponents for the indicator you select from your card. The current batch of indicators include:

overall system complexity, how many regulators you report to, and how long you’ve been diligent) • Distance = average from communities to “major” urban centre – a measure of overall remoteness.

According to qldwater CEO Dave Cameron, the aim of the game was to accommodate qldwater members’ inherent need to compete at regional conferences as well as build interest in KPIs and the idea of competition by comparison.

• Value = Current replacement value

• Potable water = supplied per connection per annum per

• Data points = number of schemes x number of indicators x number of years reporting (so a reflection of

‘Potable water supplied’ is always a bit of a talking point… most people don’t appreciate Queensland’s significant diversity in both climatic factors and community attitudes to water use,” Dave explained.

The game has been well received by delegates at qldwater 2016 events, with lots of laughs, suggestions for drinking games and more requests for decks as gifts than our short production run can handle. The best one-word description to date has been “amazeballs.”

“We’ve now seen kids, qldwater members, sponsors, regulatory staff and Directors General get stuck into this simple idea – so you can expect it to be revisited in 2017, perhaps with a few different indicators and special cards,” Dave said.

• Connections = per km mains (broadly capacity to earn revenue)

• Sewage = treated connection per annum

As with any trumps game, the more familiar you become with the data, the better your chance of winning.

Your eyes may light up when you find Queensland Urban Utilities at the top of your pile, but it’s of little use to you when it’s your opponent’s turn and they throw up Diamantina Shire’s 975km ‘average distance from communities to nearest urban centre.’

Jeff Ballard from Northern Water Management and others do their best to trump DEWS DG Paul Simshauser in Townsville.

qldwater has produced voluntary industry benchmarking reports since 2010/11.

For more information about these or SWIM, visit http://www.qldwater.com.au/

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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NQ b r a nc h p r e s i d e nt ’s R e p ort The main activity for the NQ branch over the past two months has been the organisation of the 2016 branch conference held in Lucinda, 17-19 August.

to be held in Brisbane 8-10 November 2016. Natasha’s paper will also be delivered at next year’s state conference.

The conference was opened by Mayor Ramon Jayo who impressed delegates with his knowledge of road statistics and more importantly, for understanding how interesting these are to engineers. This set the scene for a successful conference with 19 papers delivered to 96 delegates with 26 trade exhibitors.

A massive thank you to IPWEAQ’s valued corporate Partners who made the journey to Lucinda for a unique trade exhibition complete with ocean views. We would also like to thank our sponsors: GHD, Timrith Transport & Marb Constructions, SMEC, Projex Partners, Keita Services Pty Ltd, Puma Bitumen and Stabilised Pavements of Australia.

Our Partners and sponsors bring an immeasurable value to our events showcasing the latest products, knowledge and technology which helps us to deliver best practice projects for our communities.

Natasha Murray received the Best Paper award for her presentation on the transport asset revaluation process undertaken by Cairns Regional Council. For her efforts, Natasha received a one-year membership subscription to IPWEAQ and a complimentary registration to the state conference

Special thanks also to our two keynote speakers: Sandra Burke from the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Dr Karl Braganza from the Bureau of Meteorology.

Sandra’s presentation, ‘Connecting Communities, Changing Lives’ demonstrated the substantial benefits to Cape York communities

A huge thank you to the Hinchinbrook Shire Council for hosting the conference with the theme, Tropical Engineering – we do things differently up north!

from the Cape York Region Package (CYRP).

Karl’s presentation summarised the current thinking on climate change and the potential impacts on future sea levels and temperatures both nationally and in north Queensland where there are some alarming predictions.

As you may be aware, Lucinda was the first conference in the 20162017 IPWEAQ Conference Grand Slam and delegates now have the opportunity to complete the Grand Slam and secure a complimentary registration to a forthcoming branch conference.

On a final note, Colin Gray has resigned as NQ Branch Secretary/ Treasurer and we wish Colin well in his future endeavours. If you are interested in joining our committee, please do not hesitate to contact me at b.gardiner@cairns.qld.gov.au.

I look forward to seeing many of you again in Brisbane at the state conference, 8-10 November 2016.

Bruce Gardiner NQ Branch President

Our members enjoy a

strong sense of community through our proactive branch network.

NORTH QUEENSLAND BRANCH

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

NQ BRANCH CONFERENCE LUCINDA 17-19 August 2016 | Hinchinbrook Marine Cove Resort Tropical Engineering: We do things differently up north!

Hosted by Hinchinbrook Shire Council

Exhibitors

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 0427 066 859

Sponsors

NQ BRANCH CONFERENCE | LUCINDA 17-19 AUGUST 2016

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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best PAPEr NQ: natasha murray IRNS TRANSPORT C AREVALUATION

CAIRNS REGIONAL COUNCIL – KEY FACTS:

• • • • •

Area - 1700km2 Population - 160,000 2 million visitors per annum Total asset base - $4.7 billion Transport asset base - $1.5 billion • Road network – 1360km BACKGROUND In accordance with local government accounting standards Council is required to undertake a comprehensive revaluation of its assets on a 5 year cycle. For transport assets, this process has traditionally been contracted to an external consultant. However for the first time in 2014/15 Council undertook the majority of this assessment in-house.

PROJECT PLAN The project plan considered staff resourcing, project risks, project schedule and governance.

Council’s Internal Audit Committee and the Queensland Audit Office were supportive of the approach.

The process involved four basic steps: 1. Asset inventory update; 2. Condition assessment; 3. Review of asset useful life and

remaining life; and 4. Unit rate review and revaluation of the existing asset.

PROJECT METHODOLOGY A detailed methodology was developed to ensure that it not only met accounting requirements but also supported day-to- day asset management practices.

The methodology manual outlined the processes to be followed for the following asset classes (sample sizes adopted shown in brackets) • • • •

Road wearing course (100%) Road pavement (20%) Kerb and channel (10%) Roundabouts, medians, traffic Islands and LATM’s (10% of each class) • Footpaths (100%).

The methodology focused on the standard to which an asset provided its required level of service. The assessment was therefore based on function with little regard given to aesthetics. Where only a sample was assessed a relationship was established between the new condition data and the old data for extrapolation over the full data set.

PROJECT SUCCESSES In addition to direct cost savings achieved by delivering this process in-house, there were many other additional benefits that are not easily quantified.

These included:

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

• Level of staff ownership lead to a high degree of confidence in the data captured; • Increased staff motivation and commitment in moving forward; • Improved staff knowledge of Council assets and processes; • Knowledge sharing and relationship building within various teams; • Identification of improvements to current processes to advance asset management practices; • Retention of knowledge within the organisation; and • Innovation in data collection, for example camera’s mounted on street sweepers to record kerb and channel condition.

CONCLUSION Overall, conducting the revaluation process in-house was extremely successful, beneficial and rewarding for both the organisation and staff involved. Council aims to continue undertaking future processes this way and will continue building on it through day-to-day asset management practices.

Natasha is a Senior Transport Engineer with Cairns Regional Council leading a team of engineers and senior technical officers responsible for all matters in relation to transport and traffic planning and asset management.

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KEITA SERVICES EARTHWORKS AND CONSTRUCTION

Keith Phillips PO Box 828, Ingham QLD 4850

Also specialising in:

    

Irrigation & Pump Installations Wetlands Design & Construction Drainage Design & Construction Water Supply Sewerage

TEL: 07 4777 7428 MOB: 0429 885 547 Email: ktphillps6@bigpond.com ACN: 057 513 792 ABN: 32 896 352 557

Keith & Rita Phillips proudly serving the community

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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brisbane’s new parallel runway

FEATURE ARTICLE was also a keen aviator obtaining his pilot’s licence early within his career. So upon moving to the private sector he encountered the perfect blend of his passions of 1995 and Engineer to the Beach for infrastructure engineering, Protection Authority. aviation and the coastal marine environment.

In Paul’s earlier career he was responsible for a number of Paul joined Brisbane Airport iconic coastal construction Corporation (BAC) in 2002 as jobs including the Heron Island Planning Manager – Infrastructure Harbour mitigation works, the and a few short years later was Auckland Point No. 3 Container appointed Project Manager for Terminal, and the Maroochy River the formation of the New Parallel groyne system to name a few. Paul Runway (NPR) Project team in

NPR PROJECT DIRECTOR PAUL COUGHLAN EXPLAINS THE CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN ASPECTS OF BRISBANE’S NEW PARALLEL RUNWAY. Brisbane Airport’s New Parallel Runway (NPR) project is the largest aviation infrastructure project under construction in Australia. With the $1.4 billion NPR on track to be opened and commissioned in 2020, the new runway will effectively double the capacity of Brisbane Airport, helping to drive Queensland’s economy into the future.

Meet the man who has the overall responsibility for the successful delivery of this project – NPR Project Director, Paul Coughlan.

Paul’s career has spanned both the public and private sector. Starting life as a young coastal engineer with the old Department of Harbours and Marine, Paul rose through the public service ranks to become Director of Coastal Management in 1999 in the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency.

His public career included many achievements including highlights such as drafting and passing into law the Queensland Coastal Protection and Management Act

Artist’s impression of the NPR

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late 2004. In this role, Paul was responsible for obtaining the necessary planning approvals for the new runway, overseeing the: 1. Development of the Preliminary Design, including constructability, staging and cost planning considerations; and 2. Preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement and Major Development Plan (EIS/ MDP), including the collation of the findings of dozens of assessment studies, negotiating mitigation and environmental offsets and engagement with multiple key stakeholders.

In 2007, Paul was formally appointed Project Director of the NPR and has successfully overseen the practical completion of Phase 1 Construction and the release of tenders for all Phase 2 Works.

Due to the extremely poor strength soils of the site and the extent of ground improvements necessary, the NPR is being delivered in two main phases: Phase 1 – Site Preparatory Works (2012–2015) • Early Civil Works • Dredge and Reclamation Works Phase 2 – Airfield Pavement Construction (2016 –2020) • Seawall and Site Access (Aug 2016 – early 2017)

• Dryandra Road Underpass (Jan 2017 – Mid 2018) • Airfield Pavement Construction (Mid 2017 – 2020) Brisbane’s new runway is located 2km west of, and parallel to, the existing main runway. It will include a 3.3km runway and more than 10km of connecting taxiways, a 4 lane vehicle underpass, hundreds of hectares of airfield landscaping, as well as all other necessary airfield infrastructure.

Though many airports operate multiple runways Brisbane Airport is striving to achieve the status of first capital city airport in Australia to implement simultaneous opposite direction operations on parallel runways as its predominant mode of operation,

Comparison of the NPR Site (August 2012 - June 2015)

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In order to achieve effective consolidation of the poor strength sodden soils, a complex soft soil geotechnical solution of differing sand heights and wick drain densities was applied to the site to force the moisture from the soils. The placement of nearly 11million cubic metres of sand working in combination with 330,000 individual wick drains is currently on track to achieve the timely consolidation of the site with more than 2 metres of ground settlement having occurred in the softest areas to date.

The completed sand platforms with the stabilisation treatment (mint colour).

particularly in the noise sensitive night time hours. Also known as ‘over bay’ operations, flights depart over Moreton Bay from the existing main runway and land on the new runway from over Moreton Bay, minimising noise potential over residential areas.

The NPR site is situated on the old Brisbane River Delta which is characterised as low-lying and criss-crossed by deep paleo channels which have filled with soft sediment over thousands of years.

One such channel traverses the NPR site and the extremely soft soil similar to the consistency of toothpaste is up to 35 metres deep. Significant ground improvement works were required to create a suitably consolidated platform stable enough for runway construction.

Since the completion of Phase 1, the NPR team has turned their attention to Phase 2. BAC appointed Jacobs to undertake the Final Design for the airfield and other structural components of the project. Having elected to procure the works under a series of ‘construct only’ packages, it is imperative to BAC’s interests that the contract documentation

for the works - drawings, specifications etc. are prepared with the greatest accuracy and attention to detail.

Phase 2 Design included all of the design works for the three major contracts: Seawall and Site Access, Dryandra Road Underpass and finally, the Airfield Pavement Construction. All tenders have now been released and all contracts are expected to be awarded by mid-2017.

The Seawall and Site Access works contract has been awarded to Hall Contracting and upon its commencement, construction will be ongoing until 2020 when the NPR is due to open.

Paul Coughlan will be presenting as a keynote speaker at the IPWEAQ Engineering Conference on 9 November, 2016.

Jan De Nul’s Charles Darwin at the mooring structure in Brisbane River.

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bridges of the southern downs

FEATURE ARTICLE

CR TRACY DOBIE, MAYOR OF SOUTHERN DOWNS REGIONAL COUNCIL, PROVIDES US WITH AN OVERVIEW OF THE EXTENSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM SHE HAS UNDERTAKEN TO IMPROVE THE REGION’S BRIDGES (AND ROADS).

A

S A NEWLY elected mayor it has been an interesting few months addressing the infrastructure issues that face the Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC). I had to come up to speed very quickly on these issues and was fortunate to have qualified and experienced engineers to provide consultative support as I wended my way through the Community Plan, the Corporate Plan,

Operational Plan and finally onto the developing Asset Management Plans. What became evident in all this preliminary work was the very clear fact that my first priority in office should be to reinforce a good infrastructure development program thereby ensuring long term sustainability for our region.

T

HE SOUTHERN DOWNS is a region of over 7000km2

Bellingham’s Road Bridge

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with several major waterways.

Bridges and roads feature highly as components of the overall infrastructure program and these will be the focus of this short article.

I

N THE 2015/16 financial year, SDRC has undertaken an unprecedented level of road infrastructure capital programs and this higher than average level of work will continue through the 2016/17 financial year. In the past, our typical road infrastructure capital program has been in the order of $7-8million per annum. However, since last year, our programs have risen to over $12.5million per annum,

29

made possible by the funding provided by the state and federal governments.

S

HOWCASE PROJECTS WITHIN the SDRC program have been bridge replacements. Five bridges were replaced in the last year with the majority of funding provided by the state government’s ‘Royalties for the Region’ program. In 201617, Council will replace a further two bridges under the Federal Government’s Bridge Renewal Program.

O

F INTEREST IS that for the five replaced and two planned bridges, all are simple design/ construct projects of limited duration, in some cases replacing bridges built as early as the 19th century. The one exception to a straightforward project rollout was the Lyndhurst Lane Bridge which replaced an ARNCO culvert built around the 1960s. (I thank Eric Kraak, Manager Works – Construction and Asset for this detail.)

T

HE PLANNED ROAD works under the SDRC Capital Program have been augmented by increases in funding from state and federal governments. The special increases in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 ‘Roads to Recovery’ allocations allowed SDRC to undertake more road infrastructure projects. The state government’s funding injection to

Mullins Road Bridge

the TIDS Program in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 years has enabled SDRC to accelerate its work on the ’Local Roads of Regional Significance’ which has allowed renewals to two key regional roads: Eukey and Inverramsay. The recent announcement of further TIDS funding enables SDRC to enhance this program of renewing existing road infrastructure as it reaches the end of its useful life.

I

N TERMS OF coordination between portfolios within our SDRC structure, improved road infrastructure is critical. Firstly, the Transport and Infrastructure Portfolio takes the lead and from the perspective of the Economic

Development Portfolio the SDRC must attract business to the region including enhancing our region as a transport hub. The Planning and Communities, Towns and Villages Portfolios provide strategy that meets the rate-payers’ needs; and the Regional Promotion and Events Portfolios highlight the necessity of good road access to tourist destinations and major event sites as being crucial to the region’s growth.

A

NY REVIEW OF priorities for the development of the Southern Downs region brings us back to the same point: the criticality of an effective infrastructure development program.

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S Wq b r a nc h p r e s i d e nt ’s R e p or t 2016 is proving to be another very interesting year in local government with the level of change increasing further.

is a permanent fixture for all of us. We will need to adapt and embrace it.

Since the local elections, more than 15 council CEO positions have been advertised which will obviously have a major impact on those councils. This is a further 20% change on top of the 70% of CEO positions that turned-over in the preceding year. That is an enormous of change affecting all levels of the organisation particularly council employees, many of whom are our members.

And speaking of change, I recently underwent a major career change after many years in local government, most recently with the Western Downs Regional Council. I have now joined Darren Shepherd’s consultancy team at Shepherd Services as their Senior Asset Manager. I am still based in Dalby and will continue as Branch President of the South West Queensland Branch of IPWEAQ.

Change is everywhere and while we may have thought it was a transitional phase and ‘something to get through’, the reality may well be that it

T h e n e x t S o u t h We s t Queensland Branch conference is to be hosted by the Western Downs Regional Council, 2-3 March 2017. As we all know

the Western Downs team are a thirsty lot and enjoy a good time so it will be an event not to be missed. Cookie has assured me that he will putting on a “big shindig” to show just how much they are missing me.

In the meantime though, I look forward to catching up with all members and delegates at the state conference in Brisbane 8-10 November.

Stephen Hegedus SWQ Branch President

Our members enjoy a

strong sense of community through our proactive branch network.

SOUTH WEST QUEENSLAND BRANCH

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RPEQ ASSESSMENT

BY IPWEAQ

IPWEAQ is an assessment entity for the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland (BPEQ) approved to assess engineers for RPEQ (Registered Professional Engineer Queensland) in the area of Civil Engineering - Public Works.

Why should I become an RPEQ?

How do I apply?

Engineers occupy positions of trust and responsibility and perform a critical role in the design and construction of infrastructure projects that serve and benefit our communities.

Apply online at www.rpeqassessment.com.au with the following information:

Professional engineering services delivered in Queensland or for Queensland must be carried out by an RPEQ or by someone under the direct supervision of an RPEQ who is ultimately responsible.

Who can apply?

To apply for RPEQ you must have:  A minimum four year Bachelor of

Engineering degree from an Australian university. For overseas or other qualifications not covered by the Washington Accord, an additional assessment and fee of $200 plus GST will apply to determine equivalency.  A minimum five years delivering

engineering services under the supervision of an RPEQ or equivalent.  Technical Officers with an MEPrac

and a minimum five years supervised experience may also apply.

 Details of all qualifications held relevant

to the discipline for which accreditation is being sought.  A current, detailed curriculum vitae.  Details of CPD undertaken in the

immediate 3 years prior to application.  Three referee statements from

RPEQs qualified to comment on the applicant’s work.  A statement of competency.

How much will it cost?

• $400 plus GST for IPWEAQ members • $700 plus GST for non-members

How is my application assessed?

Assessments are conducted by IPWEAQ’s expert panel of assessors and overseen by the IPWEAQ RPEQ Assessment Board.

Assessment takes between six to eight weeks and includes an interview with a panel of three assessors.

Successful applicants receive a Letter of Assessment which is then submitted to BPEQ for registration as an RPEQ.

What is the review process?

RPEQs are required to demonstrate they have completed a minimum 150 hours CPD over a three year period. This is subject to random audits.

Download the IPWEAQ CPD logbook to assist you with recording your CPD. Submit your application at www.rpeqassessment.com.au

For more information, please contact: Carlie Sargent IPWEAQ 07 3632 6801 Carlie.Sargent@ipweaq.com

 150 hours CPD for the immediate

previous three years.

  

www.ipweaq.com

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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paving the way for thirty-five years Thrity-five years is a long time in business. Pavement Management Services has earnt their reputation as the backbone of modern civil engineering and are well prepared to deliver on their vision of providing sustainable and reliable road infrastructure for the next 35 years.

PMS seeks to meet the needs of the community while ensuring the lowest social, economic and environmental impact. This is achieved by working with clients, industry and educational centres to reduce resource usage by 15%, environmentally damaging emissions by 15% and improved

serviceability by 15% within five years from current construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation and preventative maintenance treatments.

clients with future planning and infrastructure development projects.

Improved infrastructure ultimately leads to enhancement of industry and business capability in the PMS has the unique capability community. to investigate and characterise transport infrastructure located Just like the ‘Grandfather’s axe’ above ground as well as on and PMS has a new handle and a below the surface, providing new head but still maintains information on pavement the same values as when they structures and road assets. moved into their first premises Where possible, non-destructive in Telopea, New South Wales. techniques are used for minimal disruption to the environment “GOOD EMPLOYEES ARE and general public. The OUR BLESSING analysed data is used to identify the transport infrastructure PERSEVERANCE IS OUR needs. This information assists HALLMARK TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE IS OUR EDGE AN UNDYING BELIEF THAT THERE IS A BETTER WAY DRIVES US FORWARD MAIN STREAM WE ARE NOT; NOR DO WE WANT TO BE WE ARE GOOD PEOPLE TO WORK WITH” So what of the next 35 years?

In 1983, PMS acquired the first Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) from Dynatest Engineering A/S in Denmark. FWD-016 was the sixteenth FWD built and the first in Australia.

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

PMS Managing Director John Yeaman explains.

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“Firstly, our staff are our backbone. We always get a strong sense of satisfaction in knowing we have helped them to unlock their full potential and shape their future.

Secondly, we know our regional business model works.

Domestic borders are no barrier to our business. Infrastructure issues will continue to worry governments all around the world and we are well placed In partnership with Fugro Roadware, PMS has commissioned a new vehicle ARAN equipped to assist them. We have faith with a Laser Crack Measurement System (LCMS). The LCMS unit can undertake a wider the tools and techniques we spectrum of defects simultaneously which has proven to be of great benefit to our clients. develop here in Australia can take us anywhere in the world. dynamic regional operation We will listen to our clients to must rely on field staff as much find the best solutions for their Thirdly, we will continue to put as experienced well-qualified needs. We will never take our our trust in our staff so they grow engineers. clients for granted and always and develop. We don’t have a deliver the best we can. top-down arrangement. Each Fourthly, but not last, we will employee makes an impact on continue to be good friends Our past has been a success. the business every day. A small and good people to work with. Our future is sound and bright.”

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maximising learning outcomes

P R O F E S S I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T

A lot has been written in recent times on ‘developing capability’ with all levels of government implementing policies promoting the development of individuals, organisations and even communities.

Understanding your needs is not an arduous process; key indicators can quickly identify if and where your organisation might have a skills or knowledge gap including:

While a significant level of multitiered training has occurred as a result, the results have been mixed. Some programs have generated very positive outcomes; even life changing outcomes for some individuals. However a greater number of those receiving publicly funded training have gained nothing tangible from the experience and as a result, nothing has changed in their workplace.

• common mistakes or errors

It is not surprising that successful initiatives with proven results are those that are approached from a strategic perspective with an understanding of the needs of the trainee. Once we understand their needs, we can implement an instructional design process to develop a program that will address the knowledge and skills gap in an effective and efficient way. Instructional design is a whole lot more than a ‘course by PowerPoint’ philosophy which is unfortunately common across our sector.

• an ongoing pattern of re-work

• tasks taking longer than expected • systems and processes not being followed • the issues that keep you awake at night Once the ‘need’ is clarified, the solution it can be developed which does not always require a formal training program. Depending on the identified root cause, the solution may be as simple as a oneon-one discussion or a change of process.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is another piece of the capability puzzle that needs to be approached strategically. The intent of CPD is to provide a framework that assists and encourages an individual to maintain the level of knowledge and skills expected of someone

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

who holds professional standing.

CPD activities should align to the current and future needs of the individual and form a part of a formal professional development plan. A targeted approach to learning and outcomes is significantly more effective.

Our sector understands the importance of developing capability to meet current and future needs. At a time when our training budgets are under increasing pressure, it is critical that we maximise the training dollar to achieve the best outcomes.

IPWEAQ is ready to assist its members and partners in achieving learning outcomes that will make a real difference in both the short and long term.

To discuss your capability needs, please contact me.

Craig Moss IPWEAQ Director, Professional & Career Development.

Craig.Moss@ipweaq.com Ph: 07 3632 6805

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

Professional Development Offering in-house and customised training in the following areas:

Technical Programs

Non-Technical Program

Popular courses

 Construction & Maintenance

 Construction Law

 Road Safety Audit

 Road Safety

 Leadership & Management

 Bridge Inspections Levels 1 & 2

 Environment Management

 Project Management

 Supervisor Workshop Series

 Asset Management

 Business Services

 Erosion & Sediment Control

 Planning & Design

 Contract Management

 Fleet & Plant Management

 Stakeholder Engagement

 Managing the Risks on Lower Order Roads

 Traffic & Transport Management

 Risk Management

 Stormwater & Flood Management

  

 Native Title & Cultural Heritage Compliance  The Leadership Toolkit Series

07 3632 6800

info@ipweaq.com

www.ipweaq.com

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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managing ageing water infrastructure Ageing water networks and infrastructure – Replace or Renew?

As our utility assets age and the demand placed on them increases, asset managers are faced with the decision of whether to replace or renew their critical pipe networks and infrastructure. At the same time Utilities and service suppliers must also consider the impact of having a water network that fails or is not optimised to deliver the increasing demands of the broader community.

Considerations for asset managers include; • the overall asset performance and uptime • cost of renewal vs rehabilitation

UV Light Cure of a Berolina Structural Liner

• the impact on the environment and community

These are fundamental questions facing our utilities and asset owners as our aging infrastructure starts to show signs of age, stress and increased demand. As our population increases, the performance demands on our ageing water and waste water assets is also increasing, yet critical planned maintenance programs are either being delayed or sidelined in the continual drive for cost savings.

• design life & fire resistance (particularly relevant in bush fire prone areas)

It goes without saying that pipes, culverts, tunnels and sub-surfaces conduits are all prone to damage, degradation and becoming a danger to the community.

Tunneline Concrete Structural Lining System, formwork setup

With the addition of today’s traffic, loading and increased demand factors (that were never conceived at the time of the asset’s original design), we’ve seen greater requirements for supply continuity whilst being ever sensitive to the impact on budgets, environment and the surrounding communities.

Regardless of how these structures were originally

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built, much like the above-ground infrastructure that they sit under, regular maintenance is required and from time to time major upgrades are necessary if the assets “uptime� is to meet performance and safety demands.

Leading pipeline rehabilitation specialists continue to innovate and develop new technologies that can add to the serviceability life of our sub-surface utility and drainage infrastructures without using the conventional expensive & disruptive techniques of open cut dig & replace methods.

To support this environmentally friendly trenchless remediation philosophy, several new technologies have been introduced into Australia to provide asset owners with a viable and economical alternative. Ultra Violet Cured high strength fiberglass lining systems for diameters ranging from DN150 to DN1600mm provide a trenchless solution to relining these aging pipes and stormwater culverts. One of these world class CIPP liners is Berolina and can be installed using trenchless techniques in sewer and stormwater environments for a variety of pipe profiles. This technology provides a fully structural lining to existing pipes whilst retaining the maximum hydraulic capacity due to its thin wall relining material.

In addition to CIPP Berolina, the Tunneline relining technology/system was introduced to Australia from the UK in 2012. Tunneline is a bespoke reinforced concrete lining system that casts a fully structural

Rehabilitation of DN600 MSCL Trunk Water Main using Pressureline Tight Fit HDPE Liner

insitu lining that is fully compliant to Australian Standards. Since its introduction Tunneline has been used to reline over 5000 lm on more than 150 individual cell sites ranging in structures as small as 900mm up to spans of 8.2m and has successfully been used to complete rehabilitations on Circular, Elliptical, Oviform, Arch, D section and Box profiles throughout Australia.

Pipebursting and Pressureline technologies are other great examples of gravity and pressure pipeline trenchless rehabilitation methodologies. Pipebursting involves the displacement of an existing host pipe,

Slip-lining of a deteriorated sandstone box culvert with DN560 HDPE

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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and the simultaneous installation of a structural replacement pipe of the same or greater diameter.

This technique is suitable for the replacement of pipelines ranging from 75mm to 900mm in diameters. Pressureline is a process developed for the renewal of gas and water pipelines with a tight fitting HDPE liner. Pressureline is an ideal solution for long length remediation with a minimal loss of pipe diameter or impact on surrounding infrastructure and community.

fundamental factor and driver for Australia’s Water utilities and Asset Managers to utilise this efficient remediation methodology instead of the traditional and often disruptive open cut dig and lay repair methods.

The Trenchless relining approach to solving technical problems together with the underlying philosophy to reuse existing pipe network assets, remains a

Wastewater & Stormwater

Potable Water

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

Road & Rail Culverts

39

PARTNER PROGRAM INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

40

Partner Benefits STATE CONFERENCE

One booth and opportunity to preselect location (value $4,000) Two full registrations (value $3,000 to $3,600)

BRANCH CONFERENCES

Opportunity to exhibit at up to four regional events* (value $4,000) Two full registrations at each branch conference (value $1,600 to $2,000)

plus  Your logo on the IPWEAQ

website, linked to your website.  Your employees will receive a

10% discount on their IPWEAQ membership. If they don’t wish to become a member, they are still eligible to attend all our events and courses at member rates.  Contribute a half-page

advertorial for one of our quarterly issues of Engineering for Public Works.  Your logo on our conference

registration online site and our conference App linked to your website.

 Your logo displayed in each

quarterly issue of IPWEAQ’s e-journal.  We invite you to share your

digital content on all IPWEAQ social media platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  Discounted rates to purchase

IPWEAQ technical products including Standard Drawings, Complete Streets, QUDM etc.  Use of our IPWEAQ Partner logo

for your website, marketing collateral etc.

 10% discount on all sponsorship

opportunities at state and branch conferences (refer to next page). *Due to the size of some regional venues, it may not be possible to accommodate a trade display for all Partners at each event.

If we are unable to provide a trade display for you at a branch conference, we will ensure you have a presence at the conference eg as sponsor of a paper or session.

Priority will be given to Principal Partners then Partners before non-Partner exhibitors.

Partner | $7,500 (plus GST)

Upgrade to Principal Partner for greater exposure...  Guaranteed trade display at

all branch conferences  Your logo in a primary

position on all marketing collateral and featured more prominently than other Partners  Priority allocation of booths

at our state conference  One quarter page

advertisement in each issue of our e-journal, Engineering for Public Works  One table for 10 people at

our excellence awards gala ceremony and dinner (9 November 2016)

Principal Partner $12,500

(plus GST)

IPWEAQ PARTNER BENEFITS

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

41

Sponsorship Opportunities 10% discount to the prices below for our Partners

Number of Opportunities

State Conference (All prices plus GST)

Branch Conference (per conference) (All prices plus GST)

Booth/Trade Display (cost for non-Partners only)

Multiple

$4,000

$1,000

Welcome Function*

Exclusive

$4,000

$2,000

Breakfast*

1-2

$3,000

$1,000

Morning or Afternoon Tea*

2-4

$2,000

$1,000

Lunch*

1-2

$4,000

$2,000

Pre-dinner drinks function

Exclusive

$4,000

$2,000

Excellence Awards Gala Dinner*

Exclusive

$12,000

-

Public Works Project/Innovation Awards

Exclusive

$4,000

-

Water Project/Innovation Awards

Exclusive

$4,000

-

Road Safety Award

Exclusive

$2,000

-

People Awards

Exclusive

$2,000 each

-

Branch Conference Dinner*

Exclusive

-

$4,000

Farewell drinks function

Exclusive

$4,000

$2,000

Keynote Presentation

Multiple

$2,500

$1,000

Technical/Workshop/Stream

Multiple

$1,000

$500

Coffee Cart

1-2

$5,000

$1,000

Satchels

Exclusive

$6,000

$2,500

Satchel inserts

Multiple

$500

$500

Lanyards

Exclusive

$4,000

$1,000

Golf

1

$2,000

$1,000

Other Social Events*

-

$4,000

$1,500

*Includes a five minute presentation to delegates during your sponsored event with company signage on display.

Sponsors will be acknowledged during the conference program, on our website with links, in conference marketing collateral and in the conference App. Sponsorship opportunities may vary depending on the conference and venue.

IPWEAQ PARTNER BENEFITS

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

42

enduring concre te road bridg es

FEATURE ARTICLE

GYMPIE REGIONAL COUNCIL AND TOD CONSULTING WON THE 2015 BEST PROJECT UNDER $1MILLION AWARD FOR THEIR “ENDURING, ECONOMICAL ROAD BRIDGES FOR QUIET PLACES”. CHRIS DOWDING OF TOD CONSULTING TELLS US HOW THEY DID IT.

• The community wanted no environmental harm to the river catchment, so for them, bridges were more desirable than box culverts.

Changing from timber bridges to new concrete bridges on a budget

• Council’s engineers initially preferred box culverts, because construction costs are typically lower

Australia travels and moves its freight over an estimated 20,000 timber road bridges nationwide.

Local Governments, along with National Parks and timber forestries, manage an estimated 14,000 of these structures.

Logistics companies are making daily requests for overload permits: vehicle loads have increased beyond the safe capacity of existing timber bridges.

• The bridges are on low-traffic Neilson Road, Kandanga and Elliott Road, Cedar Pocket • Both sites contain a mix of dairy agriculture and natural features, located within the Mary River catchment in Queensland’s southeast • Flood flow velocities of both sites are rapid at 3.4 to 3.9 metres per second

Like any device, Australia’s existing timber bridges have become superseded by society’s changing needs and expectations.

Very robust replacement bridge standards and solutions are entirely appropriate for busy roads, motorways and highways. But are those solutions appropriate for quiet roads “in the bush”, loaded by only a few trucks a day?

Gympie Regional Council and TOD Consulting asked this question after two timber bridges washed away in 2013:

Neilson Road truck test

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

• TOD Consulting identified a risk of undermining and partial collapse of box culverts by the rapid floods, and a high cost for conventional bridges The Mary River catchment is home to a variety of fish species including

43

TOD Consulting prepared four concept designs and compared these in the following table:

Table 1: Cost, environmental impact and flood resistance comparison of different crossing options

the vulnerable Queensland lung fish. Historically, fish have been unable to get upstream through pipe and box culverts, due to inadequate fish passage:

• The downstream apron can become scoured so deeply that fish can’t make a leap upstream • The flow depth is often too shallow and fast to allow fish to swim through the structure

• Engineers’ current practice of burying the culvert base below the crack bed solves the scour and flow depth issues, but results in more excavation damage to the creek bed. These consequences are usually seen as temporary, but for vulnerable species, the repercussions can be permanent.

Option D was the lowest cost, even when handicapped by a larger contingency to allow for it being an untrialled system. There are some Hollowcore road bridges in Victoria and one in Brisbane, but we had to design these two to be overtopped by fast-moving flood waters.

TOD Consulting asked a question: can we build a bridge for the cost of a box culvert structure?

• Hollowcore precast planks are produced in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth. These are predominantly supplied to the building construction industry.

• A bridge spanning from bank to bank doesn’t require excavation of the creek bed, so the habitat for fish is better • Bridges typically have better flood resilience because they don’t rely on the creek bed for support, are tied down, and have scour protection measures to protect the banks.

• The planks are manufactured by a very efficient, quick extrusion process, and cost significantly less than conventional precast bridge planks. Only a smaller crane is required on site.

• To achieve sufficient structural capacity, the planks are

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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• The new bridges located on Fleming Road, which is a rural residential street on the northern outskirts of Gympie Hollowcore internal structure

strengthened by an insitu concrete slab. The slab and planks act together (composite action) by transferring stresses using friction and cohesion.

• In road bridges, the bouncing action of trucks can disturb the friction / cohesion between the slab and planks. To address this, TOD Consulting tie the slab to the planks by specifying L-shaped mesh reinforcement in the key joints, between the planks, and in the outside core of the planks.

The key joints and outside cores can be filled with concrete at the same time as the slab pour, to save construction time. This also holds the slab in place during floods.

Gympie Regional Council has supported the Hollowcore Bridge System strongly. The first two 12 metre span bridges were completed in 2015, at a cost of $234,554 per bridge. These test bridges are in very low traffic rural locations, and are designed for the old T44 semi-trailer load. Council and TOD Consulting successfully load tested the system with a 50

tonne truck and dog. These bridges received an IPWEAQ award in 2015 (projects less than $1 million).

We’ve learned some good lessons along the way: • Standard precast planks for bridges incorporate mounting points for temporary scaffold.

This isn’t the case with Hollowcore planks. Collaboration with the contractors and manufacturer has resulted in new drill-in mounting points for Hollowcore bridges.

• Using the planks without the cast-insitu concrete slab is complex. We’ve trialled connecting the planks together with epoxy in the key joints. This achieved adequate strength, but the resulting footbridge is bouncier than desirable.

Since then, TOD Consulting has designed two more Hollowcore bridges (up to 13 metre span) for the heavier SM1600 truck load.

Gympie Regional Council awarded the construction contract in mid 2016:

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

• Larger mesh between the planks and slab was used to generate greater friction for the heavier load.

• Brifen (wire rope) road safety barriers have been specifically designed for one of these.

• Construction will be completed soon, with the two bridges costing a the same as one conventional transversely post-tensioned PSC plank bridge.

The Hollowcore concrete bridge system has been a financial and environmental success for Gympie Regional Council.

The future of Hollowcore bridges is positive, with our learnings from construction being incorporated into successive designs, and AusIndustry – Innovation Connections have offered a grant for University research.

TOD Consulting will continue to assist Australian communities and regional councils, to create management strategies for the growing number of structurallydeficient and/or functionally obsolete timber bridges. www.todconsulting.com

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

Scholarships and Awards

Excellence Award Winners

International Study Tour

Individual awards for: Engineer of the Year | Young Engineer of the Year Woman in Engineering | Technical Officer of the Year Works Supervisor of the Year

Each year IPWEAQ offers scholarships for members to study overseas.

Scholarship recipients are required to submit a report of 3,000 - 5,000 words detailing their findings and recommendations and applicability to conditions in Australia.

Recipients of scholarships for 2016 - Andrew Ryan of Sunshine Coast Regional Council and Gleb Kolenbet of Redland City Council - will visit the USA, Spain and the Netherlands.

Branch Scholarships Each of our four branches (NQ, CQ, SEQ and SWQ) offer scholarships for disadvantaged members to attend their branch and state conference. Up to $1,000 is available to cover registration fees, travel and accommodation.

For more information or to apply for a scholarship, please contact your Branch President.

Best Paper Awards Each year our four branches hold a regional conference. The presentation chosen as the best by the selection committee receives a complimentary registration to the state conference and is also included in the state conference program. Up to 45 CPD hours are available for papers presented at conferences.

The best paper presented at the state conference, the Geoff Willmoth Best Paper award receives a complimentary registration to the IPWEA NZ conference plus travel and accommodation expenses.

Through our reciprocal arrangements with IPWEA NZ, the winner of their Hynds Best Paper award presents at the IPWEAQ state conference each year.

  

Asset Management Study Tour Every two years we offer a scholarship for members to attend an international asset management study tour.

IPWEAQ scholarships and awards are only available to members. Please contact us for more information about the program and becoming a member.

Carlie Sargent Director, Member Services 07 3632 6801 Carlie.Sargent@ipweaq.com

www.ipweaq.com

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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cq b r a nc h p r e s i d e nt ’s R e p or t The CQ Branch committee has been busy planning for its annual Technical Forum to be held in Rockhampton, 13-14 October 2016.

The program commences with golf Thursday afternoon, 13 October followed by the welcome function. The full day program on Friday 14 October kicks off with a field demonstration followed by a keynote address. After lunch, there will be a series of technical papers.

We are encouraging civil engineering students from CQ University to attend this year’s Forum and to present their various theses. This forms part of IPWEAQ’s University Outreach Program which

will be launched at the state conference in Brisbane, 8-10 October 2016.

As part of the program, final year civil engineering students with a keen interest in public works will be chosen by their university to receive a complimentary registration to the IPWEAQ state conference. Following the conference, students will submit a report of up to 1,000 words on the conference, the program and streams, their learnings, interactions and their overall experience being a part of our community. These papers will be published in the December issue of Engineering for Public Works.

the program and I look forward to welcoming their chosen student to the conference. I hope you will join me there to offer guidance to the students from five universities including UQ, JCU, USQ and QUT as they begin their journey with the public works sector.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me or CQ Branch committee members with any queries.

Craig Murrell CQ Branch President

We are pleased to announce that CQ University is participating in

Our members enjoy a

strong sense of community through our proactive branch network.

CENTRAL QUEENSLAND BRANCH

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

47

LION SYSTEMS is a specialised provider of asset management consulting support to Councils, Water Authorities and other Asset-Centric Organisations.

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Our team specialise in assisting clients in achieving their strategic asset management goals, being experienced with asset data and related business processes, GIS and information systems requirements.

• Strategic Asset Management Services • Asset Data Analysis & Improvement • Spatial Data Cleansing & Review • ADAC (Asset Design As Constructed) • Asset Data Bureau Services • Asset Management Mentoring & Training

www.lionsystems.com.au info@lionsystems.com.au (07) 5443 5050

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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best PAPEr cq: chris shields OORES CREEK TRUNK M Sewer Bridge

incorporated a 35m single span box girder truss bridge on bored pier abutments to convey a new Client: 375dia. heavy duty PE main Rockhampton Regional Council across Moores Ck once again, providing a stronger and smarter Engineering Consultant: configuration to mitigate the Calibre Consulting (Qld) Pty Ltd risk of this infrastructure being lost again in a future natural Geotechnical Consultant: disaster. Associated access Butler Partners (Regional) Pty works, creek bank protection, Ltd temporary retaining structures and piling rig / crane pads were Principal Contractor:

also designed as an integral JMKelly Builders Pty Ltd part of the project to ensure construction was safe and practical.

BACKGROUND: As a result of an existing 375dia. trunk sewer main across Moores Creek in Rockhampton getting destroyed by Tropical Cyclone Marcia in February 2015, Calibre Consulting (Qld) Pty Ltd were commissioned by Rockhampton Regional Council to design a robust replacement solution including provision of geotechnical, civil and structural engineering services, with Butler Partners (Regional) Pty Ltd as a specialist geotechnical sub-consultant.

DESIGN:

Other major considerations i ncluded tides, existing abutment conditions, debris loading, overturning forces and protection against vandalism and the elements. Ease of maintenance and replacement in the future were also closely considered in the final design, to ensure that the solution was not only structurally robust and practical to construct, it was fit for purpose at all points in the life cycle for Rockhampton Regional Council as the asset owner.

PROJECT DELIVERY:

Following a traditional tender The solution was bespoke to process, the Contract was the needs of the project and awarded to JMKelly Builders Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

Pty Ltd as the Principal Contractor. The benefits of true collaboration between Council, Consultants and the Contractor were realised during the construction phase, with the works coming together in a safe, efficient and practical manner to deliver a great outcome.

Chris’s presentation covered all aspects of the design approach, and challenges during design and construction, whilst also discussing the benefits of thinking outside the box early in the project, and making constructability and Safety in Design top priority.

Chris is the Civil Manager for Calibre Consulting (Qld) Pty Ltd in Rockhampton.

Preparation and presentation of a technical paper can earn you up to 45 CPD hours.

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Quality ISO 9001

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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managing change for projects

L E G A L F O C U S

LEE WILSON OF WILSON PARTNERS LAW SHARES HIS INSIGHTS ON MANAGING LEGISLATIVE CHANGE FOR PROJECTS AND PROGRAMS.

C

HANGE MANAGEMENT FOR projects and programs – legislative change

risk that is a legislative change if the procurement documents are insufficient.

Parliament has just finished sitting and guess what? There are a bunch of new laws that you now need to know about, think about or pretend aren’t there. Let me be exact, 3 Acts passed, 22 regulations passed, 37 statutory instruments amended, which are all concisely summarised in the 627 pages of Bills and Regulations.

In this article, we talk about scoping for legislative change and management of change.

Before you get your abacus out to determine what those changes mean to your bottom dollar figure, it is timely to stop and think about how law affects the science, engineering, design and our other technical disciplines and what that means within our contract documents.

A well scoped out project will be able to ensure change does not result in a variation, or at least a variation which is not capable of being absorbed into the contingency.

Whereas a project where the scope is less clear, will need to manage the change more closely.

In the latter case, a contractor will typically agitate a variation for a

S

C O P I N G BENCHMARKING

A N D

For the project to be able to manage change, it needs to be aware of the obligation against which change will be identified and managed. If you are unaware of the risk, then we are not talking about a variation, we are talking about something you simply missed. This is a variation which you cannot avoid.

Let’s start with the normal situation. Normally, contracts will include a variation clause which allows negotiation where there is a change in the scope of the works arising from an increase, decrease, addition, substitution or omission of work from the works. This presumes that there is something which causes a “change” later. But what if you missed it? Let’s deal with scoping first.

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

Broadly speaking, a well-defined scope is essential to define and control project planning, cost estimating, time estimating and scheduling, budgeting, time and cost reporting, developing work packages such as design briefs, construction contracts and so on, reporting on progress against requirements, and finalisation and project evaluation.

These are the core elements for program management frameworks, but they are also the elements upon which we benchmark our delivery and behaviours to assess the overall question, “has this project or program succeeded”.

To take a look at how Department of Transport and Main Roads benchmarks its risk for legislative change, we know it is largely via the Project Cost Estimating Manual. In this document legislative changes are required to be included entirely within the project risk and contingencies portion of the schedule. This takes the form of contingencies for design changes, standards changes, third party influences, project delay and unmeasured and unidentified items.

In the context of scope management for legislative change, we rarely benchmark a complete picture of the legislative

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risk scope. Benchmarking exercises

by Wilson Partners Law has determined there are around 5,000 legislative trigger points which can affect project or program delivery in Queensland alone. I know what you are thinking, because I think the same thing, how do the regulators expect a single program manager, in a regional office with 6 staff, to scope out, manage and implement compliance across our program? How do they expect a single estimator to grasp time and cost of such a vast unknown, to ensure their federal funding application is sufficient, and to dissect those changes into the individual contingency types under the Cost Estimating Manual?

Across the billions of dollars of projects and programs we have been involved in, we have not ever observed a fully scoped out and benchmarked legislative compliance regime prior to our involvement. Program management tends to focus on common legislative areas at a high level, and this might include 20 – 100 Acts and regulations. This is a great job, but there are over 300 Acts and regulations affecting delivery. So we know for current best practice projects only 10% 30% of risks are placed into the known known bucket, whereas 70% - 90% remain in the unknown unknown or the known unknown bucket.

We do this, and often get away with it, because often we don’t get pulled up by third parties on scope, because for the project team it is hard, and believe me, it is harder for third parties who might not fully understand the intricacies of legal frameworks, or the difference between an exempt tree clearing activity vs self-assessable clearing

vs a tree clearing that requires a permit.

For the P90 estimate, an example of an appropriate contingency range is 30% to 40% (table 3.6 of TMR’s Estimating Manual) of the Project.

The challenge here is marrying together the lack of scope clarity (legislative benchmarking) as a function of the overall project contingency. This process will be advised by those with expert knowledge of triggers, timeframe assumptions and cost assumptions for compliance within projects, and feeding those directly into the estimate. Only then will you get a reasonable picture of the time / cost assumptions prior to funding, and delivery.

In this space, we have observed that estimators tend to assess the contingency, based on their expert judgement, knowing what common issues have materialised in the past, then implementing this estimation based on common issues, into the program.

Alternatively, project estimators would conduct a comparative assessment or assess the project against an analogous situation.

The challenge with these approaches is that they are counterproductive to change management, because the change to which you seek to manage, primarily arises from the unknown unknown bucket, meaning it is inside that area of contract management where we hold our breath, the dreaded variation.

TMR for example, has implemented an Environmental Management System which seeks to scope out environmental, planning and

natural resource legislation triggers for the purposes of all project phases, including for estimators.

This is a great step towards identifying legislative issues which later allows benchmarking for change management during later project phases.

This leaves us with a particular taste in our mouths. I hear you saying “well it is too hard, so I wont bother”. However, it is not too hard. All we need to do, is to understand that we are managing 10% – 30 % of the risks via our expert judgement or comparison method, and that upon a risk materialising, having a clear path to managing the change.

M

ANAGEMENT OF C H A N G E for known known risks Talking about management of external change, this is typically implemented as a variation which the contingency has to absorb.

This whole methodology and approach has a massive assumption, that changes are identified and not insurmountable. An example of how incorrect these assumptions are, was the introduction of Wild Rivers legislation in Queensland, resulting in many water sources and quarry resources to become prohibited. In turn, these changed increased haulage by over 10 – 50 km on some projects, which made funding allocations be reallocated.

This means our estimators, program managers and others simply make an assumption (or proceed on the basis without any thought) that no one will notice, there will be no legislative change, the legislative change will not be a material one or the legislative

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change can be absorbed into the existing contingency.

Once your program systems are in place, which has benchmarked project legislative issues, the question becomes, what systems do you have in place which trigger a workflow when a known legislative issue is subject to change? This is often triggered by the contractor saying “hey, legislation change means we get a variation”. This is not always the case, particularly if your tendering documents have identified the risk and implement it appropriately.

Even in TMR, this is left to the accountable officer, to identify and implement these changes.

There are systems in place, such as regular legislation change updates sent across the program, and other

actions, but there is no relationship between those systems and the project management systems. It relies on manual labour of staff.

W

HERE DO WE go?

There are 3 core elements which can reduce the risk and demand on project resources to identify change risks and how they affect delivery. Those are: • A system which benchmarks legislative compliance • That system using common language to project or asset management systems • That advice being fed into planning, estimating, scheduling, tendering and delivery.

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

There is only one system in existence which achieves this presently, but it still in its evaluation phase.

The overall message I hope for anyone reading this is, don’t be worried or ignore this. Remember the word “yes”. There are experts to help. Find experts who use the word “yes” – and this is your team. This is what collaborative engineering is all about.

Lee specialises in infrastructure, project and program evaluation for legal risk and compliance. He will be presenting at the IPWEAQ State Conference in November about bringing together law, science and engineering.

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

Young IPWEAQ program 1. University outreach program

Final year civil engineering students with a keen interest in public works will be chosen by their participating university to receive a complimentary registration to the IPWEAQ state conference (valued at $1,980).

Following the conference, students will submit a report of up to 1,000 words on the conference, the program and streams, their learnings, interactions and their overall experience being a part of our community. These papers will be published in the December issue of Engineering for Public Works.

Participating universities include JCU, CQU, UQ, USQ, QUT.

2. Young Engineer of the Year award

Announced each year at our excellence awards.

3. Career Development

5. Networking

Please contact Craig Moss, IPWEAQ Director Professional & Career Development to discuss your career in public works. Craig will devise a program for you including a professional development path, mentoring and steps to progress to RPEQ and maintenance of your registration.

IPWEAQ offers multiple opportunities each year for members to network with peers including branch conferences and Technical Forums and the state conference which features innovative networking forums.

A

4. Fireside Chat

It is important to ensure a transfer of knowledge and experience between our senior members and our members Under 35 and recent graduates. The ‘fireside chat’, to be launched at the 2016 state conference in Brisbane will feature a senior, IPWEAQ Emeritus member interviewed by U35 members. We’ll learn about our senior engineer’s journey, the changes he has seen in public works in Queensland, his favourite projects and why, and those he would prefer to forget.

6. Scholarships

Various scholarships are available each year including branch scholarships and international study tours for members to travel abroad to review innovative solutions to public works issues and their applicability to local conditions.

Please refer to our Scholarships and Awards program.

B

Members under age 35 receive a 40% discount on their membership (valued at $110) and a C 20% discount on their registration for the state conference (valued at $300).

  

www.ipweaq.com

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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managing traffic at roadworks

FEATURE ARTICLE

QUEENSLAND DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT AND MAIN ROADS PROJECT MANAGER, CORYN HEDGES, INTRODUCES THEIR NEW TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT DESIGN QUALIFICATION. Travelling through road work sites can be a frustrating part of any road trip. A lack of consistency and poor signage are just a couple of the complaints often received from road users.

We all know that traffic management is critical to ensuring the safety of both workers on road and road users. So how do we balance driver experience with required safety outcomes?

been working with the Queensland Police Service to consider speed enforcement options in roadwork sites, while also focussing road work inspection efforts within the department to ensure standards are being met.

To improve education around traffic management the department has recently completed the transition to a new traffic management

Embracing this challenge, Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads has been progressing the Traffic Management at Roadworks project. This project is tasked with delivering traffic management improvements against the three ‘Es”: Engineering, Enforcement and Education.

In the engineering space the department has been updating the technical specifications that support traffic management at roadworks to make planning and decision making easier.

Transport and Main Roads has also Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

design qualification, now required for designing and approving traffic management schemes.

This change in training has been one of the most significant, and widely experienced changes we have adopted to date. The change in the prequalification for training ensures only appropriately experienced individuals can sit the training, and subsequently submit their assessment to become qualified to design traffic management schemes. The training places an appropriate emphasis on the importance of traffic management design skills

55

in meeting the requirements of technical specifications and the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices – Part 3 Works on Road, an emphasis that was not as clear under previous training programs.

Industry has responded to this new qualification by sending it’s best and brightest through the training. As at 31 August 2016, 322 individuals have achieved their Traffic Management Design qualification, and the training and assessment process is still ongoing.

As the improvements from this upskilling ripple out across the state, the department is working with local governments to develop approaches to designing traffic

management for maintenance activities. These activities will be happening between October and December 2016, and will help us to deliver improved safety and consistency at traffic management sites across the entire road network.

To find out more about the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads Traffic Management at Roadworks project please contact: Cor yn Hedges, Project Manager on (07) 30668646 or coryn.j.hedges@tmr.qld.gov.au.

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Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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SAFEROADS flexloc trailer package

KEY FEATURES: • Full aluminium cage • Forklift loadable • Safe side entry access to keep installers off the roads and alert to oncoming traffic • Massive lockable aluminium toolbox complete with gas struts and full length stainless steel piano hinge • Custom built and designed for Flexloc guideposts

After working closely with a number of Councils and a variety of Government bodies, it was apparent that there was a need to improve the the deployment of Roadside Guideposts. As a result Saferoads developed an aluminium trailer designed to securely hold a pallet of Flexloc Guideposts and a lockable toolbox to store all the relevant tools and sockets.

One great innovation with the Flexloc Trailer is that once the pallet is loaded on board, the back doors can be closed up and the side door access allows installers to work from the side of the road, to keep an eye out for oncoming traffic. Another advantage is that the trailer can be geared up and ready to go at any give time, making the operations side of installing Roadside Guideposts much more efficient.

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

For more information contact: Phil Evans Qld Customer Solutions Manager phil.evans@saferoads.com.au www.saferoads.com.au

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

Become a Member Benefits

Join Now Membership of IPWEAQ is open to anyone actively engaged in the delivery of public works and services in Queensland including technical officers, draughtsmen and women, supervisors, fleet managers, project managers, councillors or consultants.

Members enjoy a strong sense of community through our proactive branch network.

IPWEAQ is the peak body representing those working in the public works sector.

Our quarterly e-journal is valued for its technical and industryrelevant content.

IPWEAQ members receive preferential rates for attendance at conferences, professional development, branch events, RPEQ assessments, publications, technical products.

Membership fees annual

$270 plus GST

IPWEAQ technical products are widely-adopted and are leadingedge.

IPWEAQ’s comprehensive professional development program is innovative and exceeds the needs of members and industry.

IPWEAQ conferences are must-attend events.

under 35 members

$160 plus GST

Use your post nominals MIPWEAQ (Member) FIPWEAQ (Fellow)

Apply online at www.ipweaq.com/membership Enquiries

An IPWEAQ excellence award is highly sought after.

IPWEAQ upholds professional standards as an RPEQ assessor.

IPWEAQ influences government and industry.

Carlie Sargent Director | Member Services +61 7 3632 6801 carlie.sargent@ipweaq.com

   www.ipweaq.com

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member profile val shannon

P

member profile

LEASE TELL US about your career to date?

countries was also a significant time in my engineering career.

I attended USQ Toowoomba in the late 1960s and later QUT Brisbane in the early 1970s while working as a Civil Engineering Draftsman with the Irrigation and Water Supply Commission in Brisbane.

I graduated with a Certificate in Civil Engineering in 1973 which is equivalent to the Associate Degree today. My working career in Civil Engineering has spanned the last 46 years with equal time working in the private and public sector in Australia and overseas.

In more recent times working for Local Government, particularly Cairns City Council under John Hawkes, implementing cultural change initiatives that he and the CEO Noel Briges instigated, really opened my eyes to the possibility of serious organisational change and the possibilities of engaging the grassroots workforce in improving how things were done.

I am now Manager Technical Services at the Mareeba Shire Council.

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HAT’S BEEN YOUR most significant career highlight?

There has been a number of highlights in my career so it is difficult to pick one over the other, however my time working for consulting engineers PG Pak-Poy & Assoc in Malaysia in the mid1970s was certainly an amazing experience. Later working for SMEC in Cooma on projects in Borneo and other South East Asian

W

HAT DO YOU find most satisfying about working as an engineer in public works?

Actually I am not an Engineer but an Engineering Manager and the most rewarding part of working in Local Government Engineering is the ability to see the result of your designs and construction come to fruition on the ground. You drive past projects where you have had an input and ownership and can see first hand if it works.

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S THE RECIPIENT of our Technical Manager Award for 2015, what would be the one piece of advice you would give young engineers entering the public

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

works sector?

The best advice I can give is to not get caught up in the politics in your engineering decisionmaking process. This does not mean you ignore the fact that you must justify your decisions to a group of elected Councillors, but do not be swayed by what you think Councillors may want to hear.

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H AT A R E T H E k e y benefits of your IPWEAQ membership?

I have found IPWEAQ membership to be a real advantage in my Local Government career. The journal provides up to date articles relating to the current Local Government thinking, as well as the IPWEAQ conferences which are interesting and relevant to Local Government engineering people. Living and working in the Far North can sometimes be a challenge due to the vastness of the region, however IPWEAQ has managed to pull us all a little closer together to create a contact network which is very helpful when we are faced with new initiatives we are not familiar with.

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member profile Andrew Foster

P

member profile LEASE TELL US about your career to date?

In my early working life, I was involved with the geotechnical aspect of construction and design. This has gradually evolved into quality management, project management and operations management in both the private and public sector.

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HAT’S BEEN YOUR most significant career highlight?

In my early years I would say the establishment of NATA certified base and mobile laboratories for GJ Brandon and Associates that have gone on to become South Queensland Soils. In later years it would be being part of a senior management team at a newly formed Mareeba Shire Council,

after de-amalgamation in 2014, that has successfully brought about sustainability, career and employment opportunities for people in the Far North.

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HAT DO YOU find most satisfying about working as an engineer in public works?

Having the responsibility of delivering capital and maintenance programs that truly do make a significant difference to the rate payers in a large and extremely diverse shire council.

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S THE RECIPIENT of our Works Manager Award for 2015, what would be the one piece of advice you would give young engineers entering the public works sector?

You have two ears and one mouth so use them in that proportion.

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HAT ARE THE key benefits of your IPWEAQ membership?

Wonderful networking opportunities and a large experience and knowledge base to draw from covering many and varied situations and challenges.

If you’re a member, then you are never alone For more information on the benefits of becoming an IPWEAQ member please contact: Carlie Sargent Director, Member Services Carlie.Sargent@ipweaq.com Direct: 07 3682 3601

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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s E Q b r a nc h p r e s i d e nt ’s R e p or t At the time of writing this report, SEQ branch members Andrew Ryan and Gleb Kolenbet will have landed in the USA as part of the 2016 IPWEA International Study Tour sponsored by the IPWEAQ Foundation.

Andrew and Gleb will visit up to eight Local Government Authorities in the USA, Spain and the Netherlands. They will also attend the annual American Public Works conference which attracts around 5,000 delegates. This tour offers an opportunity to share engineering innovations and best practices, town planning knowledge and experience as well as establishing contacts and new networks of learning. Andrew and Gleb are also looking forward to sharing tales of our beautiful part of the world.

This leads to a message about the benefits of being a member of IPWEAQ and gaining or maintaining your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and becoming a Registered Professional Engineer in Queensland (RPEQ). While an international study tour offers

a significant number of CPD hours, there are other more local opportunities to achieve your 150 hours over a three year period.

These include attending a range of IPWEAQ courses on offer for both technical and non-technical subjects and preparing and presenting a paper at an IPWEAQ conference or attending as a delegate.

The next major opportunities for you to register your CPD hours in SEQ are the state conference in Brisbane, 8-10 November and for the SEQ Branch conference at Logan, 9-10 May 2017. Planning has already started for this event with the theme, ‘Building on Smart Solutions’ and we invite you to consider a 20-25 min presentation to your peers. Branch conferences are a great way to develop your public speaking skills amidst the supportive environment of your local branch committee.

Along with the rest of the IPWEAQ board, I recently attended the NQ Branch conference in Lucinda and benefited from a variety of interesting and innovative presentations. The ingenuity of our

members never ceases to amaze me, particularly those operating alone in remote locations. Thank you to the NQ for your hospitality.

For SEQ Branch members, we are planning a half day branch meeting first week of October 2016 and another in late February 2017 leading up to the branch conference in Logan, 9-10 May which will be followed by LOGOV, 11-12 May 2017. More information on these events will be sent to members shortly.

Finally, I invite those of you with an interest in climate change to view the CoastAdapt (beta version) website launched by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF). I have been involved with the End User Reference group for this suite of tools which aims to assist with explanations about climate change for your audience. NCCARF invite you to review and test the website and provide feedback on its quality and utility.

Murray Erbs SEQ Branch President

Our members enjoy a

strong sense of community through our proactive branch network.

SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND BRANCH

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

2016-2017 IPWEAQ

CONFERENCE GRAND SLAM LUCINDA BRISBANE 14-15 September 2016 INOVATION FORUM

qldwater Urban Water Innovation Forum

DALBY

17-19 August 2016 NQ BRANCH CONFERENCE

Tropical Engineering: We do things differently up North! (hosted by Hinchinbrook Shire Council)

BRISBANE 8-10 November 2016 STATE CONFERENCE

Collaborative Engineering (hosted by Brisbane City Council)

2-3 March 2017 SWQ BRANCH CONFERENCE

Crossroads to Resources

YEPPOON

(hosted by Western Downs Regional Council)

LOGAN 9-10 May 2017 SEQ BRANCH CONFERENCE

Building on Smart Solutions (hosted by Logan City Council)

23-25 March 2017 CQ BRANCH CONFERENCE

Service, Resources, Lifestyle (hosted by Livingstone Shire Council)

LOGOV 11-12 May 2017 OUTDOOR EXHIBITION

Public Works and Construction Expo (hosted by Logan City Council)

2016-2017 IPWEAQ CONFERENCE GRAND SLAM

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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tBC adac xml data transfer

T E C H N I C A L F O C U S

CHRIS POWER, UPG GEOSPATIAL APPLICATIONS ENGINEER, EXPLAINS THE FUNCTIONALITY (AND THE MANY ACRONYMS) OF IPWEAQ’S ASSET DESIGN AS CONSTRUCTED SCHEMA ADAC can be viewed as part of a merging between Land Surveying and GIS. It brings the discipline and accuracy of Surveying and the data capability of GIS together establishing benefits to both. For example Surveyors benefit from the expanded use of attribute tree structures as a means to rationalise field code lists, while GIS gains smoother, more reliable data flows. The benefit for the public is that spatial data is sourced directly from ‘as built’ surveys and not filtered through the dubious paradigm of heads up digitization and/or a string of spatial data format conversions.

public works and services assets into a harmonised model is a great achievement. ADAC is putting a big piece of the puzzle in place and this should encourage advocates of data standardisation in Transport and Mining to advance spatial data harmonisation in their respective ‘as built’ and design spatial data environments.

TBC, ADAC and GIS TBC is a ‘next generation’ survey

The standardisation of spatial data is a long warranted requirement.

ICSM have been working towards a harmonised data model since last century. Spatial data users are generally well aware of the benefits of streamlining data, and securing data standardisation at the source is fundamental to its successful implementation. Surveyors are the principle source of critical spatial datasets and ADAC provides a means to put standardisation into everyday workflows. Bringing Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

and construction software package.

The software is underpinned by geodetic architecture which maximises the benefits of global positioning infrastructure and provides a clear and rigorous pathway to translate survey and design information between ground coordinates and standard projections. TBC has undergone extensive expansion reflecting the significant technological advancements which have occurred in Surveying and Spatial Science including GNSS, multistations, laser scanning, UAVs and terrestrial photogrammetry. Part of this expansion has also included the development of strong GIS oriented capabilities including

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a feature attribute spreadsheet which includes a customisable data filtering capability. Given that the ADAC context is easily described in GIS terms, these tools amount to a market advantage as the attribution demands of ADAC are clearly ameliorated by GIS style data manipulation options.

Feature Definition The IPWEAQ ADAC schema provides the standardised data structure which was used as the basis for our feature definition file (ADAC_TBC.fxl). In terms of structure we undertook a degree of ‘flattening’ in order to make use of Trimble’s pre-existing solutions.

For example Trimble’s software package “Feature Definition Manager” uses only three levels (category, feature, attributes) whereas the xml tree structure has, theoretically at least, an unlimited number of classification levels. This was accommodated by creating additional features which are subsequently mapped to and from the original tree structure on import and/or export. An example of this is where the schema calls another classification level to differentiate between circular, rectangular and custom sewerage manhole types, we simply created as separate features in the ADAC_ TBC.fxl. The majority of ADAC features are defined using only three levels.

geometries which are passed into TBC feature objects.

The exporter creates the project header using domain level data stored in the UI (ADAC Settings), then loops through selected objects, allocating objects according to geometry, before creating interim objects (to allow for final adjustments), and mapping these to ADAC features and creating the ADAC xml document. Although the export includes a sanity check to allow for pre-export validation against the schema, this check is currently bypassed due to resource priorities at the time of development. Plans to include this checking in later versions are currently in place.

ADAC Import/Export

Conclusion

The program reads ADAC XML files into in-memory objects containing the file’s descriptive data fields as well as properties to represent ADAC domain class categories and subsequent objects. These are then reflected to obtain feature objects with instantiated attributes and

IPWEAQ’s ADAC schema makes an important contribution to Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure. If an intended effect of the harmonised data model is to reduce the time wasting and data degradation sometimes associated with expedient proprietary format

conversions, then ADAC will easily prove its worth. Data can be transferred to and from any participating platform without significant loss or degradation.

Data specification is divorced from the software proprietor, effectively removing self-interest as a potential design factor, and promoting broader innovation.

TBC functionality easily lends itself to ADAC workflows and this made it a relatively simple process to implement ADAC in TBC. The outlook for ADAC depends on the availability of tools and the ease with which the can be used. TBC has now added another option for Surveyors and Engineers that is definitely worth a look.

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PUBLIC WORKS TECHNICAL SUBSCRIPTION INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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Benefits (SUBSCRIBERS ARE RECOGNISED AS ‘SUPPORTERS’ OF IPWEAQ)  Full access to Standard Drawings which can be shared with constituents. (value $900 per individual user)  Your employees will receive a 10% discount on their annual IPWEAQ membership subscription (value $30 per employee)  One Council delegate to attend one branch conference (value $330-$660) plus the state conference (value $1,650$1,980) each year  Complimentary subscription to the Lower Order Road Design Guidelines (LORDG) (value $200-$500 each year)

 Discounted rates to purchase IPWEAQ technical products including ADAC, Complete Streets and QUDM (up to 15% discount)  Free job advertisements in ‘Connect’ our fortnightly e-news service (value $200 per advertisement)  Your logo on the IPWEAQ website linked to your website

$4,000 (plus GST)

 Opportunity to include notices in ‘Connect’ our fortnightly e-news service  Opportunity to publish articles in our quarterly e-journal ‘Engineering for Public Works’

PO Box 2100 Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 4/43-49 Sandgate Road Albion QLD 4010

 Phone 07 3632 6801  carlie.sargent@ipweaq.com www.ipweaq.com

IPWEAQ Public Works Technical Subscription

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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students taking the high road

ACADEMIC ARTICLE

DANIELLE LESTER FRICS, A CHARTERED QUANTITY SURVEYOR AND PHD CANDIDATE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND, EXPLAINS HOW THE ICARUS PROGRAM HELPS BUDDING YOUNG ENGINEERS MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS TO GET THEM ON THE FAST TRACK TO SUCCESS. Two billion dollars. That’s the combined amount of tax payer’s money lost due to cost overruns on just three of Brisbane’s biggest transport infrastructure projects1.

As a quantity surveyor and commercial manager I have often asked myself why engineers make the decisions they do, that lead to these significant cost overruns.

It should be noted at this point that I am not only referring to investment decisions made at an executive level, but also the dayto-day decisions being made in design offices, pre-contract departments and on site when deciding to schedule a concrete pour, just a few examples.

whilst over estimating the benefits; and Deception, or strategic misrepresentation, in principle fudging numbers (figure 1).

performance outcomes the norm, not the exception.

This and my own project experiences led me on a campaign to investigate the root cause of this behaviour, which naturally led to an evaluation of education.

Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg2 has proved that we consistently underperform in terms of cost, time and overall benefits, which he infers is due to two main behaviours3. Delusion, or optimism bias - the tendency to under estimate costs and time

After reviewing the courses on offer to Civil Engineering Students globally, it quickly became apparent that the majority of programmes available are very heavy with technical skills, offering students little to no exposure to

On every project I’ve worked I ask the question ‘OK, how are we going to manage this one’ and the response is always ‘well let’s not reinvent the wheel here’ unfortunately, that is exactly what happens, with no lessons being learned between projects. It’s the decisions behind statements like these that make poor project Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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concepts of business or project management, let alone the concepts of risk, complexity and ambiguity.

After teaching a project management course for civil engineers, it again became apparent that it wasn’t as simple as including a Project Management course in the curriculum. Students were struggling to see the bigger picture. During this period of teaching, the Icarus Program 4 was introduced at the University of Queensland, a co-curricular add-on to the standard curriculum, to give students small group experience in applied research.

The Icarus Program coupled with my own project experiences and feedback from industry peers, led to an opportunity to test the

belief that leadership and culture are ultimate factors contributing to superior project performance.

A mixed methods research study was designed aiming to answer the following question: What role can Engineering Education play in enhancing the decisionmaking behaviour of graduate Civil Engineers? As the study was so exploratory it began by interviewing students about the decisions they make every day.

Motivation 5 featured heavily, particularly a conflict between interest and enjoyment and the reward structure of traditional education and industry.

Furthermore, all students were able to identify an ethical issue, but ALL 4th years followed their

observation with ‘but it’s not a big deal’.

Deception occurs in environments of pressure, incentives and rationalisation, or availability bias, a mental shortcut we use when evaluating a decision ‘but it’s not a big deal!’. By treating ethical decision making as supplementary to a course like project management, are we not guilty of sending our engineers out in to industry with a blinkered view of the world?

After establishing the main themes present in undergraduate decision making, being extrinsic or intrinsic motivation a quantitative element was introduced to the study. By testing levels of critical thinking and interest and enjoyment, I was

Figure 1: Likelihood of Delusion and Deception in Megaprojects Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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hoping to see if the Icarus program had an impact on decision making.

The most significant results were found in constructs linked to people, namely their instructors and relationships with their peers.

Self Determination Theory (SDT) considers the interplay between extrinsic forces and intrinsic motives6. Autonomy, competence and relatedness are considered central to high quality forms of motivation, including enhanced performance, persistence, and creativity. Furthermore, SDT indicates a detrimental impact on wellness should any of these three psychological needs remain unsupported within a social context (Deci and Ryan, 2000).

Critical Thinking scores were also higher on average amongst Icarus participants, compared to their peers in the wider cohort.

So in offering Icarus, we appear to be attracting a group of students that not only think critically, but are also seeking additional leadership and culture features from their education to help them understand the world outside. Moreover, when we consider the quantity of graduating civil engineers working in roles of engineering and building professionals; the majority of which enter, or at the

very least have some exposure to, the field of Project Management, we can begin to appreciate to likelihood of matters of complexity and ambiguity becoming less and less important as the world around us becomes more and more so Further exploration is required, but these initial findings suggest that we are on the right road to inspiring students to take the left lane on to the high road and not just follow the same old highway.

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BOUT THE AUTHOR

Danielle Lester FRICS, is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor with Commercial Management experience in major and mega transport infrastructure projects in the UK, USA, and Australia since 2004. Danielle is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, and has guest lectured in both Australia and the USA on the fundamentals of superior project performance outcomes. As a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Danielle also sits on the Oceania Education Standards Board; setting, maintaining and raising standards in land, property, and construction education.

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

References: 1. Clem 7, Airport Link and Brisbane Airtrain – The Melbourne Urbanist, Sept 2, 2010. Alan Davies.

2. Chair of Major Programme Management at Said Business School, Oxford University 3. Flyvbjerg, B., Garbuio, M., and Lavallo, D., 2009. Delusion and deception in large infrastructure projects: Two models for explaining and preventing executive disaster, California Management Review, 2009. 51(2): p. 170-193.

4. http://www.civil.uq.edu.au/ icarus/home 5. Extrinsic Motivation – Rewards, Grades, Salary. Intrinsic Motivation – Interest, Enjoyment.

6. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. 2000.

Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and wellbeing. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78.

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PUBLICATIONS

Asset Design As Constructed

Lower Order Road Design Guide

ADAC is a strategic solution for quality data capture and management for government and utilities.

This guide offers a risk-based approach to lower road capital improvement.

Complete Streets

Standard Drawings

A community focused how-to for contemporary urban street design.

Standard Drawings for General, Drainage and Water Quality, Parks, Roads, Homeowner.

Supervisor’s Handbook

Queensland Urban Drainage Manual

For supervisors and staff working on local government projects in the field.

For engineers and stormwater designers in the planning, design and management of urban stormwater drainage systems.

IPWEAQ PUBLICATIONS

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016

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Engineering for Public Works

MEDIA KIT 2016 INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS. IPWEAQ is the peak body representing those working in the public works sector in Queensland. Our mission is to create a vibrant, vital, supportive community of professionals which serves to enhance the quality of life for all Queensland communities.

Our members take great pride in the projects they deliver because they know they’re making a difference. And in delivering projects for their communities, our members rely on the expertise and resources of a number of valued suppliers and consultants. IPWEAQ continues to attract industry leaders as our partners and supporters who assist us in growing our networks and staying on the cutting edge of best practice.

In addition to our strong sense of community and proactive branch network, our leading-edge technical products are widely-adopted.

IPWEAQ’s comprehensive, innovative professional development program exceeds the needs of members and industry and our excellence awards are highly sought after. We continue to advocate on behalf of our members to government and industry.

MEDIA KIT 2016

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Publication dates & themes June 2016 Bookings due Artwork and editorial due

Connecting Queensland with roads, bridges technology, connecting people, connecting communities 1st May 2016 15th May 2016

Bookings due Artwork and editorial due

Managing change within projects, within structures, within organisations, within communities, within individuals 1st August 2016.

15th August 2016

December 2016 Bookings due Artwork and editorial due

Paving the Way for generations to come, leadership, road paving, street design.

1st Nov 2016 15th Nov 2016

September 2016

Engineering for Public Works

Distribution: online journal sent

to over 5,000 IPWEAQ members, partners, supporters, mayors and council CEOs.

is the primary professional publication for the public works and civil engineering community in Queensland.

Why advertise with IPWEAQ? Our first issue received over

20,000

Content: Each issue features a major project, technical articles, case studies, academic and legal articles, a member profile, article from LGAQ and a local council feature plus reports from our state and branch presidents, CEO and our subsidiary, the Queensland Water Directorate (QWD).

digital impressions.

Readership:

engineers and those actively involved in public works projects including technical officers and supervisors, procurement personnel, asset and fleet managers, mayors, council CEOs, consultants and those supplying equipment, products and services to the public works sector.

MEDIA KIT 2016

Engineering for Public Works | September 2016