EPW September 2019

AN NU A L CO NFER ENC E F EATU RE ARTICLE RE GI O N A L RE P O RT ME MBE R N E W S

ALL THE NEWS ON #IPWEAQ19

MBRC STORMWATER PIPE INSPECTION

WESTERN CAPE ENGAGEMENT

MEMBER PROFILE: BRIANNA BARNETT

3 days, 4 tech tours, 12 streams, 36 papers and 50 exhibitors.

It’s just over a month away – find out what’s happening at #IPWEAQ19 in October. p.14

How Moreton Bay Regional Council have been using CCTV to proactively inspect their stormwater pipes for over 10 years. p.34

Craig Moss reports on his recent trip to western Cape York with LGAQ to engage with indigenous and remote councils. p.38

Meet Brianna Barnett, Senior Works Manager at Western Downs Regional Council.

Brianna talks about her career in civil construction. p.52

ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS

ISSUE No.15

www.ipweaq.com

CONTENTS ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS | SEPT 2019

»»PROJECT & FEATURE ARTICLES »» »» »» »» »» »» »» »» »» »» »»

Mt Archer Nurim Circuit Elevated Boardwalk.................8 #IPWEAQ19 Conference Feature........................................14 MBRC’s stormwater pipe inspection program................34 Western Cape Engagement................................................38 If we want liveable cities in 2060…..................................44 Asset Management - AI & Digital Initiatives....................48 Changing bogies on the Trans-Siberian...........................50 Working Relationships in Rural Communities................56 Designing the future..........................................................65 Northern Roads Symposium...............................................60 Understanding direct supervision...................................66

»»COMMUNITY NEWS »» »» »» »» »» »» »» »» »» »» »»

President’s Report................................................................6 CEO’s Report.........................................................................12 Message from the Lord Mayor..........................................22 Community News..................................................................26 Member Profile: Darren Carlson.....................................30 Queensland shines at IPWEA awards................................43 Member Profile: Brianna Barnett....................................52 SEQ Branch President’s Report.........................................59 NQ Branch President’s Report..........................................61 SWQ Branch President’s Report........................................63 CQ Branch President’s Report...........................................64

»»IPWEAQ UPDATES »» »» »» »» »» »»

People & Capability Report................................................70 Next Generation Report.....................................................74 iMPACT Report......................................................................77 Knowledge Centre Report.................................................78 Standard Drawings Review................................................79 ADAC Report..........................................................................81

»»QLDWATER NEWS

»» CEO’s Report.........................................................................84 »» Aussie’s Experience of the NZ Water Industry...............85 »» Sharing brings best practice to Solomon Water...........87

COMING UP this QUARTER September 10 Erosion and Sediment Control L3 (Advanced) BRISBANE 11 SEQ Series NOOSA 12 Type A, B & D Sediment Basin Design BRISBANE 17-19 BIW L1&2 CAIRNS

October 17 Erosion and Sediment Control L2 (Intermediate) TOWNSVILLE 22-24 Annual Conference + Excellence Awards BRISBANE 24 SEQ General Meeting 31 Erosion and Sediment Control L2 (Intermediate) BRISBANE November 4-6 BIW L1&2 BRISBANE 11 Erosion and Sediment Control L2 (Intermediate) DARWIN 12-14 Erosion and Sediment Control L3 (Advanced) DARWIN 13 Critical Risk Management BRISBANE 14 Type A, B & D Sediment Basin Design DARWIN 20 SEQ Series – SUNSHINE COAST 20 Managing Lower Order Roads DARWIN 26 Erosion and Sediment Control L3 (Advanced) BRISBANE 27-28 Drainage for Road Design MACKAY 28 Type A, B & D Sediment Basin Design BRISBANE

Engineering for Public Works |September 2019

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Queensland communities ready for bushfire season

EDITORIAL

As we prepare to publish this issue of Engineering for Public Works, firefighters are battling more than 85 dangerous bushfires across Queensland.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (OFES) Inspector Andrew Sturgess said the state had never before seen such serious bushfire conditions so early in spring, pointing to extraordinary fire danger ratings, temperature records 10 degrees hotter than usual and limited change of rainfall over the days, weeks and months ahead.

Up to 650 firefighters are currently deployed across the state and 27 aircraft are being used to drop water from above. Acting Fire Commissioner Mike Wassing is assuring Queenslanders that emergency services are ready with significant capability to manage

any emerging issues and that Queensland can call on support from interstate resources should it be needed.

Bushfire readiness is a shared responsibility between government, emergency services and the community. We thank the teams in our dedicated local councils as they help plan, prepare and work within their communities for what is being called potentially our most dangerous bushfire season yet.

IPWEAQ has again made a small donation to the Queensland State Emergency Service (SES) on behalf of our members. The SES is an NFP with approximately 6,200 active and unpaid members who perform a diverse range of functions to respond to local, state and national disasters and emergencies. Donations help to

provide essential equipment that assists volunteers in performing the many and varied functions that are required by their communities.

For more information on the SES or to make a donation yourself, you can head to the SES website.

To members of the IPWEAQ community, family and friends who have been impacted by these latest fires, our thoughts are with you as you begin the recovery and reconstruction process.

To our colleagues who will be dealing with the loss and damage to critical infrastructure and services over the coming months, please let us know if you need any assistance. Our community is ready and able to help.

Belinda Smith Director, Marketing & Communications

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

IPWEAQ ANNUAL

CONFERENCE Royal International Convention Centre, Brisbane 22-24 October 2019

MISS

Please join us for the 2019 IPWEAQ Annual Conference, 22 - 24 October 2019 at the Royal International Convention Centre (RICC) Brisbane.

If you were fortunate enough to join us for #IPWEAQ18 on the Gold Coast, we don’t have to tell you that our annual conference is growing each year and we anticipate #IPWEAQ19 will be bigger and better again! We anticipate 500+ delegates and an exclusive group of 50 exhibitors.

We look forward to welcoming you to #IPWEAQ19 Brisbane at the RICC in October 2019!

www.ipweaq.eventsair.com/ipweaq-annual-conference-brisbane/

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities available please contact Monica Robertson on 3632 6802 or Monica.Robertson@ipweaq.com

#IPWEAQ19

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PARTNERS

IPWEAQ PRINCIPAL PARTNERS

ENTERPRISE PARTNERS

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

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president’s Report

IPWEAQ 2018 Annual Conference.

This is my last report as President and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support over the past two years. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the role and on the IPWEAQ Board, and look forward to continuing to contribute over the coming years.

I first joined the IPWEAQ Board in 2010 as the SWQ Branch President. Unfortunately not long after, Queensland was hit with catastrophic flooding. In the south-west, we saw major flooding, deaths and evacuations in Toowoomba, Grantham and throughout the Darling Downs and Lockyer Valley. Nine years later,

2019 President's Breakfast with John Tannahill and Phil Atley from Komatsu.

it is a similar yet different story with many areas across the state afflicted by severe drought. In the Southern Downs where I am the Director Infrastructure Services, we will soon be carting water to Stanthorpe from Warwick with no sign of any meaningful rain. If only we could have a portion of the rains that hit the region in 2010-2011. At the time of writing this report, I am attending another LDMG meeting with numerous bushfires raging in the Stanthorpe area.

and how engineers from across councils and the private sector work together to resolve issues.

And so I am proud that this year saw the launch of Engineers for Disaster Relief – a program for our retired members (and anyone else) who can volunteer to help out colleagues in the event of a natural disaster. Thank you to those who have already volunteered, and I encourage others to register with our CEO so that we are ready for the next disaster to hit our state.

In the 2010 Annual Report, my first as the SWQ Branch President, I mentioned that it was during these extreme events that we see evidence of the close-knit community we are all a part of,

Also in my first year on the IPWEAQ Board, we launched Complete Streets and I pleased to confirm the new iteration of Complete Streets – the Street Planning & Design Manual (name still to be

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IPWEAQ 2017 Annual Conference in Townsville with Kathi Jeyandran.

2018 SWQ Branch Conference Charity Auction in Goondiwindi with Sean Rice.

finalised) will be launched at the Annual Conference next month by the Hon Cameron Dick, Minister for State Development, Planning, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning. This new publication has been several years under development and has received overwhelming support from all stakeholders across the spectrum of those involved in planning and development.

The Annual Conference (formerly ‘state conference’) was held in Bardon in 2010 with 137 delegates.

Next month, we are expecting 500 delegates in Brisbane. If you have not registered as yet, please be sure to do so to avoid missing out on this highly anticipated event which is a reflection of the strength of our growing community.

In 2010, I was the recipient of an International Study Tour sponsored by the IPWEA Queensland Foundation and travelled to the USA and UK with Graham Cook of Western Downs Regional Council. While there is no longer a formalised study

2018 NQ Branch Conference in Cairns with Bruce Gardiner.

IPWEAQ 2018 Annual Conference Gala Dinner with Kim Murphy and Ged Brennan.

tour, we invite members to apply for a scholarship to attend an international tour or conference of your choosing. Please contact our CEO for details.

My final task as your President will be to see through the adoption of a new constitution and company structure that will futureproof the Institute and provide a solid platform for the next generation to mould and adapt the organisation to respond to a constantly changing environment.

Importantly, we have worked through these changes with IPWEA to ensure the commitment between the two organisations remains strong and is documented in a binding agreement. Please

President's Breakfast 2018 with Natalie Walsh and Clancy Feuerriegel from MS Queensland.

continue to send in your Proxy Forms and please be sure to support these important reforms.

Thank you once again for the privilege of being your President.

And thank you to my fellow Board members and to all our staff.

Seren McKenzie President

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

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Mount Archer Nurim Circuit Elevated Boardwalk

PROJECT ARTICLE

Colin Strydom, Designer + Architect Locals can now enjoy the natural beauty and breathtaking views from the Mount Archer Nurim Circuit Elevated Boardwalk as part of the Fraser Park masterplan for Rockhampton Regional Council.

Project description The new elevated boardwalk at the top of Mt Archer is the main feature of the ongoing Fraser Park masterplan for the Local Council of Rockhampton. The design process started in mid-2017 and completed in November 2018. The project was a collaborative effort involving council landscape architect, Michael

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

Ramsay, council project managers, local consultants, contractors, Indigenous Elders and National Parks specialists. The client’s vision was to create an elevated boardwalk off the face of Mt Archer allowing a new experience and new take in the outstanding views.

The snake-like curvature of the boardwalk weaves itself through

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the trees, which is a nod to the lifeblood of Rockhampton, the mighty Mundagara Rainbow Serpent (Fitzroy River) that lies at Mount Archer’s foothills. Every section of the boardwalk offers a different experience, a different view to appreciate, or a different story to be told. Various lookouts and informal gathering spaces provide opportunities where locals and tourists can explore, learn and connect with nature and share the many stories of the local region.

The intention was to create a wheelchair-friendly, non-obtrusive structure that allows the visitor to immerse themselves in the nature and views that surrounds.

The structure itself playing second fiddle and only acts as a means to experience the breathtaking views and the natural setting.

The boardwalk itself are meant to feel organic but at the same time ensuring minimal environmental impact during construction, cost effective and low ongoing maintenance further on.

The extreme slope of the mountain was the main shaper and creator of the design and structure. Rather than levelling out the slopes, the existing terrain was respected, and the boardwalk only gently touches the slope when needed.

With remote access to the site and a steep drive up the mountain, the design team had to come up with an alternative construction methodology (with a major emphasis on safety). Inspiration was found in the building principles of Meccano and Lego - Constructing the boardwalk in transportable smaller sections offsite and then then installing, bit by bit. This created minimal works on site and almost no requirement for scaffolding, reducing risk of safety.

The materials were carefully selected to minimise the risk of fire and to increase sustainability and longevity. Concrete was used for the footings, galvanised steel for the balustrades and structure (some beams were erected on an angle to reflect the local trees) and native ironbark timber for the boardwalk and handrails. To honour the traditional custodians of the land, local Indigenous Darumbal art are gently weaved into parts of the balustrading, edged on aluminium and stainless steel.

The design has formed a unique experience for all, reconnecting them with nature and providing an alternative ‘look’ onto the Fitzroy

river, surrounding escarpment and local town below. The Indigenous Australian heritage is almost tangible as one ventures through the boardwalk. The boardwalk provides a sense of discovery, adventure and mystery as you wander through the different sections. It is a truly unique experience that makes you feel at one with nature.

Summary The snake-like curvature of the boardwalk weaves itself through the trees, which is a nod to the mighty Mundagara or Rainbow Serpent (Fitzroy River) that lies at Mount Archer’s foothills. Every section of the boardwalk offers a

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

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different experience, a different view to appreciate, or a different story to be told. Various lookouts and informal gathering spaces provide opportunities where locals and tourists can explore, learn and connect with nature and share the many stories of the local region.

The intention was to create a wheelchair-friendly, non-obtrusive structure that allows the visitor to immerse themselves in the nature and views that surrounds.

The structure itself playing second fiddle and only acts as a means to experience the breathtaking views and the natural setting.

The boardwalk itself are meant to

feel organic but at the same time ensuring minimal environmental impact during construction, cost effective and low ongoing maintenance further on.

Practice Team • Colin Strydom, Designer + Architect • Alex Stein, Other, Design / drafter • Deborah Morris, Other, Render / visual Consultant / Collaboration Team • Michael Ramsay, Designer + Landscape/Urban Consultant • Malcolm Stewart, Engineer • Thomas Olsen, Project Manager

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

• Luke Studdert, Civil Consultant • Neil Kershaw, National Parks Specialist • Marcus Bree, Visual Designer • Christine Bell, Project Manager • Boyd Hall, Construction Manager

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

IPWEAQ Membership Join us today!

Why become a member?

As an IPWEAQ member, you’ll have all the networks, resources, support and representation you need to succeed and grow in your career in the public works sector.

Member benefits:

Everything you need to know about our industry and your career with regular updates, invitations, newsletters and our quarterly journal, Engineering for Public Works

Access to industry-specific content in our globallyrecognised Knowledge Centre

Discounts for our must-attend conferences and events

Contribute to our renowned technical Working Groups delivering solutions for Queensland communities

Who can become a member?

Membership is open to anyone actively involved in the delivery of public works and services in Queensland including technical officers, supervisors, fleet managers, project managers, finance and HR professionals, councillors and consultants.

JOIN ONLINE!

Discounts for our highly-regarded professional development program

Discounts on our leadingedge technical products and publications

MEMBERSHIP FEES 2019-2020 We represent your interests to government ensuring your voice is heard

$290 plus GST Members under age 35

$180 plus GST

Student membership

We now offer Student membership for full-time civil engineering students and related disciplines for the duration of their university studies. See page 85.

For enquiries, please contact Relationship Manager Johanna.Vanling@ipweaq.com or 07 3632 6803

  

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CEO’s Report I’m certain most of you are feeling the pace and intensity of 2019 as we leap into September. It has been a tumultuous year in terms of extreme weather events from floods to fires and our thoughts are with colleagues facing major infrastructure damage following an early start to an intensive bushfire season; the worst start to a bushfire season in our history. At the time of writing this report, 85 fires are blazing across Queensland with property losses around Stanthorpe, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

If you are available to volunteer your time and expertise to assist colleagues in the aftermath, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Most of our attention for the next six weeks will be devoted to preparing for what we expect will be another memorable Annual Conference for you. Please see the testimonials from the last few conferences held on the Gold Coast, Townsville and Brisbane if you need convincing that this is the premier event for our sector, not just in Queensland but Australia.

Last year on the Gold Coast we recorded our largest delegation to date with 485 attendees. And you probably won’t be surprised to learn that 54% of delegates register in the last two weeks prior to the event which doesn’t make

it easy for planning purposes.

We have therefore become quite skilled actuaries and have a delegate predictor competition amongst the team. Your assistance ensuring my victory in this competition would be most appreciated. Please register today!

However, it is not just about the numbers. It is about our community and creating opportunities for everyone in our sector to engage with us but then that is why the numbers are important – more people sharing more ideas and experiences strengthens our communities.

And being a part of our community is also about having fun and socialising with likeminded professionals (another highlight of our Annual Conference). Our successful Team

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

IPWEAQ rides out again this month for the Ride the Range and the Brisbane to Gold Coast Cycle Challenge. If you would like to join Team IPWEAQ and receive a Team IPWEAQ jersey to promote ‘public works engineering’, please contact Johanna. We are looking for more rides elsewhere across the state. Plot your own course and incorporate local infrastructure projects you’re proud to share with us; anything at all.

I am really looking forward to seeing you all again next month at the Annual Conference! And Proxy Forms – if you are not able to join us, please do send in your Proxy Form for the General Meeting 24 October 2019!

Leigh Cunningham Chief Executive Officer

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Notice of Annual General Meeting with Special Resolutions The 2019 Annual General Meeting of members of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia, Queensland will be held as follows: Date: Thursday 24 October 2019 Time: 12:45pm - 1:15pm Venue: Royal International Convention Centre, Meeting Rooms 1 & 2 Eligibility to Attend: You must be a financial member Quorum: 17 members in person or by proxy. Please be prompt as the meeting will start on time!

If you are unable to join us for the AGM, please complete a Proxy Form and return by email before 4pm, Thursday 10 October 2019.

AGENDA 1. Welcome 2. S pecial Resolution - that the Institute becomes a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLBG) and adopts the new constitution as circulated to members (which supports the CLBG) 3. M inutes of Previous AGM, 12 October 2018 4. R eceive and adopt the Annual Report including

Financial Report for the year ended 30 June 2019 5. Appointment of auditor for 2019-2020 6. Election of Board (2019-2021) The net profit of the Institute for 2018-2019 including the Institute as an individual entity, the Queensland Water Directorate (qldwater), a business registered by the Institute and the IPWEA Queensland Foundation, a trust established on behalf of members was $157,000. As a registered charity, the Institute is tax exempt.

Note: Section 70 of the Associations Incorporation Act requires the Board to consider the need for public liability insurance and to report this to members at the AGM. The IPWEAQ Board has determined that there is such a need and policies are in place.

If you have any queries regarding the Annual Report and/or accompanying Financial Report, please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to seeing you in Brisbane for another memorable IPWEAQ event. Please note that registrations for #IPWEAQ19 close in four weeks!

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

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#IPWEAQ19 Conference Feature

the PREMIER PUBLIC WORKS EVENT 3 Days + 4 Tech Tours + 12 Streams + 36 papers + 50 exhibitors =

Queensland’s premier public works event of 2019!

Keynotes and Presentations Our Annual Conference is just over a month away with over 500 delegates expected at the Royal International Convention Centre, Brisbane 22-24 October!

Following the Tech Tours, join us for the official Welcome Function on Day One to be held in the plenary/exhibition halls. You've enjoyed IPWEAQ Bingo and IPWEAQ puzzles and now to the

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

Amazing Race. Stay tuned for details.

Day One will also see the launch of our Design Thinking Session for delegates under age 35.

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#IPWEAQ19 Conference Feature Design Thinking is a methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems focussing on understanding the user perspective with a humancentred point of view.

Day One also includes four Technical Tours showcasing a range of projects across Brisbane.

Visit our conference website for more information. Please note some tours have limited availability so please be sure to register early to avoid disappointment!

Day Two kicks off with Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor, Adrian Schrinner welcoming delegates to the conference.

The comprehensive program over two days includes 12 streams with presentations on safer roads, water solutions and utilities, innovations in structures, assessment management and professional practice. With an unprecedented number of submissions this year, we can assure you of the high calibre of presentation and topics of interest to everyone.

Our incredible line-up of keynote speakers is sure to impress with the addition of a fourth keynote speaker to this year’s program.

• Marita Cheng 2012 Young Australian of the Year and women in technology advocate

• Mick Colliss A man who found a unique way to represent his country

• David Bartlett David was the 43rd Premier of the Australian State of Tasmania

Other 2019 Conference features include a panel discussion on 'Future Australia - planning for our communities in 2050', and the Great Debate arguing rural/ regional (public works) engineers are more adaptable than their city counterparts’.

There are numerous opportunities to network throughout the conference - Welcome Function, lunch and morning/afternoon teas - and also at the highly anticipated 2019 IPWEAQ Excellence Awards.

This year, Queensland won big time at the Australasian awards also taking home Project of the Year, and this year's winners are sure to make their mark at the 2021 Australasian awards.

The Closing function this year will be held at the very cool Welcome To Bowen Hills food hall.

With record numbers of delegates expected this year, 50 exhibitors and a comprehensive program, join us in Brisbane for what is guaranteed to be an incredible three days!

• Mr Hengky Tay Director Physical Planning Infrastructure Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

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#IPWEAQ19 Conference Feature

TECHNICAL Tours

We have a variety of Technical Tours at this year's Annual Conference on Day One, Tuesday 22 October 2019. Delegates can choose from: Tech Tour One: Brisbane Airport Corporation Brisbane Airport is Queensland’s major aviation and business hub with over 23 million passengers each year. This tour offers delegates an appreciation of the strategic planning involved for the sustainability of this precinct.

You will also learn about the construction of the new runway including the challenges presented by this low-lying site with very poor strength soils likened to the consistency of toothpaste.

Tech Tour Two: Kingsford Smith Drive The Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade will improve the capacity to meet the future needs of

the traffic network on one of Brisbane’s busiest roads. Once completed, this project will be an entry statement to Brisbane, transforming one of the city’s most significant routes into a vibrant urban corridor with the Brisbane River as the centrepiece. This tour will provide delegates with an understanding of the completed works, remaining works required, and an overview of the unique set of civil and structural construction challenges faced throughout the project.

Tech Tour Three: Komatsu Wacol Facility Tour The Komatsu Wacol facility is a one-stop shop for customers with the sale, service, assembly and remanufacturing of mining and construction equipment taking place on site. Consisting of three large central buildings, house office, mining and construction machine assembly, service

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

workshop and remanufacturing functions, with a fully enclosed wash bay building, boiler-maker and track press shop, and an extensive paint-shop building.

Tech Tour Four: Luggage Point Innovation Centre A sewage treatment plant isn’t usually a must-see for visitors but Queensland Urban Utilities’ Innovation Centre is putting Luggage Point on the world map. Delegates will experience a research facility that is at the forefront of the advancement of water management systems, designing and testing ideas that benefit the environment and our communities. Featuring the world’s largest replica water main (1.2km long!), scientists are able to accomplish truly ground breaking work that transforms water networks.

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#IPWEAQ19 Conference Feature

EMERGING Professionals

Throughout #IPWEAQ19, emerging public works professionals will have an opportunity to learn and network with others across the sector.

Highlights for #IPWEAQ19 include: Design Thinking session Sponsored by Aurecon, this workshop will equip Emerging Professionals with design thinking tools utilising the CASE framework.

We will work through a relevant and immediate challenge experienced by Emerging Professionals in the public works engineering sector applying the CASE framework.

Welcome Lunch We invite those aged under 35 to an informal lunch to connect with others in the industry, including our IPWEAQ Ambassadors, Jessica Kahl (SEQ), Josh Flanders (NQ), Ben Ash (CQ) and Maddie Stahlhut (SWQ).

Professional Headshots A photographer will be present

during the Welcome Lunch for professional profile photos, to use on LinkedIn and for other professional branding.

Buddy Program During the Welcome Lunch, you may choose to be partnered with an experienced public works professional to help you navigate the Annual Conference. If you are interested in becoming a Conference Buddy to guide an Emerging Professional, please contact Nadia Marks.

Young Engineer of the Year This prestigious award sponsored

by GenEng will be presented to one of our four nominees. We'd like to gather all our Emerging Professionals together for a group photo after the award winner is announced.

Great Debate Join us as IPWEAQ Ambassadors, Ben Ash, (Civil Engineer, George Bourne & Associates Consulting Engineers) and Jessica Kahl, (Civil Engineer, Aurecon) battle it out

during the Great Debate arguing whether or not rural/regional engineers are more adaptable than their city counterparts.

Conference Guide We are very proud to launch our special Conference Guide for Emerging Professionals! With a range of tips before, during and after the conference, this will help you get the most out of your conference experience.

INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

Conference Guide for

EMERGING PROFESSIONALS

Specific U35 must attend events

Before the conference

want and plan your sessions – you don’t for trying to decide what to do! Look to waste precious time at the event to explore their topics. videos or information about the presenters specific at least 10 new people, or meet one  Set a personal goal, eg meet you can present to the team at work. person, or learn about something what your and yourself about introduction  Prepare a genuine ‘one liner’ question someone will ask you, so company does. It is usually the first people. new meeting dence being prepared will help your confi  Pack business cards.

 Review the venue map, program

 Design thinking workshop:

learn CASE

framework and use it at work!

 U35 lunch.

 Industry buddy conference  Professional photographer

program. to take

social media portrait photo.

During sessions

speech, and absorb the content and fully focus enjoy the session. away to remove distractions.  Quickly write down three key takeaways at the end of the session, this will help jog your memory when you are back at work.

 Don’t take notes during the

 Put your phone on silent and

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

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www.ipweaq.com

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

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#IPWEAQ19 Conference Feature

Women in Engineering

In 2018, 20.5% of IPWEAQ Annual Conference attendees were women. And to encourage more women to our sector and into our community, we will be launching a Women in Public Works Engineering Master Class sponsored by GHD. Facilitated by Dr Jillian Kenny, 'diversity as a superpower' will deliver relevant and authentic development strategies with tangible takeaways for delegates in an interactive and engaging setting.

Jillian holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) and a PhD from Queensland University of Technology and now primarily focuses her time on leadership, women in engineering and encouraging younger generations to consider a career in engineering.

Marita Cheng, a keynote speaker will present on Robotics in the Future of Work. Marita, 2012 Young Australian of the Year, is a technology entrepreneur and women in technology advocate with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechatronics) / Bachelor of

Computer Science from the University of Melbourne. Marita is the founder and CEO of 2Mar Robotics which makes a telepresence robot, Teleport, allowing kids in hospital with cancer to attend school, opportunities for people with a disability to work and for the elderly to stay connected. We are thrilled to have Marita present at #IPWEAQ19.

We will be showcasing the role of women in public works engineering with presentations from the following speakers: • Prue Oswin, Sidelines Traffic, Applying Safe Systems principles to raised priority crossings for pedestrian and cyclist paths • Nicole Bichel, SLR Consulting, Thabeban master drainage strategy – a wholistic approach to reducing flooding and increasing development yield in flat terrain • Anne Kolega, BMT Global, Evolution in flood modelling based on the example of the Eudlo Creek crossing over the Bruce Highway

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• Katie Fletcher, ARUP, Biophilic waterway design: filling the gap in stormwater management guidelines • Sarah Hausler, McCullough Robertson, How should I decide?

Development assessment and conditions • Anna Scott, Gladstone Regional Council, A Council’s transformational journey to allow improved asset management • Shelley Burchett, Proterra Group, Stormwater data collection in the South Burnett Region • Clarissa Campbell, Moreton Bay Regional Council, Stormwater pipe condition assessment – if only animals could talk • Rachel Vagg, Queensland Audit Office, Managing the cost of local government services This year's conference will be Seren McKenzie's last as our President however she will continue on in IPWEAQ history as our first female president 47 years after our formation. Join us as we celebrate this achievement with Seren.

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#IPWEAQ19 Conference Feature

Futures Challenge

Lucy Bombardieri JCU – lives in Townsville Mix Design of Paste Backfill for Underground Mining

Mark Tomarchio USQ – lives in Townsville Industry considerations for truck stability at roundabouts

Next generation find their voice as part of the IPWEAQ Futures Challenge.

The Futures Challenge offers an opportunity for final year students studying engineering and related disciplines to present their thesis or research project to delegates.

Students will present an A1 poster board which outlines the key elements of their thesis or research project, and to present their conclusions, recommendations and outcomes to conference delegates.

This year, we have four impressive candidates vying for this prestigious award which includes a

Brooke Young UQ – lives in Brisbane Design Proposal for Sustainable Futures Building at The University of Queensland

Benjamin Chappell CQU – lives in Brisbane Quantitative Analysis of Coal Fouling in the Stanwell Power Station Balloon Loop

complimentary registration to the 2020 IPWEAQ Annual Conference valued at $2,000. All participants also receive a complimentary year of membership.

Topics are varied and include: Mix Design of paste backfill for underground mining industry considerations for truck stability at roundabouts, design proposal for Sustainable Futures Building at UQ Quantitative analysis of coal fouling in the Stanwell Power Station Balloon Loop.

The Future Challenge offers participants an opportunity to springboard their careers in our sector. Past participants have

received job offers following their presentations and last year's winner, Maddy Stahlhut (USQ), went on to become an IPWEAQ Ambassador and is now working as a Graduate Civil Engineer at GHD.

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

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#IPWEAQ19 Conference Feature

Excellence Awards

Our Excellence Awards and gala dinner promises to be another memorable gathering as we celebrate the people and projects who make Queensland great.

The awards program, now in its seventeenth year, places a spotlight on the projects and people who deliver exceptional outcomes for Queensland communities. We're very proud to be able to coordinate the awards program and to be promoting the achievements of our sector.

A record 69 nominations were received this year across 14 categories from both councils and consultancies – evidence that our Excellence Awards are gaining further acknowledgement within our industry.

Of the below 14 categories, the highest number of entries were

from three categories. Innovation, Projects $2-5M and Projects over $10M, with each category receiving nine nominations.

Project Awards • Innovation (Sponsored by C.R. Kennedy) • Projects under $1M • Projects $1M to $2M • Projects $2M to $5M • Projects $5M to $10M • Projects over $10M • Road Safety (Sponsored by Boral) • Asset Management (Sponsored

by Shepherd) • Environment and Sustainability (Sponsored by Komatsu) • Innovation & Sustainability in Water (Sponsored by SLR Consulting) People Awards • Engineer of the Year

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• Woman in Engineering (Sponsored by GHD) • Young Engineer of the Year (Sponsored by GenEng) • Team Member of the Year (non-engineers and includes Supervisors, Works Officers and other support staff) (Sponsored

by A2K Technologies) Our new category, Projects under $1M, received six nominations highlighting the importance of recognising these smaller, yet equally important projects in our sector.

2019 Project and People award winners will be announced at the gala awards ceremony/ dinner at #IPWEAQ19 to be held at the Royal International Convention Centre, Brisbane, 23 October 2019. Join us!

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#IPWEAQ19 Conference Feature

PRESIDENT'S CHARITY Each of our presidents nominate a charity for IPWEAQ to support during their term. Our current IPWEAQ President, Seren McKenzie, chose MS Queensland, and to date we have raised just over $19,000! Our commitment to raising awareness and funds for this illness is vital, as there is currently no cure for the disease.

Over the past two years, we have raised funds through a range of initiatives including raffles at the President’s Breakfast and Branch Conferences, lawn bowls, 2018 Annual Conference charity auction, and MS Brissie to the Bay. Our IPWEAQ Bike Club raised enough funds to purchase an electric bed for person living with MS. We will hold another charity auction at this year's Excellence Awards gala dinner on Wednesday 23 October so please come prepared to participate!

We are extremely thankful to Pickles Auctions for sponsoring the MS Queensland charity auction. Pickles are leaders in asset remarketing across industrial, cars, trucks, and salvage. Pickles creates trusted marketplaces that bring people together, delivering value for everyone.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this well deserving cause over the past two years!

About MS Queensland Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common diseases of the central nervous system. It may affect the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve and impacts more young people in Australia than any other chronic progressive neurological disease.

Over 25,600 people in Australia have MS, including 3,700 Queenslanders, and it affects each person differently. On average more than 10 Australians are diagnosed with MS every week.

For the past 60 years, MS Queensland has provided care and support to Queenslanders living with MS, and more recently, other chronic, progressive neurological diseases.

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Building an even better Brisbane

MESSAGE FROM THE LORD MAYOR

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner

public park, creating Brisbane’s biggest new park in 50 years.

Cannon Hill is expected to be operational by this time.

We live in one of the best cities in the world and it’s getting better all the time. My ambition is for building an even better Brisbane over the next decade and protecting our incredible lifestyle and green space.

Overall, the expanded Victoria Park will be more than double the size of the City Botanic Gardens and we will kick-start the community consultation and design for the Victoria Park Vision, protecting greenspace for future generations and helping to make Brisbane an even better place to live and relax.

Team Schrinner has also outlined plans for building five new green bridges across Brisbane. These five green bridges are about getting people home sooner and building a cleaner, greener and more active city. They will take traffic off our roads; they will free up time for people to spend with family and friends and they will fill crucial missing links in our transport network.

The 2019/20 Council Budget has unprecedented investment in the city’s green space including initial funding for transforming Victoria Park Golf Course into a world-class

The 18-hole course will close in 2021, when works commence to deliver the Victoria Park Vision.

Council’s new public course at

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We have committed $519 million

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over the next four years for new green bridges aimed at tackling traffic congestion, improving public and active transport and creating a healthier, more active city.

Team Schrinner is committed to giving people more travel options and getting more cars off the road by linking Kangaroo Point and the CBD, Toowong and West End, St Lucia and West End, Bellbowrie and Wacol Station, as well as crossing Breakfast Creek.

I recently announced we would deliver an Australia-first incentive scheme to support the provision of universal housing that results in homes that are useable by and marketable to almost everyone.

Current housing designs do not work for many people including older people, people recovering from illness or injury, mothers with prams and people who have mobility difficulties.

Council will deliver an infrastructure charges rebate of 33 per cent over the next three years to those who are building universal housing for multiple dwellings and residential care facilities if they meet the industry “Gold” standard for Liveable Housing Design Guidelines when the building is constructed

and certification is demonstrated.

Team Schrinner is also backing small business and my ambition for Brisbane for the next decade includes building Australia’s most small business friendly city.

We are helping to create a city of neighbourhoods by bringing new life to retail precincts in the suburbs while backing small business with more support and lower fees.

Team Schrinner is providing a $2 million reduction in fees and charges helping to support new suburban dining, food vans and business advertising with a higher discount offered to start-ups to help them thrive and grow at a time when they most need the help.

The discounts offered will be focussed on fees and charges that small business are most often impacted by, such as suburban footpath dining permits, food van licences, market stall fees and business advertising applications.

By providing a one-year 50 per cent rates remission for first home buyers, Team Schrinner is giving targeted cost-of-living-relief at a time when residents are often stretched to their financial limits.

Making the big move from renting to owning for the first time can be a stressful and costly experience.

Just when you think you’ve paid all of the one-off expenses to get into your new home, another unexpected bill always seems to come along.

Our rates remission will mean up to $1000 extra in the back pockets of first home buyers in that critical period of financial adjustment.

We recognise how important home ownership is and we want to see more people getting into the market and owning a piece of Brisbane to call their own.

The rates remission will commence from 1 October and be available on homes with a value less than $750,000.

Seniors will be able to travel for free during off-peak times on Brisbane buses, CityCats and ferries from 1 October this year. This initiative will also apply to the Brisbane Metro when services commence.

Free travel during off-peak times will not only make better use of available capacity – it will create more opportunities for older residents to travel around the city and connect with family and friends.

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It’s also about giving something back to the generations who have worked hard and contributed much to help build our city and our community.

Free off-peak travel for seniors on Council’s public transport will go a long way to encouraging greater use of public transport and I encourage the State Government to adopt the same approach for rail commuters.

I have also announced a Green Future Fund to buy and create more parks, sports fields and green space for our city.

Residents have told us they want more greenspace with new places to relax and this five-year program will deliver more land for community sport and recreation with a dividend of $20 million from CBIC to the Green Future Fund for its first year.

CBIC is the city’s future fund and I cannot think of a better way to plan for the future than by creating more parks, sports fields and green space.

Team Schrinner is not only committed to expanding our local parks but we’re greening Brisbane’s suburbs by increasing

tree planting in suburban parks and creating tree-lined boulevards.

The greening of Brisbane’s suburbs includes $2 million for the next year to plant trees in Zillmere, Paddington, Greenslopes and Murarrie to improve the amenity of local shopping areas as well as beautifying busy traffic corridors though plantings in median strips.

Residents love Brisbane for its open green spaces and shady boulevards, and in the coming financial year we have allocated $22.8 million towards planting and maintaining trees across the suburbs, which is an increase of $4.4 million or about 25 per cent.

The Budget includes funding over the next two years to develop a prioritised Transport Action Plan for the north-western suburbs.

We want to develop a longterm transport plan that will get residents home quicker and safer.

Council, in partnership with the Morrison Federal Government, will identify the best ways to cut congestion in the north-western suburbs.

I can confirm that Team Schrinner supports a Metro 3 line to the northern suburbs, and a

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key priority for the Transport Action Plan will be to identify opportunities to expand Brisbane Metro to the northside.

Our plans for getting people home sooner includes funding to deliver the Brisbane Metro with peak services every three minutes and 24 hours on the weekend.

The Brisbane Metro project is fully funded, including $300 million from the Federal Government.

This year, contracts are due to be awarded to enable detailed design to commence the inner-city infrastructure, the detailed design and construction of the Metro Depot, and the detailed design and build for the pilot Metro vehicle, which will be the first of its kind in Australia.

My team has consistently delivered for the people of Brisbane – we have responsibly managed the city’s budget and we’re investing the dividends in building infrastructure and growing the Brisbane lifestyle.

My ambition is for the Brisbane of tomorrow to be even better than the Brisbane of today and my team has a clear vision for the future of our city.

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Proud to welcome Cardno as an IPWEAQ Partner!

Parklands, Gold Coast

Cardno is a leading provider and trusted partner specialising in infrastructure and environmental solutions. The company is a multi-disciplinary professional consultancy which is able to provide a full suite of services to our local government clients.

Their team of specialists have years of experience in designing, developing and delivering sustainable projects and community advancement programs.

Cardno’s multidisciplinary expertise allows their team to exchange ideas and approaches across different disciplines, market sectors and geographies to provide seamlessly integrated and comprehensive services including:  Asset Management  Community and stakeholder engagement  Construction management and contract administration  Contaminated site assessment, remediation and statutory auditing  Detailed design and documentation  Engineering: civil, subsurface utility, chemical, coastal, electrical, environmental, geotechnical, mechanical, process and structural  Environmental management: auditing, assessment, monitoring, permitting and compliance  Feasibility studies  Geospatial – Geographic information systems, mapping and survey  Landscape architecture  Planning – urban, regional, land use, environmental studies and impacts, transit and transportation and socio-economic  Stormwater management  Water resources management  Water / wastewater treatment Cardno’s new alignment with IPWEAQ serves as a commitment to the professional growth and development of their engineers and professionals involved in public works and local government throughout offices in Queensland, Australia. Cardno appreciates how local

Recreational Boating Park, Townsville

governments and communities operate; their systems, procedures and cost control measures, allowing the team to be responsive and create tailored solutions to local issues. To achieve this, Cardno governs for technical sustainability by establishing and implementing project systems and processes to effectively and efficiently deliver and operate their organisation and projects.

For further information or enquiries please feel free to contact Cardno: Ken Fox – Business Development Manager Phone: +61 7 3100 2287 | Mobile: +61 448 565 463 Email: ken.fox@cardno.com.au Global Head Office Phone: +617 3369 9822 cardno@cardno.com www.cardno.com

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community news

Congrats Bernie-Anne!

Congratulations to Bernie-Anne Freeman, Senior Engineer at TMR in Toowoomba who has been selected for the Homeward Bound 2020 program Homeward Bound 2020 is a global leadership program for women in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine) fields. Bernie is one of 70 women, selected from around the world to participate in this innovative year-long leadership initiative. The program empowers women to improve their clarity, confidence, shared vision and strategic capability, which will enhance their opportunity to take up leadership roles globally, and to proactively contribute to a sustainable world, both individually and collectively.

Congrats Seren Congratulations to IPWEAQ President, Seren McKenzie who was recently appointed Director Infrastructure Services at Southern Downs Regional (SDRC).

SDRC in the Darling Downs adjoins the NSW border and was formed in 2008 when the Warwick Shire Council merged with the Stanthorpe Shire Council.

We wish Seren the very best in her new role. She certainly has many challenges ahead of her!

New Members in 2019-2020 •Adrian • Cahill •Ammar • Naqvi •Augustus • Yates •Benjamin • Vanmidde •Brendon • Purnell •Brianna • Barnett •Chigozie • Amalu •Chris • Michel •Christian • Mingay •Christopher • Wright •Clarissa • Campbell

•Clayton • Lees •Colin • Chalmers •David • Higgins •Desmond • Motswagae •Duncan • Ward •Farzad • Kamali Sarvestani •Gerard • Anton •Glen • McNeill •Jack • Aubort •Joe • Kennedy •John • Craik

•Karl • Muniz •Kieran • Hay •Linda • Spooner •Michael • Downing •Mitchell • Leathwaite •Nicholas • Mackay •Nilushani • Weerasekera •Nischal • Shrestha •Paul • Newton •Peter • Lea •Prue • Oswin

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•Roshad • Kurunduge •Ross • Milton •Ryan • Loomans •Shahadat • Hossain •Tia • Gaffney •Timothy • Mayes •Tyson • Visser •Vincent • Vital •Vivek • Kannanda •Yulu • Wangg

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10, are already displaying a budding interest in the field - one in structural design element, the other in robotics, design and construction. And both share with their father Geoff and grandfather Bill,a love of and talent for mathematics.

Vale Bill Peach We are very sad to announce the passing of long-term Life member, Bill Peach who has passed away suddenly on 4 August following a short illness. Bill has been a member of IPWEAQ for 42 years.

From Bill's wife, Annette: "Bill thoroughly loved engineering in all its civil and structural aspects, large and small scale. And inspired by him, his two grandsons, aged 14 and

We were very proud of Bill, his achievements, his sense of community and his fun loving approach to life in general.

We just wanted to share this photo with you as it really captures the lovely human being he was, with Bridge being a favourite past time in his retirement.

Thank you for your kind thoughts at this very sad time for us all."

If you have any memories of Bill to share with our community, please send these through to Belinda Smith for publishing in the December issue.

Supervisor’s Handbook, and working with Mark Lamont on ADAC.

Welcome Carol Carol Humber joins IPWEAQ team in the new role of Project Coordinator.

Reporting to Craig Moss (Director, Professional Services), Carol will support the development and delivery of technical solutions, as well handle the administrative coordination for Working Group meetings and outputs. For now, during her three days per week, her main focus is on the Standard Drawings Working Group, the Street Planning and Design Manual, CAD Standards, Survey Standards,

In order to best coordinate the inputs from members who volunteer their time and expertise for our products, Carol will be looking at implementing non-synchronous collaboration tools on an online platform. A lover of streamlining work and making things easier for people, simplifying feedback channels and engagement is high on her agenda. No more searching through email chains for the latest document and piecing together a conversation. Genuine debate and collaboration on various topics can continue outside of faceto-face meetings.

Carol has worked in a number of project spaces including overseas aid development (South Africa, Kenya, and Solomon Islands), system consolidations, and most recently on infrastructure technology projects at Transurban.

Vale Len Purdie We are also sad to report the passing of Len Purdie.

Len passed 17 July 2019 surrounded by family in Melbourne, after a long and courageous battle with cancer.

Len was a long term local government employee most recently at Redland City Council, and an early member of the IPWEAQ Standard Drawings Working Group.

IPWEAQ sends its condolences to Len’s family, friends and colleagues and our appreciation for the contributions Len has make to the public works community.

Student industry placements Help build a collection of public works placement examples that can be shared by employers, universities and students. We are seeking examples from throughout Queensland of industry work placements, projects or work activities that would suit a student or recent graduate.

Submissions will be digitally hosted by IPWEAQ in a standardised and anonymous format. We aim to enable the sharing of ideas to help save time, create meaningful industry engagements for students and promote the variety of public works engineering activities.

For more information please contact Nadia Marks Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com.

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TEAM IPWEAQ Rides Again!

TEAM IPWEAQ have been on the roads of Queensland once again with two more events.

Ride the Second Range Crossing, Toowoomba, 7 September The Toowoomba Second Range Crossing opened over the weekend of 7-8 September with the Rotary Club of Toowoomba proudly sponsoring the Ride the Second Range Crossing on Saturday 7 September.

Thank you to members of TEAM IPWEAQ who participated in this momentous occasion!

Brisbane to Gold Coast Cycle Challenge Queensland’s biggest bike ride was held 15 September starting out from the University of Queensland for 100k to Southport on the Gold Coast.

Would you like to join TEAM IPWEAQ and receive one of our team jerseys promoting public works engineering? Everyone is welcome - members and their colleagues, friends and family, and everyone involved with the IPWEAQ community including Partners, sponsors and exhibitors!

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Our previous Bike Club events have been highly successful, and raised almost $4,000 for MS Queensland in the MS Brissie to the Bay Bike Ride.!

Contact Johanna Vanling to join TEAM IPWEAQ – you too can look this good!

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Welcome to our newest IPWEAQ Partner, JWA Composite Matting Solutions!

JWA are the Australian leaders in composite matting with their innovative solutions to temporary access, ground support, protection of underground assets and platform needs.

Their DURABASE matting offers a sustainable ground improvement system that has been utilised on: • Oil and Gas Projects • Underground Coal Mining • Airport Infrastructure Projects • Rail and Port Infrastructure • Car Park Excavation and Stabilisation • Renewables Projects • Road and Highway Construction • Pipeline Projects

JWA’s newest addition, FODS, are the latest innovation in sediment control and are an environmentally friendly approach to stabilised site access and track out control. Say goodbye to traditional rumble grids, digging, and importing truckloads of rock.

JWA have been involved with major projects across Australia including: • The Sunshine Coast Airport Expansion

• The Sydney Light Rail Project • Brisbane Airport Second Runway • Westgate Tunnel Project • Metricon Stadium - Commonwealth Games • Victorian Level Crossing Removals

Check JWA out at the Brisbane Annual Conference or online at www.jwaoil.com

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darren carlson

MEMBER PROFILE

Darren Carlson is the Lead Engineer - Stormwater Infrastructure Planning for Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC) where he works with a small team of dedicated stormwater and flood risk professionals who collectively manage one of Australia’s largest stormwater infrastructure inventories.

Darren recently spoke to Engineering for Public Works (EPW) about his career in public works engineering and

his experience becoming a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ).

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

DC: I grew up in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, one of seven children, maybe a bit poor but certainly happy. Because of the sheer number of us, most of our holidays were summer camping trips on the Gold Coast. It was there and during long walks

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seeking some solitude that I think I developed my love of waterways and nature. I still love long walks, getting lost in a forest or ambling along a beach, where the gentle rhythm of walking and the constant thrill of nature help to inspire and balance me when other things in life threaten to overwhelm.

I was married for a time and have two beautiful children who keep me grounded and bring me challenges, joy and love. I have had the privilege to have lived

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in some of the most wonderful places in Australia including South East Queensland, Darwin, Cairns, and Tasmania and enjoy exploring the wild places outside the cities and towns.

I am passionate about stormwater management and helping communities engage with and benefit from their waterways.

EPW: Please summarise your career to date in your own words.

DC: I came to engineering as a mature aged student aged 30, after a failed Dentistry Degree followed by a promising but ultimately unsatisfying career in the retail sector. It was when we were expecting our first child that I visioned for myself a professional career related to my passions and talents. So, after careful consideration, weighing up an aptitude for maths and science, a thirst for knowledge and a love of nature I decided to become an Environmental Engineer.

Following graduation with an Environmental Engineering degree from Griffith University in 2004 I spent around five years with GHD’s Waterways and Coastal service line firstly based in Brisbane then in North Queensland. During this time I had the opportunity to work on a wide variety of flood risk and stormwater related projects including major riverine and coastal inundation flood studies, road and mining infrastructure projects, catchment management plans and municipal master drainage schemes, infrastructure charges schedules and priority infrastructure plans.

In 2010, I moved from Queensland to Tasmania, and from private consulting to local government, taking up the position of

Stormwater and Waterways Engineer with the City Of Hobart before being promoted to Manager of Environmental Engineering. I then moved down the road a bit to become the Senior Stormwater and Waterways Engineer for the Kingborough Council, a stunning part of Australia.

Last year I moved back to South East Queensland to access better educational opportunities for my son and was fortunate enough to land my current role as Lead Engineer - Stormwater Infrastructure Planning for MBRC where I get to work with a dedicated and talented group of stormwater professionals in one of the largest local governments in Australia.

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

DC: It’s difficult to isolate a single career highlight. After working in retail for over 12 years before becoming an engineer, where a lot of what I did was relatively easy and repetitive, I now truly appreciate every new project, problem and/or opportunity that comes my way.

However, if I had to pick a single thing…. I suppose it would be being elected by my IPWEA Tasmanian peers as the Division President in 2017. This was a culmination of years serving on the Executive Committee and working with a great team of highly motivated and talented people who dedicate a lot of time and energy to provide advocacy, technical guidance, professional development, networking and mentoring opportunities to the Tasmanian public works sector.

Being recognised by those people, who I truly admire and am proud to count as life long friends, has

been a highlight for me.

EPW: What do you find most satisfying about working as an engineer in public works?

DC: In all of the roles in my public works career to date I have been thrilled to be able to contribute in some small way to the stormwater and waterway management challenges facing Australia: from aging and inadequate infrastructure often not designed to cope with the level of demand asked of it; to responding to the now rapidly emerging climate change perturbations; to mitigating poor water quality outcomes and rehabilitating degraded waterways; to facilitating and sometimes tempering community expectations; and to overcoming historical under funding of stormwater infrastructure by developing business cases for improved capital and maintenance budgets.

However, by far, the most satisfying aspect has been the wonderful, weird and talented people I have had the great pleasure to work with. Truly, in the public works sector we are blessed because most of the issues/projects/learnings that we engage with are best tackled collaboratively and so we get this constant gift of interacting with some of the most passionate and dedicated people you are ever going to meet.

EPW: Tell us about your experience becoming a RPEQ? DC: After returning to Queensland last year it was a requirement of my position with MBRC to obtain my RPEQ. Being so involved with the IPWEA in Tasmania it was an obvious choice to go down the IPWEAQ RPEQ assessment path. I was fairly confident that in

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my previous roles I had enough engineering and supervisory experience and through the Tasmanian Division had undertaken a significant amount of professional development. So I rang Craig Moss who explained the process, sent me some info and got me started. I spoke to a few other RPEQ’s at MBRC who also gave me some tips and useful advice and I was on my way!

The application process itself was relatively quick and painless and I got it together as soon as I could… the new boss was waiting!

I had some nerves going into the interview which is the final part of the IPWEA assessment, but the panel of RPEQ’s, who I thank very much, were wonderful. They lead me through the interview, calmed my nerves, asked pertinent and reasonable questions and listened politely to my sometimes waffling answers. Then it was just a matter of waiting for their decision and hopefully endorsement. IPWEAQ gave me the thumbs up very quickly and I sent through my endorsed application to the BPEQ. The final result ...number 22147 and I got to keep my job.

I guess the most difficult part for me, as I had not been preparing for this, was putting together my

CPD record. So my advice for anyone practising engineering in Queensland would be to start recording all your professional development activities no matter what stage of career you are at because it will make the excellent IPWEAQ process even simpler.

EPW: What do you appreciate most about your involvement with IPWEAQ? DC: In my final year of University I was lucky enough to be awarded the Local Government Engineering prize. Peter Way presented it to me at the IPWEAQ AGM of that year. It was an inspiration to me to be up in front of all those serious looking older engineers who in fact were very friendly and clearly took a great interest in younger professionals coming through.

I think that experience has led to my continued involvement and passion for public works engineering and my own interest in helping younger engineers through their early careers.

Incidentally, as I write this I have just finished attending the Hobart IPWC where I caught up with Peter again as we have several times throughout my career. What a legend that man is!

Since I have been back in Queensland, apart from the RPEQ

assessment, I haven’t been too involved as yet. My new role in MBRC is a big step up for me and I wanted to give it my full attention for a while. That being said I recently presented at a local SEQ technical session and I got the same sense of camaraderie, mentorship, knowledge sharing and genuine friendship that drew me into the Tasmanian Division and so I think my involvement will only continue to grow from here.

EPW: What would be the one piece of advice you would give to others early in their career?

DC: Be on time. Be prepared to have a go. Give it your best shot.

Be willing to accept criticism and learn from it. Give respect and accept nothing else in return.

Help others if you can. Go home at night knowing you have done a solid day's work and rest easy.

Learn how to turn the brain box off when you need to in a safe and healthy way.

EPW: Any other comments/ thoughts/wisdom to share?

DC: Having had the absolute privilege of listening to the amazing Robyn Moore all this week at IPWC I will have you with one of her pearls of wisdom…

C.R.A.P. Attacks!

Cynicism can steal professionalism, joy, vision, behaviour and fun.

Resignation can steal communication, courage and excellence.

Anger can steal joy, dignity, family, peace and freedom.

Procrastination can steal love, life, dreams, satisfaction, success and potential.

Darren presenting on Waterbodies & Bio-Retention Asset Management at the International Public Works Conference in Hobart in August.

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A conscious CRAP Attack can be fun, it’s the unconscious CRAP Attack that can steal your life away!

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Proterra Group join as an IPWEAQ Enterprise Partner!

From humble beginnings in Goondiwindi back in 2008, Proterra Group have gone from strength to strength riding the highs and lows of the civil engineering market space. “Proterra Group has now worked with over 40 Regional Australian Council’s, and with our new service offerings this number is rising rapidly as we expand into Victoria, South Australia and WA. It’s a really exciting time to be in Engineering” Managing Director Sean Rice.

Proterra Group now offer three distinct service offerings to our Local Government Customers across Regional Australia. These include:  Civil Engineering and Project Management. These services are headed up by our Manager Projects and Design Michael Shellshear. Michael and his team offer the full project experience from concept design, Council approvals, detail design, project estimating, project management and site supervision of your project. It’s a real all-inclusive service and perfect for our regional Councils.  Waste Management Consulting and Operations. Our ever so friendly Waste Manager Anni Colbran heads up this department and we currently manage and operate five waste facilities in rural QLD, along with providing extensive waste management consulting across our entire market area. This is a really exciting area to be working in and there are big changes ahead in the way we manage our waste streams into the future. Watch this space!  Asset Data Collection. Our highly energetic, and memorable Asset Manager Shelley Burchett leads our rapidly growing Assets Team in the data collection field. We are certainly not Asset Managers, however when it comes to asset data collection we can proudly claim to offer best practice services to our Council customers. Whether it be rural or urban stormwater infrastructure, road culverts or even sewer manholes Shelley’s team have extensive experience in collecting data, and ensuring Council’s aren’t wasting money on things they don’t need. CCTV, Quickview Zoom Camera’s and survey pickup, and mapping. We do it all.

So for your next project why not give the team at Proterra Group a call and see if we can help you deliver your projects innovatively, on-time and in budget. Visit www.proterragroup.com.au and you’ll find the contact details for each of our amazing Managers.

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MBRC’s stormwater pipe inspection program

CASE STUDY

Clarissa Campbell Clarissa is a senior civil engineer with 7 years’ experience in stormwater and floodwater management, as well as asset management. Her current role sees her involved in both the planning, construction and maintenance of stormwater, flood mitigation and water quality infrastructure, as well as the asset management of this infrastructure.

Background Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC) have been using CCTV to proactively inspect their stormwater pipes for over 10 years.

Council purchased their own van and CCTV camera unit in 2015 and added a second in 2017. Council’s main goal in purchasing the CCTV vans was to inspect the entire piped network within 10 years, while renewing those pipes that have reached the end of their life.

Key facts (scale of task) • Two CCTV vans • Nearly 250,000 stormwater assets • Over 2,400km of stormwater pipe (i.e. the driving distance from Brisbane to Hobart) • The goal of inspecting our entire piped network within 10 years

The need Council’s stormwater assets are its second-largest asset class behind roads, and are comprised of nearly 250,000 assets. The large majority of these are buried underground and form part of a network, making them very difficult to visually inspect. To combat this, Council utilises CCTV technology to inspect their buried stormwater assets; over 2,400km of which are stormwater pipes.

The challenge Correct and available asset information: when MBRCl was formed in 2008, the quality of the asset registers from the three previous Councils varied significantly. The sheer volume of assets has made this difficult to completely rectify. Council has found that CCTV inspections are quicker, easier and more usable if the asset information is corrected before the inspection, and provided to the CCTV crew in the most usable format.

Speed of inspections: Council have an optimistic goal of inspecting our entire stormwater network within 10 years. Based on the CCTV van utilisation rates from 2018, it will take us 29 years to inspect the entire network.

Inspecting submerged pipes:

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Council have a number of stormwater pipes that are partially or fully submerged, even at low tide. These include both small (375mm diameter) and large (1800mm diameter) pipes, pipes in private property, pipe culverts, as well as pipes that form part of a network. Previous techniques for inspecting these pipes include dewatering, cleaning and then inspecting them with a CCTV camera. As you can imagine, this work is costly, time consuming, and not guaranteed to be successful for an 1800mm pipe network that runs for hundreds of metres.

The implementation Correct and available asset information: Council review and update the asset information prior to all of the CCTV inspections, which includes ensuring the asset types, spatial location and construction years are correct. The asset information is then provided to the CCTV crew as a map which links to their CCTV inspection software, allowing them to automatically populate the asset numbers and attributes.

Speed of inspections: Council are investigating the following options to make our stormwater pipe condition assessments quicker, more efficient, and more cost effective:

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Figure 1: CCTV of a stormwater pipe under a road that was about to be rehabilitated (we found it in time to get it replaced).

Figure 2: CCTV of a stormwater pipe under a recent road rehabilitation (we discovered that when they were installing the subsoil drain for the kerb and channel they broken the top of the pipe).

Figure 3: CCTV of a new stormwater pipe and even newer water service (we worked with Unitywater to relocate the service and replace the stormwater pipe).

Figure 4: CCTV of a stormwater pipe in private property underneath a fig tree (we are working with the property owner to remove the tree and the blockages).

• Prioritising the stormwater networks we inspect by pipe criticality (for example, inspecting large pipes that run under main roads or buildings before others) • Using alternative technologies (such as SECA QuickView) to complete a first-pass inspection to identify major blockages or structural defects to prioritise detailed inspections using the

CCTV camera • Incorporating Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into inspections (and reviews) Inspecting submerged pipes: Council have been investigating alternatives including submerged Remove Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and divers to complete these

inspections, and are looking at completing a trial across a variety of sites later this year.

The outcomes Successes: Every major issue we find is a success and reiterates why the inspection program is so important. You can see a number of images with captions that I consider to be particular successes.

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Figure 5: CCTV of a stormwater pipe and the piles of the newly constructed house (we worked with the builder to find a solution).

Figure 6: Both vans carry all of the equipment required for completing the CCTV, as well as basic traffic control and confined space equipment.

Figure 7: The equipment that is used on a daily basis to complete the CCTV including the cable reel to power the CCTV camera and the winch to lower and raise the CCTV camera into the pits.

Figure 8: The tablet that all field staff use to receive and complete work, the dual monitors for CCTV capture displaying ArcReader, and WinCan and the controller for the CCTV camera.

Lessons learned: One of the main lessons we have learnt is the importance of inspecting all stormwater pipes under major road projects (such as

road rehabilitations, intersection upgrades, etc.) to allow any stormwater renewals to be completed before the road project.

I estimate that 50% of our road

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projects end up requiring some level of stormwater renewal based on the condition of the stormwater pipes.

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Interflow: A Rich Heritage of Innovation A name synonymous with ‘challenging the status quo’, Interflow has the heart of a humble business, with the vision of something much greater. Throughout the company’s 83-year journey, Interflow’s rich heritage of innovation continues to spearhead the market, paving the way for a bright future ahead.

Leading the way in water Interflow has carved out its place as a leader in water infrastructure networks since its inception in 1936.

Today, the business is regarded as Australia and New Zealand’s largest provider of trenchless pipeline solutions, specialising in the watermains, wastewater, stormwater and culvert sectors.

Throughout its development, Interflow has gained an enviable track record of building relationships, offering expert advice and finding the best outcomes for customers. As a result, the company is well-established as the preferred delivery partner within its chosen field.

The emerging fourth-generation family-owned business has over 80 years of experience within the pipeline construction and related industries and has rapidly expanded within this sector. During the company’s lifecycle, each generation has been responsible for traditional pipeline methods, to the subsequent innovation of new pipeline renewal technologies that lead the market today.

A culture of inspiration The spirit of resilience is deeply engrained within the culture of Interflow. This stems from the company’s ability to thrive within tumultuous and ever-changing environments, which has ultimately formed the nucleus of what Interflow is today.

A crucial component of Interflow’s sustainable growth has been the result of its ability to remain externally

focused. The building infrastructure field is extremely volatile, and it is imperative to sustain business growth in what has become a highly competitive labour market.

For Interflow, the philosophy of inspiration encompasses its people. Over the last 12 months, the business enhanced its internal culture to retain and motivate employees, whilst developing unique ways to attract top talent in an emulous market.

Another success driver has been Interflow’s openness to new ideas; client input is particularly important. The company’s growth has been driven by listening to customers and developing new and innovative services that are driven by their needs.

By proactively listening to the market, Interflow introduced unique innovations that Australia had never seen before, whilst staying true to its core values of Honesty, Reliability and Competence.

The building blocks of innovation By consistently challenging the status quo, Interflow has been dedicated to solving its customers’ problems under its core values of Honesty, Reliability and Competence.

Handed down throughout each generation, this philosophy has been the cornerstone of the company’s success and will continue to be the building blocks for sustaining its rich heritage of innovation.

www.interflow.com.au

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Western Cape Engagement

REGIONAL REPORT

Craig Moss IPWEAQ Director, Professional Services In late June 2019 I was fortunate enough to be invited on a trip to the western side of Cape York Peninsular to visit and engage with eight Indigenous and remote councils. Led by LGAQ, the group also consisted of representatives from Peak Services, LocalBuy, LGIAsuper, Telstra, Arts Queensland and IPWEAQ. While I have worked in many and varied parts of Queensland over my 34 years in our sector, this was the first time visiting this particular part of the state. Needless to say, the experience was wonderful and provided me with a much greater appreciation of the unique challenges faced in this spectacular part of Queensland.

things could only get better. What an understatement this turned out to be.

The adventure commenced in Cairns with a dinner on the Sunday evening to allow the group to meet each other, many for the first time. This also coincided with the second match of the State of Origin series for the year that, unfortunately, resulted in a resounding New South Wales win.

It was at this point I also became aware that not everyone on the trip supported the great state of Queensland. While this was far from the ideal start to the week,

The seven intrepid travellers took off from Cairns airport at first light on the Monday morning on a journey that would take us to Aurukun, Pormpuraaw, Kowanyama, Normanton, Kurumba, Croydon, Doomadgee, Burketown and back to Cairns over a four-day itinerary. Given this schedule, the group was constantly on-the-go as we spent time meeting with key contacts from the various Councils and rushing to the airport to the next leg of the journey.

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While this trip provided the opportunity to see and experience some amazing scenery, the highlight for me was to be able to sit down with the key Council officers or drive around the towns with them and listen to the challenges they face on a dayto-day basis to ensure the needs of the community are met. I was surprised by the unique nature of each community but not surprised by the common issues that are faced. Each community has its own unique identity that reflects not only the local population, but also the stability and experience of the Council executive.

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While there have been a number of common messages that came this engagement, some of the key themes are listed below.

Works for Queensland (W4Q) The W4Q program has made a very real difference in these communities. Whenever the locals talked about the projects funded by this program, their demeanour became very positive.

The focus of W4Q is to provide funding that supports regional Councils to undertake jobcreating maintenance and minor infrastructure projects. This initiative has been very successful across all of the communities visited. While the current program has been extended to 2020/21, it is critical that it continues in the long term.

Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) The DFRA is essential to maintain a level of service related to critical infrastructure in an area that is exposed to regular natural disasters. Due to the unpredictable nature of natural disasters, remote communities struggle to plan for an maintain a workforce to respond effectively to disaster recovery while continuing to provide the essential services required by their communities.

Another common message is the funding arrangements do not reflect the real costs or encourage efficient practices. One of the main issues communicated is that funding that only covers at-cost expenses does not allow for the depreciation of plant and

equipment that has been purchase

by Council to service normal construction and maintenance activities. Another issue is that the time required to apply and be approved for betterment funding does not allow for work to be completed while workers are on-site resulting in significant reestablishment costs.

The reality is that these communities are so busy responding to the immediate needs of their communities, the administration often takes a secondary place. One prime example on this trip was that I found a Director of Engineering on site laying blocks. Capacity and capability issues have a very real impact on the operational effectiveness of the Councils.

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Legacy Projects Who doesn’t like a ribbon cutting ceremony? Apparently, anyone who is involved in managing these assets despises them. All too often a large project has been instigated with good intent, but without the full understanding of the ongoing costs to maintain and manage the infrastructure. This region has a number of such projects that are a financial burden on the communities.

Council Priorities The priorities for those responsible for managing the day-to-day operations are significantly different to what we traditionally associate with most councils.

In addition to normal council activities, they also act as airline, freight depot, bank, post office, undertaker, child care agency, aged care, arts centre, social housing manager and much more.

In some areas, the safety and security of the community and the welfare of children are issues that

must be dealt with immediately, impacting on both financial and physical resources available for other activities.

One comment that resonated with me was that due to these challenges, the engineering team struggled to react to unplanned maintenance of infrastructure assets. To set up a workable asset management plan is a pipe-dream as they do not know what assets they have, let alone have an

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understanding of the condition of the assets.

Capability and capacity Although being able to attract and retain staff with the requisite skills and experience is not unique to the Western Cape, the difference to having a stable and skilled workforce can make a significant difference to a community. This is not an issue that can be easily overcome but unless we work together as a sector to develop

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strategic initiatives to address the challenges, the situation will not change.

One observation made is that while there are some highly skilled and passionate people serving these communities, there are also a few that either have the wrong skills sets or are focused on other outcomes. This raises concerns with some of the strategic and technical decisions being made that have the potential to negatively impact the sustainability of some Councils.

Next steps While there are many and various challenges to working in these Indigenous and remote councils, we are reminded that they are a part of our sector. Following this trip, IPWEAQ has identified a number of initiatives that we can be put in place immediately to assist with some of the capability issues. We are also investigating how best we can advocate on behalf of these communities to reduce some of the bureaucratic burdens.

There is a great deal of need in all of our regional and remote areas and as a sector we are challenged to develop strategies to address the need. We have a vast amount of knowledge, skills and experience from within our public works community that can be utilised to achieve longterm positive solutions across the state. I encourage all the IPWEAQ family to consider how they can contribute in any way. If you would like to know more about this trip or would like to become involve in finding practical solutions to the areas of need, please contact me by emailing Craig.Moss@ipweaq.com

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Queensland shines at IPWEA Australasia awards

Somerset Regional Council has taken out the top award for Public Works Project of the Year for the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail (BVRT) at the 2019 IPWEA Awards for Excellence in Hobart.

The prestigious Australasia awards are held every two years at which time winners from the past two IPWEA Queensland (IPWEAQ) Excellence Awards are nominated. Somerset Regional Council also won the Best Public Works Project in the $2–$5 million category for the same project.

The BVRT, a 157km long, off-road recreational trail is the longest trail in Australia and follows the disused Brisbane Valley rail corridor. Walkers, cyclists and horse riders can now experience the diverse rural landscape of the breathtaking Brisbane Valley.

The project is more than a successful engineering outcome – it has recycled a dormant rail corridor into an iconic, unique recreational trail that is attracting visitors and businesses to the Somerset region. This landmark project for Council was delivered on time and within budget.

Other Queensland award winners include: • Logan City Council, winner of the Excellence in Road Safety award for the Flooded Roads Smart Warning System.

Andrew Johnson from Somerset Regional council with David Finnigan, Tasmanian Division President of Engineers Australia, sponsor of the award.

• Sunshine Coast Council, winner of the Excellence in Innovation for the Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve Rainforest Discovery Centre.

• Kowanyama Aboriginal Shire Council also received an honourable mention for Best Public Works Project under $2 million the Kowanyama Social Precincts.

Read more about the BVRT from Andrew Johnson of Somerset Regional Council.

Congratulations to all the nominees who represented the Queensland public works engineering sector so well!

All winners at the 2019 IPWEA Excellence Awards in Hobart on 28 August 2019.

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If we want liveable cities in 2060 we’ll have to work together to transform urban systems

ACADEMIC ARTICLE

Tayanah O’Donnell Honorary Senior Lecturer, Australian National University Bob Webb Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Science, Australian National University Chris Ryan Professor and Director of Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne Eleanor Robson Research and Policy Officer, Future Earth Australia, Australian Academy of Science Jago Dodson Professor of Urban Policy and Director, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University Kate Auty Professorial Fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne Not everyone wants to live in the inner city and it’s insulting to describe the outer suburbs as the fringe.

This was just one view from a recent workshop where a vision for Australia’s future cities was mapped out. It highlights that liveability means different things to different people.

But what will the liveability of our cities be like in 40 years’ time? For the CSIRO report, 2019 Australian National Outlook, the authors used scenario analysis to explore prospects for Australia in 2060.

This demonstrates that business as usual will mean Australia’s economy and society sleepwalk into the future, a future made

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worse by failing to tackle major environmental threats.

The National Outlook report set out “five key shifts” – industry, urban, energy, land and culture – to prepare us for a better future.

Our research supports the need for these changes. These shifts are related and co-dependent. And, critically, they will all involve cities.

We argue, though, that we need more than “shifts” – we need transformation supported by a systems approach.

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Setting the goals of transformation All cities are not the same. For this reason, Future Earth Australia, a national initiative hosted by the Australian Academy of Science, has held workshops around the country. We have also launched a national online survey.

The themes arising from the workshops offer valuable insights into how we can apply a systems approach to transforming Australian cities, and the regions and local areas that support our cities. Some key insights are: • density is important, but so is liveability

• liveability has a different emphasis for each person, but includes green space, access to services, employment and transport • the consensus is that we must respond to climate change, through actions that both reduce

the rate of change and adapt to it

• people both in cities and outside them want explicit attention paid to how urban areas and their hinterlands interact and depend on one another • economic regeneration and notions of a circular economy are seen as essential elements of a “transformed” city.

Importantly, the nuances and variations between cities and regions were important to identity and individuality. Local, contextrelevant innovation abounds, but is combined with much reinventing of wheels. Our process has shown that linking local activity better with city-wide and even national coordination could greatly accelerate progress, while maintaining the sense of local identity. A majority of the world’s countries are actively taking a national perspective on their urban challenges.

The importance of local nuance is recognised in other parts of the world. In Europe, work is under way to build better connections between small and medium-sized cities.

Wicked problems call for a systems approach Urban transformation requires a systems approach to overcome well-documented challenges like urban expansion, decreasing housing affordability, biodiversity loss in peri-urban areas, spending hours in cars, and engaged governance across metropolitan areas. These challenges are tricky because they are caused by behaviours and settings that arise from entwined economic, social and environmental systems.

Problems like this are wicked in nature.

A systems approach examines how communities, economics,

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culture, politics, infrastructure, design, planning, knowledge and technology interact and interweave to produce the places we live in. We must also recognise existing planetary boundaries.

Tackling these problems with a systems approach means ensuring that as we solve one of them we don’t create new problems in other areas. Or, even better, we solve multiple challenges at once.

Responses must integrate bottomup and top-down interventions across multiple sectors, consider time frames from today into the long term, and recognise the value in collaboratively forging the knowledge and actions we need.

This is why Future Earth Australia, the Australian and Oceania network of Future Earth based at the Australian Academy of Science, invited urban thinkers and practitioners from around Australia

to a workshop in May 2018. It was designed to work towards a consensus on a ten-year plan for transformative knowledge for Australian cities. This workshop built on recent urban systems scholarship, which identified the need for multisectoral, collaborative and systemic thinking and collaborative design and governance.

We have implemented a series of processes to inform this decadal plan.

First, we interviewed senior decision-makers in government, industry and peak bodies.

We held nine workshops across the country. These involved over 350 participants, representing senior decision-makers in government, industry and peak bodies, community groups and academic researchers. The insights from the workshops have all been published.

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And we have designed a survey that’s now open to anyone living in Australia.

An independent reference group of urban experts from 21 research, policy and practice organisations around the country is overseeing these processes.

Our aim is to encourage all stakeholders to work together. The Future Earth platform can enable partnerships that harness these ideas and knowledge about the transformations needed to create sustainable, liveable cities.

We need better urban knowledge and the many cross-sectoral contributions to the Future Earth urban decadal plan have offered vital directions for future effort.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

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Asset Management Artificial Intelligence & Digital Initiatives

PROJECT ARTICLE

Author Jackie Frost Jackie Frost is the Coordinator Asset Management at Moreton Bay Regional Council. She has significant experience with asset management planning, financial modelling, corporate systems implementation, change management and business process re-engineering. Jackie holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA), Bachelor of Business and Certificate IV in Asset Management Planning.

Jackie’s aim is to make useful asset information readily available to stakeholders in a user-friendly platform to drive better business decisions.

Challenge Roads represent Council’s largest asset with a total value of over two billion dollars with the ongoing management and maintenance of roads having a material impact on Council’s financial health. To inform this work, road condition assessment audits are undertaken once per year, along with customer reports from time to time. By the time this data reaches Council’s asset management system, it is often too late or inaccurate to be of value.

The challenge was “how could we use vehicles that touch our roads every week to do the scanning for us and deliver timely and accurate road condition data”?

Solution We know that machine learning techniques can recognise potholes and other road elements from video footage, and we know that Council’s kerbside waste pick trucks touch every road in the region every week. Therefore, could there be a way to harness this technology to deliver timely road condition data?

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A pilot project began in January 2019 to mount a consumer grade dashcam, small computing device, GPS and 4G modem to the dashboard of a Council garbage truck. Video footage is transmitted to the cloud where Machine Learning algorithms are applied to identify various elements such as potholes, cracking, line markings, signs etc. This data is made available via an API and fed into Council’s Asset Management system.

Road defect records are created in near real time within our asset

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management system.

Data for potholes includes location, severity, and whether it is new, existing or repaired. This then creates, updates or closes road defect records.

Benefits • Accurate and up to date pothole data driving existing Council repair processes • High severity potholes will trigger a priority one work order automatically to ensure these are dealt with urgently.

• This data is also aggregated to provide accurate and timely road asset condition information allowing Council to intervene where a road is wearing too quickly thus avoiding or delaying expensive road replacement projects.

• Providing the community with up to date pothole mapping saves them the time to report potholes.

Deployment/ Implementation Council has partnered with suppliers who provide the hardware and machine learning systems. Additionally, an IoT platform was used as the middleware to integrate the data into Technology One Asset Management.

Key implementation activities included mounting the camera, liaising with software provider to write the middleware, and configuring the severity data to suit Council’s needs. This process took three months and is now in operation (June 2019).

verify it is correct. After the trial meets various success factors, it is intended that the system will be scaled up and mounted into 35 kerbside garbage trucks (pending agreement with Council’s contractor) which touch every road in the region every week.

Outcomes & Lessons learned This project is essentially feeding timely and accurate sensor data into Council’s existing asset systems driving our existing operational processes. Therefore, it remains a very simple idea, leveraging new machine learning capabilities and combining them with existing Council waste services to enable highly effective road asset management.

The next steps are to continue to watch the data accuracy and

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50

CHANGING BOGIES ON THE TRANS-SIBERIAN

TRAVELOGUE

7,621 kilometres, seven days and three vast – and vastly different – countries. But the remote lands and spectacular scenery was not the only thing to enjoy on this adventure through China, Mongolia and Russia on the Trans-Siberian railway.

A legendary expedition, the iconic rail network consists of three connecting lines – the TransSiberian, Trans-Mongolian and Trans-Manchurian. I chose to travel the ancient tea caravan route, east to west from Beijing to Moscow and stopping in Ulaanbaator.

I love train travel and this was my favourite rail adventure so far. Just

one highlight was the changing of the ‘bogies’ at Erlian near the Chinese-Mongolian border. Bogies is the common name given to the ‘sets of train wheels’ which need to be changed over when crossing international borders to countries with different gauge rail tracks.

Gauge is the distance between the rail tracks and in this case the Chinese standard is 1,435mm while the standard is 1,520 mm gauge on Mongolia and Russian rail networks.

The process of changing bogies at Erlian is a combination of automated and manual operation by engineers, mechanics, and even the train attendants who suit up appropriately in high vis and

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helmets to help out the experts on the ground. As train carriages and their wheels are disassembled and reassembled all, I was able to watch the process from the windows of the train.

We arrived into Erlian around sunset and pulled up briefly outside the changeover facility. The train was moving leisurely at this point, and I certainly was not prepared for the noise or the jerking and shunting that was to follow.

We moved into the shed like changeover facility where large hydraulic lifts lined the track and cranes hovered overhead. Stopping, we were suddenly shunted forward

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with forceful jerk when the carriage in front of us was removed. Then carriage behind us was removed with another forceful jerk.

Powerful hydraulic lifts were fitted to our carriage by the engineer operators. The redundant Chinese bogies were unfastened and manually rolled forward and the wheels wedged to stop it rolling backwards. The hydraulic lifts raised us again almost imperceptibly until we were hovering more than a metre above the track.

The crane arrived dropping new the bogies to sit on the outside of the tracks, in front of the carriage.

The new bogies are then rolled underneath the train carriage. As

our carriage was slowly lowered down onto the new bogies and secured, the narrower gauge Chinese bogies are rolled away and removed by crane, presumably until they are needed by a train heading in the opposite direction.

It’s a precise and methodical operation – and it takes time. We were in Erlian for around five hours while the immigration and bogie exchange took place. It certainly wasn’t a restful night but it was a fascinating process.

Of course, there were a few other highlights from the journey.

Passing the grassy steppes and the Gobi in Mongolia, the Siberian plains and snow dusted Ural Mountains, to name just a few.

However, my favourite moments were while traveling alongside the amazing Lake Baikal for 207kilometres. The deepest lake in the world is also so wide that at times I could barely distinguish where the edge of the lake was on the other side.

It’s said that before industrialisation the ancient tea caravan route would have taken almost a year and a half to complete with a full caravan of camels. We completed the entire train trip in seven days, but broke up the journey with a two week stay in Ulaanbaator. I highly recommend this trip to anyone with an interest in train travel or a thirst for adventure.

Trans-Siberian fast facts • The railway consists of three lines – Trans-Siberian, Trans-Mongolian and TransManchurian • Construction began in 1891 under Tsar Alexander the III • Moscow to Vladivostock is the longest route at 9,288km • Labour estimations to build the rail network varies between 60,000 and 90,000 • Passes through 87 cities and towns and crosses 16 rivers • Passes through 10 time zones • Built in 1915, Tarmanchukan is the longest tunnel at two km • The largest bridge above the Amur river is 2612 meters long and built in 1999 • An important transport link, the network carries 30% of Russia’s exports

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BRIANNA BARNETT

MEMBER PROFILE

Brianna Barnett, Senior Works Manager - Western Downs Regional Council (WDRC) EPW: Please tell us about yourself: where are you from, what are your interests, what makes you tick?

BB: I grew up on a sheep and cattle property and attended boarding

school, and later spent a gap year travelling overseas. I’d intended to study medicine but had a late change to Civil Engineering.

I love to travel and been fortunate enough to have been able to explore a large chunk of Australia and the UK. I love playing and coaching sport, particularly netball, running and bike rides with the

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

family as well as being part of the local community.

I enjoy being busy and regularly have ‘projects’, with my husband & I renovating houses outside of work.

EPW: Please summarise your career to date in your own words.

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BB: I’ve been working in the civil construction industry for 14 years.

I commenced as a site / graduate engineer for a civil construction company in Dalby and progressed to a project engineer, senior project engineer and later project manager over an eight year period.

I spent two years in Karratha (North West Western Australia) as a project manager delivering remote civil construction projects for the mining and gas industries.

I transitioned across from private industry to public works in 2016, when a project manager / technical officer position was available at WDRC, and later the Works Manager - Construction role and now as the Senior Works Manager.

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

BB: My most significant career highlight is that I have been fortunate enough to have worked on a plethora of projects across both Queensland and Western Australia in a relatively short period. A snapshot of the types of projects I’ve delivered include: • Residential, rural residential and industrial subdivisions in Dalby and Toowoomba, Qld • Feedlot expansions projects at Aubigny, Bowenville, Condamine and Chinchilla, Qld • Power substation projects in Brisbane, Gympie and Biggenden Qld and Cape Preston and

Dampier WA • A creek diversion through Curragh Coal Mine at Blackwater, Qld • Gas Compression Station works for Apache Energy at Fortescue, WA • Construction of Workers Camp Accommodation Villages at Devils Ck, WA and Miles, Qld • Civil Construction works on Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore Railway Infrastructure including flood damage to rail bridges following Tropical Cyclones, Pilbara WA • Construction of Town Swimming Pool for Rio Tinto’s closed town of Pannawonica, WA

Brianna's work on a road project in WDRC

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• Civil Concrete Structures for Rio Tinto for rail and port facilities at Cape Lambert, WA and Sino Iron at Cape Preston, WA • Construction of a sea wall under live operations for Ro Tinto Dampier Salt • Construction of 12 evaporation and detention dams across the Western Downs for gas industry (QGC, Origin, APLNG, Arrow Energy and Santos).

These involved significant bulk earthworks, leak detections systems as well as multilayer HDPE liner systems • DMTR road construction across Qld • Construction of upgrades and reconstructions of roads, bridges and footpaths for Western Downs Regional Council • Asset management for WDRC’s transport infrastructure and fleet and workshop management EPW: What do you find most satisfying about working as an engineer in public works?

BB: The most satisfying part of working as an engineer in public works is that every project has a day-to-day direct positive impact on the community. The value for money services result in effective asset management and upgrades that improve the liveability and connectivity of the residents and their communities.

EPW: Can you tell us something about how you manage to balance work/life commitments (and how your employer supports you in this regard)?

BB: For me, the biggest factors in balancing work/life commitments is the passion that I feel for both work and for my family – I’m at my

best with a strong combination of the two.

With three small children at home, I feel extremely fortunate to be able to balance my work and family commitments with what suits my own family dynamic.

WDRC supports me with this by offering flexible working arrangements.

EPW: What do you appreciate most about your involvement with IPWEAQ? BB: I appreciate the technical courses and forums that IPWEAQ facilitate as well as the networking opportunities with peers and colleagues in public works.

IPWEAQ encourages collaboration between entities.

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EPW: What would be the one piece of advice you would give to others early in their career?

BB: Keep challenging yourself – push yourself outside of your comfort zone and keep learning, that’s the only way to continue to expand on your skill set.

The best advice to someone early in their engineering career is to never underestimate the depth of knowledge and experience of the works crews, supervisors and co-ordinators. The wisdom they share with you will ultimately result in you being able to provide and apply practical solutions.

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As an IPWEAQ member, you’ll have all the networks, resources, support and representation you need to succeed and grow in your career in the public works sector.

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Everything you need to know about our industry and your career with regular updates, invitations, newsletters and our quarterly journal, Engineering for Public Works

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Membership is open to anyone actively involved in the delivery of public works and services in Queensland including technical officers, supervisors, fleet managers, project managers, finance and HR professionals, councillors and consultants.

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The Importance of Working Relationships in Rural Communities

AMBASSADOR ARTICLE

In any field, it is important that healthy working relationships are built and maintained. Not just with our work colleagues, but also the clients and contractors that we work with.

Contracts can run smoother as a result, defects can be addressed more efficiently, both parties can achieve their goals, the list can go on and on. In metropolitan areas, organisations can be inundated by clients and contractors. If these relationships go sour, it is easier to move on to the next client or contractor.

Unfortunately, this isn’t quite the case for most rural areas, where the majority of projects come from a handful of local clients, with a low number of contractors that tender for projects. Hence why it is essential that our working relationships between clients and contractors is maintained.

At the company I work for, our clients are generally local councils that have collaborated with us since 1945. If an employee was to damage these relationships, the company would struggle to maintain its high reputation. It is through these quality long term relationships that we, as engineers, can provide and deliver Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

57

the best for our communities.

While workload varies from various clients, we maintain strong relationships by staying true to our values and use these opportunities to further demonstrate our capabilities. Which ultimately not only helps deliver the facilities the community deserve, but also allows us to create and build our relationships with local contractors.

Due to the locality of many rural jobs, non-local tenderers struggle to achieve inviting prices due to transportation of equipment, accommodation and travel costs. Due to this and among other factors, jobs are generally awarded to local contractors.

These local contractors are not just contractors, they are also our neighbours and part of our community. They are the locals we see at football games, the pub, the supermarket, just about anywhere. To ensure our working relationships are beneficial, it is not about avoiding contractors outside of work hours. It’s about

knowing where your working relationship stops and your private community relationship begins.

Building a rapport with contractors in a rural community can ensure that projects run smoothly and are a collaborative team effort between all stakeholders. A personal example is one of my first projects I completed as an engineer in Barcaldine. One day driving down an isolated road I came across an old Border Collie all alone, I thought nothing of picking him up and dropping him to the closest pound to find his owner. As it turns out, the dog I picked up belonged to the family of a contractor I was currently working with. They were so grateful that I stopped to help the dog, that it transitioned our standard working relationship into a relationship built on mutual respect that benefitted all parties.

Which ultimately contributed to a smooth sailing project.

At the end of the day, relationships can be difficult and hard work, but the rewards can make life easier and more enjoyable for all involved. Approaching relationships with a positive attitude has helped develop my love for engineering in a rural community. Being able to see the results of my hard work and sharing this with our clients and contractors make for a rewarding experience that help maintain the local community.

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

South East Queensland TECHNICAL SERIES 9 MAY

17 JULY

8 AUGUST

McCullough Robertson – Brisbane

Moreton Bay Regional Council + Redland City Council

Ipswich City Council

TOPIC Development Approval Process Seminar VENUE McCullough Robertson Level 11, 66 Eagle Street Brisbane TIME 2:30pm – 5:30pm

TOPIC Stormwater / Transport + Transport Planning and Land Development VENUE TBC TIME 4:30pm – 7:00pm

TOPIC Design Challenges for Concrete Bike Ways in Brown Field VENUE North Ipswich Reserve TIME 5:30pm – 8:00pm

28 AUGUST

11 SEPTEMBER

20 NOVEMBER

Calibre Transport – Brisbane

Noosa Council

Sunshine Coast Council

TOPIC M1/M3 Gateway Merge project VENUE Calibre Brisbane Office Level 3, 545 Queen Street Brisbane TIME 6:00pm – 7:30pm

TOPIC Park Road ED DUE TO ELLBoardwalk NC CA VENUESHF The IRE J – Front Foyer ERGENCY. EM BU 60 Noosa Noosa 4567.

NG TBA ULIHeads CED RESDr, TIME 1.30pm – 4.000pm

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

TOPIC CBD Entrance road project

Airport Runway

SCC Major Projects VENUE TBC TIME TBC

   www.ipweaq.com

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SEQ Branch President’s Report Since my last report, three more events have been delivered in the highly successful SEQ Tech Series.

Moreton Bay Regional Council hosted our Asset Management session on 17 July with over 40 attendees. Presenters Jackie Frost, Boyan Trifonov, Gleb Kolenbet and Darren Carlson highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence and digital initiatives to enable highly effective road asset management within councils as well as the assessment of new developments using an Integrated Transport Assessment approach.

I was pleased to host the next seminar at Ipswich City Council on 8 August. Scott Young from Stabilised Pavements Australia presented on innovations in lime stabilised subgrades while John Lockton from PelicanCorp talked about intelligent asset management leveraging big data. I also had the opportunity to address delegates on my experiences implementing a paperless office at Ipswich City Council.

This event was sponsored by Cardno and PelicanCorp and we greatly appreciate their support for IPWEAQ and our community!

And I’m also very pleased to add another welcome to PelicanCorp which has joined IPWEAQ as an Enterprise Partner – welcome John and the team from PelicanCorp!

We look forward to seeing you at

the Annual Conference in just a few weeks.

Our third SEQ Technical Series seminar was held 28 August and hosted by the Calibre Group. Emad Tadros, Transport Lead Qld and Principal Engineer at Calibre, took delegates on a fascinating journey through the M1/M3 Gateway Merge Upgrade Project. Mal McCann, Water & Environment Leader at Calibre and Lance May, Senior Engineer - Water & Environment at Calibre presented on flood flows across growing communities.

The next two seminars in the series will be hosted by Noosa Council on 11 September and Sunshine Coast Council on 20 November.

Thank you again to our hosts and sponsors: PelicanCorp, Cardno, Calibre, Moreton Bay Regional Council and Ipswich City Council Congratulations to the IPWEAQ Professional Development team for delivering the inaugural and sold-out Demystifying Extended Design Domain Applications course in Brisbane in July. The response to the program has been excellent with more courses to be scheduled later in the year.

Please check the website for all upcoming courses and if you would like to arrange a course in-house and tailor-made for your teams, please contact Kate O’Riordan.

Finally, I am very pleased to be continuing as the SEQ Branch President for another two years.

Thank you also to our SEQ Branch committee members who have confirmed their commitment including Gleb Kolenbet (Vice President and TEAM IPWEAQ Bike Club Captain), Sarah Hausler (Secretary), Jessica Kahl (IPWEAQ Ambassador), Michael Pattinson, Chris Mantell, Weena Lokuge and Larry Griffiths. And we'd also like to welcome new committee member, Jo O'Brien from Tonkin!

We look forward to delivering a successful SEQ Branch conference in Caloundra, 28-29 May 2019 please mark your diaries now. In the meantime, be sure to contact me if you have any suggestions for SEQ Branch seminars, activities or other initiatives.

All of us on your SEQ Branch committee look forward to seeing you at another record-breaking IPWEAQ Annual Conference in Brisbane, 22-24 October – don’t miss #IPWEAQ19!

Raad Jarjees

SEQ Branch President

SAVE THE DATE: 2020 SEQ Branch Conference 28-29 May Caloundra

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NORTHERN ROADS SYMPOSIUM Consistent with our commitment to deliver conferences and events in rural and regional centres, IPWEAQ hosted the Northern Roads Symposium (NRS) in Cairns, 11-13 June 2019. These events offer an opportunity to address issues which focus on the particular needs of councils imposed by local conditions.

In the case of the NRS, this meant investigating the use of locally available materials in the construction, maintenance and operations of road assets related to northern climatic conditions.

Presentations were delivered by leading industry experts on best practice utilising non-standard materials as well as reviewing learnings from various recent projects in terms of material selection, construction methods and performance evaluation.

The symposium also looked at strategies for maximising outcomes when funding is limited, discussed and analysed the technical expertise and experience available to support industry stakeholders.

Presentations ranged from CSIRO’s Stephen McFallan discussing

the scientific modelling around heavy vehicle transport on lower volume roads, to highly practical explanations of managing foam bitumen stabilisation from TMR’s Damian Volker. We also heard about the development of the Lower Order Road Guidelines from IPWEAQ’s Craig Moss followed by a presentation on how that guide has been used in practice from Mareeba Council’s Glena Kirk. This was a small sample of the wealth of material discussed across the two days which covered every element of design, construction and maintenance of roads in a tropical environment.

As always, our events offer plenty of opportunity for networking and catching up in less formal surroundings and we had positive feedback on the social events and technical tours that formed part of the event.

The symposium dinner at the Aboriginal Cultural Centre of Tjapukai was very well received with great entertainment and outstanding

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

food using using bush tucker and including the best and native ingredients, including the best marinated kangaroo anyone had ever tasted.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of this event. Presentations are available in IPWEAQ's globallyrecognised Knowledge Centre.

61

NQ Branch President’s Report Thank you to everyone who attended the Northern Roads Symposium held in Cairns, 1113 June which kicked off with a technical tour of the Cairns Southern Access Corridor Stage 4. A special thank you to Shepherd for their sponsorship of the event and to the 88 delegates who joined us to talk about lower order roads, marginal materials, design and innovative solutions, and the sharing of valuable learnings.

There are further opportunities to fulfil your ongoing professional development needs with the following courses being delivered in the north: Managing Lower Order Roads Cairns: 29 August - closed Darwin: 20 November Bridge Inspection Workshop Levels one and two Cairns: 17-19 September 2019 Drainage for Road Design Mackay: 27-28 November 2019 Erosion and Sediment Control Workshop Level Two Townsville: 17 October 2019 Darwin: 11 November 2019 Erosion and Sediment Control Workshop Level Three Darwin: 12-14 November 2019 Type A, B & D Sediment Basin Design Workshop Darwin: 14 November 2019 Judging for the 2019 excellence awards has been concluded and

trophies are being engraved with the names of winners. Good luck to the councils and consultancies in our region and their team members nominated for individual awards – we hope to see more awards head to the north this year.

Earlier this year, IPWEAQ launched the Engineers for Disaster Relief program. If you are retired, or even if you are not, and would like to volunteer your time and expertise helping out following a natural disaster, please contact our CEO, Leigh Cunningham. We could certainly use your help in the north following floods and cyclones.

The current cover of the Supervisor’s Handbook features the restoration of the Kirrama Range Road project – winner of the 2015 excellence award for projects $5 to $10 million. This Handbook is due for a review with a Working Group being formed which requires representation from members from all branches.

Please contact Craig Moss if you would like to participate in the review. Contributions to Working Groups earns CPD hours but offers an excellent opportunity for you to influence the content of this important publication. All contributors are recognised by IPWEAQ in the Annual Report and in the Acknowledgments of all our publications.

next month. These events have grown exponentially over the past few years to the point that we now struggle to find venues to accommodate our expanding community. I am pleased that the Annual Conference will be held in Cairns next year. In the meantime, the NQ Branch conference will be held in Townsville in June 2020.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support during my four years as the NQ Branch President and offer my best wishes to Glenda Kirk who will commence in the role from October.

Bruce Gardiner NQ Branch President

SAVE THE DATE: 2020 NQ Branch Conference 10-11 June Townsville

I hope to see many of you at the Annual Conference in Brisbane Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS. ™

New - XML validation tool available tool –

ASSET DESIGN AS CONSTRUCTED

THE CIVIL BIM ADAC is the Civil BIM (Building Information Modelling) for public works infrastructure.

It is open source and adopted widely by councils and utilities across Australia.

ADAC (Asset Deign as Constructed) is an open source data specification and transport format (XML) for the description and transmission of asset design and as constructed data.

Why adopt ADAC? ADAC enables the easy, reliable and consistent exchange of asset design and as constructed data between asset constructors and asset managers.

ADAC provides for the automation of data entry from any source (once validated via the XML validation tool). This automated process is not a function of asset management software – ADAC is required to achieve this outcome.

ADAC data can be checked for errors, transformed and loaded into asset management systems in an automated and reliable manner and then used to populate asset component registers and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

The ADAC framework offers consistent and accurate results saving time and costs.

Why is ADAC better than alternatives?  It has a broader scope ie more asset classes.  It contains more detail ie more attributes defined at a greater level.  It is open source and independent of other platforms so you are not locked into a particular software solution.

 It is a language for describing assets

rather than representing them.  It represents the collective wisdom of our community of public works professionals expert in the management of assets.

What are the benefits of ADAC?  Significant time and resource savings in the electronic processing of as constructed data.  Improved consistency and accuracy of detailed asset data.  Quality control checks on asset data for completeness and integrity.  Beneficial for automated uploading of asset data to GIS, asset management databases and other registers.  Transparent asset registration and valuation processes that deliver improved corporate governance.  Capacity to reconcile donated assets with planning scheme requirements and infrastructure agreements.  Potential to ‘round-trip’ asset data and related information to external customers in a consistent format.  Property developers and consulting engineers experience consistent requirements from councils.

Contact Director, Professional Services Craig.Moss@ipweaq.com 3632 6805

Web based XML validation XML data from ‘as constructed’ d or design data can be validate have ks wor ired requ to ensure the been completed and captured correctly for each council.

Benefits of Consortium Membership  XML data from ‘as constructed’ or design data can be quickly validated to ensure the required works have been completed and captured correctly.  Technical support from our ADAC forums and resource centre.  Access to the Technical Reference Group. Contribute to the expansion of ADAC.  Network of other ADAC users and forums which offer support and value-add to asset data processes.  National recognition as an ADAC member.

Size per constituency

Cost*

Councils with < 25,000

$2,000

Councils with 25,000 to 100,000

$4,000

Councils with > 100,000

$7,000

Utility Providers

$7,000

Other Entities

Contact IPWEAQ * plus GST

   www.ipweaq.com

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SWQ Branch President’s Report I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for supporting my nomination for SWQ Branch President in 2017. Two years has come and gone and I have very much appreciated your support and the support of our Branch committee comprising Andrew Johnson, Dereck Sanderson, Luke Tanner and Maddy Stahlhut, our IPWEAQ Ambassador.

the affirmative team in this year’s Great Debate arguing that rural and regional engineers are far more adaptable than their city counterparts. We know from the Gatton conference that Andrew is a great speaker yet I’m sure he would appreciate any arguments you might like to share with him that will help the good guys win on the day. And make sure you are there to vote!

I have also very much enjoyed my term on the IPWEAQ Board and look forward to continuing for another two years in a new role as the IPWEAQ Vice President.

Andrew Johnson will be stepping up as your SWQ Branch President effective from the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held 24 October 2019 in Brisbane. I look forward to working with Andrew on the IPWEAQ Board.

In the Futures Challenge, our branch will be represented by Mark Tomarchio from USQ who will be presenting on industry considerations for truck stability at roundabouts. The winner of the Futures Challenge will be announced at the excellence awards dinner/ceremony later that night and the winner chosen from your votes via the Conference app.

You might recall our Ambassador, Maddy Stahlhut was the winner last year and will be presenting the award to this year’s winner.

If you are unable to attend the conference or the AGM with special resolutions, please be sure to request a Proxy Form from the CEO, Leigh Cunningham to ensure your vote is counted. See page 13 for more information on the AGM After a fantastic two days in Gatton, we have an opportunity to again get together for the 2019 IPWEAQ Annual Conference in Brisbane, 22-24 October. I’m sure you all remember the great times we had last year and this year will be even better.

Your incoming Branch President, Andrew Johnson will be joining

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to offer our community’s support for those councils struggling with critical water issues. If you should need assistance, please don’t hesitate to call on the Institute via our Engineers for Disaster Relief program (contact our CEO) and we’ll be sure to bring support to your door. We wish we could bring you rain but engineers are the next best thing.

Angela Fry SWQ Branch President

SAVE THE DATE: 2020 SWQ Branch Conference 20-22 February Stanthorpe

Join TEAM IPWEAQ as we Ride the Second Range Crossing, Saturday 7 September 2019. If you are not yet a member of TEAM IPWEAQ, please contact Johanna Vanling to join the Team and secure your cycling jersey.

From all of us in the SWQ Branch, our very best wishes to our councils and consultants competing in the 2019 excellence awards. And importantly, I hear a great band has been lined up for us so be ready to celebrate!

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CQ Branch President’s Report I am delighted to be continuing on as your CQ Branch President for another term and thank you for your support over the past two years! Joining me on our CQ Branch committee are Adam Doherty, Stuart Grallelis, Seth Docherty, Ashleigh Tomkins and our IPWEAQ Ambassador, Benjamin Ash. We welcome your suggestions on activities and events for our branch.

I hope you will join us at the 2019 IPWEAQ Annual Conference in Brisbane, 22-24 October which is sure to be another memorable event. Each year for the past few years, the conference has grown in stature with a record 485 delegates in 2018. More importantly, it is the comraderie, the socialising, the special conference features and valuable CPD hours – 16 including the Tech Tours of which there are four to choose from.

Special features this year includes: • The Great Debate: Rural/regional engineers are more adaptable than their city counterparts. Be there to support Ben Ash as he joins the affirmative team to take on those city slickers!

• Futures Challenge for final year civil engineering students, with CQ represented by Benjamin Chappell from CQUniversity.

Be sure to be there to support Benjamin as he competes against JCU, SCU and USQ. • Design Thinking Session (CASE Workshop) for U35 delegates.

• Masterclass for women in public works engineering – Diversity as a superpower facilitated by Dr Jillian Kenny.

We have several speakers in the Annual Conference program from CQ including: • Scenic Highway, Statue Bay – Cyclone Marcia Reconstruction Project by our 2019 CQ Branch conference Best Paper award winner, Dan Toon, Livingstone Shire Council • Understanding and optimising disinfection performance in a water supply network, Neels Kloppers, Gladstone Regional Council | Roger Crozier, Stantec • Transforming business operations and gaining efficiency in record time: Implementing a mobility solution at Gympie Water, Robert Stone, Gympie Regional Council | James Esson, Assetic • A Council’s transformational journey to allow improved asset management, Anna Scott, Gladstone Regional Council • North Burnett Regional Council takes a new approach to road service delivery, Justin Kronk, North Burnett Regional Council and Darren Shepherd, Shepherd Services Please be there to support the team from CQ as they present to delegates, and be there to support our region’s projects as they compete for the prestigious IPWEAQ awards for excellence in

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

public works engineering!

And if you are unable to make it to the Annual Conference this year, please be sure to send your Proxy vote for the critical Annual General Meeting when we will meet to (hopefully) adopt our new constitution. Please contact the CEO to receive your Proxy Form.

And finally, I’m sure we have plenty of fit healthy engineers and technical officers in CQ and I invite you to nominate a bike ride for us to get TEAM IPWEAQ happening in our branch. It does not need to be a formalised ride; we can create our own. TEAM IPWEAQ bike jerseys available for all participants and they look great on everyone!

Celisa Faulkner CQ Branch President

SAVE THE DATE: 2020 CQ Branch Conference 30 April - 1 May Maryborough

65

Designing the future Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr is not only blessed with having a very cool name, he is also credited with providing the phrase: “the more things change, the more they stay the same”.

This statement has never been more relevant when we consider the current status of the civil design discipline. While as a sector we have identified concerning trends in the capacity and capability of this critical cohort, little has been done to address the issue. In an industry that has embraced technology and innovation, we have experienced no change in the way we engage and develop our most valuable resources – our people.

Research has shown that the demand for design engineers across Australia continues to climb even as graduate numbers slow.

At the same time, industry reports have identified that there is a low number of highly skilled designers that are capable of developing specialist or innovative designs through a robust engineering process using first principles to achieve the objectives of road design. The limited pipeline of future designers combined with the concerns over the existing capability within our sector is cause for alarm.

The impact from these issues are being experienced on a daily basis.

All too often projects are delayed due to the inability to access a designer in a timely manner when clarification is required. The increasing practice of outsourcing

design capacity and expertise on a project basis can exacerbate the problem with a lack of continuity of project knowledge once construction commences.

Another major concern is the reluctance to apply accepted practices such as Extended Design Domain (EDD) to existing roads with constraining factors. The cost differential between upgrading a road to a level within the normal design domain compared to a level within the EDD is likely to be high. The potential financial benefits derived from applying EDD can be significant while maintaining safety standards.

In the past, industry has relied heavily on the Department of Transport and Main Roads to develop the capability of technical staff through a number of initiatives aimed at attracting new talent to the sector and providing a nurturing environment to learn from experienced practitioners while also being supported by a robust technical development program. In more recent times, the TMR Design School was a good conduit of suitably skilled cadet designers entering the workforce.

As a sector, we can no longer

expect TMR to develop our civil designers, we need to proactively address this area of need.

In his Engineering for Public Works article in 2017, Tony Gallagher from the Harrison Infrastructure group noted that “the civil design community is in need of a systematic and coordinated approach for training of their design and engineering staff at all levels”. To achieve this we must have a sector-wide approach to developing and delivering solutions that will meet both the immediate and long-term needs of relevant staff.

IPWEAQ is working on a strategic approach to address this issue.

While we have the capability to develop and manage a model that provides the systematic and coordinated approach mentioned previously, we required all of the key stakeholders to become invested in a practical and holistic fashion if we are to achieve tangible and sustainable outcomes.

IPWEAQ welcomes industry feedback into this initiative. We encourage you to contact Craig Moss, Director, Professional Services craig.moss@ipwaeq.com to discuss further.

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UNDERSTANDING DIRECT SUPERVISION Nathaniel Tunney, Communications and Engagement Manager at Board of Professional Engineers Queensland (BPEQ) Under the Professional Engineers Act, anyone carrying out a professional engineering service in Queensland or for Queensland must be registered. It is an offence for unregistered persons to undertake professional engineering services, punishable by a maximum of 1,000 penalty units. There are two narrow exceptions: first, for a person who carries out a professional engineering service under the ‘direct supervision’ of a responsible RPEQ; and second, an engineering service that is carried out only in accordance with a ‘prescriptive standard’.

In this article, BPEQ details the elements of direct supervision.

Obligations are placed both on the unregistered person who is being directly supervised and the RPEQ who is providing the direct supervision. Direct supervision requirements are intentionally onerous.

To understand the requirements, some preliminary observations are helpful: 1. T he legal requirement is ‘direct supervision’ not just ‘supervision,’ a very high level of supervision is required. This is intentional; 2. I t is the unregistered person who is claiming direct supervision who has the legal

onus on proving the exception; 3. D irect supervision must exist for each specific professional engineering service. This is different from a general professional relationship; 4. T he RPEQ who is providing the direct supervision must take full professional responsibility for the professional engineering services.

ELEMENT

REQUIREMENT

The supervision must be direct; and the supervising RPEQ must have actual knowledge of the services/project

The supervising RPEQ must have direct contact and not through a third person

The supervising RPEQ must direct the person in the carrying out of the service; and

The supervising RPEQ must actively direct the unregistered person in carrying out the professional engineering services. A passive or observational role is not sufficient

The supervising RPEQ must oversee the carrying out of the service by the person; and

The supervising RPEQ must be involved from the beginning and though out the professional engineering service.

The supervising RPEQ must evaluate the carrying out of the service by the person; and

The supervising RPEQ must evaluate the professional engineering services and ensure they are being carried out to the standard expected of a RPEQ.

The supervising RPEQ must take full professional responsibility for the service.

The requirement is that the services are carried out to the standard expected of a RPEQ and that the supervising RPEQ takes overt professional responsibility for them.

THE ELEMENTS OF DIRECT SUPERVISION To establish direct supervision, the following elements must be present: Of note is that to oversee the services, the supervising RPEQ must be involved, in the entire life- cycle of the project or service. It follows that mere end of service ‘review’, ‘checking’, ‘sign off’ or ‘certification’ are insufficient to establish direct supervision and would not satisfy the legal requirements under the PE Act. PRACTICAL STEPS The requirements for establishing direct supervision will be dependent on each individual matter and vary depending on the type of

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professional engineering service and level of experience of the supervisee. For the supervising RPEQ, the degree of involvement, albeit always across the lifecycle of the project or service, is a matter of professional judgement.

As a general principle, direct supervision should be fully documented. There should be substantial records demonstrating the supervisory involvement of the RPEQ in directing, overseeing and evaluating the professional engineering services. As outlined above, it is the unregistered person being directly supervised who carries the onus and should be ensuring appropriate direct supervision and record keeping.

NO RIGHT TO MONETARY OR OTHER PAYMENT The PE Act also provides that unregistered persons, who are not directly supervised are not entitled to any monetary or other consideration for carrying out professional engineering services, even if there is a contract (see BPEQ e-news November 2015 – QEE v Agripower).

CONCLUSION Further information about BPEQ policies and processes, including registration and direct supervision, is available on BPEQ’s website or by contacting BPEQ directly at admin@bpeq.qld. gov.au (registration and general

inquiries) or legal@bpeq.qld.gov. au (legal inquiries) or by calling (07) 3210 3100. While BPEQ staff will endeavour to offer help about processes and procedures, staff will not give legal advice.

This article is published with the permission of the BPEQ. IPWEAQ and RPEQ We are proud to be an assessment entity for RPEQ registration. If you would like more information on RPEQ assessment process, please visit our website.

RPEQ ASSESSMENT BY IPWEAQ IPWEAQ upholds professional standards as an approved assessment authority for the registration of engineers (RPEQ) in the area of Civil Engineering – Public Works.

Why should I become an RPEQ? Under the Queensland ‘Professional Engineers Act 2002’, engineers practicing in Queensland are required to be registered with the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland (BPEQ) or must be directly supervised by an RPEQ. Registration differentiates you as a professional engineer and is confirmation that you have met certain professional, educational and competency requirements.

Who can apply?

Applicants need to meet the following criteria:  A minimum four year Bachelor of Engineering degree from an Australian university. Where a degree other than this is held, or for overseas qualifications not covered by the Washington Accord, the Assessment Board will conduct an additional assessment to determine equivalency and an additional fee will be charged.  A minimum of five years delivering engineering services under the supervision of an RPEQ or equivalent.

 Technical Officers having completed MEPrac may also apply subject to having had a minimum of five years supervised experience.  Have completed 150 hours of CPD for the immediate previous three years.

How do I apply?

IPWEAQ can assess applications for RPEQ registration throughout Queensland.

Applications are submitted at www.rpeqassessment.com.au with:  Details of all qualifications held relevant to the discipline for which accreditation is sought.  Up-to-date, detailed curriculum vitae.  Details of CPD undertaken in the immediate three years prior to application.  Referee statements from three referees who are RPEQ and are in a position to independently comment on the applicant’s work  A statement of competency.

How much will it cost?

A non-refundable assessment fee will be payable at the time of application:

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

How is my application assessed?

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

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

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

What is the review process?

RPEQs are required to demonstrate they have completed a minimum of 150 hours of CPD in every three year period and may be subject to random audits.

The IPWEAQ CPD Logbook helps you keep track of your CPD. Submit your application at www.rpeqassessment.com.au For more information, please contact: Mark.Lamont@ipweaq.com

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

TRACK YOUR CPD HOURS Course

HOURS TO DO

QUDM

8

Administration of Construction Contracts

14

Road Safety Audit

16

Basic Geometric Road Design

12

Road Safety Audit Refresher

7

Bridge Inspection L1

10

Roles and Responsibilities (Webinar)

1

Bridge Inspection L2

10

Roles and Responsibilities (Series)

7

Bridge Inspection L1 & L2

20

Supervisors Workshop

14

Critical Risk Management

7

Tender Administration

14

Demystifying EDD Applications

12

Treatment of Crash Locations

15

Erosion & Sediment Control Level 1

4

Type A, B & D Sediment Basin Design Course

8

Erosion & Sediment Control Level 2

8

Erosion & Sediment Control Level 3

16

Flexible Pavement Design

14

Grants and Funding

6

LORDG

7

Managing unsealed local roads

16

Management of Civil Workforce Training

12

Mechanistic Pavement Design CIRCLY

7

Native Title and Cultural Heritage

6

Event 2019

HOURS TO DO

SWQ Branch Conference

9

CQ Branch Conference

8.5

Annual Conference

16

Submission of papers

45

Rural Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Forum

12

Northern Roads Symposium

10 Total

Log in to your account via the IPWEAQ portal to check your CPD hours at any time.

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

   www.ipweaq.com

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Highlights from the International Study Tour Report Ashlee Jesshope DOXA Visit Our visit to DOXA included presentations by Josep Ramon Ferrer Escoda (International Business Director) and Anna Grau (Smart Cities & Mobility Consultant). Josep is also the former CIO of Barcelona City Council and CEO of Barcelona Institute of Technology. It was during his time in these roles that he developed and implemented the Barcelona Smart City Plan and much of the discussion centred on Barcelona’s smart city journey.

The presentation outlined a high-level stepped approach to developing a smart city. The first step being developing a longterm vision with clear and visible leadership support behind it.

The leadership element is crucial, as without it, Councils will find it hard to gain momentum. I found Stockholm’s vision to be a particularly good example.

“In 2030, Stockholm will be a versatile city, offering top-class education and business opportunities, alongside unspoiled nature at your doorstep - a unique combination that will continue to attract visitors from around the world” The vision allows politicians and executive management to support the Smart City implementation by promoting broad tangible benefits to its residents.

Josep emphasised the importance of next step. Developing a Strategic

Transformational Plan prior to choosing and implementing any specific technologies or regimes gives council a framework to work within. It should be a holistic model which breaks down the silos within an organisation to allow maximum benefit and innovation. It should encompass all the business that Council undertakes, rather than for example, focusing on civil infrastructure. Along with outlining objectives and KPIs, the plan should detail alignment with state and federal schemes or policies, funding opportunities and potential business models for key elements.

Prior to moving forward and implementing the plan, the residents should be engaged and ideally they would provide input or feedback to the final plan. By undertaking this in an open, inclusive and participatory manner, residents not only feel some ownership over the future direction of their city but gain an understanding of what a smart city is or can look like for them.

To paraphrase a key point Josep made about this process, a smart city shouldn’t compromise the soul of a city, it’s identity, rather it should enhance that. What better gauge for the soul of a city than its residents.

Following the presentations, the delegation was taken on a guided tour of Passeig de Gràcia.

This is one of the main streets of Barcelona in which several smart city technology deployments

can be viewed. These include electric vehicle charging stations, led lighting, in pavement vehicle monitors and city Wi-Fi. Apart from the charging stations all the installation where not immediately obvious to an untrained eye as being smart city technology. In particular, I’d like to mention the in-ground sensors which are being used to monitor traffic volumes and speeds. These are simple, inexpensive and unobtrusive. The data they collect can be utilised in various ways, such as to monitor congestion and adjust traffic signal timings. Or used in conjunction with air quality monitors to adjust when electric or hybrid only vehicles should be permitted in an area to reduce air pollution.

Apart from the static installations we also observed the bus and taxi fleet of Barcelona. The entire bus fleet is now electric, and the taxi fleet is close behind. Barcelona has introduced restrictions on when non-electric vehicles can access certain areas and has incentives for private vehicle owners to purchase electric rather than petrol or even hybrid. This is of course not an overnight change but has developed over the past 5 to 10 years.

In all, the DOXA visit was a very informative one and beneficial to have prior to attending the conference. I found a lot of what I saw and heard over the three days of conference could be tied back to the discussion had whilst at DOXA.

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PEOPLE AND CAPABILITY REPORT Nadia Marks Director, People & Capability Is attracting engineers to regional areas in Queensland indeed a problem? A key focus area in the people and capability space is to ascertain the extent of this issues and in response, determine how we might best assist our community overcome challenges.

Media articles and industry reports suggest that there is an overall shortage of qualified engineers, eg this Brisbane Times article, What’s really regional? The smaller SEQ councils in a battle for jobs funding and this ABC news article, Regional Queensland is at a crossroads, but is it too late to turn things around?

In last year’s Local Government Workforce and Future Skills Report, respondents were asked to list their top five skill shortage areas across urban, regional and remote segments. Engineers were listed as the top skill shortage occupation. Earlier this year engineering was identified as one of the top three industries employing young people in Queensland. Recruitment portal Seek reports an 8.4% tightening in Engineering candidate availability (ie a decrease in applications) across Australia in 2018 compared to the previous 12 months.

The shortage of qualified public works engineering is seen in

Miranda Blogg from TMR at the UQ Engineering and Computing Employer Led series.

Key findings from the Australian Government Department of Jobs and Small Business Labour Market Report for Civil Engineering Professionals, April 2018: • Around 71 per cent of the surveyed vacancies required civil engineers with more than five years postgraduate experience.

• Around 59 per cent of vacancies advertised preferred or required applicants to hold a registration as a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ).

• Regional employers reported 44 per cent of vacancies were filled, while their metropolitan counterparts were able to fill 50 per cent of their vacancies.

• Overall, 56 per cent of employers were unable to fill their vacancies for civil engineering professionals.

• Around 50 per cent of employers were unable to attract any suitable applicants to their vacancies and 22 per cent of regional employers were unable to attract any applicants at all.

• Regional employers were only able to fill around 33 per cent of vacancies for civil engineers.

Read the full Occupation report for Civil Engineering Professional in Queensland.

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recruitment difficulties across levels of experience, from recent university graduates to highly qualified Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland (BPEQ) certified engineers. With South East Queensland comprising five of the top 10 fastest growing Australian LGAs by population growth the competition for talent will only increase. In short, there appears to be a high demand and low supply situation.

To gain a clearer understanding of how we could better promote regional areas as a career of choice we conducted a survey of regional Queensland Councils to gather further information and determine whether this was a localised issue

or whether the problem was more widespread.

We received 13 responses from 11 regional councils. In summary: • All respondents have a resourcing needs of 1-3 graduate positions • All respondents are open to hosting students in a work placement / internship capacity • Only 2 respondents indicated they were able to fill vacancies.

One only through re-advertising the position and using recruitment agencies. Most Councils indicated having to use external consulting agencies to complete required work and abandon recruitment efforts.

1

• Major challenges mentioned included: • Unwillingness of candidates to leave South East Queensland or major city centres • Competing salaries from the city • Competing industries within the region, in particular mining • Remoteness of the community Following analysis of survey results IPWEAQ conducted focussed phone calls with six of the respondents in varied regional locations: north west, north east coast, south west, central coast and Somerset area. Additionally, a meeting with Regional Development Australia

PROMOTE OPPORTUNITIES OFFERED BY REGIONAL AND REMOTE REGIONS • Document journeys and stories from student placements, graduates, accompanying partners and family.

• List benefits to Go West that can be used by regional employers when promoting work opportunities.

2 Go West

• Go West video.

• Flyers / brochures – ‘Get to know your Queensland’, ‘Make a real difference to communities’.

• Dedicated Go West page on IPWEAQ website.

IMPROVE THE EASE AND TIME NEEDED TO SCOPE MEANINGFUL WORK PLACEMENTS • Coordinate collection of successful industry work projects throughout Queensland.

• Create a collaborative library accessible to stakeholders.

CONNECT UNIVERSITIES AND EMPLOYERS

3 4

• Collate from universities information on best ways to reach students for placement / employment opportunities. Produce guide for regional employers.

• IPWEAQ university talks promoting public works and GO West campaign.

• Facilitate university and industry connections through video conferences and dedicated campaigns.

• Feedback from universities on what students are looking for and potential blockers to considering going west.

ENCOURAGE BEST PRACTICE PLACEMENT EXPERIENCE Create a useable and practical tool-kit for regional employers to assist in facilitation of placements: • Budget considerations • Introduction to the region • Housing options vs remote working • On-boarding checklist • Transport • Suggested placement milestones

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– Darling Downs and South West confirmed one of their priorities is on employment and skills for the region.

The challenge of attracting engineers (both graduate and experienced) is widespread throughout Queensland. What became apparent as we began developing a planned response to our initial concerns was that the issue was much broader than initially indicated – incorporating almost all geographic areas of Queensland. Even regional coastal areas, which could be considered more geographically attractive, report struggling to secure and retain engineers.

Initial tactical response The challenge is one that requires multiple stakeholders working cohesively and collaboratively with a long-term sustainable approach in mind. However waiting for the development, implementation and impact of big picture strategies does not solve the immediate pressure points of needing to attract engineers NOW. What we do know is that attractive and forward-thinking employers get the candidates. Whilst numbers and newspapers give a grim perspective on the regional attraction challenge, there are employers out there who are consistently filling vacancies with strong quality candidates. We talk to them, we see their results and know that their strategies work.

An initial tactical response strategy (Go West) was developed in order to address immediate needs and offer practical solutions to challenges highlighted by employers and universities. The Go West campaign has a focus on attracting graduate engineers

as a starting point and aims to alleviate what we believe are four key pressure points for attracting people to regional areas.

We encourage our regional employers to participate in this initiative. In particular we are seeking examples of regional work placement projects to build our collaborative library.

INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

INDUSTRY PLACEMENT EXAMPLE Help build a collection of public works placement examples that can be shared by employers, universities and students. We are seeking examples throughout Queensland of industry work placements, projects or work activities that would suit a student or recent graduate.

Submissions will be digitally hosted by IPWEAQ in a standardised and anonymous format. We aim to enable the sharing of ideas to help save time, create meaningful industry engagements for students and promote the variety of public works engineering activities.

You can use the template below as a guide or email an existing document describing the placement or project.

Name of project (if applicable): Scope of work (up to 200 words)

Deliverables / achieved outcomes

Ideal time frame to achieve:

<1 month

1 month

Summer vacation / 2-3 months

Capstone project (eg 140 hours over a Semester, ad-hoc contact) 6 months or longer Work schedule

Full time

Location

On-site, ie physically present in the office or field

Part time

Either can work

Remote, ie can be done as a ‘working from home’ arrangement and student does not physically need to be in the office Either can work / combination

Students and young professionals enjoy being challenged, feel Non-project based activities like they are making a real contribution and that their knowledge is valued. Employers of choice create www.ipweaq.com opportunities that appeal to emerging consuming and low-number professionals by approach it is one of the most scoping meaningful projects effective. The impact of face to and roles. This is also cited as face interactions and making one of the hardest and most the opportunities ‘real’ continue time-consuming exercises for to be the ones that yield direct managers to do often resulting in recruitment results. It is also not-so-well scoped assignments. easier to attract people who have The project library is a sector grown up in the region to stay first initiative where employers or return post-university to the can access a library of industry community making local high placement examples which they can download, amend and put into school engagement an important strategy. practice.

Number of students (you may select more than one option)

An individual student to run a project

For a supervisor’s position

Must be an engineer

A group of students

A student/s to be a part of a project team

Can be a non-engineering position

Any specialised equipment required?

If no specific project was available, or during quiet times for the student, what activities did you find useful and informative for the student to do?

• eg shadow another engineer on work site, look at basic CAD / basic drafting, learn a GIS system

Feel free to attach any additional documents, pictur es or images that may be helpful.

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

Regional success stories are already flowing in which we aim to showcase on our website, media and interactions with universities and students.

We also invite employers to join us as we visit high schools and universities throughout Queensland to interact directly with future engineers. Albeit sounding like the more time

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

Is Go West the silver bullet to help solve the regional shortage challenge? Possibly not. It is however a tactical start, one that involves action and tangible outcomes. We continue to seek feedback and input from our members and in doing so work to provide support to further our mission of improving the quality of life for all Queensland communities.

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

complimentary

STUDENT MEMBERSHIP We are delighted to invite full-time civil engineering students and related disciplines eg urban planning, design and surveying to join us for the duration of their university studies

Benefits of Student Membership A ccess to industry-specific content in

our globally-recognised Knowledge Centre including papers and videos of presentations delivered at conferences and symposia. A ccess to our quarterly e-journal, Engineering for Public Works, valued for its technical and industry-relevant content. R eceive regular newsletters with the latest happenings in our sector including jobs, placements and other opportunities for students and recent graduates.

S pecial student offers to attend

our conferences and networking opportunities.  J oin us for a special Meet & Greet at our annual conference specifically for members under age 28.  J oin us for various opportunities and initiatives in our university engagement program.

Note: proof of current enrolment is required upon joining and each year for renewal.

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

   www.ipweaq.com Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

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next generation REPORT

An MOU was signed by Dream Big Non-Executive Director John Searls, Dream Big Managing Director Jessica Kahl and IPWEAQ CEO Leigh Cunningham and IPWEA Director,People & Capability Nadia Marks. The collaborative partnership represents the invested interests in providing opportunities for the next generation to connect with industry leaders, engage in practical learning experiences and ultimately empower them to Dream Big!

Nadia Marks Director, People & Capability In order to develop successful initiatives to attract and engage the next generation of public works engineers the approach needs to be holistic and multilayered. As we gather and review more data from the industry and in connecting with our stakeholders through conversations and interactions, our strategy around the next generation has grown considerably whilst also becoming more focused.

High schools are where the engagement journey begins.

Despite the somewhat confronting headlines that today’s school children will work in jobs that haven’t even been invented yet or that 40% of current jobs will be lost to artificial intelligence, the future is still very much ‘human’.

And humans need communities, services and infrastructure to exist.

Our role is to show that, despite some of the traditional tasks of an engineer being undertaken by computers, the planning, designing and innovating is still done by people.

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And so we are excited to formally sign a partnership agreement with Dream Big Australia and to be involved in weekend hackathons and full day events at high schools throughout Queensland. We hope to instill the idea of what a pathway into engineering and public works might look like from an early age.

We also continue our engagement and connection with universities.

We have been invited to participate in an industry focus group at QUT to help develop their Built Environment Engagement

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Project. The QUT Science and Engineering Engagement Team are in the process of developing a leadership and development program for undergraduate students undertaking Engineering and Urban Development degrees.

This Program will seek to provide industry relevant workshops, sitebased experiences and mentoring to enhance and elevate their formal studies. This Program will be coordinated as an ‘admission by application’ program, with a select range of students participating from each degree over the course of two years. We are due to visit UQ and USQ in the coming months.

to other professions. The aim of our Engineering the Future program is to continue to support our emerging professionals as they embark on a career in public works.

Our conference this year will be jam packed with supportive initiatives such as a dedicated Design Thinking Workshop for members under age 35, a professional photographer on site for social media portraits, the conference buddy program, and a new conference ‘how-to’ guide specifically for our members under age 35.

Without revealing too much, we have received a number of high calibre nominations for Young Engineer of the Year and we can’t Evidence suggests slightly higher wait to celebrate our up and INFORMS. CONNECTS. dropout rates of engineers from coming talent at our Excellence the workforce in the first five years Awards Gala Dinner Wednesday 23 REPRESENTS. LEADS. from finishing university compared October.

All of these initiatives cannot be delivered without the support and assistance from our community.

Thank you to all of you who have already participated in various activities.

Want to learn more about, or get involved in our Engineering the Future activities?

• Nominate a high school in your region or sign up to help facilitate an activity with students.

• Sign up to be on our register of presenters or attendees for university industry engagement events.

• Sign up to be a conference buddy at our Annual Conference U35 Welcome Lunch.

Engineering

THE FUTURE High Schools • Introduce engineering and public works as an exciting study path • Develop sector specific engagement activities for high school students • Collaborative partnership with Dream Big Australia • Teacher and career advisor resources for career paths in public works engineering

Universities • Complimentary student memberships • Futures Challenge • Invitations to events • Industry presentations and lectures at universities • Sector specific engagement workshops for university students • Collaborative partnerships with universities • Go West initiative

Emerging Professionals • Young Engineer of the Year • Recognise Emerging Leaders in public works • Tailored conference program including workshops, conference buddy and exclusive opportunities • Authorship of technical articles in our quarterly Technical Journal • Dedicated Learning Hub professional development courses • Ambassadorship opportunities

Contact Director, People & Capability

www.ipweaq.com

o r k s | S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 9 E n 07 g i3632 n e e6803 r i n g f o r P u b l ic W

Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com

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INFORMS. CONNECTS. REPRESENTS. LEADS.

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

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

i M P A C T

SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriptions now open for the first year of iMPACT!

I ntergrated M anagement

$10,000 plus GST for all councils, utilities, government departments, consultancies and mining companies

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

A 20% introductory discount applies for subscriptions made before 30 August 2019.

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

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

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

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

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

  

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

www.ipweaq.com

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impact REPORT

Mark Lamont Director, Information & Resources The development of IPWEAQâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portal for native title and Aboriginal cultural heritage (iMPACT), is now complete. We have been demonstrating the portal at conferences and other events throughout Queensland, and recently at IPWEAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s international conference in Hobart, where we garnered a lot of interest from councils in other states with overwhelmingly positive feedback around the idea and structure of the tool.

It was pleasing to be approached after the demonstration by people from Western Australia and New South Wales among others, to say how much they felt such a tool was needed to assist councils in complying with the relevant legislation.

This sort of feedback has provided much appreciated support for the effectiveness of the ideas and overall purpose of the tool, and we now need to ensure that it is also something that can be easily applied to the day-to-day functioning of councils as part of their infrastructure planning strategies.

A number of councils and utilties are currently trialling iMPACT. We have already received constructive commentary on ways we could improve the portal and we will be incorporating that advice iMPACT is intended to be an adaptable tool which responds easily to changes in legislation or the common law. It is also able to accommodate the individual requirements of each council. The portal will assist infrastructure providers validate projects and ensure native title and cultural heritage are preserved.

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knowledge centre REPORT Mark Lamont Director, Information & Resources There has been an increase in the view rates for every collection in IPWEAQ’s globallyrecognised Knowledge Centre since the June journal.

Visit rates increase each year following our branch conferences as members unable to attend these events are granted access.

This is a members-only benefit however non-member branch conference delegates are also able to access these collections. Some of the biggest increases have been in our technical products.

The demand for access to the Standard Drawings is consistently high. The Queensland Urban Drainage Manual, the Lower Order Road Design Guidelines, Complete Streets and a number of other design and technical manuals and guides gain new subscribers on a weekly basis. These guides underpin a lot of work undertaken within the public works sector, and in combination with the technical papers delivered at conferences and symposiums form a comprehensive information base who make use of the materials.

Recent additions have been the audio of presentations, the PowerPoint slides and papers and a collection of photographs from the Northern Roads Symposium

held in Cairns in June. There are also collections for the branch conferences for SEQ and CQ held in Gatton and Rockhampton respectively, and a small but very informative set of presentations from Ipswich City Council’s technical forum held in August.

All of this sets the scene for the materials arising from our

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

Annual Conference proceedings which always prove to be the most accessed collections. This year’s conference takes place in October in Brisbane and will be the biggest gathering yet for an IPWEAQ event. Paid conference delegates will receive access to the conference proceedings shortly afterwards.

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standard drawings review Carol Humber Project Coordinator Updates to Standard Drawings is the kind of precise and collaborative work that our members excel at. The combined industry expertise of infrastructure engineers/ planners/ designers from different councils and the Department of Transport and Main Roads means that informed discussion is had on best practice. The group is collating designs from varied sources and streamlining into overarching guidelines with TMR looking to reference IPWEAQ standard drawings where possible.

The group regularly looks to identify areas where there are gaps in the current standard drawings.

One of the current action items is to develop a set of drawings for fences. Another example is the standardisation of deflection bollard sizes and types, consistent with Austroads terminology.

STANDARD DRAWINGS Great design work has been done and will soon be available for everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s benefit.

GENERAL

A big change that you will see no matter what areas you work on is the change to the title block.

All drawings will be scaled to a standard A3 size and information kept to a minimum for clarity.

There is also advice provided to ensure the drawing used is fit for purpose.

Is there an innovative and useful drawing that you use that could be included in the IPWEAQ standard drawings? We want to engage the sector and share ideas. The fence drawings mentioned earlier was a direct result of a suggestion

from TMR and is a good example of the collaborative and inclusive approach taken.

Please let us know of updates you think should be made, or gaps you have identified. It is expected that the Standard Drawings Working Group will be assisting in updates needed for the Street Planning and Design Manual â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a great bit of cross-pollination!

If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact me (Carol.Humber@ipweaq.com)

STANDARD DRAWINGS

STANDARD DRAWINGS

STANDARD DRAWINGS

HOMEOWNER

WATER BY DESIGN

WATER & SEWERAGE

STANDARD DRAWINGS

STANDARD DRAWINGS

STANDARD DRAWINGS

DRAINAGE

PARK

ROADS

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STREET PLANNING AND DESIGN MANUAL UPDATE

COMPETITION TIME! Win a free registration to #IPWEAQ19 Name the revised Street Planning and Design Manual send your entry to Carol.Humber@ipweaq.com.au by 23 September, winner announced 26 September

E… STREET O U R T IT L E H E R … YPLANNING & DESIGN MANUAL The revised Street Planning and Design Manual will be launched for consultation in October and needs a new name.

The last Board meeting and August Steering Committee came up with a few suggestions, but we want your help. The name should to be reflective of how the Manual will be used and its multidisciplinary approach to urban design.

Some suggestions already received: • Queensland Streets 19 • Contemporary Neighbourhoods: Design for healthier communities • Streets of Your Town: neighbourhood design for connected communities 24 October Soft launch by Minister Cameron Dick 25 October Industry Briefing and Workshop 20 December Consultation closes January and Feedback consolidation and content February 2020 finalised March 2020 Launch The Street Planning and Design Manual Working Groups are progressing with content improvements, and a consultation draft will be launched by Minister Dick at our Annual Conference.

The new document will cover leading practices and combine several sources. By providing guiding principles for new communities and updating design guides, the Manual will be a high level guide on how to deliver community design.

The most comprehensive contemporary manual for the planning and design of streets in Australia

Part 1: The fundamental basis for design of Urban Queensland neighbourhoods, as gathered Design from other documents. It is consistent with Guidelines State Planning policies and Regional Plans.

Part 2: The technical component, a review of Engineering Queensland Streets.

Guidelines Diagrams and explanations, including consolidation of existing documents such Part 3: as EDQ design practice and guidelines. The Practice inclusion of these Notes will take away the Notes need for third party guidelines and other documentation.

There will many opportunities for questions and discussions during the conference – come and speak with members of the Working Groups at our trade booth on the concourse.

On Friday 25 October there is a detailed industry brief and workshop at the nearby Rydges Hotel. If you can extend your conference stay, it is a fantastic opportunity to propose further solutions for great design. This facilitated session will focus on best practices and ensure consistency across the document to ensure the best guidelines for good street design standards are encapsulated in an easy-to-use document.

Consultation will be open until the end of 2019, with virtual nonsynchronous feedback channels to enable robust content discussion.

A final review of all feedback during January/February will see the Manual released in March 2020.

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adac REPORT Mark Lamont Director, Information & Resources The ADAC (Asset Design As Constructed) consortium continues to strengthen and grow with Ipswich City Council being the latest member to come onboard. This is good news because the more councils and utilities that contribute to its development, the more effective it will become as a data specification schema.

Ipswich City Council's input will add to the consistency and standardisation of how we collect, transfer and store vital information around asset design and as constructed data.

ADAC has operated on a fully collaborative basis since its inception with IPWEAQ guided by strategic and technical working groups of experts from councils and other asset entities. Lions Systems in particular have been

untiring in their support of the product and their assistance in training new members in the use of the schema, and demonstrating the advantages of joining the consortium.

Another welcome development is the increasing interest from councils and utilities outside Queensland. ADAC is in no way limited to any state based application and a number of groups from NSW see the advantage to their organisations in becoming a part of the group and having some influence over its future development.

value of ADAC and how much time and resources can be saved from its implementation.

We also encourage the formation of regional Groups to facilitate localised developments of the schema.

If you would like to learn more about the ADAC schema or to join the consortium, please contact me at mark.lamont@ipweaq.com or on (07) 36326806.

We are travelling to Shellharbour Regional Council in the Illawarra region this month to provide the technical and strategic induction and training included in the subscription. A number of representatives from surrounding councils and Sydney Water will also be in attendance for the introductory sessions. This offers an opportunity to demonstrate the

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meet the team - Engineering

LEIGH CUNNINGHAM

BELINDA SMITH

CRAIG MOSS

Chief Executive Officer  Leigh.Cunningham@ipweaq.com

Director, Marketing & Communications  Belinda.Smith@ipweaq.com

Director, Professional and Career Development  Craig.Moss@ipweaq.com

NADIA MARKS

KATE O’RIORDAN

JOHANNA VANLING

Director, People & Capability  Nadia.Marks@ipweaq.com

Professional Development Manager  Kate.O’Riordan@ipweaq.com

CELINE GILDFIND Management Accountant  Celine.Gildfind@ipweaq.com

MONICA ROBERTSON Events & Marketing Manager  Monica.Robertson@ipweaq.com

KEVIN MILLER

CAROL HUMBER

Learning & Development Manager  Kevin.Miller@ipweaq.com

Project Coordinator  Carol.Humber@ipweaq.com

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

Relationship Manager  Johanna.Vanling@ipweaq.com

MARK LAMONT Information Resource Manager  Mark.Lamont@ipweaq.com

SUZANNE GARDINER Bookkeeperr  Suzanne.Gardiner@ipweaq.com

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meet the team - Water DAVID CAMERON

ROB FEARON

RYAN COSGROVE

CEO  dcameron@qldwater.com.au

Director, Innovation Partnerships  rfearon@qldwater.com.au

Project Coordinator and Researcher  rcosgrove@qldwater.com.au

CARLIE SARGENT

DAVID SCHELTINGA

DIANA KISLITSYNA

Project Coordinator – Skills  Carlie.Sargent@qldwater.com

Manager, SWIM  dscheltinga@qldwater.com.au

Project Administration  DKislitsyna@qldwater.com.au

DESIRÉ GRALTON

LOUISE REEVES

Manager, Communications  dgralton@qldwater.com.au

Program Coordinator & Technical Writer  lreeves@qldwater.com.au

qldwater is a business unit of IPWEAQ

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qldwater ceo’s report Dave Cameron CEO, qldwater The qldwater Annual Forum, our last major event for 2019 was held on 11 and 12 September at the Logan Metro Indoor Sports & Events Centre.

This event started as the Innovation Forum a few years ago and we’ve tried to make it different from other offerings and focus on strategic industry drivers. We’ve never held a call for papers, past presenters and panel sessions have been directly sourced from member suggestions, typically through our Technical Reference Group. That makes it challenging enough, but this year (for a year) we abandoned that format and went the workshop-route, getting down and dirty with sessions designed to tackle some of our sectors toughest questions, to build results into our developing “Roadmap.”

Thanks to Logan City Council who came up with an excellent tour program and series of presentations on 11 September.

New STP developments are a rare treat and the Cedar Grove Environmental Centre includes a range of innovative technologies, with the whole planning process supported by an extensive public consultation process.

Following our TRG brief to find

a dinner speaker from another industry who could talk about safety, training and development, and maintenance innovation we had Chris Bradley from the rail sector presenting, who provided a great perspective on these topics, as well as PPPs including the international perspective, industrial relations, and cool manufacturing and planning advances.

Some great keynotes and the event was supported by some exciting thought leaders helping us address our roadmap priorities, facilitated by Lara Schlinker who has had a bit to do with the industry and supporting change processes in recent years.

The workshop aimed to help shape the future direction of our sector with a focus on a range of priorities, including: • Strategic Sector-Wide Investment and Regional Innovation • Harmonising/ Improving Water Regulation • Understanding and Exceeding Customer Expectations • Building Jobs/ Skills Development in a Changing Industry • Catchment Resilience in a Changing Environment • Data Transforming the Water Sector/ Next Generation Water Finally, I’d like to formally acknowledge the efforts of our

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

outgoing TRG Chair, Trevor Dean from Fraser Coast Regional Council as his 2 years is up in September.

Trevor has been an exceptional advocate for the Directorate, starting in the gig significantly earlier than originally anticipated, supporting every meeting and event he could in the last couple of years, helping with linkages, and going above and beyond to represent members, attending this year’s Water Connections Tour and IPWEAQ board briefings.

Regarding the latter, he has recently been elected to the board where I’m sure he’ll continue to passionately support qldwater members. We’re hoping he can stick around on the TRG in spite of this additional commitment.

Troy Pettiford from Whitsunday Regional Council takes over the helm, with a new Deputy to be elected in September.

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A Young Aussie’s Experience of the NZ Water Industry

QLDWATER

As the 2018 qldwater Young Operator of the Year, Unitywater Water Industry Worker Andrew Hanifin participated in the WIOA facilities tour of New Zealand and attended the Water industry Operations Group NZ Conference.

Andrew provided the following report on his experiences: “The tour started in Christchurch with 15 participants from a number of different water utilities from across Australia. We headed south and visited Franz Josef which had been hit hard with floods and earthquakes, to the point that

they had considered relocating the town. We visited a number of other towns and toured drinking water and wastewater treatment plants, including the lovely town of Hanmer Springs. After 6 days of travelling we headed back to Christchurch to attend the conference.

New Zealand utilities have to deal with a lot more infrastructure issues as a result of natural disasters compared to Australian counterparts, but locals are very accepting of being without services for a number of days following disasters. In the case of major disasters that lead to breaks,

communities can be without water for up to 5 days without any issues. Their level of acceptance seems to be much higher than that in Australia where we get the problems fixed very quickly.

It was also clear that water utilities in NZ have a preference for repairing their infrastructure rather than replacing it to extend its useful life and save money. They definitely work to the conditions and expect to be hit with some form of disaster about every two years. In Queensland, we’re pretty spoilt with the conditions we operate in.

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The conference had a great line up of speakers and topics. One Operator shared his experience of their safety journey and that it had previously been quite relaxed.

He had experienced issues with infections from working in sewers as he didn’t have sufficient PPE, and the steel in his boots were exposed which led to infection.

Our safety standards appear more thorough. Some over there didn’t wear hard hats or high vis, which is not what it’s like here. More casual and relaxed.

For me, the most valuable part of the trip was discovering the differences between utilities but also the similarities, both with the NZ operators who hosted us but also from the Australians who were part of the tour. Everyone on the trip had slightly different roles and there was a great mix of ages, genders and locations. I learnt a lot about the challenges in Victoria and Tasmania particularly, with issues like frozen water meters and bushfires and the impacts of those on water infrastructure.

New Zealand’s source water quality is very good and pure and their treatment processes are very thorough like they are in Queensland. However, there is a current push in some areas to remove chlorine from the NZ water network which was pretty surprising to the Australians on the tour. Luckily their source water is very potable but, in any case, most providers want to keep chlorinating their water. Also, we learned that the water charges in NZ are much cheaper on average than in Queensland at about ¼ of the price charged in Queensland and it’s hard to understand how utilities

can afford to run at that rate.

There’s always amazing new technology in the water industry so it was great to see some of this on display at the conference. I felt though that the NZ utilities are probably in a particular stage of development and are where we were a couple of years ago. Our processes are pretty advanced at Unitywater and across Australia.

We’ve worked through a lot of our challenges and have evolved and changed a lot. This gave me a bit of a perspective change and appreciation for my role and my employer. And we’re paid better here in Australia too!

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

I was totally surprised that I won this award but it made me feel very proud to have been nominated by my employer and recognized with the award. I would absolutely encourage people to nominate for the qldwater operator awards. The experience was a great opportunity to see how other water utilities operate and I learnt a lot from other operators’ knowledge of their infrastructure and the way they’ve approached their challenges.

WIOA treated us really well, we had a really good group on tour.

Water industry people are a great bunch and it was really motivating to be around people with a similar passion for the water industry.”

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International knowledge sharing brings best practice to Solomon Water

QLDWATER

Water treatment processes in the Solomon Islands are about to benefit from a special Seqwater experience.

Seqwater hosted a group of staff from Solomon Water on a tour of Capalaba Water Treatment Plant (WTP) on 12 June 2019. The visit was arranged to take advantage of an additional day in Brisbane with

the staff attending the qldwater Asset Management workshop on 13 June.

Ian Gooden, General Manager of Solomon Water said their organisation expected to have two or maybe three small water treatment plants to operate over the next two years and had a lot of experience to gain to be confident

in managing the systems.

“We currently have one small set of sand filters and then chlorinate water at about 14 locations across the Solomon Islands; mainly in Honiara,” he said.

The Solomon Water contingent, including COO Scravin Tongi, visited the Capalaba WTP where Seqwater staff showed them

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One of the key learnings by the Solomon Water team is that proper thought and due diligence around catchment area management can lower the cost of treatment. The Solomon Water Team conveys its heartfelt thank you to Ian and his team at Capalaba and to qldwater for this critical learning opportunity.

Mr Cuthbertson also highlighted how important it was for the operators to be involved in the design stage to ensure they ended up with a fit for purpose plant.

“There is no point getting a Rolls Royce when what you need is a Mini Minor. The guys were really surprised when we talked about the importance of them being consulted right from the start as they were the ones who would have to run the plant,” Mr Cuthbertson said. the water treatment process from catchment to tap as well as laboratory testing, SCADA control and water distribution.

The Capalaba Water Treatment Plant is one of 36 in the Southeast Queensland Water Grid, a network of pipes, dams, treatment plants and reservoirs allowing Seqwater to move treated water around the region and supplement local supply. It uses conventional treatment with gas disinfection with raw water sourced from the Leslie Harrison Dam. The plant services the northern part of the Redland City Council region with a population of around 100,000.

Seqwater Coordinator Supply Operations Southern Region, Ian Cuthbertson, said the group showed a keen interest in chlorine gas disinfection, catchment management and HACCP policy

and procedures around water quality control.

“We spoke at length about water catchment management because it is something they have been experiencing difficulties with at home and wanted to learn more about,” Mr Cuthbertson said.

While the Capalaba WTP was larger and more complex than plants planned for the Islands, the fundamental processes are the same and the group appreciated learning about the checks and balances that had been set up.

“The guys kept saying how sophisticated our processes were compared to where they were at, and we had to remind them that we also started out at that level years ago, and that anything was possible given time and commitment.”

Engineering for Public Works | September 2019

“One of the guys said the first thing he was going to talk about when he got home was about how they could get involved in the design process.”

Mr Cuthbertson said the benefit of the visit flowed both ways, with his staff gaining a better understanding of the limited treatment options in remote locations.

“It was good for my blokes to realise that not all treatment plants are like ours, so if they ever needed to support regional and remote operations, they would have a better understanding of limited budgets and more basic treatment processes.”

Seqwater put on a BBQ lunch with the group where they got to mingle and share experiences.

Thanks again to Ian and his team from qldwater for being so willing to assist.

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The Games showcased some amazing athletic feats – and the seven year marathon run by the City of Gold Coast was also an epic journey. p.10

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Over the next 10 years, the forecasted replacement cost of local government infrastructure assets is expected to grow by 18.6%. p.59

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The historic Sarawak Avenue Steel Footbridge awarded for engineering innovation and excellence. p.18

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The updated Queensland Urban Drainage Manual removes confusion about LPOD requirements. p.78

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A regional city’s efforts to deliver the best games ever.

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