Innovation Key in Environmental Awards
- 2006 CASE Earth Awards national winners announced -
The winning projects in this year’s national CASE Earth Awards spanned the country and covered the spectrum of civil contracting endeavours, but at their core they had one thing in common – innovation.
From a stunning cliff-side road project to the rehabilitation of a disused mine, the projects selected for the national awards relied on new ways of thinking and world class techniques to get the job done, all while ensuring our delicate environment was a priority consideration.
The national awards were presented on Saturday November 11 in Hobart during the Civil Contractors Federation’s National Conference Gala Dinner.
Civil Contractors Federation (CCF) national president Robert Dahan said this year’s winning projects were all designed to reduce the impact of modern living on the environment.
“All of the projects had two major aims – the completion of work needed to benefit the community and the management of the environmental impacts. These projects went beyond just controlling dust and noise during construction – they considered the long term effects of the work and sought ways of reducing the environmental consequences both during the projects and into the future. At the same time, the projects delivered some breathtaking, world class results.”
These were the final awards to be sponsored by CASE Construction. Marketing Manager Wayne Munce said this year’s winners reflected a quality that had come to be expected over 13 years of awards. “The 2006 winners were outstanding, as were the winners of each of the preceding 12 CASE Earth Awards programs. CASE has been proud to be associated with a program that encourages environmental responsibility and construction excellence.”
The 2006 national award winners reflected the full range of civil contracting works, from roads and bridges to urban redevelopment.
The award for overall national winner in the Environmental Excellence Category went to Bardavcol’s Port River Expressway (Stage 1) project. The expressway, a 5km, four-lane link between Port Adelaide (Francis Street) and its northern entry point, the Salisbury Highway/South Road Connector was built under South Australia’s first design/construct/maintain road contract.
The judging panel agreed that the challenges of seriously degraded and contaminated areas, adjacent to sensitive wetlands, were met and solved with a high degree of excellence which included innovative treatment of contaminated materials, and their use within the road formation.
The overall national winner in the Construction Excellence Category was the Lawrence Hargrave Drive Alliance for a project which delivered not only an outstanding engineering feat, but a new icon for the Wollongong region – the stunning Sea Cliff Bridge. The project involved upgrading 1350m of road, including the 655m Sea Cliff Bridge.
The judges called the LHD Link Alliance construction of the Sea Cliff Bridge an outstanding engineering feat. They were impressed by the innovative design of an Australian first – combining a curved balanced cantilever bridge with an incrementally launched bridge on a curve. They also noted the great attention placed on aesthetics, and the use of ground probing radar to ensure worker safety on the project.
The Sea Cliff Bridge and Port River Expressway projects were chosen as the overall winners from a pool of six national winners announced on the night. The national winners were divided into two divisions – Construction Excellence and Environmental Excellence – with three categories within each division based on the cost of the project.
The Port River Expressway project won category three of the Environmental Excellence division as well as taking out the overall prize for the division.
A joint entry from the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, Australian Tailings Consultants and Abigroup Contractors won the national category two award for the Benambra Mine Rehabilitation project in East Gippsland. This CASE Earth Award winning project saw a former minesite rehabilitated to the extent that it now resembles the landscape as it existed before the mine ever opened.
The national category one award for Environmental Excellence went to the Port Adelaide Waterfront Redevelopment Project (Remediation Contract for Precinct One). McMahon Services Australia, Land Management Corporation and Golder Associates earned a national CASE Earth Award for the first stage of a huge project to redevelop 30 hectares of waterfront land at Port Adelaide.
The Lawrence Hargrave Drive Alliance’s Sea Cliff Bridge project won the category three award as well as the overall award in the Construction Excellence division.
The category two award for Construction Excellence went to FRH Group for the Flinders Street Overpass Removal, an important part of the revitalisation of Melbourne’s western CBD. Significant attention was given to environmental control monitoring given the proximity to the Yarra River and the Melbourne Aquarium, where vibrations from demolition works would be detrimental to the marine inhabitants.
The national CASE Earth Award for category one in Construction Excellence was presented to Interflow Pty Ltd for the Rehabilitation of Coogee Diversion Sewer. Interflow used world-first technology, developed in Australia, to complete the job, with the world’s first use of Ribline steel-reinforced polyethylene pipe as a sewer liner.
2006 National CASE Earth Award Winners
Judges determine winners of the CASE Earth Awards in either Environmental or Construction Excellence in the following categories, along with an overall winner for the Environmental and Construction segments:
- Category 1, projects up to $5 million
- Category 2, projects $5 million to $15 million
- Category 3, projects over $15 million
Environmental Excellence
- Winner - Overall and Category 3
Project over $15 million
Project: Port River Expressway Stage 1
Contractor: Bardavcol Pty Ltd - Winner - Category 2,
Project between $5 million and $15 million
Project Benambra Mine Rehabilitation
Entrants: Department of Primary Industries, Australian Tailings Consultants and Abigroup Contractors - Winner - Category 1,
Project up to $5 million
Project: Port Adelaide Redevelopment Project Remediation Contract for Precinct One
Joint entry: McMahon Services Australia, Land Management Corporation and Golder Associates
Construction Excellence
Winner – Overall and Category 3
Project over $15 million
Project:: Lawrence Hargrave Drive Alliance
Contractor: Barclay MowlemWinner – Category 2
Project between $5 million and $15 million
Project: Flinders Street Overpass Removal
Contractor: FRH Group Pty Ltd Winner - Category 1
Project up to $5 million
Project: Rehabilitation of Coogee Diversion Sewer
Contractor: Interflow Pty Ltd