Winners of the 2024 Engineering Excellence Awards
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2024 Winners
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Category 1A - Projects less than $500,000
Randwick City Council - Fitzpatrick Park Playground
Judges Comments
The council has reinvigorated an old park playground with new play equipment, park gym equipment and rubber softfall. It has added more planting and solved tree root problems without changing the characteristics of the existing park. The outcome is a respectful treatment of a heritage area and of the original Professor Peter Spooner designed playground of 1947.
Category 1A Highly Commended
Central Coast Council - Innovative Drainage
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Category partnered by
Category 1B - Projects Greater than $500,000 but less than $5 million
Clarence Valley Council - Ulmarra Riverside and Village Precinct Project
Judges Comments
This project leveraged cultural and heritage development by establishing Ulmarra as a ‘must see’ riverfront village destination for visitors built upon Aboriginal culture and built heritage assets. The project improved first impressions by creating a sense of arrival when approaching the village and reimagining the streetscape for human scale, with comfortable, accessible and active public spaces. Lastly, the project provides a catalyst for development and investment into the local community.
Category 1B Highly Commended
Northern Beaches Council - Taylors Point Bank Stabilisation Project
Parramatta City Council - Brodie Street Shop Upgrade Project
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Category partnered by
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Category 1C - Projects greater than $5 million
Tweed Shire Council - Northern Rivers Rail Trail
Judges Comments
The Tweed stage of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail involved the re-development of 24 kilometres of disused rail corridor from Murwillumbah to Crabbes Creek, creating a shared recreation and nature trail featuring 24kms of sealed and compact gravel, 26 bridges and bypasses, 2 tunnels, 6 road crossings and 15 driveway crossings, 2 significant trail connection paths, 7 rest stops connecting the Gallery and villages of Dunbible Stokers Siding, Upper Burringbar, Burringbar, Mooball, and Crabbes Creek.
Category 1C Highly Commended
Port Macquarie Hastings Council, Cairncross Waste Management project
Category partnered by
Category 2 - New or Improved Techniques
Port Macquarie Hastings Council - Rawdon Island Bridge Rehabilitation
Judges Comments
The rehabilitation of Rawdon Island Bridge was one of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council’s (PMHC) most challenging feats. This project combined the complexities of potential catastrophic bridge failure, an isolated community, and unique logistical challenges combined with innovative research and design, an endangered species, and a time-critical program.
Highly Commended
Georges River Council - Public Tree Asset Management Study project
Category partnered by:
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Category 3 - Innovations in Water Supply & Wastewater
MidCoast Council - Our Water Our Future 2050 - MidCoast's Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy
Judges Comments
Our Water, Our Future' is the long-term Integrated Water Management Plan for the MidCoast Local Government Area.
On the back of the severe drought experienced during 2019/2020, extensive bushfires, major flooding events in 2021-2022 and the COVID pandemic, this project aimed to develop a strategy to address the major challenges facing the MidCoast Region in the future, including water security, infrastructure resilience, climate change & servicing small villages.
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Category Partnered by:
Category 5 - Excellence in Road Safety Engineering
Yass Valley Council - Yass Public School Car Park
Judges Comments
This project addressed significant long-term safety and congestion issues at the Yass Public School carpark which is owned by Yass Valley Council. The existing site had a one-way internal road and a single vehicular exit. The mix of buses, passenger vehicles and pedestrians within the congested space created numerous conflicts and significant safety issues, primarily for school students and their families.
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Category 6 - Environmental Enhancement Project
Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) - SSROC Street Light Improvement Program
Judges Comments
The SSROC Street Lighting Improvement (SLI) Program has been one of the most successful and effective examples of joint regional cooperation by NSW local government. Under the SLI Program, the 29 participating councils have secured improvements in street lighting pricing, technology, service and environmental outcomes. The Program encompasses over 230,000 street lights or about 40% of street lighting in NSW.
Category Partnered by
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Category 7 - Diversity & Inclusion Award
Shellharbour City Council - Yirran Muru Aboriginal Interpretive Play
Judges Comments
Yirran muru (many pathways) is an Aboriginal Interpretive Play Space that shares local Dharawal culture through Aboriginal methods of learning. It is an accessible, inclusive space that invites people of all ages to take a cultural journey, following in the footsteps of local Aboriginal people.
Highly Commended
Ku-Ring-Gai Council - St Ives Village Green Recreation Precinct
Category partnered by:Women in Public Works Panel
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Category 8 - Multi-Disciplinary Project Management
Randwick City Council - Heffron Centre of Excellence
The $58M Heffron Centre located in Maroubra’s Heffron Park includes an indoor community sports centre, gymnastics centre as well as the new home for the South Sydney Rabbitohs including a Centre of Excellence, a new home for Souths Cares including multipurpose community facilities, training field and administration centre.
Category partnered by
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Judges Special Award - Disaster Recovery Project
Hawkesbury City Council - Green Road Reconstruction and Embankment project
Judges Comments
In March 2021, a total length of 725 metres of Greens Road was destroyed by floodwaters. Parts of the road suffered extensive damage located close to the river. Flooding at this location is not an infrequent event, so restoration works needed to be substantial and resilient. The scope of remedial works included stabilising the upslope embankment with soil nails and shotcrete, construction of a retaining wall using magnum stone blocks including concrete pad footing, reconstruction of the road formation, subgrade and base layer using engineering fill and geogrid and installation of new stormwater drainage systems including concrete dish drain.
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Ministers Award
Bankstown City Council - Animal Rehoming Project
The Minister's Award was presented by the NSW Minister for Local Government, The Hon. Ron Hoenig MP
Category 9 - The David Abbott Award
Tatiana Castro-Cerneaz - Randwick City Council
Judges Comments
Tatiana is an Undergraduate Engineering student at the University of Technology Sydney. Her key achievements include developing an enhanced system for retaining wall and stair inspections, bolstering the team’s efficiency and generating data that was easily accessible for planning maintenance. Also, she devised a design solution that enhanced drainage in high pedestrian areas. Successfully delivered an Open Space HAZMAT Audit project from procurement stage to completion. Managed contractors independently in an emergency situation, relocating large boulders pushed by a substantial swell into a popular swimming spot, posing a public safety issue.
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Category 10 - Public Works Leader of the Year
Geoff Paton
Judges Comments
Geoff has worked as Manager Infrastructure/Assets for the past fourteen years. Geoff was committed to, and passionate about asset management and improving the sustainability of service delivery to the community. He works hard to understand the issues, and focuses on treating the cause of any issue, rather than the visible symptom. This focus has enabled his team to implement a comprehensive range of asset management and operational systems that have assisted Council to reduce costs and better manage risk.