State Engineering Excellence Awards
The Institute of Public Works Engineering Qld Division (IPWEAQ) Excellence Awards give recognition for outstanding achievements to engineers and other practitioners working in the local government and public works industries and to their Councils and organisations. They encourage excellence in the innovation, development, completion and management of local government and public works projects. There are two main categories - project and people awards. The awards were announced on Friday, October 8 2010 at the awards dinner, part of the annual IPWEAQ state conference in Bardon, Brisbane. Winning projects and people may be nominated by the IPWEAQ Board for the National Local Government Engineering Medal and the National Emerging Leaders Award respectively.
The following projects were recognised for leading the way in engineering innovation and excellence across the state:
The Cattana Wetlands project
The Cattana Wetlands project has seen 80 hectares of degenerated land transformed into a nature conservation park featuring walking tracks, boardwalk, interpretative signage, bird hides and picnic areas. Home to a significant range of wildlife and plant communities, locals and visitors can now experience the true beauty of this unique natural environment.
CBD South Flood Mitigation - Lake Street Stormwater Pump Station
The CBD South Flood Mitigation Scheme is part of an overall strategy which aims to alleviate flooding in the lower lying areas of the Cairns CBD. During severe weather events, the underground pump station in Lake Street can move five cubic metres of stormwater per second into Trinity Inlet, which equates to a 1 in 100 year storm event.
Yarrabah Road embankment stabilisation (This was a joint award nomination by Council and The Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR).)
Cairns Regional Council is the first Council in Australia to use an innovative technology known as Geo-Synthetically Confined Soil (GCS). This technology was used in an embankment stabilisation project at Yarrabah Road in Far North Queensland, a section of the DTMR road network that had an ongoing issue with an unstable cut batter that posed a hazard to traffic due to a history of falling rocks. It was identified that the solution to the problem was to provide additional road width on the coastal side of the road in order to allow the installation of a rockfall arrest system at the base of the unstable batter. Due to the existing embankment height and slope on the coastal side of the road (a sheer drop of about 50m to the ocean), it was impossible to use conventional road embankment construction methods (fill and compact). It was therefore necessary to investigate geotechnical engineering solutions to provide an appropriate soil retaining system. The selected solution was a technique known as Geo-Synthetically Confined Soil (GCS). GCS is a compacted earth retaining system where soil is reinforced by layers of geo-synthetic material and secured to the existing road formation by soil nails.
Works Supervisor of the Year
Council's Works Coordinator Kevin Davies won Works Supervisor of the Year at the IPWEAQ Awards ceremony.
All the awards received demonstrate Council’s dedication to providing outstanding projects to benefit the community.