September

Sustainability guru promotes lighter roads

Sydney’s domestic sustainability guru, last week promoted a road making transformation, to reduce heat in our major cities.

Construction industry incurs $5bn to $7bn of dispute costs annually

Disputes cost the Australian construction industry between $5bn and $7bn a year, according to a dispute avoidance and resolution taskforce from the CRC for Construction Innovation.

Introducing the CCF Plant Specs classification system

As readers of this magazine know, Plant Specs is an annual publication produced by the Civil Contractors Federation and Informa Australia, along with Earthmover and Civil Contractor Magazine and more recently the weekly EMCC newswire service.

CFMEU, official fined $15,000 for obstructing crane installation

Penalties totalling $15,000 were imposed on the CFMEU and senior official Noel Washington by the Federal Court on July 29.

ARTC partners with Leighton for Hunter Valley rail works

The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) signed an agreement with Leighton Contractors in late July to create the Upper Hunter Valley Alliance which will deliver a $152m program of works in the Hunter Valley rail corridor.

SmartNet keeps machine control honest to within 1cm

SmartNet Aus has gone commercially live from the Gold Coast and in South Australia, with centimetre level real time corrections for surveying, construction, mining, machine control and agricultural auto-steer applications.

Sleeper, rail upgrade adds Cootamundra to Parkes to interstate network

The unprecedented modernisation of the interstate rail network continues unabated with the significant upgrade of the 201km Cootamundra to Parkes section which started in early August.

Shortlist revealed for Sydney Metro

Three consortia made up of national and international companies have been short listed for Sydney Metro’s major construction and tunnelling contract.

NSW shire council embraced cert IV e-learning

The Riverina Institute’s civil construction programs at certificate IV level, have already been a big hit with Eurobodalla Shire Council, where 17 supervisory staff took part in the initial distance learning pilot.

New excavator handles extra plumbing work with ease

Specialist plumbing and drainage company, W & C Van Polen and Sons, recently bought a new excavator to cope with an extra workload leading into busy winter months.

LPG shots boost turbo diesel torque by 20%

Melbourne based eCo-shot Australia, was recently accredited to modify turbo diesel engines, to use LPG.

ARA backs user pays system for road taxes

The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) has backed user pays road-pricing options contained in a paper to the Australia’s Future Tax System Review Panel.

Contracts Let September 2009

 

Brisbane’s King George Square gets royal treatment

King George would be royally proud of the reincarnation of his namesake Brisbane’s King George Square, to a vibrant multi-functional contemporary urban space, that pays tribute to the grandeur of the past.

Fast Byron Bay landslip remediation keeps residents happy

Quick thinking by engineers and the use of an unusual form of shotcrete, have successfully stabilised a landslip at Wategos Beach, Byron Bay.

Golf’s longest drive has finally teed off

The Nullarbor Links, extending for 1365km from Ceduna to Kalgoorlie, is the world’s longest golf course. It opened on August 19 when a tour operator ran an opening special lasting eight days and limited to the first 12 takers. Regular tours of the 18-hole, par-72 course start from November this year.

John Holland wins gold bridge award

Judges of the 2009 Austroads Bridge Awards, selected John Holland for the overall gold award, and the large bridges category, for its delivery of the Eleanor Schonell Bridge in Brisbane.

Kirra surf break restored

Gold Coast City Council will use two civil contracting firms on a wet hire, hourly rate basis to excavate and relocate 20,000m³ of sand at Kirra Beach to recreate Kirra’s world famous surf break.

Wood pipe design and build wins Tasmanian award

Tasmanian construction company Hazell Bros, has been acknowledged for engineering excellence, at the Engineers Australia Tasmania Division awards night.

Wind the big renewable winner

According to a number of reports, wind will be the big winner, given that the legislation has been passed to expand to 20% the Federal Government’s minimum renewable energy target. Some say wind turbines might account for 60 to 70% of the new renewable energy supplies, although this has apparently caused some infighting with rival geothermal, solar and wave proponents. But it would seem to be the most advantageous for this industry because of the significantly large underground foundations each turbine needs.