CCF Awards 2008 VIC

In Civil construction there is no higher award than the Civil Contractors Federation Earth Awards. These Awards identify and reward, in both the State and National arenas, those civil construction projects that are outstanding in their construction technique, Environmental and Project management.

The Victorian State Awards were presented on August 24, 2008 at a sell out function at Melbourne’s prestigious Park Hyatt Hotel. In all, a total of five category winners were presented representing metropolitan and regional projects from under $1million in value to over $75million.

Each of the five winning projects varied significantly in their nature ranging from the construction of innovative infrastructure to capture and reuse storm water at Albert Park, to the reconstruction of high country roads damaged by bush fires and ultimately washed away by intensive flood events.

Also in the winning project mix were Victoria’s first “carbon neutral’ road construction project, a section of the Bendigo to Ballarat Water Pipeline which was constructed in a true Alliance arrangement between the contractors and clients; and the construction of a particularly difficult section of the Calder Freeway at Malmsbury.

Another particular, much applauded feature of this year’s Awards has been the involvement in the development of submissions of the client groups for each of the winning projects. CCF Victoria’s CEO Bob Seiffert said “this client involvement is creating a new era of pro-active, mutually supportive client – contractor relationships, a move that should be applauded and one that will help to set the stage for a more co-operative construction environment for Victoria’s future infrastructure construction.”

For 2008, local contractor McInnes Earthmoving in conjunction with Wellington Shire Council, were awarded the Victorian Earth Award for projects between $1million and $5million in value.

Further details of this winning projects are:

Winning project –Category 2 – Licola-Jamieson Road Remedial Works

The Licola Jamieson Roads is an important link between Victoria’s North East and Gippsland Regions and runs through difficult mountain terrain in Victoria’s high country. December 2006 saw more than 70 fires burning across Victoria’s high country with some of the worst fires located along the Licola-Jamieson Road.

In February 2007, with the fires having reduced much of the high country to a scorched, barren landscape, severe storms created a significant flood washing away large areas of roadway and depositing ash, silt and debris along the entire length of the roadway.  The impact on local communities and associated commercial operations through the necessary closure of the road was catastrophic.

The Wellington Shire council, with supportive State Government funding, undertook reinstatement of the road as a matter of urgency and appointed local contractor McInnes Earthmoving to undertake the works.

With work due to commence in June 2007, a one in 300 year rain event resulted in significant flooding and damage to the many bridges along the Wellington and Macallister rivers. This flood cut access to Licola from both the east and west and severely damaged by washing away the road above Licola at 54 separate locations.

At the time of the flood, earthmoving equipment in the Licola area was limited to a single backhoe and contractor McInnes Earthmoving used this machine and provided the manpower to start immediate emergency works in the Licola area.

In order to improve access via a forest track to the western side of Licola, McInnes Earthmoving transported heavy equipment to the closest access point at the base of locally recognised Mount Usefull. Then, in a first for the area, “walked” (moved under their own propulsion) heavy tracked equipment a further 50 kilometres to the Licola area, some of this during snow storms.

The comprehensive works required:

Reinstatement of Licola-Jamieson Road that had been damaged/destroyed in 54 locations using in excess of 94,000 cubic metres of material to replace road embankments.
Reinstatement/upgrade and maintenance of Target Creek Road to allow for larger vehicles to by-pass the Licola-Jamieson Road
Reinstatement and maintenance of the Barkly Bridge temporary ford crossing to allow for safe access for Glencairn residents until the bridge was replaced

Following the four declared natural disasters, the Licola-Jamieson Road was opened to traffic in March 2008, 13 months after it was first closed.

Media release provided by: www.civilcontractors.com