Engineers Australia’s 2010 Queensland Engineering Excellence Awards highlighted the engineering innovation of 40 projects at a gala event held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Friday 8 October.  The annual event attracted representation from all corners of Queensland’s engineering community to celebrate the incredible achievements of the profession. Engineers Australia received highly competitive and diverse project submissions for the 2010 competition, all vying for the honour of an Engineering Excellence Award.   “Queensland is often at the forefront of the engineering profession and we are renowned for driving some of the most progressive and innovative engineering projects in the country,” said Queensland Division President Mike Brady.  “This year, we had a number of projects nominated for the Engineering Excellence Awards that are leading the way for the profession on an international scale,” Brady said. “These projects include a world rating 6 star green design building, futuristic robotic flight prototypes, the world’s first major tensegrity bridge, and a landmark safety program that will help save lives in the construction industry.” 

Excellence Award winners and High Commendations 

Buildings and structures
Joint Contact Centre 
Entered by Project Services 

The Joint Contact Centre is a $44 million medium rise office building in Zillmere that has achieved a world rating 6-star green design. The building design will deliver substantial reductions in energy consumption through innovations including the extensive installation of photo-voltaic cells on the roof and the ingenious use of refrigerant leak detection and recovery systems. This project was awarded the most prestigious award of the night, the R.W. Hawken Award, for its adoption of a combination of multiple world-best-practice components and initiatives. It is an outstanding demonstration of applied engineering sustainability and is a benchmark for future developments.  

High Commendation: Tennyson Reach residential development stage 1, entered by Opus International Consultants and Mirvac Queensland 

Control systems, networks, information processing and telecommunications 
Smart Skies 
Entered by Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation, QUT, CSIRO, Boeing, Insitu Pacific and Queensland Government 

Smart Skies is a Queensland-led research and engineering project delivering international outcomes in the aerospace sector. With research motivated by the need for a new approach to air traffic management and a desire to integrate unmanned aircraft into the national airspace, the Smart Skies project has gone from paper-only concepts through to flight-tested prototypes in less than two years. The futuristic and fully automated prototypes are an exemplary example of word-class engineering and a research team working at the forefront of its field. 

High Commendation: Free flow tolling system for Queensland Motorways, entered by Thales Australia 

Environment 
Willawong Bus Depot 
Entered by Brisbane City Council 

The $41 million Willawong Bus Depot is located on a 22 hectare remedial waste disposal site. It is a significant state-of-the-art transport facility with the capacity for 200 buses and 400 staff. The judges were impressed with the successful remediation of a highly contaminated toxic waste site, making it useable years ahead of projection. The judges also noted the development of integrated water cycle plans, the measures taken to capture hydrocarbons deposited on the site, and enhanced biodiversity on the site.  

High Commendation: Improving sustainability for Cairns, entered by Cleaners Seas Alliance 

Industrial development and manufacturing 
Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal 7X project  
Entered by Aurecon Hatch   

The Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal 7X project is the major $1.3 billion expansion of the existing coal terminal, which is Queensland’s largest export coal terminal and one of the highest capacity export coal terminals in the world. Aurecon Hatch was engaged to design and deliver the complex project to increase capacity by over 30% to 85 million tonnes per annum. With 12kms of extensive ‘common-user’ terminal infrastructure, modifications and upgrades were constructed to expand all major in-loading, stockyard and out-loading elements. 

High Commendation: Use of composite fibre materials in civil engineering infrastructure, entered by Wagners Composite Fibre Technologies 

Project management        
Northern Busway: Royal Children’s Hospital to Windsor 
Entered by Queensland Transport and Main Roads, Abigroup and SMEC 

This award is for the highly complex $198 million first-stage of the Northern Busway. The Alliance faced many project management challenges including construction adjacent to and over a key arterial road, through a major hospital and over the Inner City Bypass. The judges were impressed with the Alliance’s highly effective community engagement and leadership strategies encompassing a large number of stakeholders. The judges also noted the adoption of an ‘Innovations Register’, which attracted 168 suggestions and returned $9 million worth of savings.  

High Commendation: Robina to Varsity Lakes rail extension, entered by TrackStar Alliance 

Project infrastructure under $20 million
WetSide Water Education Park 
Entered by Wide Bay Water Corporation, Cardno and PBS Building  

This recreation park is a unique, free, seaside public space on the foreshore at Hervey Bay, teaching visitors the value of water and its sustainable use in a fun, interactive and integrated way. Urban run-off stormwater is harvested, treated and stored in a 500kl tank under a car park for recycling through the fountains. The judges awarded the WetSide Water Education Park with the overall Sustainability Award as they believe the project offers the community an excellent demonstration of several sustainability principles and the practical application of engineering solutions. The judges hope the model will be adopted by other local councils when planning community recreation facilities.  

High Commendation: Gilbert River Bridge, entered by RoadTek Asset Services and the Department of Transport and Main Roads 

Project infrastructure over $20 million
Kurilpa Bridge: A world first 
Entered by Baulderstone, Arup, Cox Rayner Architects and Department of Public Works 

The objective of this project was to design and deliver a landmark pedestrian and cycle bridge that is ‘architecturally striking’, sympathetic to its prominent location and complementary to its surrounds. The creative partnership that produced the 430m bridge has achieved a fusion of art and science in the world’s first major tensegrity bridge. Engineering challenges included the necessity that the structure support itself at each stage of the erection, over both river and road, without reliance upon temporary props and scaffolding. Visually arresting with technically advanced engineering, the Kurilpa Bridge is a rightful river city showpiece.  

High Commendation: Robina to Varsity Lakes rail extension, entered by TrackStar Alliance 

Reports, procedures and systems
Working towards a safer construction industry 
Entered by Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre and John Holland 

This award is for landmark health and safety-based research projects for improving safety in the construction industry. Multi-disciplinary project teams included participants from across industry, government and research organisations, working collaboratively with employers and employees to develop a safety framework for the construction industry. Approximately 14,000 construction workers have already undertaken safety training based on this research. Demonstrating the human aspects of engineering, the materials developed through this project provide a consistent approach for greater safety in the workplace. 

High Commendation: Burdekin River Bridge – Asset management of transport infrastructure in the 21st century, entered by Queensland Transport and Main Roads and Rockfield Technologies 

High Commendation: Affordable sight distances around roadside barriers and structures, entered by Queensland Transport and Main Roads 

Research and development
ADVC Controller Range - Using local expertise to meet the global SmartGrid challenge
Entered by Schneider Electric  

The objective of the ADVC Controller Range development was to design and manufacture an integrated yet highly configurable technology platform with the flexibility to meet the constantly evolving needs of global distribution utilities. This equipment combines traditional reclosing and sectionalising principles with advanced automation, monitoring and communications capabilities, and minimising outages caused by transient faults on medium voltage overhead electricity distribution networks. The judges were impressed with the improved network reliability, safety and utilisation this technology offers and its high degree of configurability.  

High Commendation: iSnet automated sensing systems for water quality and greenhouse gas monitoring, entered by CSIRO ICT Centre and Seqwater