Newcastle Memorial Walk Wins Prestigious Award Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Newcastle Memorial Walk, an engineering tribute to the Hunter Region’s heroes of the Great war, wins top honours at Newcastle’s most prestigious engineering awards.

The Memorial Walk, linking Bar Beach and Strzelecki for pedestrians, scooped the coveted GHD Award for Overall Winner, at Australian Engineering Excellence Awards (AEEA) Newcastle event held on Friday 16 September 2016.

Engineers Australia Newcastle General Manager Helen Link was impressed by the project’s combination of engineering innovation, community engagement and historical mindfulness.

“The Newcastle Memorial Walk project is an excellent example of the application of engineering innovation to help realise the dream of a lasting memorial to our local World War I Diggers, which blends with the surrounding environment and engages the local community,” Ms Link said.

“The project’s design and materials provide a unique bridge that will survive the highly corrosive environment of the Newcastle coast and will endure as a lasting recognition of the sacrifice made by our Diggers, with thousands of locals and tourists visiting the memorial every year.”

The project’s engineers, Northrop Consulting Engineers, used state-of-the-art techniques to deliver a structural design that satisfied the architect’s brief, achieved the need for minimal disturbance to the environment during construction and maximised the value of the project to local industry.

In designing the stainless steel structure, which provided the light weight bridge required for the location, the designers chose to source the stainless steel directly from the rolling mill so as to produce an affordable robust material.

Engineers Australia Newcastle President Tim De Grauw FIEAust CPEng EngExec NER APEC Engineer said that the calibre of project and individual award entries as this year’s awards was remarkably high, demonstrating “the strength and ingenuity of regional engineering in Australia” and putting Newcastle “in good stead” at the national awards.

“Engineers Australia congratulates Northrop Consulting Engineers for their exceptional winning project and wishes them and the night’s other outstanding winners all the best as they represent the cream of Newcastle engineering at the national Australian Engineering Excellence Awards, which will be held in Brisbane in November,” Mr De Grauw said.

Over 180 people attended the Australian Engineering Excellence Awards (AEEA) Newcastle on Friday 16 September 2016 at the Newcastle Conservatorium.

All Newcastle Excellence Award winners are eligible to enter the national Australian Engineering Excellence Awards on 23 November 2016 in Brisbane during the Australian Engineering Conference.

Australian Engineering Excellence Awards Newcastle 2016 Recipients

GHD Award for overall winner:

  • Newcastle Memorial Walk by Northrop Consulting Engineers

Excellence Awards:

  • VAMCO: A Highly Effective Solution for Abatement of Ventilation Air Methane Emissions from Coal Mining by Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources with University of Newcastle, Glencore, Veolia, Coal 21 (Acalet) and Department of Industry, Innovation and Science
  • Newcastle Memorial Walk by Northrop Consulting Engineers
  • Upgrading the Pacific Highway Tintenbar to Ewingsdale by Roads and Maritime Services, NSW with Lend Lease Building Contractors Pty Ltd, Arcadis and Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd

Regional Award:
The Chaffey Dam Augmentation and Safety Upgrade by WaterNSW and John Holland

High Commendation:

  • Dry-Break Diesel Refuelling System with Tank Overfill Protection by Banlaw Pty Ltd
  • H3RO Harsh Environment Reticulated Optics by Ampcontrol

Individual Awards Newcastle 2016 Recipients

  • Young Professional Engineer of the Year Mr Mark Sturgess MIEAust CPEng NER
  • Professional Engineer of the Year Mr Misbah Khan MIEAust CPEng

 

Image: Mark Sturgess MIEAust CPEng NER and Neil Petherbridge FIEAust CPEng NER from Northrop Consulting Engineers receiving the GHD Award for AEEA Newcastle 2016 overall winner, from our Gold Sponsor GHD's Hunter & Northern NSW Manager, Phillip Pigram FIEAust. Courtesy AJM Photography.