Excellence, innovation celebrated in annual awards

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Excellence and innovation celebrated in annual Roading Awards

An innovative Queenstown project and work on one of New Zealand’s largest roading viaducts on the country’s busiest piece of road took top honours at the Roading New Zealand Roading Excellence Awards held in Wellington last night.

Hiway Stabilisers New Zealand Limited and Works Infrastructure were awarded the Shell Bitumen National Supreme Award for their joint project on Queenstown Lakes’ Coronet Peak Road. In tough conditions, this project was the first successful use of the innovative foamed bitumen pavement recycling technique. The technique was in the research and development stages just three years ago and will handle temperatures from -20 to 40 degrees Celsius.

The Goughs Regional Supreme Award was given to Blacktop Construction Limited for the Blond Bitumen on the Newmarket Viaduct, the most trafficked section of road in the country with over 200,000 vehicles per day.

Chairman of the judging panel, Dr Robin Dunlop, was happy to award these projects for their excellence in planning, design and construction. “These projects, in particular the foam bitumen recycling in the Queenstown entry, reflect the purpose of the Roading Excellence Awards – promoting the development of the industry through new techniques and growing the sector with technical excellence”, he says.

The third award for the evening, the InfraTrain NZ Best Practice Award, was awarded to MWH Limited for their Highway Highlanders National Graduate Secondment Programme that is working to address skill shortages and encourage graduate engineers to service the transport industry.

The Minister of Transport Hon Annette King opened the Roading New Zealand ‘Better Value Roading’ conference being held at the Duxton Hotel today, where roading industry innovation, cost pressures and tendering procedures will be discussed.

Keynote speakers include Don Ward, chief operating officer of the UK Constructing Excellence in the Built Environment, and Steve Rowsell, Procurement Director for UK Highways Agency.

Keynote Speakers

Don Ward
Chief Operating Officer, UK Constructing Excellence in the Built Environment
Don is one of the leading fifures in procurement in the UK. He has over twenty years experience of best practice in the construction industry specializing in industry changer, supply chain integration and collaborative working. As chief executive of the Construction Industry Board, he worked with Sir Michael Latham, UK industry’s representative bodies and other stakeholders to implement the 1994 “Latham report” and latterly the 1998 “Egan report”.

Steve Rowsell
Procurement Director, UK Highways Agency
Steve has spearheaded the Agency’s drive towards Best Value Tendering using a partnering approach with new initiatives such as the Agency’s new Procurement Strategy, the introduction of Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contracts, the Capability Assessment Toolkit (CAT) and new developments in performance specification and management. He has led the development of new processes to speed up the delivery of major road profects as part of the 10 Year Plan proporals. He is a chartered Civil Engineer and has worked for the Department of Transport, latterly the Highways Agency, for 30 years.

Shell Bitumen National Supreme Award Winner:

Hiway Stabilisers NZ Ltd and Works Infrastructure joint entry for Foamed Bitumen Recycling Pavement Rehabilitation:
The pavement rehabilitation of the Coronet Peak Road for the Queenstown Lakes District Council was difficult considering the challenges of the alpine environment. The skill of the Works Infrastructure draining, trimming and compaction crews allowed them to integrate seamlessly with the Hiway stabilising team, resulting in construction being completed in time and on budget, and with excellent ongoing road quality.

Foamed bitumen recycling is an innovative technique that has been developed by Hiway Stabilisers, and has maintained its reputation as a reliable recycling treatment option. In just three years this technique went from the research and development stage through to successful application. Best value was achieved by the short design and construction period allowed by this technique, as well as the high strength of the result.

Goughs Regional Supreme Award Winner:

Blacktop Construction Limited for State Highway 1 Newmarket Viaduct Resurfacing:
The Newmarket Viaduct is a six lane bridge structure carrying 200,000 vehicles per day, equivalent to six stories above the commercial, retail and residential area of Newmarket.

The substantial thermal stresses caused in the viaduct due to the sun and a black road surface meant only white asphalt could be used for resurfacing. This created a huge challenge because it meant using blond bitumen and white aggregate.

Infratrain NZ Best Practice Award Winner:

MWH NZ Ltd for their Highway Highlanders Rotational Graduate Secondment programme (Dunedin):
In an industry where we are frequently being reminded that too few professional engineers are available to service New Zealand’s transport industry, MWH NZ Ltd to this into their own hands and implemented their Rotational Graduate Secondment Programme.

This initiative is an agreement between Transit NZ, Works Infrastructure and MWH, and has been developed under an existing hybrid contract – Highway Highlanders – to provide graduates with a three year, fully mentored rotation, through very distinct work environments of each organisation.

Successful implementation of this principle means it is also be considered for development of engineering cadetships that are increasingly on offer by consultants, contractors and local authorities.

ENDS

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