Infrastructure Magazine June 2020

AN

ROAD - RAIL - AIRPORT - PORT - URBAN - UTILITY

The impact of COVID-19 and why infrastructure is key to economic recovery

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EDITOR’S WELCOME

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Editor Jessica Dickers

Assistant Editor

Kim Ho

Journalists

Lauren Butler

Imogen Hartmann

Business Development Manager

Rima Munafo

Design Manager

Alejandro Molano

Designer

Jacqueline Buckmaster

Publisher Chris Bland

Managing Editor

Laura Harvey

ISSN: 2206-7906 8,025

y last editor's letter from our March issue was written while we were still dealing with the devastating bushfires that spread across most of the country. While that was only a few short months ago, I don’t think anyone could have predicted then what the world looks like now as we face the COVID-19 pandemic. The Coronavirus has quickly changed all aspects of daily life, with individuals socially distancing and isolating, and organisations pivoting the way they operate.

As employees began working from home and zoom calls replaced faceto-face meetings, the infrastructure sector was finding new ways to continue running essential services, from public transport, to freight, energy networks and water assets. Work sites have continued to carry on while ensuring the health and safety of crew members, facing obstacles around material delays and distancing requirements.

The entire industry is doing an exceptional job of keeping our essential services operating under extraordinary circumstances.

The situation is still changing daily, but at the time of print, we seem to be in more of a holding pattern with lockdown restrictions starting to have a positive impact. As we move through the phases of the response to COVID-19 and away from immediate reactions, thoughts now turn to what happens next.

Besides the health implications, one of the biggest impacts of the pandemic has been to the economy, but this is where infrastructure could potentially have the biggest impact. Fast-tracking planning and shovel ready projects could help support the economic rebuild, helping employment, local contractors

and suppliers, while providing much needed infrastructure. This period of uncertainty and change also has the potential to allow us to rethink the way we fund and deliver infrastructure in a post-COVID world. Now’s the time to plan for the future, with a focus on responding to climate change and building sustainability in.

Another key area that has been highlighted in recent weeks is the overwhelming reliance on the internet and cloud-based assets as the way we work, study and communicate has moved away from location, and towards connectivity. It remains to be seen how these shifts will change the way our cities and infrastructure run, but it does bring up the idea of the internet and data as potentially the infrastructure of the future.

In addition to our extensive coverage of COVID-19 – its impacts on the industry, responses and the opportunities moving forward – this is also our ‘smart’ issue. We explore new technologies and innovations that are changing the way the industry operates, from Intelligent Transport Systems, automated and electric vehicles, to smart cities and good urban design, and innovations in runway materials and bridge construction.

As I write this sitting at my kitchen table, with the Infrastructure team all working remotely, it’s obvious what a transformative and uncertain time we’re currently in. But I’m certain that the sector can deal with these changes, and play a big role in supporting the country when we go back to whatever new ‘normal’ we have in store.

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HEADING

COVID-19

HOW THE SECTOR IS MANAGING THE COVID-19 CRISIS

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are being felt deeply in Australia and around the world, with the infrastructure sector significantly impacted. But while the sector at large has experienced many challenges, opportunities for specific industries are emerging, and the role that infrastructure can play in Australia’s economic recovery is providing a beacon of hope. Here, we’ll take a closer look at how some of the major infrastructure sectors are faring as a result of COVID-19.

INFRASTRUCTURE FUTURE OUTLOOK

2020 PART 2: THE IMPACT OF COVID-19

“Flattening the curve” is important for beating COVID-19, but the global policy response and eventual recovery will likely drive further cycles in the economy and the infrastructure construction market.

THIS IS THE PERFECT TIME TO GO BIG ON INFRASTRUCTURE

As the world plummets into the biggest drop in GDP since the 1930s, infrastructure spending may be the single most important economic intervention available to government in Australia to get people back to work.

A WORD FROM INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA

THE 2020 INFRASTRUCTURE PRIORITY LIST

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT: INFRASTRUCTURE IS A KEY SOLUTION TO CLIMATE RISK

MASSIVE REINFORCING SUPPLY TO NEW RAIL PROJECT IN WA

WOMEN ON THE MOVE AT METRO

INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS (ITS)

INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEM PROJECTS IN ACTION

WHY USE THERMAL CAMERAS FOR TRAFFIC MONITORING?

NEXT GENERATION VEHICLE DETECTION TECHNOLOGY

THE FUTURE OF MaaS

AUTOMATED AND ELECTRIC VEHICLES

HOW ROAD OPERATORS CAN SUPPORT THE TRANSITION TO EVs

VIRTUAL REALITY AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: A MATCH MADE IN TECH HEAVEN

SMART TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS FOR CITIES AND SUBURBS

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR ENTERPRISE PROJECT PERFORMANCE

INNOVATION IS THE KEY TO BEING A SMART CITY – NOT TECH

HOW WILL THE WESTERN SYDNEY AEROTROPOLIS LOOK AND FEEL?

PUTTING GOOD CITY DESIGN AT THE CENTRE OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT

MAKING THE MOST OF HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONAL DRILLING IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

FEATURES SCHEDULE

8 NSW FAST-TRACKS CONSTRUCTION PLANNING TO KEEP PEOPLE IN JOBS

8 TENDERS TO OPEN FOR $2.6 BILLION M6 ‘MISSING LINK’

9 IMPROVEMENTS IN GENDER DIVERSITY WITHIN THE RAIL INDUSTRY

9 AUSTRALIAN AIRPORTS ASSOCIATION APPOINTS NEW CEO

NEW CONSORTIUM TO DEVELOP INLAND RAIL INTERFACE IMPROVEMENT PROPOSALS

INLAND RAIL SEEKS FLOOD MODELLING AND DESIGN PANEL 12 SYDNEY METRO TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION TENDERS UP FOR GRABS 12 QUEENSLAND NSW INTERCONNECTOR UPGRADE TO PROCEED

13 $10 MILLION IN NEW CONTRACTS FOR PORT OF TOWNSVILLE

Paul Davies

HEADING

Head of Market Capability, Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA)

Preamble

Paul’s role at ISCA is to improve the sustainability awareness and training needs of the infrastructure industry, along with overseeing ISCA’s advocacy priorities. Paul previously worked for three years on the operations, trains and stations delivery phase for the Sydney Metro Northwest rail link, both in the Executive Leadership Team and as the Senior Sustainability Manager. Paul has had a 40-year career in infrastructure, engineering, transport, commercial consulting, not-for-profit, small business, member services, science and technical standards. He is an ISCA Accredited Sustainability Professional, a Lead Certified Sustainability Assurance Practitioner, and an ID9 Certified trainer.

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Abbie Galvin

New South Wales Government Architect

Abbie was previously a director and shareholder of BVN, one of Australia’s largest and most highly acclaimed architectural practices. She has worked for close to 30 years on public, education, health, research and workplace projects that have been highly awarded, published and recognised internationally for bringing fresh approaches to common project types. Projects Abbie has led have been the recipient of more than 40 state, national and international architectural awards including the RAIA Lloyd Rees Award for Urban Design, the RAIA Jack McConnell Award for Public Architecture and the RAIA Blackett Prize for Regional Architecture, in addition to personal awards such as the AIA Marion Mahoney Griffin Prize for a distinctive body of work in the field of architecture.

Yale Z Wong

Research Associate, Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS) at the University of Sydney Business School

Yale’s research focus encompasses three core facets in future mobility, transport contracts and bus operations. A major area of work for Yale is to market test the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) proposition with the aim to understand what the community demands and businesses are willing to provide. Yale won the David Willis Prize (2018), ITLS Research Prize (2018), and was selected by Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Australia as Youth Ambassador to the World Congress (2019), and as recipient of the Young Professional Award (2019). In addition, Yale undertakes a number of advisory and consultancy projects with clients ranging from bus operators to industry associations, vehicle suppliers and local government.

Contributors

Project Director for Brisbane Airport’s New Parallel Runway (NPR), Brisbane Airport

Paul is responsible for the successful delivery of this $1.1 billion project and heads up a Client Team that at various stages of the project had in excess of 50 staff. Paul has guided the project since its inception in December 2004 and has been responsible for overseeing the planning, feasibility studies, gaining all regulatory approvals, developing the procurement strategy, tendering and contracts award, and the construction delivery. Phase 1 works (dredging and site reclamation) was successfully completed in June 2015 on schedule and under budget. The Phase 2 construction delivery consisted of three contracts (seawall and site access – complete mid 2017; Dryandra Road Underpass – open to the public October 2018; Airfield Works – on schedule to achieve practical completion on 1 May 2020). All Phase 2 contracts have been completed under budget.

Gabriel Metcalf

CEO, The Committee for Sydney

Gabriel Metcalf commenced as CEO of the Committee for Sydney in January 2019. From 2005 to 2018, he served as the President and CEO of SPUR, an urban policy research and advocacy group for the San Francisco Bay Area. Gabriel led SPUR through a major expansion of its work, staffing, funding, geographic footprint, and impact. Gabriel has led initiatives on housing, transport, economic development and climate adaptation, among other topics, striving to bring together both vision and practicality.

Executive Director of Planning and Development, Western City and Aerotropolis Authority

With an extensive background in the development of projects across government and private sectors, Troy builds and leads collaborative teams dedicated to achieving outstanding project outcomes. With a diverse range of skills applicable to the design, development and delivery of complex projects, he has a wide-ranging and extensive experience across multiple built forms including health, education, commercial, industrial and residential sectors. Troy is passionate about the delivery of sustainable, world-class infrastructure solutions and the potential to leverage capital investment in innovative ways. He has a keen interest in developing and producing solutions utilising advanced procurement and delivery methodologies.

NSW FAST-TRACKS CONSTRUCTION PLANNING TO KEEP PEOPLE IN JOBS

The New South Wales Government will fast-track construction planning processes in order to keep industry workers in jobs amidst the COVID-19 crisis.

New South Wales Planning and Public Spaces Minister, Rob Stokes, said the construction and development sectors will be vital in keeping people in jobs and supporting the state’s economic recovery.

“We are fast-tracking assessments to keep people in jobs, boost the construction pipeline and keep our economy moving,” Mr Stokes said.

“Our economic recovery will, in many ways, be longer and harder than the health one, and it’s essential we do everything we can now to keep our state moving forward and allow work to continue wherever possible in line with the best medical advice.”

The Planning System Acceleration Program will:

♦ Create opportunities for more than 30,000 construction jobs in the next six months

♦ Fast-track assessments of State Significant Developments, rezonings and development applications (DAs), with more decisions to be made by the Minister if required

♦ Support councils and planning panels to fast-track local and regionally significant DAs

♦ Introduce a ‘one-stop shop’ for industry to progress projects that may be ‘stuck in the system’

♦ Clear the current backlog of cases stuck in the Land & Environment Court with additional Acting Commissioners

TENDERS TO OPEN FOR $2.6 BILLION M6 ‘MISSING LINK’

The NSW Government will call for tender applications for construction of the M6 Stage 1 project, estimated to cost around $2.6 billion.

The project, referred to as the ‘missing link’ motorway, aims to connect Sydney’s south. It will allow motorists to bypass up to 23 sets of traffic lights on the Princes Highway and take up to 2,000 heavy vehicles a day off surface roads.

♦ Invest $70 million to co-fund vital new community infrastructure in North West Sydney including roads, drainage and public parks to unlock plans for the construction of thousands of new houses

New South Wales Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, said the property and construction industry is one of the key drivers of jobs and investment in the state, employing one in four people.

“In the past six months alone, the New South Wales Government has approved projects and rezonings worth more than $15 billion and created more than 24,000 jobs across the state – that trend must continue as we move through this crisis,” Mr Perrottet said.

Mr Stokes said the planning system would undergo further reform to ensure it enables economic growth once the COVID-19 crisis is over.

“This will pass and when it does, the planning system will be ready to continue driving economic productivity across the state,” Mr Stokes said.

Additionally, a $20 million upgrade of recreational facilities at popular local parks at Rockdale and Brighton-Le-Sands will start mid-2020.

The M6 Stage 1 will connect President Avenue at Kogarah to the New M5 at Arncliffe.

Successful applicants from last year’s Expressions of Interest to design and construct the M6 Stage 1 project will be invited to tender, including:

♦ Acciona-Samsung Joint Venture (comprising Acciona Construction Australia and Samsung C&T Corporation)

♦ Gamuda-BMD Joint Venture (comprising Gamuda Berhad t/as Gamuda (Australia) Branch and B.M.D. Constructions)

♦ CPB–Ghella Joint Venture (comprising CPB Contractors and Ghella)

NSW Minister for Roads, Andrew Constance, said the project was expected to create around 5,300 new jobs amidst the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We know many workers, contractors and subcontractors are doing it tough during this challenging period, and the start of works on the M6 Stage 1 will be a major boost for the construction industry,” Mr Constance said.

“In NSW there are almost 400,000 people employed in property and construction, and we are committed to keeping as many of them in work as possible.

“The construction of the M6 Stage 1 will create thousands of new jobs and support families across Sydney.”

IMPROVEMENTS IN GENDER DIVERSITY WITHIN THE RAIL INDUSTRY

The Australasian Rail Association (ARA) has released its 2018-19 Gender Diversity Survey, which highlights an increase in women working in rail.

ARA Chief Executive Officer, Caroline Wilkie, said the survey report confirmed improvements in the number of women working in rail since the last survey was completed in 2016-17.

“Women now make up 27 per cent of the rail workforce, which is a six per cent improvement over the last two years,” Ms Wilkie said.

“More women are also staying in the industry and getting promoted, with 22 per cent of management roles now held by women.

“While it is great to see these improvements across the industry, women’s participation in rail remains below the national average and shows there is still more work to do.”

Ms Wilkie said there had been a stronger focus on gender diversity within the rail industry.

The survey found 86 per cent of participant organisations have formal policies or strategies in place to support gender diversity and more than half have specific recruitment policies or strategies to improve gender balance in their organisations.

About three quarters of participating organisations also had formal policies to support flexible work arrangements in place.

“We have seen a really strong push to attract more women to the industry and retain those already in the industry since our last survey and expect to see further improvements on these outcomes in the near future,” Ms Wilkie said.

“Our Women in Rail Strategy is supporting our members as

they build gender diversity across their businesses, and the survey results will help inform this important work over the next 12 months.”

The ARA’s Women in Rail Strategy was launched in 2017 and includes four key focus areas: attraction and promotion; improved networks; retention; and national benchmarking.

A total of 42 organisations working in the rail industry, representing over 50,000 employees participated in the survey.

AUSTRALIAN AIRPORTS ASSOCIATION APPOINTS

NEW CEO

The Australian Airports Association (AAA) has appointed a new Chief Executive Officer.

James Goodwin, who has been Chief Executive of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) since 2015, will commence as CEO in June.

Mr Goodwin is a former journalist and news presenter, and has worked for organisations including AirServices Australia and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

AAA National Chairman, Tom Ganley, said Mr Goodwin would bring deep experience in public policy, advocacy and stakeholder engagement to the role.

“We are delighted to welcome James to the AAA following strong interest in the role,” Mr Ganley said.

“He will bring a strong understanding of public policy and significant experience in the transport and infrastructure sector as we progress a busy agenda.

“James’ experience in the area of consumer advocacy will ensure the passenger remains at the heart of our work as we advance the key issues facing our industry.

“We look forward to James leading the AAA’s engagement with our airline partners as we work together at this important

time for the aviation and tourism industries.”

Mr Goodwin said he looked forward to joining the AAA.

“There’s no doubt that Australia’s airports drive our economy and connect communities across the country,” Mr Goodwin said.

“We’ve already seen the benefits of airports’ capacitybuilding investment over the last 20 years, giving us better terminals, more choice and improved connection between our airports and the communities they serve.

“I’m looking forward to working with members as we prepare for new runways and landmark projects that will support the long-term growth of air travel.

“I understand the importance of good transport connections beyond our city centres and will ensure the focus is on supporting the sustainable development of our regional airports as they implement new CASA regulations this year.”

NEW CONSORTIUM TO DEVELOP INLAND RAIL INTERFACE IMPROVEMENT PROPOSALS

Anew consortium has been commissioned to develop 16 local project proposals as part of the Federal Government’s $44 million Inland Rail Improvement Program.

The consortium, led by EY Australia, will develop the proposals with the organisations and groups that had been found eligible in the first round of the program’s applications.

This development will involve prefeasibility studies, feasibility studies and strategic business cases.

Intermodal hubs and new freight provisioning centres were among the proposals that secured further development.

Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Michael McCormack, praised the innovation of the proposals.

“An intermodal facility at Mangalore, expanded freight infrastructure in the Riverina, road upgrades for a rail spur in Croppa Creek, and rail upgrades between Kurumbul to Thallon are just some of [the] big connectivity ideas that we are supporting through the Interface Improvement Program,” Mr McCormack said.

Proposals received through the Expression of Interest process were assessed by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, and by its independent assurance and technical advisor.

Eligibility to progress through to an appropriate assessment gateway for

INLAND RAIL SEEKS FLOOD MODELLING AND DESIGN PANEL

The Federal and Queensland Governments are seeking consultation from the public on the draft Terms of Reference for an expert panel to inform the proposed flood modelling and structural design of the Inland Rail.

The independent expert panel chosen to review ARTC’s flood modelling and design will include hydrology and engineering experts with international experience, and will operate at arm’s length of ARTC.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Michael McCormack, said public consultation was important to provide further confidence the Australian Rail Track Corporation’s (ARTC) freight rail line will safely cross the Condamine Floodplain.

“Public safety remains the number one consideration for this government in the design and delivery of Inland Rail,” Mr McCormack said.

“The establishment of this Independent Panel of Experts,

proposal development was assessed against the Interface Improvement Program principles and information requirements. The principles include supporting regional economic growth, capacity to increase Inland Rail throughput and supporting National Freight and Supply Chain Priorities.

which will include international expertise, will reaffirm our commitment to an engineering solution which safely crosses the Condamine and meets global best practice.

“Extensive work has already been undertaken by the ARTC and by Australian experts to develop and test flood modelling that will guide the structural design of Inland Rail as it crosses flood prone areas.

“We understand the legitimate concerns landholders have about constructing infrastructure where our farmers and communities have experienced floods – which is why the Independent Panel of Experts is important to provide public safety assurance for Inland Rail.”

Stakeholders can email inlandrail@infrastructure.gov.au to receive the draft Terms of Reference.

SYDNEY METRO TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION TENDERS UP FOR GRABS

The NSW Government has officially begun the tender process for the construction of 50km of new metro railway tunnels for the Sydney Metro West Project.

Building the tunnels, which will run between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD, is expected to create thousands of jobs.

The NSW Government has called for Expressions of Interest for the mega project’s first two major infrastructure packages – the delivery of twin tunnels between Westmead and The Bays.

Sydney Metro West is expected to create more than 10,000 direct new jobs and 70,000 indirect jobs, with thousands of these jobs being generated by these new tunnelling contracts.

These contracts will require tunnellers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, concrete workers, truck drivers, labourers and security guards.

The first of four mega tunnel boring machines is expected to be in the ground before the end of 2022.

Expressions of Interest have been called for the first two tunnelling contracts from Westmead to Sydney Olympic Park and from Sydney Olympic Park to The Bays.

The Sydney Metro West project will deliver a new underground driverless metro railway from Westmead to the city, doubling the rail capacity of this corridor and cutting travel times to around 20 minutes between Parramatta and the city.

NSW Minister for Transport, Andrew Constance, said it was more important than ever that infrastructure projects like Sydney Metro West supported jobs, communities and the economy.

“Sydney Metro West is a truly oncein-a-century city shaping project that will forever change how we get around Sydney,” Mr Constance said.

QUEENSLAND NSW INTERCONNECTOR UPGRADE TO PROCEED

The Queensland NSW Interconnector (QNI) upgrade project will advance to the next stage after clearing a major review from the Australian Energy Regulator (AER).

The AER announced it had approved the Regulatory Investment Test for Transmission (RIT-T) on 30 March 2020. This determination supports the options assessment, costs and net benefits of the QNI project.

The $230 million QNI upgrade project, proposed by TransGrid and Powerlink, aims to increase transmission capacity between Queensland and NSW.

The AER has fast-tracked its consideration to support the timely completion of the project. Construction of the project started in March 2020 and delivery and completion of internetwork testing is expected by June 2022.

The project is expected to add an extra 60 cents to the transmission component of annual customer bills in New South Wales.

AER chair, Clare Savage, said the Liddell Power Station was scheduled to close in 2023, which would reduce the generation capacity in NSW.

“The proposed interconnector upgrade will allow more electricity to be exported from Queensland to New South Wales avoiding the need for costly new generation,” Ms Savage said.

The RIT-T is a cost-benefit assessment of the proposed interconnector. AER tested the reasonableness of TransGrid and Powerlink’s inputs and assumptions across a range of scenarios.

TransGrid has separately applied to the AER to amend its existing revenue determination to recover the efficient costs of delivering the project. The AER made a separate determination on this element in April 2020.

TransGrid began working with Queensland transmission business Powerlink to initiate the RIT-T process in November 2018 and a number of network and non-network options were considered.

The project has been supported by the Australian and NSW Governments, which have provided joint-underwriting to enable TransGrid to accelerate the delivery of the upgrade.

Michael Gatt, TransGrid's Executive Manager of Works Delivery, said early works have commenced on the upgrade project which is expected to be delivered in September 2021.

$10 MILLION IN NEW CONTRACTS FOR PORT OF TOWNSVILLE

The Port of Townsville awarded two major contracts worth more than $10 million as part of the $193 million Channel Upgrade Project. The contracts are for rock wall construction and rock delivery.

The Channel Upgrade Project is the largest infrastructure project in the port’s history.

A Queensland company, Hall Contracting, will build a 2.2km rock wall, forming a protective bund around a 62-hectare Port Reclamation Area at the eastern end of the port. HY-TEC’s quarry at Calcium has been contracted to supply 43,000 tonnes of rock.

Port of Townsville General Manager Infrastructure and Environment, Marissa Wise, said that the project attracted highly competitive submissions from the market.

“Rock wall construction requires a high level of skill and experience in marine civil construction. It’s a specialised field and Hall Contracting has proved that it has the

required expertise. The construction of the rock wall will precede the widening of the Townsville shipping channel, which is scheduled to start in 2021 and be completed in 2023,” Ms Wise said.

Marine projects undertaken by Hall Contracting in North Queensland include the widening of the Cairns shipping channel in 2019, as well as dredging the Ross River channel in Townsville.

In addition to Holcim Australia’s existing contract to supply rock from its Roseneath quarry west of Townsville, HY-TEC’s quarry at Calcium has been contracted to supply 43,000 tonnes of rock. The transport route will be via the Flinders Highway then the Port Access Road.

The Townsville Port Channel Upgrade is a joint project of the Queensland and Australian Governments, and Port of Townsville Limited. The channel upgrade forms part of the Townsville City Deal signed in December 2016.

Manufacturer of Oil & Gas Modules, Steel Bridges, Wind Farm Steel Structures, and Offshore Vessels

HOW THE SECTOR IS MANAGING THE COVID-19 CRISIS

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are being felt deeply in Australia and around the world, with the infrastructure sector significantly impacted. But while the sector at large has experienced many challenges, opportunities for specific industries are emerging, and the role that infrastructure can play in Australia’s economic recovery is providing a beacon of hope. Here, we’ll take a closer look at how some of the major infrastructure sectors are faring as a result of COVID-19.

While the immediate concern is managing the health implications of the virus, the reality is that in order to do this, economies around the world have been forced into hibernation or lockdown periods. The implications of this will be significant; and will be felt for years to come.

There remains considerable uncertainty around the economic implications of the Coronavirus for the June quarter and beyond, but the economic shock will be significant. There are a wide range of potential paths for the spread and containment of the virus globally and in Australia. In addition, there is uncertainty around the impact on confidence, people’s ability to work and business cash flow. The global spread of the Coronavirus and its global economic impact will also flow through to demand for Australia’s exports and the availability of inputs into domestic production and imported consumption goods1

At the time of going to print, the Federal Government has committed over $200 billion towards mitigating the impacts of COVID-19, and this figure includes both health and economic activity.

We have seen thus far that certain sectors of the economy have been more vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19 (such as tourism, hospitality and retail), while other sectors have been more resilient (for example, prices of key bulk commodities have remained resilient to date).

HOW IS AUSTRALIA’S INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR COPING?

In the world of infrastructure, it’s no different – we have seen certain sectors prove to be more vulnerable, while others have been more resilient in the face of this particular crisis.

Airports

Australia’s airports, and the aeronautical industry, have been severely impacted by COVID-19.

Australia’s major airports are dealing with an unprecedented hit to their operations, with aeronautical revenues for the year expected to fall by more than half a billion dollars as a result of COVID-19.

“COVID-19 has, and will continue to, hit our income and operations with a severity not seen in this country before,” AAA Acting Chief Executive Officer, Simon Bourke, said.

“The AAA estimates aeronautical revenue for Australia’s major airports will collectively fall by more than $500 million this year as significant reductions in airline capacity take effect.

“Revenue from aeronautical charges and other airport services are all dependent on passenger numbers and are being heavily impacted by lower demand. International arrivals are at their lowest levels since 2013 and airports feel the loss of every passenger several times over.”

Sydney Airport’s international traffic was down 16.8 per cent in February compared to the prior year, and domestic traffic fell 4.5 per cent. Melbourne Airport saw a 17 per cent fall in international passengers in February, with 150,000 fewer people flying internationally compared to the same month last year. Brisbane Airport experienced a 7.7 per cent decrease in international passengers in February, with 34,000 fewer people flying internationally compared to the same month last year. Domestic travel fell 1.5 per cent, a loss of more than 19,000 passengers in the prior year.

Both airports and airlines are being seriously financially impacted by COVID-19, and Mr Bourke said industry must work together to make sure they are ready when the recovery comes.

1 https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/Overview-Economic_Response_to_the_Coronavirus_2.pdf

“In order for airline businesses to recover when these challenges pass, airports must keep building the runways and terminal infrastructure we know they will need when the industry rebounds.

“The recovery will be strong, just as we’ve seen in the past, and we want to give our partners confidence that we are ready to support them as they rebuild,” Mr Bourke said.

Roads

The Australian roads industry is feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Roads Australia (RA) survey.

More than a third of industry players surveyed said the COVID-19 crisis was affecting their capacity to deliver current projects, and creating uncertainty about future project timing and funding.

Roads Australia is calling on governments to:

♦ Reduce payment terms to contractors to help them maintain their cash flows and pay their employees on time

♦ Provide assurances of their commitment to long-term pipelines so industry can plan and invest in capacity to support an economic recovery and deliver the next wave of infrastructure

The Roads Australia survey drew responses from 166 senior private and public sector executives involved in the delivery, maintenance and operation of major transport infrastructure across the country.

When asked if the COVID-19 crisis was impacting their organisations’ capacities to deliver current workloads, 37 per cent said yes and 23 per cent said no, with 40 per cent saying it was still too early to tell.

When asked where their organisations were feeling the pinch, 35 per cent pointed to the immediate availability of staff, ten per cent cited the availability of subcontractors and seven per cent plant and equipment.

Those who nominated other ‘pinch points’ cited:

♦ Border and travel restrictions which had stopped the transfer of interstate and overseas staff to key projects

♦ The unavailability of clients and key personnel to provide direction and sign-off on approvals

♦ The loss of current and future revenue

♦ Lower productivity associated with working from home

♦ The unavailability of COVID-19 preventative supplies, such as sanitisers, and basic worksite staples such as toilet paper

RA President, Michael Bushby, said face-to-face collaboration was traditionally a cornerstone of the delivery process for major transport projects.

“Like a lot of industries and sectors, RA members are adapting and moving away from face-to-face meetings in design offices and on project sites – and like a lot of industries, it will take time to get used to the changes.

“In the meantime, productivity may suffer in the short to medium term.”

Mr Bushby said RA members were also concerned about the long-term surety of project pipelines – particularly those in NSW and Victoria, underpinned by the Federal Government’s $100 billion, ten-year transport infrastructure investment program.

“Transport infrastructure projects can’t be readily switched on and off, so it is vital industry has confidence that project pipelines will continue over forecasted periods,” he said.

“We’re encouraged by recent assurances from NSW Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, that the NSW Government remains committed to its project pipeline, and we are seeking similar assurances from other states and the Commonwealth.

“Continuing to push on with the planning, design and construction of transport infrastructure projects, as well as ramping up road maintenance, is an excellent approach for sustaining jobs in these difficult economic times."

Ports

Many of Australia’s ports workers are finding themselves at the frontline of the virus, dealing with cargoes coming into Australia from hard-hit locations. As a result, Australia’s peak ports authority has highlighted the need for more transparency around government measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, calling for a regularly updated summary document.

Since COVID-19 reached pandemic status, there has been a heavy flow of information coming from federal, state and territory authorities outlining the measures in place to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and keep trade moving. Ports Australia has worked closely with industry and government to ensure those measures are well placed in keeping port staff safe, so they can continue their essential service of providing Australia with what it needs to survive.

Australian Border Force (ABF) has made clear that local authorities may enforce additional requirements over and above those outlined by ABF directives. There have been many examples in March 2020, most recently with the Western Australian Government announcing the closure of its borders (with measures in place for continuing maritime trade).

Ports Australia’s CEO, Mike Gallacher, has expressed his appreciation for the work being done around the nation, but underlined the need for greater transparency.

“COVID-19 remains a fluid situation and one creating unique challenges for all, evident as we see the measures enforced on a federal level being built upon by individual states and territories to serve their unique conditions and risk assessments,” Mr Gallacher said.

“Ports Australia encourages this necessary process to continue, however is calling for more transparency around the current protocols set by all levels of government.”

The authority believes greater transparency may be achieved through a routinely updated document issued by the Federal Government in collaboration with each state or territories’ most relevant government entity, which concisely outlines the current practices around the nation.

Mr Gallacher said that such a measure would hold real value for all members of the supply chain – ports, shipping lines, importers and exporters alike.

“Greater transparency creates greater awareness across government, industry and the public, and bridges communication gaps which cannot exist in a strong-functioning supply chain. The last thing we want to see is a lack of accessible information creating uncertainty across our trade networks and causing cracks to appear in our vital supply chain.”

Rail

In the rail sector, it’s clear that passenger numbers are significantly down across public transport routes.

Early estimates suggest that the drop has been as much as 80-90 per cent in major cities; and according to the Australian arm of the International Association of Public Transport, even then, the peak trough in ridership is yet to hit major public transport operators in many cities.

While public transport continues to play a crucial role around the world in meeting the mobility needs of those working in essential industries and supporting essential travel, reduced rates of ridership are going to have an impact on transport operators, and the reduced revenue associated with this will likely result in the need for government intervention in the form of economic injection or stimulus.

In the freight sector, the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) said Australia’s rail freight sector has been working around the clock to ease strained supply lines during the COVID-19 crisis.

ARTC Chief Executive Officer, John Fullerton, said, “Freight trains are playing a crucial role in Australia’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic – and our frontline teams are really part of a group of workers making sure the economy and society is able to keep functioning during these difficult times.”

In March 2020, national general rail freight movements on the ARTC network rose by 14 per cent, due to a continuing demand increase for critical supplies following escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak.

“The COVID-19 outbreak has sparked an unprecedented challenge for Australia’s freight and transport industry, with the country’s demand for critical supplies prompting a surge in rail freight,” Mr Fullerton said.

ARTC employs more than 300 people at its Keswick headquarters in South Australia including a dedicated band of network controllers who share an intensive 24-hour, 365-day roster to ensure coordinated passage for the country’s freight trains in the rail equivalent of an air traffic control centre.

The company also has teams of railway personnel working day and night across the nation including in the middle of the Nullarbor doing maintenance to help move vital freight to its destination.

“We’re really proud to be able to keep freight trains moving and do our bit for Australia, but like other essential service providers, these are testing times for everyone and there’s still a long road ahead,” Mr Fullerton said.

Utilities

In the utilities sector, the challenges are different, as the sector moves to continue providing essential services for users whose needs have changed dramatically in the past two months.

In the energy sector, federal and state governments have established a coordinated national approach to managing the impacts of COVID-19, fully supported by industry associations and energy utilities.

Federal Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor, said the energy sector remains well-prepared to deal with the virus, and early action taken by governments and industry should ensure energy supplies for the coming months.

“One of my top priorities will always be to keep the lights on for Australian families and businesses,” Mr Taylor said.

“We also want to make sure that generators, retailers and networks are ready to support any customers who find themselves in difficulty due to the Coronavirus.

“The energy sector is good at responding to disruptions. The industry has well-established risk management, emergency management and business continuity plans, which are regularly tested and improved.”

In the water industry, it’s a similar story as members of the industry come together to develop and provide a coordinated response to the crisis.

“Water utilities supply the most essential of essential services to our communities,” Adam Lovell, Executive Director of the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA), said.

“Our drinking water remains high quality and safe to drink. In these unprecedented and challenging times the industry is taking actions to ensure the continued safe supply of high-quality water and wastewater services in Australia and New Zealand."

Water utilities have been quick to assure customers their priority is delivering reliable water and sewerage services, and ensuring the safety and well-being of water industry employees.

Water authorities are also establishing dedicated teams focused on the COVID-19 response, implementing measures to minimise risks to staff, and liaising with key government agencies on a daily basis to monitor and understand the health impact of COVID-19 as it develops.

Construction

COVID-19 may have significant effects on Australia’s construction industry, including major disruption to supply chains and possible difficulty sourcing materials, especially given the vast amount of materials being sourced from China.

In addition to supply chain disruptions, if the health of construction workers is impacted, there could also be worker shortages on projects.

Master Builders Australia said the Federal Government’s stimulus package should bolster economic resilience in the face of the current challenge.

Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia, said, “We strongly back the moves to back businesses, particularly small businesses, to keep workers and apprentices employed. The danger with economic shocks is that the labour market recovers slower than the rest of the economy, so moves to offset employers shrinking their workforce is very well targeted.

“Builders and tradies around the country will respond favourably to the huge boost in the instant tax write-off threshold from $30,000 to $150,000 and expansion of its eligibility to businesses with turnover under $500 million (up from $50 million).

“Incentives to invest in business assets are also well targeted to our industry. There is no doubt builders and tradies will be encouraged to invest in new plant and equipment,” she said.

Ms Wawn also encouraged the Federal Government to implement measures on existing projects to help lessen the economic impacts of COVID-19.

“However, if there is a major contraction in building activity then the benefit of these measures will be blunted. The government must take a strong leadership role in ensuring that construction of government projects currently underway continue and that projects scheduled to commence are not delayed or withdrawn,” Ms Wawn said.

“The government could also bring forward expenditure on existing projects. Accelerating construction of current projects and bringing forward construction of shovel ready projects, big and small, would provide an immediate strong impetus for building firms to take up tax write-off and investment incentive measures.”

Australian Construction Industry Forum (ACIF) Executive Director, James Cameron, said that with more than 60 per cent of $6 billion worth of construction-related materials sourced

from China, this represents a massive challenge for the industry if supplies continue to be affected.

“Some builders and contractors are putting in requests for extensions of time for delays to their projects. This is contractually not always easy as many contracts do not provide illness as a reason for a claim,” Mr Cameron said.

“Where there are large components of structure, facades, and fit out in contracts, these usually require visits to suppliers’ factories in China.”

Logistics

The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) has moved to assure industry, communities and customers that supply chains and the logistics industry are responding to, and adapting to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis. It states that above all, the community should have confidence that our supply chains are working.

Australia’s ports, stevedores, road, rail and air freight operators are working tirelessly to keep supply chains flowing and make sure Australian communities can access the goods they need day-to-day.

There is also evidence that Australian exports to other parts of the world – including China – are flowing, as consumer demand picks up. Australia’s ports, airports and freight operators are at the forefront of getting these products moving, supporting our exporters and protecting local jobs.

IS THE INTERNET THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE FUTURE?

One thing this pandemic has highlighted is the reliance on the internet and cloud-based infrastructure for both the general public, and working professionals.

Mobile Mapping

It’s clear that a high priority for governments and large organisations moving forward will be expanding the reach and capacity of things like data centres, internet bandwidth and cloud communication.

And if schools and companies opt to retain some of the initiatives we’ve adopted during the COVID-19 lockdown period – such as work and education from home – it’s not unfeasible to think that infrastructure that allows us to connect virtually, could start to be prioritised over infrastructure that connects us physically.

We’ve seen in recent weeks that the way we work, study and communicate can be less reliant on physical location – but if that’s the case, we’re going to be heavily reliant on internet infrastructure that can deliver the connectivity we need.

In Australia, it will be interesting to see how this reality plays out from here – particularly against the backdrop of the heavily criticised NBN rollout in the country to date.

The reality of the COVID-19 situation across Australia – not just in the infrastructure sector – is that it is a rapidly evolving situation which is changing daily.

While all aspects of the infrastructure sector in Australia have been impacted by the crisis in different ways, what is clear is the fact that infrastructure has a large role to play in the economic recovery from this unprecedented moment in history.

While we are navigating challenging and uncharted waters right now, there are positive signs on the horizon – for more information head to pages 18-23, where we’ll explore the infrastructure opportunities that will emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic in further detail.

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Bushfire Recovery

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INFRASTRUCTURE FUTURE OUTLOOK 2020 PART 2: THE IMPACT OF COVID-19

In the previous issue of Infrastructure, against the backdrop of the devastating bushfires, I outlined BIS Oxford Economics’ “Top 5” trends for economic infrastructure (or engineering) construction activity, covering transport, utilities and mining.

As every economist should, I did manage to slip in one caveat, “while there may yet be more surprises in store”, when outlining these trends. COVID-19, and the massive policy response in dealing with the health crisis, have turned out to be an exceptional “surprise”, however. And not a pleasant one.

Indeed, the economy is now in the midst of an unprecedented shock, with economic growth anticipated to fall at a double digit pace in the June quarter, and a range of scenarios emerging beyond this depending on how deep the downturn goes, how effectively businesses can be sustained by supportive fiscal and monetary policy, how many people are detached from work, how long restrictive social distancing policies are retained, and how they are eventually relaxed.

Even with an improvement from the September quarter, it is now likely the Australian economy will contract between 6-8 per cent through 2020 as a whole. In growth terms, a recovery

may look “V-shaped” in 2021 but it will be coming from a decimated base. In activity terms, it will take much longer for the economy to recover to a “new normal”. Depending on the length of the downturn and how we adjust to it, this “new normal” will likely be governed by new behaviours. Consequently, some industries will take a much longer time to recover – some may not recover at all – but new industries may be created.

TOP 5 COVID-19 IMPACTS ON THE MARKET

However, despite the onset of COVID-19 – and the unprecedented policy response – the broad trends identified for economic infrastructure in 2020 remain intact. While the June and September quarters are likely to be bumpy to say the least, we still expect engineering construction activity to move higher through 2020 compared to 2019. Transport and resources projects remain the key growth drivers for the market. Activity in Western Australia and Queensland is still expected to grow faster than New South Wales and Victoria over the next three years. And there remains considerable short-run and long-run challenges to the infrastructure

“Flattening the curve” is important for beating COVID-19, but the global policy response and eventual recovery will likely drive further cycles in the economy and the infrastructure construction market.

industry in terms of dealing with the increasing cyclicality of work as crises play out and achieving industry sustainability over the medium to longer term.

But there are also important differences emerging in the infrastructure outlook due to COVID-19. So, for the record, here are my Top 5 COVID-19 impacts on the infrastructure market (recognising there may be yet even more surprises):

1. Infrastructure building facing greater COVID-19 risks

In terms of the total construction industry impact, the infrastructure building market is expected to be far more negatively impacted by COVID-19 than engineering construction. This is due to building markets – particularly across accommodation, aged care, education, retail, offices, entertainment and recreation – being directly impacted by the demand shock associated with lower "people flows", with privately-funded projects most at risk of delay or cancellation. By contrast, engineering construction projects have, in the main, not seen the same immediate demand shock, with the public sector remaining committed to a large portfolio of projects across transport and the private sector also continuing to invest in existing mining projects and necessary utilities work. Building projects are also more susceptible to supply chain risks for materials (e.g. fit-out items, parts for fixtures and fittings or external cladding) and

productivity risks, particularly on vertical sites where social distancing increases the time required for workforce access. However, while infrastructure building faces a crunch in the near term, there could also be a recovery later on once social distancing and isolation policies are relaxed.

2. Weaker population growth to impact on subdivisions demand

The sharp contraction in net overseas migration – coupled with social distancing policies impacting housing sales and commitments – is expected to drive a sharp contraction in subdivision and residential building activity in the June quarter which could extend to the September quarter. Apart from residential buildings, subdivision infrastructure including roads, pavements and utilities will also be negatively impacted. Again, however, a recovery may occur later on once migration restrictions are relaxed, although the timing for this remains uncertain.

3. Differences to emerge between private and public funded economic infrastructure works

In the short term at least, the economic infrastructure market remains supported by large projects across the public and private sectors. At BIS Oxford Economics, we were already anticipating a further upward shift in transport

infrastructure construction as a further wave of large rail and road projects rolled out. While there are delays to some of these projects, the Australian and state governments have broadly committed to maintaining their infrastructure pipelines – at least in the near term.

Meanwhile, privately-funded engineering construction is dominated by mining, utilities and roads. Mining activity is rising now, but any risk to a sustained global economic recovery in 2021 could put this at risk. Meanwhile, very low oil prices threaten the next round of large gas projects in Australia. Another key risk for privately-funded works is in roads, where the expected pullback in housing will impact subdivision works. Privately-owned airports may also reassess timing of runways and aprons work, along with landside road infrastructure. By contrast, the big private sector “winner” from COVID-19 (if it can be called that) is telecommunications, with strong demand for services leading asset owners to accelerate investment in 5G and other infrastructure.

4. Renewed focus on smaller projects and maintenance

While much of the infrastructure pipeline focuses on the megaprojects, it is expected that a COVID-19 response from governments that (i) sustains the construction industry initially and (ii) provides a broader economic stimulus later on, will require a deeper focus on smaller projects and maintenance. Already, several state governments have announced increases to maintenance spending for roads and other public assets such as social housing. There are several very good reasons for doing this. Smaller projects can be mobilised and rolled out quickly, programs can be spread more widely geographically and are, in many cases, more sensible than large single projects from a cost-benefit perspective. But more importantly, smaller projects are the lifeblood of smaller contractors and material and plant suppliers that form the backbone of the infrastructure industry. In recent years, there has been a shortage of small to medium sized infrastructure projects in the pipeline, and backlogs in maintenance for public assets such as roads are well documented.

5. Longer term reforms to the way we choose, fund and deliver infrastructure

This is perhaps more hope than prediction, but the economic shock associated with COVID-19 and associated large increase in public sector debt will inevitably place additional pressure on our ability to sustainably fund, procure and deliver infrastructure. In the spirit of “never waste a good crisis” COVID-19 could act as a catalyst to spur significant, meaningful reform. At the top of the list should be a substantial, across the board rethink on tax and spend policies so governments will be in a stronger position to sustainably fund infrastructure and pay down higher levels of debt. Dusting off the 2010 Henry Tax Review would be a good place to start.

This may mean halting promised tax cuts, possibly introducing new taxes that replace existing, inefficient or inequitable taxes, or seeking greater private sector engagement in infrastructure ownership, funding and delivery. Coupled with this, there needs to be a rethink on the kind of infrastructure we really need – particularly in light of any changed behaviours from COVID-19 – and what we are prepared to fund.

Finally, we will need to reform the way we procure infrastructure delivery, as this is the single biggest reason driving high infrastructure costs and stagnant industry productivity. Doing proper groundwork to identify risks before tender, getting the risk allocation right in the contract, choosing the best procurement model for the project, and working together to deliver projects successfully may require a substantial shift in culture, but will give the greatest bang for the buck for every infrastructure dollar spent. This will be vital in a costconstrained, post-COVID-19 world.

Just as the recent bushfires reignited interest in climate change action, so too could COVID-19 act as a catalyst for an “infrastructure revolution”. As one revolutionary once said: “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

The challenges facing infrastructure funding, procurement and delivery have been with us for decades, but risk is being exacerbated by a large COVID-driven economic and construction cycle. Its time to change.

About the author

Adrian has over 20 years of economic analysis and consulting experience with BIS Oxford Economics, focusing on the infrastructure, building, maintenance and mining industries.

Adrian has undertaken a wide range of consultancy projects for the public and private sector based on his detailed understanding of construction, mining and maintenance markets, their drivers and outlooks, the range of organisations operating in this space and the issues they face. This work includes deeper industry liaison, contractor and competitive analysis, pipeline analysis, demand and cost escalation forecasting, and capacity and capability projects for the public and private sector. He also undertakes briefings and workshops for senior management, board members and industry associations, and facilitates and chairs roundtables between government and industry. Adrian holds a first class Honours degree in Economics from the University of Sydney.

INFRASTRUCTURE THIS IS THE PERFECT TIME TO GO BIG ON

As the world plummets into the biggest drop in GDP since the 1930s, infrastructure spending may be the single most important economic intervention available to government in Australia to get people back to work.

So far Australia has navigated COVID-19 better than most countries. It went into lockdown early enough to prevent widespread transmission, and it enacted large-scale social insurance funding (worth about ten per cent of GDP) to try to subsidise wages and increase payments to unemployed people.

But now, as Australia moves out of the lockdown phase and works to restart the real economy, it faces a new set of problems.

After the lockdown, but before there is a vaccine or a cure, Australia will be in a long “transition” period. Some businesses will be open, but many will have to remain closed. There will be little to no global travel, which means essentially no global tourism. 13 per cent of our export economy is based on

tourism and international students; this will mostly disappear during the transition period.

The entire experience sector of bars, restaurants, performances and sports will most likely be severely restricted. The transition phase may go on far longer than anyone wants, with a constant threat of the virus resurging.

Against this backdrop, the government will need to do everything it can to open as much of the economy as possible, ideally shifting people out of the sectors that are going to be shut down for a long time into sectors that can grow. It's not enough that sectors that can open up return to pre-crisis levels – they will also have to shoulder the weight of sectors unable to return just yet.

INFRASTRUCTURE TO SUPPORT THE ECONOMIC REBUILD

Infrastructure investment emerges as one of the very best tools the government has at its disposal. Many economists across the developed world have turned against public works spending as a form of fiscal stimulus, preferring to simply send people money, because public works can take too long.

That’s a mistake. There are at least three major reasons to go big on infrastructure as a way to power back the Australian economy.

First, there are many projects that can get moving relatively quickly. These include:

♦ Projects that are already funded, where the work could be moved forward (example: the new Sydney airport)

♦ Projects that have been developed already and were only waiting for a funding commitment (example: Sydney West Metro)

♦ Existing public works programs that could be increased (examples: Melbourne’s level crossing replacement program; Sydney’s station access program; local government capital programs)

♦ Small and medium sized projects that could be developed relatively quickly (examples: health, education and justice construction projects; social housing renewal; public space improvements)

In considering 'shovel ready' projects, it's important that we don't only think of projects ready to start literally digging up dirt. There are huge swathes of the engineering, design, planning and associated sectors vital to delivering infrastructure who are also experiencing a substantial downturn – many firms we speak to expect a 30 per cent reduction in work over 2020. Delivering projects that support these firms – even if they're a year away from needing an actual shovel – is important.

Secondly, announcing major funding commitments to infrastructure is a way to give a long-term signal to shore up business confidence. It may be a long climb out of the recession, so having a set of long-term projects that industry can count on could be quite helpful. A long 'pipeline' of projects is a feature, not a bug.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, infrastructure spending actually leaves Australia better off – so that as we emerge out of this recession, we are more competitive and more liveable. It’s far better to put people to work building the future of the country rather than paying them to be unemployed. There is a real opportunity here to bring the economy back better than it was before – to shift urban mobility systems away from car-dependency to a combination of public and active transport; to shift the energy system to renewable; to create a public space renaissance.

CHANGING PERSPECTIVE: DISRUPTION TO OPPORTUNITY

We are not advocates of spending money on projects that don’t make sense; Australia should be using this as an opportunity to move the country’s infrastructure in a positive direction. Probably the most important decision that unlocks all of this is the question of how much money the government is willing to borrow. There is no “correct” answer to this question, but it should be enough to substantially increase the pipeline over what it would have been pre-COVID. This crisis has occurred at a time of record low interest rates, so now is a better time to borrow than any other.

Government can support its infrastructure spend with other measures. We need a code of practice for each industry which allows them to operate safely – along with a capacity to monitor and enforce these codes. And we need expedited approvals for private developments that fit within government planning objectives, so that private investment can do its part. But if ever there were a time to go big on infrastructure, it is now.

THE 2020 INFRASTRUCTURE PRIORITY LIST

Infrastructure Australia’s 2020 Infrastructure Priority List presents a record 147 nationally significant proposals with a project pipeline of almost $60 billion, designed to guide the next 15 years of Australian infrastructure investment. With 37 new infrastructure proposals included in this year’s publication, Infrastructure Australia’s Chief Executive, Romilly Madew, outlines the key areas of investments needed to meet the challenges of the future.

As a Federal government independent advisory body, Infrastructure Australia has a critical role to play in providing a credible pipeline of investments for governments at all levels. That role is underpinned by the maintenance of the Infrastructure Priority List to guide investment towards projects that will deliver the best outcomes for Australia’s growing communities.

Developed using data from the 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit, and submissions from state and territory governments, industry and the community – including more than 250 submissions over the past 12 months, the Priority List provides all levels of government with a list of infrastructure investment opportunities for the near, medium and longer term.

The 2020 Priority List is a consensus list of opportunities to improve both Australian living standards and productivity, and reflects both the diversity and urgency of Australia’s infrastructure needs over the next 15 years across economy infrastructure such as transport, energy, water, communications and social infrastructure, including housing and education.

The Infrastructure Priority List is separated into both Projects and Initiatives. Projects are advanced proposals that have a fully-developed business case that has been positively assessed by the independent Infrastructure Australia Board. Projects remain on the Priority List until delivery or construction begins.

In addition to driving national investment through our identification of priority projects, we also use the Priority List to draw attention to problems or opportunities that need solutions developed. Initiatives are proposals that Infrastructure Australia has determined have the potential to address a nationally significant problem or opportunity and we include them on the Priority List to indicate that further development and rigorous assessment of these proposals is a national priority.

A FOCUS ON RESILIENCE IN OUR INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORKS

The latest Priority List is the largest and most comprehensive list of investments ever put forward by Infrastructure Australia, and includes forward-thinking proposals that speak to the need for strategic planning and infrastructure investment to enhance our quality of life. However, this year’s Priority List is significant not only because of its size and diversity but because it also comes at a particularly pivotal time for infrastructure decision-making.

In the wake of catastrophic bushfires, floods and the ongoing drought, and now in the midst of a global pandemic, it’s clear our infrastructure faces unprecedented risks.

In addition to environmental change, our infrastructure needs are also changing from new technological demands to unprecedented population growth. Our work aims to address these pressures and ensure public funds are directed towards projects that will deliver the best outcomes for all Australians.

That is why throughout this list and within our 2019 Infrastructure Audit, resilience has formed a key part of our work. We have identified a real opportunity for government and industry to work together on risk and resilience planning.

Headlining this year’s resilience focused Infrastructure Priority List , are five new High Priority National Initiatives covering water, the nation’s rapidly growing waste problem, coastal inundation and road maintenance. These inclusions are about encouraging action now to better understand the risks our nation will encounter in the years to come.

WATER AS A PRECIOUS RESOURCE NOT ONLY IN TIMES OF DROUGHT

Compounding issues of unprecedented population growth, severe drought and other environmental change have called for a forward-thinking focus on our resilience strategies within the water sector.

As we outlined in the 2019 Audit, average rainfall in some parts of Australia has declined by 11 per cent since the 1990s, and the average temperature across Australia is expected to rise by 0.6-1.5ºC by 2030. While we know there has been a spotlight on water in recent years, we know that the water crisis in this country is not going away, and we need to keep water infrastructure on the agenda.

To ensure that water stays on the investment agenda, this year Infrastructure Australia has specifically identified a new High Priority Initiative for a National Water Strategy as well as a new Town and City Water Security High Priority Initiative among other state-based water infrastructure proposals.

To date, we know that each jurisdiction has typically focused on their own urban water networks, but it has created separate regulatory frameworks. A National Water Strategy would help guide governments, the private sector and Australia’s population on how to efficiently and sustainably capture, use and manage water.

In response to this call to action, we’re expecting a range of solutions to be considered for capturing, managing and distributing water, along with improvements in reporting and use of data in the water sector.

We are pleased to see progress on this important issue. We know the Australian Government has recognised the significance of securing future water security by establishing the National Water Grid Authority, and we look forward to collaborating with this new body on the investments and policy reforms best placed to respond to this challenge.

KEEPING OUR REGIONS CONNECTED

Regional Australia also emerged as a focus of the latest edition of the Infrastructure Priority List. At Infrastructure Australia, we recognise there is a continued need to focus future infrastructure investment on supporting access to and growth in our regions. Despite the challenges facing remote communities, some of our least populous and most remote regions also hold the greatest potential, with infrastructure a catalyst for growth.

In the 2020 Priority List, we have identified key initiatives that specifically address concerns our regions face in the short, medium and long term, such as water security, digital connectivity, mobile telecommunications, and freight and road safety measures.

Truly staying connected requires not only safe and efficient transport options, but also ensuring our towns and regional

communities have the same access to telecommunications as the rest of Australia, which is why we identified a New High Priority Initiative for mobile telecommunications coverage in regional and remote areas.

As well as providing health and education advantages, access to reliable telecommunications can also be critical in emergency situations such as extreme weather, bushfires, flooding or serious trauma events. A lack of mobile coverage can delay response times and, as we saw in the 2020 bushfire crisis, the resilience of our telecommunication infrastructure can also impact on basic access to essential services such as online banking and eftpos services.

While the mobile black spot program has improved coverage in rural and remote areas, the program’s approach uses residential density, rather than productivity or safety as its key metric for deciding where investments should go. We have also identified a need for a more comprehensive evidence base on mobile coverage to improve decision-making around placement of mobile telecommunications infrastructure.

THE PRIORITY LIST POST-COVID-19

It goes without saying that Australia is facing unprecedented times, including a changing climate, a re-ordering of the world economy, and a reshaping of global institutions and norms. Closer to home, while battling through the confines of a global pandemic, we are still in the midst of picking up the pieces from one of the most catastrophic bushfire seasons this nation has ever seen. On top of this devastation, our population is growing and changing, the structure of the economy is shifting, and rapid technology change is fundamentally reshaping our day-to-day lives. This will all have significant implications for how we plan, build and deliver infrastructure into the future.

There is no doubt that infrastructure will be critical in our recovery from the economic hibernation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Right now, we are already seeing that continued activity in the infrastructure sector is offering important economic continuity. However, we must ensure the current pipeline of projects is not delayed. With this in mind, investment in infrastructure as part of a recovery will need to consider timelines moving investment from plans to projects.

Governments are considering a staged approach to investment and the Infrastructure Priority List will continue to play its role in supporting an informed national conversation about Australia’s spending priorities.

A LIVING DOCUMENT

The Infrastructure Priority List is a living document, with new projects added as the Infrastructure Australia Board receives and assesses project business cases. To ensure the Priority List remains current, we have continued to assess the record number of initiative submissions we received at the end of 2019. Some of these updates were approved by the Infrastructure Australia Board in April and will be added to the IPL soon. The 2020 Infrastructure Priority List, complete with summaries for each project and initiative included in the current edition, is available now on the Infrastructure Australia website.

The 2020 Priority List is also available as an interactive map on the Infrastructure Australia website at www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au, which sets out a detailed view of infrastructure issues and opportunities identified around the country.

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT: INFRASTRUCTURE IS A KEY SOLUTION TO CLIMATE RISK

While the world is rightly focused on the impacts and solutions to Novel Coronavirus, a larger, more sustained threat continues to lurk in the background: climate change.

As challenging as COVID-19 is to our social and economic well-being, we have faced many such pandemics and epidemics before – plague, influenza, HIV, Ebola, Zika and SARS, to name a few. What we have not faced before in recorded human history, other than in the ice ages, is climate change, and specifically global warming. Our geologic records tell us that global warming has occurred before, but humans have not previously had to confront and adapt to it as a global species.

Unlike the expected course of pandemics, climate change is not a challenge to be solved by a short-term change in social practices and advances in medical science. Climate change is a long-term, complex and hugely impactful challenge that affects not just humans, but all species on this planet and it is not amenable to short-term fixes. Infrastructure has a remarkable influence on carbon emissions, and therefore anthropogenic climate change. In Australia at the present time, 70 per cent of our national greenhouse gas emissions are directly or indirectly enabled by infrastructure.

6% embodied in materials and construction of infrastructure assets

9% from ongoing operation of infrastructure assets

55% from activities enabled by infrastructure assets

PART OF THE PROBLEM, BUT VITAL TO THE SOLUTION

To understand this better and its significance, infrastructure has an impact when it is built (in terms of carbon embedded in the manufacture of construction materials), when it is up and running (in terms of carbon emitted in day-to-day operations), and how it influences the choices people and industry make in relation to utilities, travel, services and other day-to-day and week-to-week business as usual practices and behaviours.

This latter is the so-called enabled emissions, and these end user emissions are the single biggest contributor to the figure of 70 per cent of Australia’s emissions. Importantly, infrastructure, once built, tends to be operational for a long time – 100+ years in terms of a typical rail line. In other words, much infrastructure being built now will be around well into the next century.

The good news is that while infrastructure is enabling and maintaining high levels of ongoing emissions, it also has the greatest potential to be a key part of the solution. Any advances that can be made in infrastructure policy, planning, design, construction, operation and management will have

Around 70 per cent of Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions are either directly attributable to, or influenced by, infrastructure.

a potentially massive impact across the board – through reducing embodied emissions, operational emissions and emission-intensive behaviours in industry and society at large.

Against this backdrop, the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA), ClimateWorks Australia (CWA) and the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), with the support of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Queensland Government, have partnered to lead the infrastructure sector down a pathway to reduce its significant carbon contributions. The Reshaping Infrastructure project has been researching and engaging the sector to better understand the opportunities and barriers to moving the sector to net-zero emissions.

ISCA is the peak Australian body for infrastructure sustainability, ASBEC is Australia’s premier industry forum for implementing sustainability in the built environment, while CWA is a well-respected climate research organisation affiliated with Monash University that has extensive research experience in understanding carbon practices in Australia.

RESHAPING INFRASTRUCTURE

On the basis of this research, an issues paper was released in March 2020 that captures the current state of play in the Australian infrastructure sector in relation to carbon emissions, together with a framework for how the many sector stakeholders can engage and collaborate on solutionsfinding.

One of the complexities (or advantages depending on how you look at it) is that because there are so many potential opportunities to reduce emissions up and down the whole infrastructure lifecycle, there are just as many stakeholders with the potential to contribute, and enact, solutions. The challenge is to ensure that a consistent feedback loop is created to anchor and drive this shared responsibility. All stakeholders have the opportunity to contribute to the cohesive and coherent solutions-focused roadmap.

We will use the issues paper as the platform for further engagement with infrastructure stakeholders in government and industry throughout 2020.

The resulting actions must inform both policy and practicelevel thinking. It must consider economic, social, cultural and environmental factors, and the competing (and sometimes conflicting) interests of the many stakeholders potentially affected by any proposals.

The engagement of stakeholders – including infrastructure bodies, governments, investors, designers, contractors and asset operators – is the next stage of the project. Already some significant engagement with various actors has been undertaken including state and federal infrastructure bodies, government departments, superannuation funds, industry bodies, professional associations and others, to check the thinking in the issues paper before it was released and to get a groundswell of support ahead of further engagement.

The initial focus will be on economic infrastructure, particularly in the transport sector, which on its own is a significant carbon emitter in relation to its contribution to construction, operation and enabled emissions.

Transport will be the major focus for engagement as the energy sector already has initiatives underway.

A GAME-CHANGING ROLE MOVING FORWARD

That’s a big ask you might say. Well there is good news –major infrastructure projects in Australia have already taken the first steps in understanding, measuring and addressing their impact using the IS rating scheme and associated carbon footprinting. The investment sector in Australia and internationally is asking for help in identifying low-carbon assets to invest in. The insurance sector and the broader community are now seeing the risks and consequences of us not taking action to avoid and adapt to climate change. Recent bushfires, droughts and other extreme weather outcomes have reinforced that awakening.

Infrastructure can play a game-changing role in significantly enhancing our national response to reducing emissionsintensive practices, enabling alternative and better transport, enhancing energy reduction and related outcomes, and to position Australia as a world leader in smart progressive infrastructure policy and practices – it's not too late.

To be involved in the next critical stage of the Reshaping Infrastructure project – participating in the national conversation based on the findings in the recently released Reshaping Infrastructure for a Net Zero Emissions Future issues paper, contact ISCA on info@isca.org.au.

Reducing material cost through waterjet technology

BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION PARTS

STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS DECORATIVE FACADES

Waterjet technology

Waterjet cutting is a process of precision cutting that utilises high pressure water.

We can process a wide array of materials. Heavy gauge plate, thin sheet stock and composite materials (i.e. carbon fibre, phenolics etc.). It is not uncommon for 6+ inch aluminium and titanium to be cut on waterjets to near final shapes. Edge quality of the parts can vary depending on customer requirements.

We can process anything from a very rough cut for hog-outs, to a very fine edge for precision, finished parts:

Cut up to 6 m x 3 m (20 ft x 10 ft)

Thickness up to 254 mm (10 in)

Improved yield and less waste material

Supplied close to net shape reducing customer machine time

Shorter lead times

Zero heat effected zone

Processing of customer supplied materials

MASSIVE REINFORCING SUPPLY TO NEW RAIL PROJECT IN WA

InfraBuild Construction Solutions has supplied up to 35 tonnes of prefabricated reinforcing steel per day for the construction of Perth’s Forrestfield–Airport Link.

Construction of Perth’s $1.86 billion Forrestfield–Airport Link is at an advanced stage, with huge tonnages of complex, large-scale prefabricated diaphragm wall cages and processed reinforcing steel used in the project.

InfraBuild Construction Solutions has supplied the reinforcing steel used in the railway link, which will provide an essential new rail service to Perth’s eastern suburbs. The new line, part of the state government’s METRONET program, will spur off the existing Midland Line near Bayswater Station and run to Forrestfield through twin-bored tunnels. Three new stations will be delivered as part of the project: at Redcliffe, Airport Central and Forrestfield.

Bayswater Junction refers to the area of rail reserve where the Forrestfield Line spurs from the Midland Line and trains will enter/exit the two twin-bored tunnels. Image courtesy the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia.

STREAMLINED SUPPLY

InfraBuild Construction Solutions has supplied over 7200 tonnes of prefabricated and welded diaphragm wall cages, with some cage panels 3.5m wide and up to 25m in length, to primary contractor Salini Impreglio – NRW joint venture. The supplied steel was used across the project’s main dive and station box structures, as well as egress shafts.

A second major component of the project has required InfraBuild Construction Solutions to supply 7600 tonnes of processed reinforcement steel.

According to InfraBuild Construction Solutions’ Maurice Murphy, the company has maintained an average daily production rate of fabricated and welded steel reinforcement during peak production periods. Reinforcing steel has been supplied from InfraBuild Construction Solutions’ Forrestfield bar plant, including glass fibre reinforcing Soft-Eyes that have been produced at the company’s Forrestfield mesh plant. Soft-Eyes are used as a replacement for conventional steel reinforcing bars to allow the penetration of the Tunnel Boring Machines through diaphragm walls.

Maurice said having InfraBuild facilities strategically positioned to service projects such as this has been highly beneficial.

“It has allowed the project team to remain in close contact with our operations on an almost-daily basis for progress meetings and pre-delivery inspections,” he said.

“All work happening inside our plants has continued – whether production of cages or bar shop processing –regardless of weather conditions.”

SOPHISTICATED COUPLER SOLUTION

A key value-add provided to the project team by InfraBuild Construction Solutions has been the use of the sophisticated Dextra Griptec mechanical coupler system to connect wall cages to the main raft and slabs (box-out zones).

InfraBuild Construction Solutions brought specialist firm Dextra Group on board as part of its team at tender stage. Dextra subsequently integrated its Griptec System into operations at InfraBuild Construction Solutions’ Forrestfield bar plant by providing a Griptec machine and training up machine operators.

To date, InfraBuild has supplied over 180,000 Griptec mechanical splices to the Forrestfield–Airport Link, as well as to other major infrastructure projects underway in Western Australia.

The new Forrestfield–Airport Link is expected to deliver a number of benefits to Perth’s public transport system once complete. It will provide an efficient train service between Perth’s CBD and the eastern suburbs and allow travellers quicker and more affordable access to and from Perth Airport.

The project is also expected to generate significant residential and commercial development in the areas surrounding the new stations at Redcliffe, Airport Central and Forrestfield.

Trains are expected to start operating on the new rail line in late 2021.

We are on a mission to inspire and drive nation-building infrastructure and the construction of Australia’s tomorrow using local resources, sustainable solutions, new technology and big thinking. InfraBuild. Building Possibilities. For all your steel, reinforcing and metals recycling needs

WOMEN ON THE MOVE AT METRO

In mid-2019, Metro Trains launched a recruitment campaign aimed at getting more women to apply to become train drivers. After the job advertisements went live, more than 10,200 people applied to be drivers – and almost half of them were women. Metro Trains has an incredibly diverse workforce and is working hard to create gender diversity, so here we take a look at three of the company’s extraordinary female employees.

Metro Trains Melbourne is passionate about ensuring its workforce reflects the passengers and communities it serves every day.

Melbourne has one of the most diverse populations in Australia. Metro’s push to encourage and actively recruit for greater diversity is one way it aims to improve its business culture and the network it operates.

When Metro first started operating trains in Melbourne more than a decade ago, just two per cent of train drivers were women.

The company took bold and disruptive steps to shift the dial. Metro was granted special dispensation to target women in job advertisements. Today, because of those efforts, 27 per cent of drivers are women.

JESS THIELE – TRAIN DRIVER

Three years ago, Jess Thiele was working in the pharmaceutical industry and decided she needed a change of career.

She saw Metro’s recruitment campaign calling on more women to apply to become train drivers, and decided to give it a go.

“It’s pretty surreal looking in the mirror and seeing a 160m train behind you and all these people piling onto it, and you’re thinking, ‘I’m responsible for nearly 1,000 people’,” Ms Thiele said.

Her first day on the job was an experience forever etched in her mind.

“I remember driving during peak hour and there were hundreds of people on the platform – it was chock-a-block – and they were all staring expectantly at me.

I just remember thinking to myself, ‘you guys don’t know it’s my first day’.

“Every day you learn new things and you put it all into practice. It’s never boring.”

Ms Thiele said Metro’s push to have a greater proportion of women in operational roles is critical to the future of the rail industry.

“I think some people might think it’s more of a male-oriented job, which it definitely isn’t. Metro expects women to do exactly the same job as men,” she said.

“My wife has just started as a trainee train driver so she’s currently at the Metro Academy in South Kensington. At home it’s a little crazy at the moment because we have pictures up on the walls of maps and signals.

“Hopefully by December she’ll be qualified and she’ll be out and about and we’ll have another train driver in the family.”

AMY LEZALA – HEAD OF ROLLING STOCK ENGINEERING

Metro’s Head of Rolling Stock Engineering, Amy Lezala, said she has never been discriminated against for her gender while working in the rail industry.

In her personal experience, women are given the same respect and acceptance as men, but more women need to know that the rail industry is available to them as a career path.

“I’m an engineer first and a woman second. My peers and I work as engineers together, irrelevant of gender,” Ms Lezala said.

“For young women looking to get a job in rail, I’d really encourage them to join this industry. It’s a very welcoming place where you can have a very fulfilling career.”

Ms Lezala said it’s important to adopt a skills-first approach, and while it’s essential that the rail industry diversifies and employs more women, people need to be recruited because of their ability.

“We’ve got a proudly diverse culture in Melbourne, and we need to make sure that our business reflects this in the best possible way.”

In the decade Metro has been operating the rail network in Melbourne, its workforce has doubled from 3,000 to 6,000 people.

Over that time, female representation has increased from eight per cent to 26.5 per cent, and is constantly growing.

In the past 18 months alone, the number of women working across Metro has risen by nearly five per cent.

Metro has a target of reaching 40 per cent of women in its workforce by 2027, and as of March 2020, three of CEO Raymond O’Flaherty’s seven direct reports are women.

CATHERINE BAXTER – CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Metro’s Chief Operating Officer, Catherine Baxter, has dedicated 30 years of her working life to the rail industry.

Starting at Queensland Rail, Ms Baxter worked her way up the ranks before landing a role in charge of operating one of the country’s busiest rail networks.

“When I joined the rail industry, there weren’t too many women in non-traditional roles, in fact, there were no women managers when I joined the railway. Over the years it has been great to witness a huge change,” Ms Baxter said.

“Towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, we started to see more women become ambitious and move through larger companies, and that rubbed off on the rail industry too.”

As a senior leader at Metro, Catherine is passionate about providing more roles for women in all parts of the business – and for more women to become role models to others.

She is calling on any woman who is interested in pursuing rail as a career to give it their best shot.

“It’s a fantastic industry to be in, and it really gets in your blood. Once you’re in the rail business, it’s very hard to leave and it offers fantastic career opportunities,” Ms Baxter said.

“You need to work hard, you need to invest in yourself, you need to be prepared to learn and to study – but there are massive opportunities.”

INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEM PROJECTS IN ACTION

As the transport industry deals with the current COVID-19 pandemic, operations have changed dramatically. However, ITS Australia and its partners are still moving ahead with key ITS projects to ensure continued progress in the space, including connecting vehicle networks and unlocking shared mobility.

These are peculiar and uncertain times for us all. As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc across the globe, the thoughts of all of us at ITS Australia are with our members and to the broader transport technology industry both here in Australia and around the globe.

We recognise the tremendous work that is being done in our space as roads agencies across the nation work diligently, splitting their time between their offices and homes, to ensure that the nation's transport networks continue to operate effectively, and enabling essential and emergency services to be delivered throughout Australia.

We also recognise freight operators and agencies who continue to move goods around the country to address the shortages that we have all witnessed; and public transport operators who have adjusted their operations enormously to ensure that their services are safe for all public transport users.

Just a few short months ago, ITS Australia was preparing to deliver a full calendar of events in 2020, including an ITS Asia Pacific Forum. Now, at least for the next few months, all that activity is on hold. But, even now, our work goes on. Like everyone in the industry, we at ITS Australia spent March and April assessing how to move our activities online. Now we are focused on how to support our members through COVID-19, and how we will best serve the industry as it emerges from the immediate crisis.

Recently we began running our webinars weekly, we believe that these will be an important conduit for information sharing across the industry. We are also ensuring that ITS Australia’s workshops and reference groups continue in the online space, this will ensure that our important project and policy work is able to continue.

Right now, ITS Australia, along with our many partners, is leading two key projects.

PUTTING THE CONNECTIVITY IN C-ITS

ITS Australia and The University of Melbourne are partnering with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, IAG, Intelematics, and Transmax on this iMOVE project, supported by the Commonwealth Government, to investigate connectivity enhancing safety and network efficiency.

There are currently few vehicles in Australia that are optimised for connectivity or equipped with Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS). The potential safety benefits from new connected vehicles are unlikely to be realised in the immediate future in Australia due to the age of our fleet and the limited connectivity of new vehicles.

Vehicles arriving with C-ITS technology are likely to land in Australia with a mix of connective technologies, calling for a new set of interoperability standards to guarantee the intended communication and cooperation.

Australasia’s authority on vehicle safety, ANCAP, undertook a recent analysis of the Australian registered light vehicle fleet, revealing:

♦ Older vehicles are over-represented in fatal vehicle crashes, and

♦ The average age of a vehicle involved in a fatal crash is increasing

Connected vehicles can improve safety and network efficiency outcomes. In urban environments, increased connectivity of vehicles could enable improved network productivity and offer safety benefits for all road users. In rural and regional contexts, safety and productivity improvements could result in social equity and accessibility benefits.

There is a mix of technology and levels of connectivity required and a range of use cases to consider for optimal outcomes. An evidence base is needed to better understand the options that can offer the most effective safety and efficiency benefits on Australian roads.

There is potential to increase the number of compatible connected vehicles in Australia over the next decade through the fitting of after-market devices and/or increasing the demand of consumers for connectivity to be enabled in new vehicles arriving in Australia. ANCAP safety modelling on road death projection estimated that with an increasing population and no changes to current road death rates over the next five years, around 6,000 lives will be lost on Australia’s roads.

AAA research found that in 2018–19, congestion costs are expected to exceed $23 billion, which will be more than the value of all road-related expenditure. Congestion costs are projected to reach between $30.6 and $41.2 billion by 2030 (Australian Automobile Association, 2019).

Safety and congestion are two of the key challenges on our networks and there is strong potential for connectivity and C-ITS to improve these vital problems.

PROJECT SCOPE

♦ Desktop study to understand existing national and international applications and penetrations and outcomes, and an environmental scan to study the current and projected percentage of connected and C-ITS vehicles

♦ The trade-offs between safety and productivity will be studied

♦ Analysis of data from C-ITS and automated vehicle deployments and trials including CITI, CAVI and AIMES

♦ Identify a range of devices and technologies that enable connectivity and their applications and efficacy

♦ Use cases identified based on data analysis and literature review including stakeholder interviews nationally and internationally that indicated optimal outcomes for safety and efficiency

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Technology acceptance:

♦ Users will need to see benefits of communication on top of sensor-only ADAS in order to adopt it

♦ Cyber security: privacy concerns related to connectivity

Deployment and penetration:

♦ Infrastructure costs might be a significant barrier

♦ “Chicken-and-Egg” situation: who will invest first? OEM’s and users or infrastructure providers?

♦ Benefits will be seen only after certain uptake

♦ Fleet age and fuel quality as additional barriers to new technology reaching Australia’s roads

Aftermarket vs. OEM:

♦ Fleet age and renewal rate indicate need for aftermarket solutions

♦ Challenges in retrofitting: integration into vehicle’s computer, proprietary technology and liability

Human factors:

♦ Trust and loss of skill

♦ Human machine interaction

Standards, regulation and stakeholders:

♦ Interoperability of technology provided by different companies

♦ Need for standardised actions and regulations across regions

♦ Opportunity for new operation standards and policy

Trade-offs between road safety and productivity:

♦ Improvements in safety should improve productivity

♦ Lack of data and understanding to infer impact magnitude or negative effects of productivity on safety

UNLOCKING

SHARED MOBILITY THROUGH NEW PARKING PARADIGMS

ITS Australia leads this research project though iMOVE with research partners RMIT, Cubic and IAG to better understand how we can collaboratively work to increase the options for customers to access car share services to improve outcomes for our communities.

The project will investigate how parking could be managed to enable free flow car share; what the costs and benefits are and for whom (including in terms of local government policy and transport policy generally); and what framework or hierarchy could guide the implementation. There are benefits for this technology specifically, but also for developing a clearer critical framework around parking and car sharing.

Car share programs are increasingly popular in Australia and internationally, predominately in urban locations, although recently have been expanding into some outer metro and regional areas. However, fixed spot point-to-point parking requirements can limit their functionality and scope, and offer a user-experience that can’t effectively compete with private vehicle ownership.

This is a complex challenge with a large range of stakeholders that often have competing agendas and issues. To begin the process to understand how cross-jurisdiction free-flow car share could be facilitated and managed, we are partnering with local councils, academia, industry, and state and federal government stakeholders.

Car sharing has also less tangible but important ancillary benefits such as increasing community sharing and raising awareness of alternative transport modes.

Although car sharing has only an estimated 1-3 per cent of market penetration in Australia, it is gaining recognition as an important component of an integrated approach to sustainable transport. It has been suggested that car sharing may provide a pathway for a fundamentally new mobility, which focuses on intermodal clustering of conventional and innovative technologies to create a coordinated transportation system that could substitute for the traditional private vehicle.

Mobility as a Service (MaaS), demand responsive and on-demand transport have an increasing profile and interest in the Australian transport sector and the wider community. As government and industry prepare for the advent of connected and automated vehicles, we have an opportunity to take on some of the existing long-term challenges that could hinder the utility and marketability of MaaS and increase customer engagement.

If the ultimate goal of MaaS in Australia is to aim to be more convenient than individual use of private vehicles, car share is a vital ingredient. There will always (or for the foreseeable future) be the need for car use, but variable parking policies across jurisdictional boundaries will be an important challenge to recognise to enable really effective car share services, and increasingly popular transport models like on-demand services and micromobility modes requiring close management of kerbside assets and more sophisticated data collection and analysis.

The project will address the following:

Investigating public parking and free-flow parking models to facilitate car sharing programs more effectively across LGAs and multi-stakeholder precincts in Australia.

The goal being to research, design and test best-practice guidelines, and best-practice regulations and policy for a range of precincts that can be used by councils and state governments, and other regulatory bodies to work with industry and providers to enable effective and efficient freeflow parking in their jurisdictions.

The project outputs will include:

♦ A report analysing national and international research and services, and contextualising for Australia, demonstrating the potential and outlining the opportunities and challenges

♦ A report to participants and key stakeholders on usecases and potential approaches across technologies, frameworks and jurisdictions

♦ Use-cases across three municipalities testing scenarios in real-world environment

WHY USE THERMAL CAMERAS FOR TRAFFIC MONITORING?

The use of cameras for traffic monitoring and incident detection is well established. Although advancements have been made regarding integrated recognition software, undesired environmental conditions can prove a challenge for traffic operators to detect, analyse and manage traffic incidents. This can create a delay in the mean-time-to-detect (MTTD) and hence response of emergency services.

Smoke, sun glare, vehicle headlights, dynamic shadows and even time of day can impact the effectiveness of visible spectrum cameras. Generally, for traditional video cameras to work well, light needs to illuminate all areas of observation. In contrast, thermal cameras can ‘see’ regardless of conditions, through the detection of subtle differences in temperature, represented in a high definition image.

Granted, traffic operators may prefer the visible spectrum for overall monitoring, zooming in for specific detail and verification. However, the advantages of thermal imaging can provide increased awareness and critical information that otherwise may have been missed. Delivering reliable detection results and significantly fewer false alarms.

So which option is better, visible or thermal? The answer... both. A multi-sensor approach can provide uninterrupted 24-hour detection of vehicles and pedestrians. A dualvision camera provides visible spectrum awareness with enhanced thermal detection, achieving significantly improved performance in automatic incident detection (AID) systems. This enables rapid incident response and consequently reduces the impact of serious traffic incidents.

Typically applied to tunnels, highways and bridges, the added benefit of thermal imaging can also extend detection ranges beyond visible camera capabilities. Whereas the visible camera provides overall awareness, the thermal camera helps traffic operators increase efficiency and ultimately saves lives.

NEXT GENERATION VEHICLE DETECTION TECHNOLOGY

Roads and motorways are an integral part of Australian infrastructure, and without proper management, congestion, accidents and road closures are bound to worsen. Vehicle detection is a critical part of monitoring and optimising traffic flows for intelligent transport systems.

Access to cost-effective and accurate detectors delivering real-time data is vital. In 2020, smart cities recognise that getting the balance between investing in new transport modes and optimising existing assets is a must.

Traditionally, intersections and arterial roads are monitored using inductive loop vehicle detectors, which are installed beneath the pavement or roadway surface, requiring invasive installation and maintenance that involves traffic stoppage in order to complete the work. In heavy traffic areas, loops are frequently damaged and are expensive to replace. Enter an opportunity for advanced above ground detection technologies.

Smart cities wanting to reduce CO2 emissions can choose a single traffic radar sensor with object tracking microwave technology to measure vehicle velocity, position, lane, direction and angle. Using a smart traffic radar enables road authorities to install a safe, versatile and reliable technology on existing roadside or overhead gantry infrastructure. This reduces the impact to road users and provides usable real-time traffic data for intersections in addition to driving adaptive traffic signal controllers.

TRAFFIC RADARS MINIMISING ROAD DISRUPTION

smartmicro traffic radars are highly configurable, using a forward firing detection technology that provides highly accurate performance across a significant range of up to eight lanes and distances of more than 300m. The small enclosure is IP67, low power at <10W and can operate in a temperature range from -40oC to 85oC.

Recently, an Australian department of transport chose the smartmicro Premium Product UMRR-0C Type 42 which was installed on the side of a motorway. Due to the location of installation, no road or lane closures were required, allowing through traffic to continue as normal. The smart radar was installed using a tilt-over pole angled to cover traffic flowing

in both directions. As the smartmicro radar is located on the side of the road, this allows easy access for installation and calibration. Once the radar has been installed, it requires no regular maintenance at all.

As only one detector was required for all six lanes of traffic in both directions, the smartmicro radar is an economical choice. It cuts down on the number of products needed, enables lower product lifecycle cost (e.g. civil work, loop maintenance or replacement) and traffic control costs. Most critically, other benefits include reduced inconvenience for road users and lessens the economic impact of lost productivity through congestion and downtime.

COLLECTING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF DATA

The smartmicro premium products can do more than just count vehicles. The radar has the capabilities to measure specific vehicle data such as vehicle class, length, speed, direction, gap and headway. It is also able to trigger on events such as a vehicle headed in the wrong direction, queue length build-up, ETA to a measure point and incident detection such as a fall in speed. Each radar can track up to 256 objects simultaneously within the field of view. Edge processing can be performed onsite using an industrial PC, which has the advantage of being able to buffer and store data if communication is lost to the data centre. During the night-time hours and adverse weather events, the radar can continually and accurately make real-time detections.

smartmicro is an integrated smart solution for traffic management at intersections and on motorways. Late-2020 will see the release of the next generation UMRR-12 TRUGRD Stream, which combines a radar sensor and a video camera. smartmicro is a specialist manufacturer in radar technology for traffic and automotive applications. The company was founded in Germany in 1997, and has produced over 75,000 traffic radars for the transport sector and continues to invest heavily in R&D.

Madison Technologies is the exclusive agent for smartmicro in Australia and New Zealand, and a B2B distributor of technology for commercial and industrial applications. For more information, visit madison.tech/brands/smartmicro.

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The FUTURE OF MaaS

Before COVID-19 took centre stage, “Mobility as a Service” (MaaS) was very much the hottest topic in the transportation sector.

For a long time, this term was virtually unheard of beyond select circles of entrepreneurs in Scandinavia, but in 2017, it entered the Australian lexicon in earnest to become a catch-all of innovation. More and more companies purport to be involved with MaaS, regardless of actual activities undertaken (in our latest book, we identified more than 43 MaaS schemes launched to date in Europe, Asia and Australasia).

Governments and politicians associate themselves with trials; think tanks, consultancies and industry suppliers release white papers by the month; whilst academics and researchers jump on the bandwagon to offer thought leadership and to influence debate.

Amidst the hype and conjecture, what is required is clarity in the definition and rationale for MaaS, so that it does not become a “solution in search of a problem”. It is important to revisit some of the key topics of contention – around the design of MaaS products for consumers, as well as the service delivery models most likely to take hold. We also need to look at the future outlook for MaaS in a post-Coronavirus world.

RATIONALE FOR MAAS

MaaS is built on the ideal of the wholesale integration of transport services to cater for people’s every mobility need and, in doing so, provide an alternative to private vehicle ownership.

The modal efficiency framework offers a powerful illustration for how temporally efficient modes (meaning modes which are not privately-owned, but rather operate as part of a fleet) are integrated across a range of spatial efficiencies (representing passengers carried per unit area). These dimensions are depicted by the two axes in the diagram (Figure 1), whilst the shaded purple (two right quadrants) show how MaaS combines public transport with shared modes provided by transportation network companies (TNCs), like ride hailing, car sharing and bike sharing (plus a number of emerging modes linked to autonomous technologies).

Ideally, MaaS offers seamless integration and deploys the most appropriate mode for each geographic context. This may mean a more personalised, door-to-door service in a suburban setting which then connects to high capacity mass transit

Figure 1: The modal efficiency framework situates public, private, active and shared modes with respect to their spatial and temporal efficiencies. Spatial efficiency is defined as passengers per vehicle/train consist (or per unit road space equivalent), whilst temporal efficiency can be considered as the proportion of time a vehicle spends on the road (in revenue service for public transport).

trunk corridors into dense urban areas.

MaaS provides not only the integration between physical modes, but also across the mobility journey chain by digitally unifying trip creation, purchase and delivery via a one-stop travel management platform. In doing so, travellers face reduced physical, cognitive and affective (i.e. emotional) effort when preparing for and undertaking a journey.

Many commentators have also suggested that this provision and awareness of information can be used to drive travel behaviour change – linked to the idea of ‘nudging’ through price signals – towards more environmentally friendly and efficient modes of travel. The ability to do so has clear links with how MaaS products are designed for consumers.

SUBSCRIPTION OR PAY-AS-YOU-GO (PAYG) BUNDLES

A core element of the MaaS proposition concerns how different modes are bundled together for customers. The idea, drawn on telecommunications plans which bring together different services like calls, text and internet access, is to offer mobility packages which grant users a defined volume of access to each mode, each with a specified level of service (for example, pickups within five minutes).

The quantity of each mode might be defined in terms of hours or kilometres of service (see Figure 2 for examples from MaaS Global’s Whim product in Helsinki, Finland – one of the earliest commercial offerings available). MaaS packages may be sold as subscriptions (over weekly or monthly periods) or offered as a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) option, and may be tailored by age, occupation or location to suit different market segments. Bundling is a mechanism to repackage existing services together with new services to create more attractive ways for people to access mobility.

While a lot of research has been conducted around how to design MaaS products (or bundles) which are attractive to different customer segments, one of the key elements of contention remain as to whether to offer these as

subscriptions or PAYG plans.

In our Sydney MaaS trial, we found that subscription plans were selected by 44 per cent of trial participants, whilst the remainder opted for PAYG, similar to other survey-based findings in the literature. The trial also found significant heterogeneity in participant preferences with the commitment to a subscription appearing to be a burden for some and a relief for others (known as the ‘flat rate’ effect). The preference for PAYG further calls into question what the value add of MaaS is for PAYG customers beyond the access to a better journey planner.

It calls into question whether people will be willing to pay for access to mobile applications that are already free (though usually supported by a premium model), and what the lack of appeal of subscription plans might mean to the MaaS service provider and government who may be looking to use MaaS to ‘nudge’ travel behaviour e.g. to encourage peak spreading and thereby reduce crowding and congestion.

GOVERNMENT OR PRIVATE SECTOR: WHO TAKES THE LEAD?

The discussion of societal objectives necessitates a consideration of government in a future MaaS ecosystem. A critical stakeholder in the MaaS ecosystem is the mobility broker/aggregator (Figure 3) who brings together suppliers of the transport asset/capacity (e.g. public transport operators, TNCs) with the demanders or end users who consume the transport service. The broker, as a third-party intermediary, value adds through the provision of a digital MaaS platform and bundled mobility products. However, should the government or the private sector take on this broker/ aggregator role?

While some researchers have advocated for a government agency or quasi-government entity (including a public transport authority) to assume this broker function, others have suggested that transport operators or technology providers might be better placed to undertake this role.

Figure 3: A likely service delivery ecosystem for MaaS, comprising the new function for a mobility broker aggregating different suppliers and delivering integrated service to demanders. The government will need to redefine its relationship with incumbent transport operators, affecting the design of contracts and the viability of existing business models.

A government broker is a particularly challenging proposition since it might not only lack the incentive to innovate, but also cause a potential conflict of interest, especially where both public and private operators exist as is the case in Australia. In Australia (and most other Western economies), governments are increasingly removing themselves from service provision, rather only involving themselves at arm’s length. They are better positioned to play a regulatory function to ensure a ‘level’ playing field (including setting common standards) for different MaaS operators to compete. Government might still provide seed funding or act as a catalyst for innovation, as is the case in NSW through its Future Transport agenda.

COVID-19 AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE FUTURE OF SERVICE PROVIDERS AND MaaS

The COVID-19 pandemic has demanded an urgent operational response from transport service providers. We have seen micromobility modes like Lime e-scooters being withdrawn (due to sanitation concerns), as well as the suspension of shared ride hailing services like UberPool. Whilst budgets are redeployed to run essential services,

it is also important to consider the strategic and financial consequences for the transportation sector that the pandemic will bring.

Most urban public transport in Australia is operated by private companies under gross cost contracts to the government, meaning that operators are paid per kilometre of service delivered, rather than the number of passengers carried. For this reason, it is the commercially-operated TNCs providing shared modes that are facing increasing financial pressures.

These companies are subsidised by their shareholders, but how sustainable this may be amidst a global credit crunch and broader questions surrounding the future of work and the need to travel remains to be seen. It may be the case that TNCs will need to realign their business model with revenue streams shifting from the consumer to the government (Via is an example of the latter, built on public-private partnerships, which has performed well in the crisis so far).

While the financial viability of individual service providers is important, so too is that of MaaS brokers/aggregators, which as startup enterprises, face a different set of challenges. The onset of COVID-19 has seen MaaS Global’s customers shift their subscriptions to bundles with a greater focus on active modes, like bike sharing. If medical experts are correct and the pandemic lives on for many years, we may see MaaS providers partner with health authorities to offer up their products as geolocation tools to aid contact tracing efforts. This will require a more generic, scaled-up usage of MaaS products, including when one travels by private car. Concerns around data sharing and privacy considerations may arise but there are clearly overriding public interest (health) objectives in play.

More widespread adoption of MaaS will also serve as a network management tool to optimise demand and supply (and by extension, enable social distancing guidelines to be met). Many of these visions and capabilities are true to the original intent and aspirations for MaaS.

HOW ROAD OPERATORS CAN SUPPORT THE TRANSITION TO EVs

While electric vehicle (EV) uptake in Australia has been comparatively slow, the number of EVs on the road has been increasing each year, with sales more than tripling between 2018 and 2019. Increased sales mean state and local government road operators must consider the ways EVs will impact road operations. Austroads has released a report outlining actions road operators will need to implement to support the transition to EVs.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as of 2019, there were 19.5 million registered vehicles on Australian roads, with an average age of 10.2 years. Each year an average of one million vehicles are sold, of which no more than one per cent are Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) such as EVs.

The low uptake rate in Australia to date can be attributed to factors such as vehicle price, model availability, access to charging infrastructure, charging time, incentives, service support and education.

However, sales of ZEVs are increasing. The Electric Vehicle Council reported 6,718 EVs – including hybrid plug-ins – were sold nationwide in 2019, up from 2,216 in 2018. This trend is expected to continue with a 2018 report from Energia predicting that by 2030 between 20 and 60 per cent of Australian vehicles sold will be EVs, depending on the levels of supporting policy.

AUTOMATED AND ELECTRIC VEHICLES

GETTING ROAD OPERATORS INVOLVED

Dickson Leow, Chief Technology Leader and National Leader, Future Transport Systems at Australian Road Research Board (ARRB), said, “By supporting the transition to EVs and ZEVs, road operators can help shape how charging infrastructure is modelled – as opposed to random third party install – what incentives could be considered to generate greater uptake, and how road design, planning, maintenance, build and implementation could be influenced.”

Other benefits for road operators supporting this transition include:

♦ Safety: newer digital and electronically-advanced vehicles are equipped with better life-saving technology and are able to adapt to connected communicative technologies, and contribute more to ‘Towards Zero’

♦ Health: harmful pollutants found in internal combustion engine vehicles are reduced or eliminated

♦ Environment: EVs and ZEVs have fewer greenhouse gas emissions than fuel-powered vehicles, and reduce energy consumption by returning energy to the grid

♦ Economic and social: EVs and ZEVs reduce dependence on the importation of fossil fuel, could increase GDP and could create tens of thousands of jobs

CHANGING THE WAY ASSETS ARE MANAGED

John Wall, Austroads Program Manager Future Vehicles and Technology, said, “Increased sales of Low and Zero Emission Vehicles are likely to affect every aspect of transport agency business, from managing the increased weight of freight vehicles to providing incident response and management services.

“Local government road owners will probably have a role in managing roadside charging facilities, especially when there is minimal off-street parking for residents in dense urban communities.”

Mr Leow said road asset considerations will include:

♦ If a road operator reviews and amends the mass limits and license restrictions applied to heavy vehicles, in order to accommodate the additional mass of EVs over an equivalent ICE due to the battery mass, they should do this with consideration to the road wear and tear, and road safety impacts as a result of any amendments. Consideration should also be given to whether an alteration to the road material used for road design and maintenance can be made in order to accommodate the additional mass

♦ As EV use increases and accounts for over 50 per cent of the fleet, including large commercial vehicles, it may impact on infrastructure design, including tunnel design, and on safety-related matters such as first responder procedures

♦ Access to stranded EVs, where a tow truck needs access rather than a ‘RAC vehicle’ with 5L of fuel

♦ A road charging tax, if fuel tax is no longer viable –this will need to be in balance with incentives to keep increasing uptake

HELPING TO GUIDE THE TRANSITION

Currently, the role of road operators regarding EVs varies across jurisdictions, ranging from a ‘hands-off’ free market approach to establishing incentives to support the transition to EVs.

As road operators manage a variety of services including registration and licensing, road access, road design and maintenance, road operations, road corridor planning, road signage and road operator standards, and work with other agencies and stakeholders to manage impacts on road operations, the uptake of EVs could impact on these functions and create new ones.

To date, some operators have been more proactive in providing incentives for the uptake of EVs than others, such as the Queensland Government rolling out EV chargers to form the world’s longest electric superhighway in one state. However, overall Australian road operators have not been as proactive as their counterparts in countries such as New Zealand, Europe, the US, Japan and South Korea.

As a result, the functions presented in Austroads’ report, Assessment of Key Road Operator Actions to Support Electric Vehicles, have been divided into core actions which all road operators are recommended to adopt, and non-core actions which can be adopted as needed by road operators depending on how they see their role in supporting, or not constraining, the rollout of EVs in their jurisdictions.

The report helps clarify the role of road operators and other government departments in the areas that affect EV deployment including policy, infrastructure, regulation and incentives.

RECOMMENDED CORE FUNCTION ACTIONS

The report identifies 25 road operator core function actions dealing with eleven key issues including data, public education, consistency and leadership.

Mr Wall said the collection, storage and analysis of data associated with EVs will be a key action for government transport agencies as the transition to a lower emissions future can only be tracked and managed through robust data management systems.

Other benefits of efficient data collection include transport agencies better understanding the rate of energy used, its frequency of usage, loading of energy during vehicle charging, the physical location of the charging, duration of charging and the amount of energy consumed.

“This information would enable prediction modelling to better plan support, not only across the jurisdictions, but also in terms of collaboration between road operators,” Mr Leow said.

According to Mr Leow, another benefit of data sharing is that origin and destination information could be collected to better plan road network loading and peak periods of charging.

“Charging of EVs has an indirect impact on the operational requirements of the electricity company as the load may trip a blackout scenario. The information will allow for better optimisation of energy required and production.”

However, Mr Leow also noted the current challenge is that there are different datasets collected by each jurisdiction, which results in gaps in collected data – an issue addressed recently by the Federal Government when considering freight data.

“Road or EV related data needs to be uniform to be considered effective, otherwise it is difficult to plan, roadmap and execute a nationally consistent policy,” Mr Leow said.

According to Mr Leow, as there are many myths surrounding the usage and operational requirements of EVs, largely due to

inadequate information or misinformation, public education is another core area that needs to be addressed.

Mr Wall identified leadership as a key area of focus, and said, “Initially governments will need to identify a lead agency to manage the transition from internal combustion enginebased transport to greener low emissions vehicles. Once the transition is established, road operators will need to decide what role they will play in supporting it.”

Other actions the report encourages road operators to implement are:

♦ Working with other stakeholders to develop an EV charging systems guideline to encourage safe and efficient charging operations that reduce roadside safety hazards

♦ Developing universal standard signage for EV charging stations

♦ Conducting trials relating to new charging technologies, including plug-less systems

KEEPING IT CONSISTENT

Consistency will be crucial in ensuring any actions taken will support a smooth transition to EVs.

“It is crucial that road operators between jurisdictions are collaborating and sharing consistent information and data. A recent ARRB study undertaken for a jurisdiction on technologies in Australian vehicles found that there was a lack of consistency in the collection of crash data. The criteria were not consistently captured and the process to capture was not always followed,” Mr Leow said.

“Consistency allows for benchmarking and understanding the problem, followed by in-depth analysis for a root cause rather than a band-aid solution.”

Mr Leow said one benefit of consistency could be the reduction of ‘range anxiety’, one of the key barriers to EV uptake in Australia.

“Road operators across Australia, through national consistency, could roadmap a plan on the commercial model for charging stations, as well as demystifying range and other myths. A national and consistent state approach on the rollout of charging infrastructure builds confidence for the public and enables manufacturers to introduce variants,” Mr Leow said.

DEVELOPING A NATIONAL STRATEGY

While road operators are encouraged to implement the core and non-core actions identified in the report, it will be important for them to coordinate these with the Australian Government’s National Electric Vehicle Strategy (NEV), which is currently being developed. The NEV will complement the work of the Transport and Infrastructure Council (TIC) and Low and Zero Emission Vehicle (LZEV) working group.

As an active member of the LZEV, Austroads is keen to be involved in the development of the NEV, as will ARRB due to the data it has access to.

“Factors such as safety, renewable and sustainable materials for roads, the suitability of technology and its regulations, best practice with learnings from affiliation internationally and direct collaboration with industry stakeholders are available to ARRB,” Mr Leow said.

According to Mr Leow, such information will be key in developing the NEV.

“From a holistic standpoint, the strategy must not just focus on the consistency of chargers,regulations or environment, but on other factors such as education, consistent data capture and safe operation.”

Austroads’ report, Assessment of Key Road Operator Actions to Support Electric Vehicles, and a recorded webinar dealing with challenges and opportunities, can be accessed at austroads.com.au.

VIRTUAL REALITY AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: A MATCH MADE IN TECH HEAVEN

Monash University has developed VRAV – an augmented on-road driving simulator for autonomous vehicles using virtual reality, offering a potential means to test drivers’ responses to unsafe driving conditions. The project has impressed the industry, winning the 2019 Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) National Research Award. Here, Infrastructure spoke with Professor Hai L. Vu about the potential applications of the technology and how it fits into the wider scope of driverless vehicle uptake in Australia.

Monash has developed the first on-road autonomous vehicle (AV) simulator in Australia based on the concept known as “Wizard-ofOz” where the driver of a standard vehicle is hidden from the passenger (participant) using a physical partition, providing the participant the illusion of riding in an AV. However, in contrast to the traditional Wizardof-Oz settings, the participant is wearing a VR headset in this simulation, and thus riding an AV without a driver and within a virtual environment which is in sync with the actual physical environment. For this reason, the simulation was named VRAV.

The research is supported by the Monash Infrastructure (MI) seed funding grant and led by Professor Hai L. Vu from the Monash Institute of Transport Studies, in collaboration with the faculties of Engineering, Information Technology, Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) and Monash Art Design & Architecture (MADA).

The project is multi-disciplinary as it utilises expertise in autonomous vehicle (Civil Eng., Professor Hai L. Vu), AR/VR and HMI (IT and software engineering, Dr Barrett Ens), invehicle design (MADA, Associate Professor Selby Coxon), and driving simulation and road safety (MUARC, Dr Steve O’Hern). All the academic members are leading researchers in their own field with many years of research experience relevant to this project. The outcome is a virtual on-road driving simulator

(VRAV) that is augmented in actual on-road driving and capable of replicating a realistic AV driving experience in a real, dynamic environment.

The research includes the testing and validation of the VRAV simulation, and the evaluation of its effectiveness and realism in several scenarios using both a Subaru car and a driver simulator (pictured). The main challenges in the development of this project has been the synchronisation between the virtual and physical words, as well as accurately capturing various biophysiological data and experience of the participants.

UNDERSTANDING AVS IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Research into AV interactions often relies on experiments using driving simulators or naturalistic driving. The major challenge in the former is to replicate the naturalistic driving conditions with genuine inertial forces and realistic vehicle dynamics. While the latter is expensive and suffers from various legal and ethical obstacles. Although state-of-the-art driving simulators (e.g. with six or eight degrees of freedom) are now equipped with leading-edge technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), the highimmersion driving simulators are very expensive and are as yet to offer the same experience as on-road driving.

Given the rapid development and test deployment of AV, there is a renewed urgency in engaging with high-quality research to better understand the implications of the technology upon our urban environment and the population that will engage with it.

The developed VRAV simulation has the potential to support a variety of AV studies at low cost, enabling virtual simulation of a variety of vehicles, driving conditions and circumstances. This enables both the advancement of knowledge and technology development in relation to AVs, as well as helping with the transition to AV deployment, thus improving public safety once such technology is introduced and adopted.

STEPS NEEDED TO ROLL OUT AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ON OUR ROADS

In general, there are four main issues to be addressed before the wide adoption of AVs:

1. Safety

In addition to ensuring the safety of passengers, AVs need to take account of other road users (especially pedestrians and cyclists). Extensive testing of AV software, hardware, and communications and networking is indispensable.

2. Cost and mass production

AVs cannot yet be put into mass production. As present safety cannot be guaranteed and high production costs are a major constraint.

3. Laws and regulations

To get AVs on the road on a large scale, clear laws and regulations, as well as determination of accident responsibility, are also indispensable. However, the formulation of laws and regulations still lags behind the development of such technology.

4. Public attitudes and acceptance of AVs

Major companies are investing more than $100 billion to develop and test AVs. However, no matter how advanced a technology may be, if the public are not willing to use or pay for it broadly, the value and benefits of this technology will be greatly reduced.

simulation is a simple and cost-effective tool to address and find suitable solutions to some of these challenges.

FUTURE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

The project team doesn't yet have any data on the behavioural psychology of drivers e.g. if drivers learn how automated cars behave could they then "cheat" the system to try and beat traffic, but VRAV could be a perfect tool to collect such data.

This is because in such scenarios, often the safety of the public or the AV participant might be at risk and that is exactly where VRAV simulation can possibly achieve the same outcomes without compromising anyone’s safety.

Monash Institute of Transport Studies, MUARC and Monash University are also actively seeking to partner with government departments, industries and relevant agencies to further develop the tool and contribute to the overall success of the development and deployment of AV technologies. Monash University and the Faculty of Engineering where the Monash Institute of Transport Studies resides, is the leading research faculty in Australia, and Professor Hai L. Vu and his team are one of the leading research groups in this area.

There are many ongoing research activities at Monash (including in the Monash Institute of Transport Studies, MUARC and Monash Infrastructure), and VRAV simulation is just one of many innovations and achievements that Monash researchers and students have achieved for the benefit of the community and society. For more information, please contact Professor Hai L. Vu at hai.vu@monash.edu.

THE SAFETY LASER SCANNER FOR OUTDOOR AUTOMATION – SICK outdoorScan3

With the outdoorScan3 safety laser scanner, SICK is now entering the outdoor areas of industrial environments. This will help close another gap in the complete automation of industrial processes and strengthen the functioning collaboration between humans and machines.

One of the applications SICK has its eye on is the safe and reliable navigation of automated guided vehicle systems outside the gates, despite weather influences such as sun, rain, snow or fog. Many others are currently in the works and a wide range of other applications is imaginable. This brings us one step closer to a real self-controlling value-added chain in the spirit of Industry 4.0. With the jump from indoors to outdoors, the manufacturer of intelligent sensor solutions is once again pushing the limits of the possible – worldwide.

SOLIDARITY: AUTOMATED PROCESS BOTH IN AND OUTDOORS

The production chain is often not restricted to connected indoor areas. Automated guided vehicles, also called AGVs, are a part of everyday business in and around many production halls. They transport loads and ensure that conveyor belts are refilled. Automated guided vehicle systems facilitate a flexible and productive material flow and will be a key technology in the automation concepts of the future. However, these systems can only be used in a working environment that is shared by humans and machines thanks to safety laser scanners, which ensure the two can work together safely and people are protected. With the outdoorScan3, in the future automated guided vehicle systems will be able to

perform tasks outdoors as well – with no additional protective devices whatsoever and without having to significantly lower their speed. The outdoorScan3 is closing an important gap in the automation of industrial processes.

Outdoor use poses even greater challenges to safety sensors than indoor use. Inside halls, weather conditions have no influence and light and temperature conditions do not change so extremely. However, sensors have to be sensitive outside when they need to detect weak signals to safely detect people. At the same time, they must ignore signals that disturb their work. The outdoorScan3 reliably masters these challenges and can be used in temperature ranges from -25 to +50°C.

UNIQUE FUNCTIONALITY IN ALL WEATHER CONDITIONS

The outdoorScan3 has its increased resistance to sunlight, rain, snow and fog to thank for its excellent outdoor qualities. It uses the newly-developed outdoor safeHDDM® scan technology for this purpose. This technology means the laser scanner can work without errors when exposed to sunlight with an illumination intensity of up to 40,000 lux.

In addition, the intelligent software algorithm of the outdoorScan3 detects rain and snow, easily filtering out these environmental influences – rain, for example, up to a precipitation intensity of 10mm/h. Even in fog with a meteorological visual range of up to 50m, the outdoorScan3 detects all obstacles with total reliability, due to its special fogSight fog function.

VERSATILE RANGE OF APPLICATIONS

The outdoorScan3 is already used for positioning passenger boarding bridges, for instance, as well as for protecting and navigating automated guided vehicle systems. Of course, the field of application of the safety laser scanner is much wider, and countless other areas of application are imaginable, for example in agriculture, logistics and in port facilities.

More productivity without losing safety: With us as your partner you can benefit from safety solutions that make your processes run smoothly, enable human and machine to work as a team, and allow us to jointly push the boundaries of what is achievable. Turnkey solutions, safe robots and mobile platforms, and outdoor safety thus become one big whole. For sure. We think that’s intelligent. www.sick.com/safe-productivity

SMART TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS FOR CITIES AND SUBURBS

With new urban challenges constantly emerging, cities, suburbs and towns face the ongoing task of developing technology-based solutions to become more efficient, sustainable and cost-effective. The Australian Government’s $50 million Smart Cities and Suburbs Program will provide investment for 80 such projects, as well as a Smart Cities Collaboration Platform that will facilitate a space for both funded and independent projects to share smart city solutions.

Spanning all states and territories, the projects in the program include things like automated vehicle and parking trials, disaster resilience initiatives, management of smart waste, water and automated traffic, social cohesion projects, and many more. Here, we take a look at some of the major projects currently in progress in each state and territory, the challenges faced by each, and how the community will benefit from smart solutions both now and into the future.

NEW SOUTH WALES

Melrose Park: Smart Planning for Climate Responsive Neighbourhoods

A Federal Government Smart Cities grant of $571,000 provided close to half the funding for this $1.4 million project, which is being led by development company PAYCE in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

As part of the project, approximately 70 sensors will be placed throughout the 30 hectare Melrose Park development site and environmental data on temperature, humidity, air quality, noise and stormwater will be transmitted 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This will provide insights into the area’s liveability ahead of what is expected to be a ten-year construction period.

One of the key parts of the project is UTS’ Technology for Urban Liveability

Program (TULIP), which collates the climate data with 3D development plans through world-leading technologies, industry partners and researchers. Through TULIP, UTS will deploy environmental sensors, collect and manage data, and work with partners to undertake advanced environmental modelling and 3D visualisations.

PAYCE Director, Dominic Sullivan, said that fundamentally, smart cities initiatives use data and technology to make places more liveable for the community.

“The key issue with design is not just the buildings themselves, but what is in between them, such as paths, public areas and landscaping. Early data will be important for design in terms of spacing, landscaping and potentially the orientation of the buildings,” Mr Sullivan said.

“Data is going to become critical in how we design and deliver new urban environments.”

Illawarra Shoalhaven Smart Water Management Project

Federal Government funding of $478,449 has gone towards installing data sensors to provide real-time information on flood risks during extreme weather events in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven region.

According to CEO of Regional Development Australia Illawarra (RDA), Debra Murphy, the smart water project will bolster resilience in the region by equipping it with more effective emergency and environmental management systems and responses. Management of stormwater is a key responsibility for local governments, and a major challenge in the planning of

urban growth for the region’s expanding population. Significant investment is required to manage waterways, and install and upgrade stormwater infrastructure. The smart technologies being used in this project will develop data analytics to help improve water quality, flood mitigation and ensure community safety in flash floods and aid in understanding of where investment in infrastructure is necessary.

QUEENSLAND

Sustainable Urban Growth, Bells Creek

This project, which was granted $205,000 in Federal Government funding, monitored the impact of competition on threatened frogs in restored and newly-created habitats on a new residential development site in Bells Creek.

Species-specific recognisers that identify frog species’ calls within environmental recordings were developed to facilitate the processing of large quantities of acoustic data. Using open data platforms, the project engaged local community groups and schools in frog conservation.

The bioacoustic monitoring technique used is called Acoustic Spatial CaptureRecapture (ASCR). It provides accurate within-pond species distributions and population size estimates. Researchers also used 360-degree photographs from within the wetlands, which can be viewed through a virtual reality lense. Along with the acoustic data, this will provide vital information for the protection of existing species in the environment throughout urban expansion.

Digital Permits for Disability Parking, Rockhampton

The Federal Government has allocated $125,000 to develop a database parking verification system within the e-permit environment in Rockhampton, including for disability parking.

This project will see 375 parking sensors and digital parking wayfinding display units installed in the Rockhampton CBD. This will see the design and implementation of graphical user interfaces for use on smart devices, making it possible for motorists to search for available parking using an app, increasing overall efficiency for those with disabilities.

VICTORIA

Clever and Creative Geelong

With $450,000 in Federal Government funding, the Clever and Creative Geelong Project will deliver LED lighting, environmental sensing, digital signage, public safety, smart parking and free WiFi to Geelong to boost industry growth in digital services.

In order to achieve a consolidated approach to technology infrastructure along the waterfront and make it less cluttered and more safe, some existing technology will be removed, such as CCTV and WiFi receivers hanging off poles. These will be replaced by nodes to enable more technology to be housed, including environmental sensors and public address systems.

Footscray Smart City for Social Cohesion

Another $400,000 in Federal Government funding went to the Footscray Smart City for Social Cohesion Project, which is a collaborative initiative leveraging smart technology and open data to improve city activation, safety, economic activity, mobility and efficiency.

Smart technologies will aim to improve citizen experience in the area using smart mobility/traffic sensors and realtime information, smart environmental monitoring, a virtual reality platform, and smart spaces and places including those with WiFi, touch screens, smart lighting and leisure-based interactivity.

The project takes place as part of a collaboration with Victoria University (VU). VU’s College of Engineering and Science will use its information and digital technologies to enable datadriven decision-making.

Professor Richard Constantine, Vice-President of Resources and Precincts, said, “VU is excited to partner with Maribyrnong City Council for this smart city initiative, as we continue to progress Footscray as a smart university town. The project will contribute towards research and learning, and improve Footscray’s services and citizen experience.”

NORTHERN TERRITORY

The Place for People, City of Palmerston

$1 million in Federal Government funding will go to The Place for People project in the City of Palmerston, which is looking at potential smart city

solutions that could be incorporated into a trial program to look at urban challenges and ways to improve liveability in the municipality.

Using smart technology such as updated CCTV, video analytics and smart lighting, the project intends to reduce crime rates and antisocial behaviour, and to continue building its CPTED (existing crime prevention through environmental design).

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL

TERRITORY

Digitised Choice-Based Letting for the ACT Public Housing Portfolio

$668,000 in Federal Government funding went towards the Digitised Choice-Based Letting for the ACT Public Housing Portfolio. This project aimed to design, develop and implement a digital platform (MVP) to capture:

♦ A digital service channel capable of supporting public housing allocation, swaps and transfers

♦ Capacity for seamless integration with the digitised housing application process (under development)

♦ Client-choice, improved service accessibility and responsiveness, and increased awareness of available service options

TASMANIA

Greater Launceston Transformation –Creating our Digital Future

$1.58 million of Federal Government funding went towards the Greater Launceston Transformation Project, which is a collaborative project that uses new data, tools and technology to address regional challenges of economic growth, education attainment and social inclusion. This is done through smart analytics, new 3D digital twin technology, a community co-designed innovation framework and hub, alongside other digital solutions.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Wharf Street Basin-A Next Generation Community Park

$1 million in Federal Government funding went towards the redevelopment of the Wharf Street detention basin, turning an area that is currently inaccessible to the park into a clean and safe public environment.

The redevelopment will see the location transform into a smart park

using increased amenity and smart technology to provide recreation and education opportunities within a piece of drainage infrastructure. This also had positive impacts on natural systems by opening up land that was previously inaccessible.

According to City of Canning Mayor, Paul Ng, the partnership between all organisations is significant both financially and in demonstrating an innovative approach to embracing liveability, sustainability and productivity, while delivering value to the wider community.

“As a city, we’re proud to be part of a project that is an example of collaboration between government agencies and innovative organisations where technology is fused with design to create an accessible, pleasing suburban space that is multi-purpose.”

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Smart Tourist Town, Kapunda $159,000 in Federal Government funding went towards the revival of Australia’s oldest mining town, Kapunda, South Australia. The funding was invested in technology such as CCTV, WiFi, bin sensors, electric car charging systems, renewable energy generation and LED public lighting. These improvements not only benefit residents of the town, but will also improve marketing and promotion of the town and provide evidence for future investment.

With the project now complete, Kapunda has seen an increase in the use of public spaces, growing physical activity and strong links between all parts of the town, providing a safe and appealing place for people to meet and connect, particularly with the introduction of free WiFi. There are however, ongoing modifications to the smart technology settings in this project as more data is collected.

To view the list of completed projects and projects in the concept phase under the Australian Government’s $50 million Smart Cities and Suburbs Program, please visit www.infrastructure.gov.au/ cities/smart-cities/collaborationplatform

More projects

The $50 million Smart Cities and Suburbs Program incorporates several other projects alongside these, with some projects in progress, some completed and others still in a conceptual phase.

PROJECTS IN PROGRESS

» Australia’s First Heritage City becomes an Australian Future City

» Automated Traffic Management, Fraser Coast

» Ballarat is Open

» ChillOUT: Smart Social Spaces Creating Connected Green Places

» Closing the Loop on Waste

» Community-Focused Smart Technologies to Enhance Flood Resilience

» Flooded Roads Smart Warning System (FRSWS)

» Gawler: Connected Community

» Granville Smart Precinct Pilot Project

» Googong Smart Community: Smart Suburb Blueprint

» Integrated Smart Parking System: Emerging and Shared Approaches

» i-Sense Oakleigh: The Smart Connected Precinct

» Latrobe Valley Sensor Network

» Liveable Neighbourhoods in Lake Macquarie and Sydney City

» Local Government Facilities as a Grid Paralleled Mode Micro-Grid

» Mornington Peninsula Smart Parking and Amenities for High Demand Areas

» Oaklands Smart Precinct

» Reducing Urban Glow: Supporting Sea Turtle Survival Using Open Data

» Reducing Urban Impacts on the Great Barrier Reef

» Smart Active Transport: Urban Heat Maps for Bendigo

» The Smart Beaches Project

» Smart Solar Trees: An Integrated Park Management System

» Smart Technologies – Reinventing Neighbourhoods

» South Grampians Shire Council – A Smart Connected Rural Community

» Smart Monitoring and Monitoring Management Yellagonga Wetlands

» Smart Parking, North Lakes

» Smart Sports Field Planning, Monitoring and Management

» Smart Technologies at the Beach – Coogee Beach

» Smart Transport and Precinct Planning, Atherstone

» Smart Transport, Macquarie Park

» Smart Urban Irrigation Project

» Smart Water Meters

» Northern Melbourne Smart Cities Network, Enabling Data to Drive Change

» Smart Ways to Reduce Waste, Alice Springs

» V2i Realtime – A Platform to Disrupt Property Development Approvals

» Western Parkland City Sensor Network

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR ENTERPRISE PROJECT PERFORMANCE

Construction is among the world’s most complex and fragmented business ecosystems, with many disconnected people, processes and tools. This fragmentation is one of the main drivers of low productivity, causing an increasing need for governance and control.

Whether the capital projects industry is ready or not, global construction is expanding dramatically. The sheer volume of projects, as well as the expectations and performance demands placed on the industry, are now increasing at faster rates than ever before. For contractors and owners, project volume equates to increased risk, higher competition for resources, more complexity and more barriers to success.

Exactly how much growth is expected? For the near future, global construction is set to rise to almost $13 trillion by 2022, according to the Global Construction 2030 Report

But further out, the numbers are even more staggering. The report found that by 2030:

♦ Growth in global construction will increase by 85 per cent

♦ Spending will rise to $21.2 trillion on capital projects

♦ Construction will account for 14.7 per cent of the global GDP

ENABLING A BUSINESS DIGITAL EVOLUTION

Industries reliant on large capital projects

However, most organisations are dealing with a tangled web of internally developed tools, siloed commercial software and Excel spreadsheets to run their projects. This setup acts as a barrier to high levels of project performance, leaving organisations unequipped to deal with the complexity of today’s projects, unable to drive strategic alignment and lacking the confidence to make good business decisions.

FULL INTEGRATION TO A SINGLE INFORMATION PLATFORM

So how can organisations turn this liability into a competitive advantage? How can project teams leverage massive amounts of project data to improve outcomes? How can executives ensure everyone is on the same page, working toward the same goals in a standardised way? How can decision makers positively impact performance with confidence?

Drive benefits and competitive advantages of pushing beyond the project status quo.

– engineering and construction in particular – have historically been resistant to new processes and technologies. But for organisations to thrive in an evolving and increasingly competitive market, they’ll now need to embrace change rather than being content with the status quo.

To navigate the industry’s transformation and enable their own digital evolution, organisations need near real-time access to more accurate information. They need greater standardisation and better predictability, enabling timely corrective action to shape positive project outcomes and deliver business objectives.

The answer is a single environment for the full lifecycle of projects that allows project stakeholders across disciplines to work more efficiently and effectively together. The answer is an Enterprise Project Performance (EPP) strategy.

EPP is a mindset that expands from improving outcomes of individual projects to one that also heavily considers achievement of business objectives for ALL projects within your organisation.

Thus, an EPP software platform facilitates this approach by integrating processes that span the full lifecycle of projects, inclusive of portfolio, project and contract management, and the sub-processes that enable them. EPP improves efficiency, predictability and control across all projects, programs and portfolios in an organisation for all stakeholders. The result: maximising project success.

Hexagon PPM helps the world work smarter. Our solutions for construction & infrastructure are designed to tackle today’s project complexity, deliver business returns and ensure safety through reliable, efficient operations.

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• Mobile Workforce Visit hexagonppm.com or call +61 3 9856 1943 to find out how partnering with us will digitally transform your business and give you the competitive advantage to thrive in the Australian infrastructure sector.

INNOVATION IS THE KEY TO BEING A SMART CITY – NOT TECH

The City of Prospect in Adelaide is proof that small cities can be more agile in responding to challenges, more responsive to community needs, and will embrace fresh thinking to overcome resourcing and scale limitations.

In 2020, the City of Prospect was included in the top 21 intelligent communities in the world by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). This is the seventh time the city has been included in this list in the last nine years, and it was also a joint winner of Infrastructure’s Smart City of the Year Award in 2019.

One reason for this recognition is that we keep on innovating, which is necessary for a small council and in fact easier than in a larger organisation.

Big corporates have to have innovation units but our council departments work very collaboratively – you could say all our 85 staff are part of the innovation unit.

Most recently, in response to COVID-19, the council developed a brand new program in only two weeks called Prospect Delivers, which involved providing $25 redeemable food vouchers to our vulnerable residents, who Prospect Innovation Precinct.

KEY CITY

then order meals from hard hit local restaurants. In the one program we can help to keep local businesses going while helping our vulnerable citizens.

ESTABLISHING AN INNOVATION PRECINCT

Other innovation initiatives that we have been undertaking include developing an Innovation Precinct report with the University of Adelaide

The university report outlined the importance of a dynamic local innovation ecosystem. Having a super fast GigCity connection down the main street and two co-working spaces all helps – but the key question is how do we create a cohesive innovation ecosystem from the schools to the bigger businesses?

In order to answer that, we have just launched the Prospect Innovation Awards. These will provide grants to projects that demonstrate innovative solutions for new and existing needs.

CONNECTED CITIES

Collaboration with other councils is also a hallmark of our approach to being a smart city as we have created the Connected Cities project.

The City of Prospect, on behalf of a coalition of SA local governments (consisting of City of Prospect, City of Burnside, City of Port Adelaide Enfield, Campbelltown City Council,

and City of Playford) and the University of Adelaide, applied for, and received, Commonwealth funding under the Smart Cities and Suburbs Program.

Connected Cities is now a metro-wide sensor system that can count pedestrian movements on selected main streets and be a smart parking platform. It can also be used in parks to see when bins are full, when grass needs mowing and roses need watering. Its applications are now an essential part of our asset management systems.

The Connected Cities project has installed over 12 gateways and 100 sensors in parks to benefit local residents and businesses while providing the council with real-time usage data.

The large LoRaWAN network spreads from Burnside Council to Port Adelaide and north to Playford and the University of Adelaide’s Roseworthy Campus. This open network creates a unique open test bed for Internet of Things technology developed by entrepreneurs, data scientists, students and startups.

In Prospect, we have also installed a low-cost weather station, which the tennis club and Prospect community garden group have access to via a dashboard. The garden and the tennis club are both within ten metres from the LoRaWAN weather station so they can get real-time local weather even when they are out of town.

To learn more about the Prospect Innovation Awards, visit www.networkprospect.com.au/prospect-innovation-awards.

AEROTROPOLIS LOOK HOW WILL THE WESTERN

The man who has been tasked with leading the design of Sydney’s first 22nd Century City, the Aerotropolis, has outlined his vision for the CBD to be built on the doorstep of the Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport.

Troy Harvey, the Executive Director of Planning and Development at the Western City & Aerotropolis Authority, wants Sydney’s third city to have a modern and lively feel, along with plenty of green space.

“The Aerotropolis is not all going to be glass box high-rise development or an industrial park. It is going to have a contemporary urban feel. There is going to be vibrancy, activity and space for both residents and workers,” Mr Harvey said.

“We are also working to make sure the Aerotropolis has those things that make a city centre great. A quiet place for a coffee and plenty of quality open

spaces. At the same time, it needs to be of a scale so people have the ability to walk or ride a bike.”

The master plans for the Western Sydney Aerotropolis are still coming together, but Mr Harvey already knows exactly what he does not want the city to look like.

“My KPI number one is to not build a business park. Our success will be defined by our ability to open the place up with the right types of commercial development and the right types of residential development, feathered with cultural facilities and educational buildings,” Mr Harvey said.

Finding that right mix of commercial, retail and residential will be what

ensures the Aerotropolis becomes a vibrant city and not just a place people come to work from 9 to 5.

“We want to create a 24-hour economy that doesn’t just shut at 5pm. To do that, the city will need the right retail spaces, the right recreational spaces and the right density,” Mr Harvey said.

“We are looking to get the ‘feel’ of the city centre right by significantly enhancing areas of the existing landscape amenity. We will do this by building on those existing natural features such as the tree canopy and creeks. This will ultimately create the overall vision of the ‘Parkland City’.”

LOOK AND FEEL? WESTERN SYDNEY

RAIL CONNECTION TO BE A KEY COMPONENT

Another key to the creation of a vibrant city will be Metro Greater West, a rail line that runs North-South and links the West with the West, along with improved connections with the existing city centres of Penrith, Liverpool and Campbelltown.

“We are looking at creating a little bit of density around key transport hubs in particular, so obviously the metro piece is really important, particularly in those station precincts,” Mr Harvey said.

“It is a really important attractor for us to be able to build appropriate density around those transport networks so people can get around easily and are not wholly reliant on holding and owning a motor vehicle.”

There is no shortage of land at the Aerotropolis, with the city’s core alone to be built on over 114 hectares, which is more than five and a half times the size of Barangaroo.

“This is an elephant. We are not going to build it in one go. We are absolutely looking at staging and sequencing as a key part of our development outcome and our planning outcome,” Mr Harvey said.

“This city will grow over the next 50 years and we are the custodians of just that first element, so it will grow from quite a small development out over time.

“We need to make sure that we have the right planning framework, the right infrastructure framework and the right city plan framework that sits over the top of it all.”

A UNIQUE SMART CITY IN AUSTRALIA

While there are examples of other Aerotropolises that have been built around the world, the Western City & Aerotropolis Authority is confident that what is being built in Western Sydney will be unique.

“There are a number of examples in many different countries and we are looking closely at those, but ultimately what we will see is a combination of our case study examples,” Mr Harvey said.

“What we are working with in Western Sydney is of such a scale that you actually need to take parts from all of the case studies to create something that’s real and tangible, as opposed to something that looks pretty on a plan.”

The NSW Government is committed to the Aerotropolis, driving the creation of 200,000 jobs across the Western Parkland City, including high-tech jobs in advanced manufacturing, aerospace and agribusiness.

19 companies including Hitachi, DB Schenker, GE Additive and BAE Systems have committed to Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) showing the significant international interest in the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.

PUTTING GOOD CITY CENTRE OF URBAN

In October 2019, Abbie Galvin was appointed the 24th NSW Government Architect – the first female to take on the role since the office was opened over 200 years ago. With a strong background in national and international projects, she brings a wealth of experience, and a focus on design excellence and public spaces. Infrastructure magazine sat down with Ms Galvin to find out her vision for the office, the importance of good design and sustainability for our cities, and what the infrastructure sector can do to support this.

TRANSITIONING FROM PROJECT DELIVERY TO STRATEGY

The Government Architect’s office was established in 1816 with Francis Greenway appointed as the first Colonial Architect responsible for designing the NSW Government’s public buildings projects.

In 2016, on its 200th birthday, the office transitioned from delivering projects to providing strategic services to the government, championing design excellence across the state, as well as shaping quality places and public spaces by advising and collaborating with agencies, councils, industry and community.

CITY DESIGN AT THE URBAN DEVELOPMENT

“This was a major shift, and an incredibly significant one, as the need for architectural advocacy and an architectural voice within government became more important than delivering buildings,” Ms Galvin said.

“There is a wonderful wealth of talent in architectural practice, so government no longer needs to design per se –but it does need to set standards and benchmarks via policy, guides and codes, and it needs to be a great client. It needs to show leadership at every level of decision-making and commissioning of the built environment.”

Ms Galvin is the first women to hold the position and when asked what impact she thinks this will have and why it's taken so long for a women to be appointed in the role, she replied that she will bring a different perspective to the role, not because she is a woman but because has different skills, experiences and approaches to the people around her.

“The roles we have in our societies need to be representative of the wonderful and diverse mix of people they comprise. Why has it taken so long for a woman to be appointed to the role? Well, that reply probably takes a lot longer than a few

lines to answer as we delve back to the root causes of gender stereotypes that have been culturally ingrained for a very long time,” Ms Galvin said

“However, I like to focus on the future, not the past, and now we have a woman in the role, let’s ensure I will be the first of many.”

A VISION FOR THE FUTURE

Ms Galvin said her vision is for us to be in a position in NSW where not only design professionals, but the whole community, values and prioritises the importance and impact of design of the built environment.

“We need everyone to care, from those in the corridors of government to our private sector power brokers through to local residents who encounter the impacts of built environment decisions every day. It affects us all the time, not only when we choose to pay attention to it.

“Ultimately, respect needs to be at the core of good design. If design is respectful, it is having due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of our society.”

She said a key goal for the Government Architect’s office is to embed design quality and design-based thinking to make beautiful and enduring, sustainable and accessible spaces and places. Five major priorities have been identified to achieve this:

1. Promoting an integrated approach to urban design, where place and climate sit at the centre of decisions, rather than coming in at the end once the transport and infrastructure, and economic overlays have been done

2. Helping make the State Government a smart client by looking at the criteria established at the beginning of a project in the Strategic Business Case, such as how briefs are developed, how projects and design teams are procured, and how design evaluation criteria is presented at all the gates in the process

3. Teaching everyone how to begin the process of caring for and Designing with Country, which is about improving the health and well-being of Country led by Aboriginal cultural values

4. Design Assurance, including strengthening and broadening the reach of the State Design Review process for all state significant projects, as well as implementing a networked system of design review processes across government led projects

5. Environmental Stewardship through Design. To help the NSW Government achieve its goals of net-zero emissions by 2050, strategies about built environment targets and performance will be developed, ranging from urban planning decisions about density and sprawl, transport, connectivity and resource use through to a specific focus on buildings, their performance and their materials

The Government Architect’s office is currently working across a range of significant projects, including the development of a new Design and Place SEPP (State Environmental Planning Policy).

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to help shape policy that will embed design and place in the formation of our built environment,” Ms Galvin said.

DESIGNING GREAT CITIES

Ms Galvin said at the core of good city design is framing the form, shape, function and qualities of public space.

“Great places and cities don’t happen by chance: they are designed, and continue to be designed, as we manage their transformation.

“A great city is an energising and inspiring place to live; it is a dynamic, and constantly changing place that can reshape as society evolves. A great city has density and mixed-use neighbourhoods where housing diversity, commercial, retail, hospitality, cultural and entertainment facilities are available.

“It is safe, walkable, cyclable and should have the ability to be totally automobile-independent. Importantly, it has great public places, large and small, where people can congregate and interact.”

These ideas have been synthesised in NSW’s integrated design policy Better Placed, which provides clarity on what the Government Architect’s office means by good design, based not only on how a place looks, but on how it works and feels for people, and outlines processes for achieving this.

One of the greatest challenges Ms Galvin identified as facing NSW’s public spaces was prioritising them.

“When we prioritise economic, financial and private interests over the provision, quality and amenity of our public spaces we will always struggle to get great outcomes. We shouldn’t be fighting battles for the provision of, and investment in, wonderful public spaces, we should be focusing on increasing our knowledge about how people use them and what makes a place successful.

“I’m responding to this as we are all in COVID-19 spatial isolation, and it has demonstrated with extraordinary power how integral our public spaces are to us as a society. People have flooded to our parks, streets and squares – to walk, cycle and exercise – with a renewed appreciation for their value.”

INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY INTO DESIGN

Sustainability also plays a key role in good city design and will be a key vehicle for the transformation of building design and the construction sector in order to tackle climate change through the move towards zero-carbon buildings.

According to Ms Galvin, while the COVID-19 crisis is currently at the forefront of everyone’s minds, we need to seize the opportunity to rebuild the economy post-pandemic in a way that supports both people and the planet, and creates a new, more resilient, healthy and equal society.

“Already today, buildings and their construction together account for 36 per cent of global energy use and 39 per cent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions annually, which tells us that climate change is the core driver shaping cities over the next few generations,” Ms Galvin said.

“Sustainability of the urban landscape is the sustainability of its component buildings, its transport, its amenities, and its social fabric and culture, and therefore our strategies need to encompass the whole lifecycle of planning, designing, constructing, operating and disposal of buildings.

“So we will see change in the way we teach and practice architecture, planning and construction, change in our land-use planning and urban sprawl, more prescriptive building energy codes and certification requirements, regenerative energy approaches, technological advances in materials, through to robotic fabrication that reduces waste and enables great flexibility in form and material.”

She said we will also continue to see governments legislate for change and support research and innovation in the industry.

“In March, the NSW Government released the Net 0 Plan, Stage 1: 2020–2030, which identified the intention to expand the NABERS rating scheme to other major building types, to improve the National Construction Code and BASIX, to embed sustainable building material standards and targets into NSW Government infrastructure projects, and to lead a national strategy to achieve net-zero embodied carbon in building materials.

“As built environment professionals aiming to make the circular economy a reality, we all have to advocate for and support significant and holistic regulatory change.”

THE ROLE OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR IN IMPROVING CITY DESIGN

According to Ms Galvin, the infrastructure sector will play a key role in supporting improved city design.

“Everyone must have a common understanding and goal

that all elements of our infrastructure ultimately need to contribute to safe, healthy, beautiful, walkable, cyclable and inspiring cities,” Ms Galvin said.

“Our cities are the densest expressions of layers of infrastructure, which sometimes works in harmony with the quality and amenity of our places, and sometimes with frustrating discord. Successful development can’t be based simply on the quantum of infrastructure growth, but on its effectiveness, its quality and what it contributes to our urban realm.”

Ms Galvin said with Australia, and NSW in particular, in the midst of an infrastructure boom, it is imperative that we correlate the development of infrastructure with the opportunity to either transform or develop towns and neighbourhoods for the better, and importantly not to ignore or destroy their unique characteristics.

“Long-term thinking and an integrated approach to infrastructure and city making between economists, planners, developers, engineers, architects, urban and landscape designers is critical. We need greater and earlier involvement of design and designers within systems and processes that are part of the infrastructure of our built environment and we need to be strategic, think spatially and work collaboratively,” Ms Galvin said.

“A hospital doesn’t just provide a critical health service, a new metro station doesn’t just enable mass transport of residents from A to B, and a new school doesn’t simply extend our education system. They are all opportunities to extend and make great places that are healthy, responsive, integrated, equitable and resilient.”

MAKING THE MOST OF HORIZONTAL IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

Australia’s rapidly increasing population is creating a huge demand for new and upgraded underground utilities, such as water and sewage pipelines, power cables and fibre optics, to be installed in sprawling urban environments. However, more obstacles and narrower job sites can pose a number of challenges for contractors. Getting the job done quickly, and with minimal noise and disruption to those living or working nearby is imperative. Equipment, and installation technique, play a key role in this, so contractors who use the right machines and processes place themselves in a winning position to secure contracts.

Traditionally, open cut methods have been used for underground utility installations, however, these are limited in urban environments. Utilities may need to be installed under existing infrastructure such as roads, rail corridors or buildings, or naturally occurring geographical features such as rivers, so open cut methods might prove challenging.

While open cut methods are still widely used in many instances, there has been a significant shift toward trenchless methods like horizontal directional drilling when open cut methods cannot be used.

Many contractors tend to specialise in a certain installation method based on the equipment in their fleet. While specialisation can be beneficial and allows them to become experts in a particular installation method, adding additional equipment can expand their service offerings, making them more competitive and helping their business grow.

Selecting the right equipment is critical. To increase the chances of winning contracts, machines need to reduce impact on the community, get the job done quickly and be easy to use.

Vermeer’s D10x15 S3 HDD rig – part of its latest S3 range –has been designed to do just this, ensuring contractors can meet the challenges of urban environments and get the most out of their machine.

A REDUCED FOOTPRINT

A key challenge presented by urban environments is the amount of space available for personnel and equipment to work. Not only does community disturbance need to be considered, but equipment also needs to be able to fit into smaller job sites and move on different terrain.

Having large, cumbersome equipment can therefore reduce the type of contracts that can be worked on.

HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONAL DRILLING

With a small profile of 111.8cm, the D10x15 S3 is 10.2cm narrower than its closest competitor, making it ideal for suburban projects. The drill can easily maneuver within narrow job sites and can be positioned next to a mixing system on a trailer, helping to increase productivity when working in urban environments.

It also has an almost 50 per cent increase in tractive-effortto-weight ratio over its predecessor (the D9x13 S3), improving its ability to track up and down ditches, and enhancing its maneuverability when fine-tuning setup and trailer positioning.

KEEPING THE NOISE LEVEL LOW

Noise level is also an important factor when working in urban environments as it can disturb residents and limit working hours, not to mention increased stress and fatigue for operators.

Vermeer has reduced the noise level of all the machines in the S3 range – with the D10x15 S3 operating at 86 dB(A) – while not compromising on operator performance.

This reduction in noise level has multiple benefits alongside less disturbance to the community, including making job site communications easier, potentially allowing longer operating hours in some instances, and reducing complaints from the community.

A QUICK INSTALLATION

Another key challenge for contractors installing underground utilities in urban environments is increasingly tighter project deadlines and margins, so being able to complete jobs quickly while maintaining a high quality of work will help contractors secure contracts.

The D10x15 S3 is designed to increase productivity as it has an increase of almost 11 per cent in carriage speed over its

predecessor. This offers faster cycle times and allows for more pipe to be installed in the ground per day, reducing project times and costs, as well as reducing disturbance.

Furthermore, while the D10x15 S3 is compact and lightweight, it doesn’t compromise performance, with 44.5 kN of thrust/pullback and 2,033.7 Nm of rotational torque, it has the power needed for tough ground conditions and pulling reamers. With a ground drive speed of up to 5.3km/h, job site entry and departure is also quick.

SPEED, SIMPLICITY AND SOUND

Standing for speed, simplicity and sound, Vermeer’s S3 HDD series comes in a range of models, including the previously mentioned D10x15 S3, the D20x22 S3, D23x30 S3, D24x40 S3, D40x55 S3 and D60x90 S3, to suit various equipment requirements. But what they all have in common is that they have been designed to meet the requirements and challenges that contractors face when working in urban environments.

The S3 series uses standardised controls across the entire range to reduce the learning curve for new operators and improve efficiency.

All drill functions can be performed without the operator taking their hands off the joysticks, even when rod loading on models equipped with automatic rod loaders, with the communication of key information simplified by common display interfaces across the range.

With dealerships located across Australia and extensive after-sales support, contractors can be confident they are getting the right HDD rig to complement their fleet and improve their chances of winning contracts, and know that any problems they may have will be promptly seen to, so they can continue drilling.

For more information, visit vermeer.com.au.

BRISBANE'S NEW RUNWAY: 8 YEARS IN THE MAKING

Forecasts indicate passenger numbers at Brisbane Airport will grow to 47+ million by 2040, so Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) is investing $1.8 billion in capacity-related infrastructure to service this predicted demand. Central to this is the construction of Brisbane’s new runway system which is set to open this year after an eight-year planning and construction process. Part One of our chat with Paul Coughlan, Project Director of the New Parallel Runway Project, explores the technical aspects of the runway, including the innovative pavement materials used, and new developments in lighting and line-marking.

Costing approximately $1.1 billion, Brisbane Airport’s new runway is one of the largest aviation construction projects in Australia. It is a key piece of infrastructure that will enable Brisbane Airport to better meet the demands of the community it serves, now and for future generations.

The project consisted of a 3.3km runway, more than 12km of taxiways,

navigational aids, airfield infrastructure and hundreds of hectares of airfield landscaping.

Work on the site began back in 2012, with the major stages of construction now complete. The runway is on track to commence operations on 12 July 2020, despite the current impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the airline industry. On completion, Brisbane Airport will have the most

efficient runway system in the country, effectively doubling its current capacity.

BAC partnered with BMD Group, CPB Contractors, Jan de Nul and McConnell Dowell to deliver the new runway. In total, up to 675 people worked directly on the project during the peak period, with 90 per cent of project employees living in South East Queensland. Aside from the hundreds of construction jobs already created, it has

been estimated that by 2035 the new runway will lead to the creation of 7,800 new jobs and contribute an additional $5 billion in annual economic benefit to the region. For travellers, this project will also lead to a greater choice in airlines, destinations and flight times.

EIGHT YEARS IN THE MAKING

Eight years sounds like a long time to build a runway, but this complex project was constructed on difficult ground conditions which added an extra layer of work in order to create a flat, solid and reliable base. The new runway is located at sea level on what was historically the Brisbane River delta. As a result, the underlying soil is made up of very soft, waterlogged mud and silt.

Every development at the airport has been through a process of engineered compression to form a solid base before building up. Typically, this involves placing sand (or similar material) on the site to compress the soils below to the required firmness.

On the new runway site, 11 million cubic metres of sand was dredged from an approved location in Moreton Bay and placed on the site at varying heights depending on the softness of the underlying soils. It was left to settle and compact over a four-year period (2014-2018).

Paul Coughlan, Project Director of the New Parallel Runway Project at Brisbane Airport Corporation, said one of the key project challenges was locating such a large volume of sand within Moreton Bay without adversely impacting the environment.

“We did extensive mapping of seagrass, the dugong areas, the turtle areas, and the commercial and recreational fishing areas, and prepared a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for presentation to the public prior to the Australian Government’s consideration for approval,” Mr Coughlan said.

“Overall, the scientific studies indicated that large-scale sand

extraction in northern Moreton Bay was highly unlikely to result in major environmental impacts.”

Mr Coughlan said that the commercial dredging contractor advised using very fine sand – 250 microns. The sand was extracted from the Middle Banks area of Moreton Bay with a trailer suction hopper dredge, transported to a designated mooring site in the Brisbane River and pumped to the runway site via a 5km purpose-built pipeline.

“The sand was vital to provide a stable platform to enable the construction of the runway pavements,” Mr Coughlan commented.

During the four-year process, some areas of the site settled as much as three metres. While this process was underway, the project team moved onto finalising the design and layout of the runway pavements.

“During the pavement design phase, we spent a lot of time analysing all the rock quarries within 60km of Brisbane, because transport cost is always one of the biggest challenges,” Mr Coughlan said.

“For instance, we required 1.2 million cubic metres of rock. It wasn’t just a matter of finding a quarry with suitable rock, but also identifying the transport routes to the airport. We obviously didn’t want a lot of heavy trucking going

through community and school areas.

“It was like assembling a recipe and choosing ingredients that had the right quality and the right cost while minimising community disruption. Once we had all the ingredients, building the pavement was reasonably straightforward.”

INNOVATION IN PAVEMENT PRODUCTION

Mr Coughlan said that the new runway features a flexible asphalt pavement, which is particularly suited to the poor ground conditions at the airport.

“We used asphalt on the existing runway, which has been there more than 30 years, and it performed really well,” Mr Coughlan said.

“Despite putting a lot of effort into surcharging and stabilising, at Brisbane Airport we get continual settlement. We’re forecasting over the next 40 years that we’ll have average settlements of 200mm after the new runway opens, compared to 300–400mm that has occurred on the existing runway since it opened some 30 years ago. Asphalt is better at adjusting to those subtle changes.”

In addition to pavement material innovations, the lighting at the runway was also forward-thinking, with BAC using LED lighting in the airfield as well as the Dryandra Road underpass.

“The Dryandra Road underpass is one of the first major underpasses where we changed the lighting specifications after we had started construction, as a result of industry developing LED lights that could meet all the visibility requirements in that underpass,” Mr Coughlan said.

“In terms of the airfield, we’ve also made sure that we’re running a full LED system out there. In due course, we’ll start to upgrade our existing runway and taxiway system to have LED lighting.”

The LED lights are much more energy efficient, which not only saves money, but also reduces carbon emissions and demand on the wider network.

“For example, the system can actually detect how much light is coming into the Dryandra Road underpass and adjust the LED lights accordingly, which uses a lot less power,” Mr Coughlan said.

“From a resilience point of view, the whole world is moving to LED lighting. The suppliers of the old HPS lights will probably start to phase them out over the next five to ten years, and we didn’t want to have to retrofit more modern lighting in a decade’s time.

“We’ve also heard from pilots that LED lighting is less harsh on the eyes. While it’s a very distinct light glow and beautifully sharp, it doesn’t cause squinting or a glint in the eye.”

One of the final steps in the pavement production process is line-marking, and Mr Coughlan said that the new runway utilised several innovations to improve the effectiveness of this process.

“Traditionally, a surveyor would go out with what we call a chainman, and mark everything out with a little spray can before the line-marking took place. Our contractor trialled – for one of the first times at an airport in Australia – a robot,” Mr Coughlan said.

“The operator used an iPad to mark out every line in the system, and with our satellite technology and GPS these days being so accurate, the tiny robot just went to work. What would typically take about five weeks to mark out only took a week.

“The second innovation is the paint itself. We’re using what’s called glass beading, which gives the paint more fluorescence. It offers enhanced visibility for the pilots, particularly at night or when it’s raining, which can make it challenging for the pilots to really see where the lines are.”

BIGGEST LEARNING DURING CONSTRUCTION

Looking back over eight years of work, Mr Coughlan said that some of the most significant things he learnt during the project revolved around the delivery framework, relationships between designers and contractors, and collaboration and communication.

“When I look back, number one, my board and senior management backed us to have a client delivery team. So, we actually decided that we would project manage this whole delivery ourselves. We made sure we had really good skillsets in our team, covering all the major design and construction areas,” Mr Coughlan said.

“I think the relationship framework that we set up with the designers and contractors was outstanding. We decided that right from day one we would have a governance framework that really drove collaboration. One of the outstanding successes that we’ve heard back from our contractors over the eight years, is the relationship framework that BAC, its design engineers, and the contractors operated to. That to me was one of the main contributors to this project being successful.”

Mr Coughlan said the project also set some of the highest safety achievements for contractors while minimising disruption to airport operations, which all came back to having good communication measures in place across the entire project.

“We never disrupted the airport. We were building this right adjacent to live airfields, and we had no outage as a result of this construction. If you look at our on-airport tenants, we always made sure that they were aware if construction work was going to be occurring and updated them about what it would involve, and if things were taking longer than anticipated, or finding a few challenges, which you always do. It was about really opening up those communication lines.

“It comes down to collaboration and communication. I think if you can get everyone aligned on what success means, and as I said, it means different things to different parties. I think that’s what pleases me the most; it is we didn’t just see this as just let’s get this thing built on time, on budget, to the quality. It meant a lot more than that,” Mr Coughlan said.

THE GAP AT HARWOOD BRIDGING

The road ahead is looking safer and more efficient for vehicles crossing the Clarence River at Harwood, NSW, with the completion of a new bridge. The 1.5km bridge, which is the highest and longest crossing in the Woolgoolga to Ballina upgrade project, will eliminate the stopping of main traffic flow that the existing 1966 liftspan bridge required for vessels to make their way up and down the river.

The Pacific Highway Upgrade Project is Australia’s largest regional road infrastructure project and the Woolgoolga to Ballina upgrade is the final link in the Pacific Highway between Hexham and the Queensland border to be upgraded to four lanes.

Col Solomon, Transport for NSW Senior Project Manager for the bridge, has been working on the Pacific Highway upgrade since 1997 and said that what was once the site of heavy traffic build up is now a safe and efficient section of road. In time, this upgrade will contribute to regional growth, economic development and efficiencies in freight movements due to shorter travel times.

“The safety benefits and engineering achievements realised on a project of this magnitude will serve the people of NSW and Australia well for many decades to come,” Mr Solomon said.

THE ROAD TO PROGRESS

The Woolgoolga to Ballina project is being delivered by Transport for NSW through their delivery partner Pacific Complete, which is a joint venture between Laing O’Rourke and WSP.

Transport for NSW, Pacific Complete, and its contractor partners worked together under the Woolgoolga to Ballina upgrade project framework to deliver the new bridge, which was procured using a standard design and construct contract.

Mr Solomon said the main contractor was Pacifico, a joint venture between Acciona and Ferrovial, and the designer was ARUP, based out of its Sydney office.

“The collaboration and methodology applied on the project allowed for a wider breadth of skills and resources contributing to the successful delivery of the project,” Mr Solomon said.

According to Simon Cross, Pacific Complete’s Section Manager for the bridge, the second crossing of the Clarence River at Harwood is one of the most significant elements of the Woolgoolga to Ballina Upgrade Project.

“We needed to construct a bridge with two lanes in each direction 30m above the Clarence River,” Mr Cross said.

“This allows current and future motorway traffic between Sydney and Brisbane to cross the river without interruption from maritime traffic, unlike

the existing bridge which opens to allow tall vessels to pass through.”

While the old liftspan bridge over Clarence River served its purpose for an impressive 53 years, highway traffic came to an abrupt halt when the bridge lifted for vessels on the river. This led to traffic delays of up to ten minutes with vehicles queuing for between 500m to 1km. The new bridge’s impressive height and grading means that this problem can be completely eliminated for those using the new bridge.

The new bridge is situated 25m east of the existing bridge and runs parallel to it. The location provides many benefits, with the existing motorway and local road infrastructure alignments able to be reused, therefore minimising the amount of new site clearance and infrastructure required.

“The piers of the new bridge mirror those of the existing bridge, minimising the impact on marine traffic and reducing the degree of riverbed scour. It also enabled full compliance with the urban design and landscape plan for the project,” Mr Cross explained.

BUMPS IN THE ROAD

While both Mr Solomon and Mr Cross agree that an emphasis on face-to-face communication between all stakeholders made for an effective working relationship, projects of this size often face major challenges, with the bridge being no exception.

“Raising 44 girders weighing 176 tonnes each from flat top barges to their final resting place 30m above the Clarence River required the use of a 750 tonne crawler crane operating in superlift configuration,” Mr Cross said.

“This involved detailed planning by our own experienced team members and those from specialist marine contractor, Brady Marine and Civil.”

Another essential part of the project was setting up the onsite reinforced concrete precasting and posttensioning facility.

“This massive factory production line manufactured the 144 main U girders, each weighing 176 tonnes, before a second production stream made the bridge parapet units,” Mr Cross said.

“The combined teams drove a continual improvement agenda for the facility and this ensured the high quality of these precast concrete components.”

Many environmental concerns were also factored into the project’s design and construction.

“The new bridge is located in an area of soft soils, with a high acid sulphate content,” Mr Cross said.

“The design of the piles was chosen to reduce the amount of soil displaced and exposed, utilising reinforced concrete infilled steel tubular piles.

“This allowed the contractor to pitch and drive the piles both onshore and in the Clarence River with the minimum of disturbance to the ground.

“The design of the expansion joints was reviewed in great detail and ultimately led to the selection and procurement of a modular expansion joint fitted with sinus plates to reduce traffic noise.

“This is the first time this system has been used in Australia and we believe it has led to a better outcome for the people of Harwood.”

THE IMPACT OF INNOVATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE

With the complexity of the bridge project and the many elements involved in its construction, the team needed to employ innovative processes to make the project as time and cost-efficient as possible.

Geophysical survey techniques employed during the first stages of investigation work provided early data about the rock strata below the bridge and added to the foundation design.

“This was subsequently verified using data gathered by using traditional geotechnical investigation rigs mounted on jack up barges,” Mr Cross said.

“We were able to reduce the number of traditional bore holes, resulting in cost and time savings.”

A technique used to control ‘hogging’, or upward curvature of the main 44-metre-long girders, was also used. This involved a two stage post tensioning process in which the girders were lifted out of the moulds in the precast factory the day following casting as part of the first stage.

“The second stage of post tensioning was then delayed until the marine section was ready for the girders in the river,” Mr Cross said.

These innovative construction techniques have led to a bridge that was completed and fully functional by late 2019, making a significant impact on the local population and achieving a huge milestone in the Woolgoolga to Ballina Upgrade Project.

While the new bridge will improve efficiencies, the original structure has heritage associated with it and will remain as an essential connection between Maclean, Yamba and Harwood. It also retains the only footpath and cycleway across the river.

With the old and new working together, the crossing of the Clarence River at Harwood has never been easier. This, paired with the design ingenuity and complex construction of the huge bridge project, makes this section of the upgrade a particularly significant one, and one that Mr Cross is clearly passionate about.

“I believe that the new bridge is by far the most iconic structure of the Woolgoolga to Ballina upgrade,” Mr Cross said.

The bridge is the highest and longest crossing in the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway upgrade, which includes 170 bridges

144

Key project facts

170 BRIDGES GIRDERS KM PIERS PILES METRES

It has 144 concrete girders which were built at an onsite precast yard, each weighing up to 168 tonnes

• CANOPY

TUBES

The bridge spans 1.5km with 620m of this distance being over water

1.5 35 117 30

It has 35 piers, including 13 in the Clarence River

133 Bluestone Circuit, Seventeen Mile Rocks, QLD, 4073

Tel: +61 7 3714 5700

Fax: +61 7 3715 8813

Email: info@hmi.com.au

Web: www.hmi.com.au

• BOLTING & TUNNELLING

• CUTTER HEAD

It has 117 marine and land piles

The bridge deck features a gradual rise to allow for the shipping lane maximum height of 30m above water level

FEATURES SCHEDULE

Road and Traffic Tunnels

Concrete Cranes & heavy lifting

Safety and risk management Freight and logistics

Sustainability Asset Management

Security and critical infrastructure Ports

Asset inspection & drones/UAVs

March 2021

Road

Rail

Signalling,

Condition monitoring and maintenance

Software, communications and connectivity

Deadline: TBC

AusRail Airports

IoT & cloud communication Landscaping and vegetation management

Corrosion Disaster management

Machine learning Recycling and waste management

June 2021

Smart cities Earthmoving outlook

Deadline: TBC

Noise and vibration Bridges

Automated and electric vehicles

Urban development Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)

Road surfacing and design, and flexible pavements

DISTRIBUTION (TBC) CORE 2021

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