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Month: October 2019

Lendlease: Empowering Communities Through Authentic Engagement

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EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES THROUGH AUTHENTIC ENGAGEMENT

To register for the Southern Program Alliance Site Tour, click here.

At Lendlease, we are proud of how we build assets that reflect community input.

We strive to leave positive impacts, from great environmental outcomes to important social legacies.

The Level Crossing Removal Project’s (LXRP) Southern Program Alliance (SPA), consisting of Lendlease, Acciona Coleman Rail, WSP, Metro Trains Melbourne and LXRP is an excellent example of what can be achieved when construction companies include key stakeholders in the design process.

The Traditional Owners of the land on which we are delivering level crossing removal projects along the Frankston train line have strong cultural connections to the sites. With Bunurong Land Council, Boon Wurrung Foundation and Wurundjeri Land Council, SPA developed an Aboriginal Cultural Competency Framework to demonstrate its commitment to authentic and meaningful engagement with the Aboriginal community.

This framework helped drive opportunities to leave legacies that resonate with the community. The framework was endorsed by the Alliance Leadership Team with the Alliance Principal, Aboriginal Affairs Allan Murray acting as a key champion.

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During the design phase of the Carrum and Seaford project, Allan Murray facilitated workshops with Traditional Owners, artists, community leaders, WSP’s Aboriginal architect and SPA architects COX, to discuss what Aboriginal features could be incorporated into the design. Concept plans were developed that focused on the traditional values of the land and the embedding of the Aboriginal Cultural Design principals.

A SPA Cultural Competence Continuum (CCC) was engaged to ensure that Aboriginal cultural values are successfully embedded, and legacies created. This CCC assists SPA to embed values, not only from design but also from a behavioral perspective. This way, Aboriginal design principals and opportunities become business as usual rather than an afterthought. SPA is also working towards a SPA Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), with champions identified from across the team.

Implementation of the framework, CCC, and RAP have resulted in many design outcomes that will  result in meaningful representation of Aboriginal cultural values. A few of these opportunities include:

  • Construction of a yarning circle and urban marker at Patterson River, Carrum
  • Aboriginal mural art at Seaford Road, Seaford
  • Renaming of the Patterson River bridge as the Karrum Karrum Bridge
  • Integration of Aboriginal ceremony throughout the project lifecycle.

While all design outcomes are meaningful, the construction of the urban marker and yarning circle urban marker is particularly significant. The yarning circle is a traditional space that is used to pass on cultural practices and values, while the marker is embedded with diamond patterns, a symbol of unity for the Bunurong people. The marker has an aluminum frame and features wedge-tailed eagle designs, a recognition of Bunjil, believed by the Bunurong people, to be the spiritual creator of the bay.

These features are leaving a significant legacy through which Traditional Owners can tell their forever story and share their culture with the wider community.

At the official opening of the Karrum Karrum space during NAIDOC Week in July 2019, Bunurong Land Council’s Uncle Shane said, “I think it’s fitting to be able to come together in NAIDOC Week. This is about people coming together and celebrating our culture, our history, and the achievement of our people. Coming together, black and white, hand in hand, going forward together”.

Please join us on a site tour on 15 October as part of the 2019 ISCA Conference to see what the project has been able to achieve in just a few short months.

You can also purchase your #ISCACONNECT Conference and Awards tickets, right here! 

thinkstep anz: Think Outside The Loop: Beyond The Circular Economy

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Barbara Nebel, CEO, thinkstep ANZ
Think Outside The Loop: Beyond The Circular Economy
We are hearing more and more about the circular economy as a way to reduce our impact on the environment by getting the most use out of materials.
Steel is often cited as a great example of a circular product, due to its recyclability and the option to reuse elements when “design for deconstruction” principles are applied.
The circular economy also has economic benefits – to reduce the need to produce new materials, and the associated cost, we can reuse what has already been produced. However, to truly reduce our impact on the environment, we need data to inform our decisions and must look beyond a purely circular approach and take other environmental impacts into account too.
Comparing Tomatoes With Tomatoes 

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Stepping away from the hard structure of steel for a moment to something much more fragile: the example I most often use, tomatoes, are often packaged in single-use plastic. A circular economy approach would first look at reducing packaging, or producing it using recycled materials.
However, the purpose of the packaging is to reduce food waste. Companies like Tesco have introduced strips containing ethylene remover to reduce how fast the tomatoes ripen, extending their shelf-life further. While this introduces another packaging element, it also means that fewer tomatoes have to be produced to meet demands, reducing the resources such as water, energy and fertiliser required to grow them.
If we compare the overall environmental impact of producing packaging against the reduced food waste, we quickly see that removing packaging altogether would actually increase the overall environmental impact of tomatoes.
If we then decide to produce the packaging using recycled materials, will we need to use more energy to manufacture the packaging, or more water to clean the plastic before it is recycled? Circular economy thinking will not tell us the whole story. We may run the risk of shifting environmental impacts from one part of the life cycle to another, increasing the overall footprint of the product.
This is where Life Cycle Assessments come in – they help us crunch the numbers that we need in order to inform circular economy decisions. LCAs look at the entire life cycle of a product, from production, through to use and disposal. This also includes the upstream and downstream processes associated with production (e.g. production of raw, auxiliary and operating materials) and disposal (e.g. waste treatment).
To come back to steel, InfraBuild formerly Liberty Steel or OneSteel produced Environmental Product Declarations on five of their products groups, which look at the full lifecycle of essential building blocks like Hot Rolled Structural Products and Reinforcing Rods, Bars and Wire.
When thinkstep prepared the Environmental Product Declaration for Infrabuild’s rebar product, we considered circularity using the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI), developed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, as an additional indicator to be part of the overall Environmental Product Declaration, next to the traditional environmental indicators such as global warming or energy use. The MCI looks at what proportion of a product is, or can be, reused. This gave Infrabuild a benchmark for their product circularity as well as identifying areas where they could improve their operations.

We identified that the greatest opportunity for improvement would be to increase the amount of recycled steel used in the rebar product.

Circular economy thinking has the advantage of being easy to grasp by suppliers and consumers. However, Life Cycle Assessments can make your circular economy approach more robust and credible by providing the data needed to make good decisions.
Barbara Nebel will be chairing the Circular Economy session of the ISCA 2019 Conference in Melbourne on Thursday 17 October.

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS HERE

2019 ISCA Awards Finalists Announced

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ISCA Awards Finalists Announced  

The ISCA Awards recognise and celebrate leaders in the infrastructure sustainability (IS) sector. There will be six awards presented on the evening, and certificates presented to IS Projects who have achieved an IS Rating.

We are very excited to announce the three (3) Awards finalists for each Award category;

The Individual Leadership in Infrastructure Sustainability Award  recognises the individual who best exhibits the most outstanding performance, leadership and greatest contribution to advancing infrastructure sustainability in Australasia throughout the past year.

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The Emerging Young Leadership in Infrastructure Sustainability Award recognises the young individual who best exhibits the most outstanding performance, leadership and greatest contribution to advancing infrastructure sustainability in Australasia throughout the past year.

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The IS Innovation and Impact Award  recognises the IS project/asset that exhibits the most outstanding implementation of an innovative practise/s and/or has made a significant positive impact socially, environmentally or economically.  This is awarded to the IS certified or registered project/asset with the most notable innovation initiative/activity relative to the scale of the project. Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society.
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The Organisational Leadership in Infrastructure Sustainability Award (private and public sector) recognises the organisation that exhibits the most outstanding performance, leadership and greatest contribution to advancing infrastructure sustainability in Australasia. Any organisation (funding and finance; project planning, development or procurement; design, construction and operation; and any direct service or material provider associated with infrastructure sustainability) can enter this category.

 

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Outstanding Achievement in Infrastructure Sustainability Award (Design) recognises the IS Project which achieved the highest Design IS Rating score. This Award will be announced on the 17 October 2019 during the ISCA Awards Gala Dinner.

Outstanding Achievement in Infrastructure Sustainability Award (As Built) recognises the IS Project which achieved the highest As Built IS Rating score. This Award will be announced on the 17 October 2019 during the ISCA Awards Gala Dinner.
You can purchase your ISCA Awards tickets, RIGHT HERE!

Meet the 2018 IS Award Judges

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Meet the 2018 IS Award Judges

The Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) Awards return for its fifth year. Hosted by Logie award winning comedian and star of Utopia, Dilruk Jayasinha, the awards are a celebration of the wonderful contribution of industry to sustainable infrastructure.

The judging panel, convened by ISCA CEO, Ainsley Simpson, is charged with carefully recognising leadership at an individual, project and organisational level. Made up of sustainability and industry experts, meet our judging panel for 2018;

  • Dr Steve Lennon – Vice-president of United Nations Association of Australia
  • Kate Meyrick – Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at The Hornery Institute
  • Nicole Bradford – Portfolio Head, Responsible Investment at Cbus Super Fund
  • Matt Willson – Associate Director – Sustainable Finance at Westpac Institutional Bank
  • Sue-Ellen Fenelon – Board member Engineering New Zealand

Honoured to be selected for the judging panel this year, Dr Steve Lennon believes “leadership in infrastructure sustainability is not just about recognising excellence, it also creates role models that we can all emulate in the quest for truly sustainable development.”

Similarly, CEO of the Hornery Institute, Kate Meyrick is happy to recognises leaders in sustainable infrastructure as it helps to “increase the competitiveness and liveability of our cities”.

This year, for the first time there will be six awards, four for the judges to preside over and two based on there IS rating score:

  • IS Individual Leadership Award – Recognising the individual who best exhibits the most outstanding performance, leadership and greatest contribution to advancing infrastructure sustainability in Australasia.
  • IS Emerging Individual Leader– Recognising potential future leaders aged 30 years or younger.
  • IS Organisational Leadership Award – This award recognises the organisation that exhibits the most outstanding performance, leadership and greatest contribution to advancing infrastructure sustainability in Australasia.
  • IS Innovation and Impact Award – Celebrating the infrastructure project which demonstrates the most impressive implementation of innovation.
  • IS Outstanding Achievement Award, Design– This award recognises the project which achieved the highest design rating between October 2017 – October 2018.
  • IS Outstanding Achievement Award, As Built– This award recognises the project which achieved the highest as built rating between October 2017 – October 2018.

Don’t miss out on this black-tie gala event:

https://www.isca.org.au/awards_ticket

Murray Bridge WWTP: Delivering Enduring Social Benefits to a Regional Community

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Murray Bridge Wastewater Treatment Plant: Delivering Enduring Social Benefits to a Regional Community

SA Water and John Holland are building a new $52 million Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and associated transfer infrastructure in the Murray Bridge region, a predominately agricultural area of the State located approximately 75km from Adelaide. The new plant will replace an ageing treatment plant commissioned in the 70’s which has experienced ongoing issues with odour, significantly affecting the quality of life of at least 750 residents, and at risk of environmental breaches through potential uncontrolled discharges into the River Murray. The use of novel and enhanced treatment process and odour control facilities will help minimise odour from the new plant and improve the liveability and well-being of the surrounding community.

Besides achieving strategic goals of economic efficiency and environmental performance, the project team has excelled at partnering with the local community. From inception, the project team has worked collaboratively and placed an emphasis on the creation of long-lasting community values through its associated investment. The project team understands that the legacy the project leaves in communities is just as important as the physical delivery of the infrastructure.  This is particularly relevant when young people in the Murray Bridge Local Government Area (LGA) are significantly disadvantaged educationally, socially and economically when compared against key indicators.  (School & Beyond Inc Environmental Scan, Murray Mallee region, 2011).

This project has not only strengthened the participation of local community in planning for improved sanitation but also supported regional economic growth and community well-being yielding several benefits, namely:

  • Provision of local employment and opportunities for local businesses. These local jobs drive economic growth and build stronger regional communities into the future; additionally, over 10% of workforce is from the local Ngarrindjeri aboriginal community.
  • Investment in leading technology (Moving Bed BioFilm Reactor treatment process) for a reliable, sustainable and resilient wastewater infrastructure, which supports economic development and human well-being.
  • Community connectedness through the delivery of school engagement programs and collaborative community educational and engagement programs including …
  • Investment in recreational, arts and cultural activities including the establishment of an urban landscape design in direct consultation with key stakeholders which is based on and represents the unique Ngarrindjeri culture and riverine history of the region.

Learnings include:

  1. Sound technical capacity and understanding of industry specific innovation and opportunities is crucial to assist clients achieve their sustainability targets and objectives in a rapidly evolving environment.
  1. Strong team collaboration allows understanding of the risks and opportunities across all disciplines and all stages of the project, resulting in an improved design and construction methodology.
  1. Open and frank communication on the project challenges, progress and achievements to  our key stakeholders and general community.
  1. Development of a strong stakeholder and community engagement strategy. Early planning engagement and ongoing consultation with stakeholders and community ensured that both the value and risk of the project are shared, understood and well managed.