Two projects on which leading firm Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) played a key role have been recognised at the International Water Association’s 2012 Global Project Innovation Awards.
To be formally presented in September during the World Water Congress in Busan, South Korea, the Project Innovation Awards recognise and celebrate innovation and excellence in water engineering projects across the globe.
In partnership with Sydney Water, SKM won the Global Grand Honour Award for the Planning Category of the 2012 IWA Global Project Innovation Awards (PIA) for its work on the Critical Water Mains Project in Sydney.
And, as part of the Hinze Dam Alliance consisting of Thiess, URS and Seqwater, the firm won a Global Grand Honour Award in the Marketing and Communications Category for its work on the Hinze Dam Stage 3 upgrade in Queensland.
The Hinze Dam Upgrade had three aims; increase water storage capacity, increase dam safety to current standards and deliver improved flood mitigation in the lower Nerang River, providing increased flood protection for more than 3,000 homes downstream from the dam.
An enquiry-by-design approach was adopted to seek stakeholder input on project designs, resulting in stronger project acceptance and superior designs for the dam wall, road network and facilities.
This has been the first Australian water engineering project to directly allow the community to contribute to a dam spillway and embankment design.
On the Critical Water Mains Project, SKM worked in a collaborative team arrangement with Sydney Water to develop and implement a robust, sustainable and “world leading” risk based asset management strategy for defined Critical Water Mains (CWMs).
The strategy is founded on the development of an asset management decision tool to quantitatively assess pipeline failure risk (probability and consequence of failure) targeted at individual assets.
This asset management tool has been developed so that it allows for the timely intervention by a water utility, in this case Sydney Water, to take appropriate action to “prevent failure” and therefore reduce overall failure rates along with the consequential impacts.
A feature was the development of a process that transparently demonstrates to regulators (e.g. IPART) that there is a robust and economically efficient way in which to develop prudent, reasonable and justifiable CWM expenditure programs linked with a clear strategy and defined performance objectives.
“With our clients, we are delighted to have been honoured in such a significant way on the global stage,” said Mark Clarke, General Manager, Water & Environment at SKM.
“It is recognition of the innovation and value that our people bring to our clients’ projects on an almost daily basis, and demonstrates our ability to continue delivering outstanding outcomes,” he said.
Earlier this year, both projects won their respective categories at the Asia Pacific Project Innovation Awards which were presented during Singapore International Water Week.
More about Sinclair Knight Merz
Sinclair Knight Merz is a leading projects firm, with global capability in strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery. It operates across the Asia Pacific, the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, deploying some 7,000 people from more than 40 offices.
