Katarapko Floodplain Inundation Measures (FIM) Wins Major Construction Award

Congratulations to the Department for Environment and Water (DEW), SA Water and Fulton Hogan for winning the CCF Earth Award (SA) ($30M – $75M category) for the Katarapko Floodplain Inundation Measures (FIM) project.

The Katarapko FIM project is a priority floodplain and Basin Plan Key Environment Asset (KEA) important for the environmental health and resilience of wetlands and floodplains in the South Australian Riverland region. The project was managed by DEW and delivered in partnership with SA Water, with Fulton Hogan as lead contractor.

It involved construction of a series of flow regulating structures and elevated blocking bank on the floodplain within a sensitive and expansive environmental area. Katarapko features over 9,500 hectares of black box, red gum and lignum covered floodplains and wetlands alive with aquatic bird species.

The project provides long-term, systemic benefits for the community.

Pictured (L to R) is: Jon Mikuzis (SA Water), Mark Vince (Fulton Hogan, GM Water, Power and Gas), Scott Machell (Fulton Hogan, Project Manager), Rebecca Pickering (CCF, Director of Apprenticeships, Training and Employment)

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NOC contracts knock it out of the park

This year has seen a fundamental shift in our Network Outcome Contract (NOC) performance. For the first time, Fulton Hogan has achieved six “outstanding” results across our NOC contracts, placing us top six overall. This includes Northland, Wellington, West Waikato North, Nelson, West Coast, and Central Otago.

In 2020, we submitted six “outstandings” and, while moderation was very tough, we achieved outstanding across all six contracts – our best ever result on our NOCs. With more than 80 score adjustments made by the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) moderation team, this has been the hardest yet.

The West Coast NOC placed first, with a score of 3.69, the highest score ever achieved. “Team work is an essential part of our contract. It’s fair to say I am proud of the team,” says West Coast NOC Contract Manager Peter Anderson.

In 2018, the teams were set the target of achieving 50% of the top performing contracts – they have exceeded this. They are also on track for 100% programme achievements.

The “outstanding” results come through collaborative working, and a new drive to achieve this target. For the last two years, Contract Performance Engineer Kelly Churchill has been providing national support across all the contracts, identifying gaps in performance and assisting with the implementation of consistent processes.

“This is an incredible outcome due to the hard work and excellent efforts put into compliance and performance by all those working on the contracts, and our national support team,” says Kelly.

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Kicking goals to encourage more women in construction

If there’s one thing Iilish Ross believes you need to be an elite athlete, it’s the feeling of certainty. The rising AFLW halfback said it’s difficult to play your best when you’re worried how you will pay next week’s rent.

So, when statistics revealed that employment for women would be the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Iilish was relieved she had found certainty in a partnership between the Victorian Government’s Level Crossing Removal Project, Fulton Hogan and the Richmond Football Club.

The partnership has not only allowed her to focus on her football training this year through flexible employment, but also allowed her to continue to raise the flag for women in construction.

It’s predicted that women will be disadvantaged by the slow economic recovery, with more than double the amount of men able to return to work by the end of October. This is because the industries and businesses reopening first are traditionally male dominated, construction is one of these industries.

Iilish has spent the last six months seeing her friends and AFLW teammates stress over keeping a job. She wants to see more women enter construction and be role models, encouraging greater gender equality.

“A lot of my friends, especially those who play in the AFLW, have been concerned as their work dries up due to restrictions and it doesn’t look like they will return to work for quite a while,” Illish said.

“But I’ve been really blessed to be able to work in construction during this time at the Level Crossing Removal Project’s Cardinia Road site. It’s kept me in a strong routine and motivated me when football has to take a back foot this year.”

Statistics show that women currently only represent 11 per cent of the entire construction workforce in Australia, Illish would love to see those numbers rise as many look at new career opportunities in the wake of COVID-19.

She said there were many benefits to working in the industry, and with more barriers into being removed with the introduction of flexible working hours women should embrace being on a construction site. “I love the job. I’m always learning something new, or doing something different. I’ve never felt intimidated on site or felt I had to prove myself because I was a female. It’s a really welcoming environment to be in.”

Fulton Hogan Alliance Manager Dean Riha said the alliance has a focus on developing and encouraging more women to enter the construction industry. Fulton Hogan’s partnership with the Richmond Football Club, and subsequent support of its Women’s Football Program, not only provides opportunities for more women to enter the construction industry, but gives the flexibility and financial means for female footballers to focus on their training.

“By offering flexible career pathways within our business we are also providing the industry with role models for young women and school-aged children to aspire to. This will help boost awareness of viable career options for women in construction, and that can only be a good thing for the industry and our workforce,” said Dean.

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Industry briefing for South Australian businesses

Businesses across South Australia are encouraged to attend a virtual industry briefing for Zone 2 of the South Australian DIT Road Maintenance Contracts.

 

Those wishing to attend can register online – click here.

 

The briefing will be hosted by the successful contractor, Fulton Hogan.

Zone 2, the southern zone, covers a large portion of the state, spanning from Port Wakefield across to Renmark in the Riverland, down to Mt Gambier and back across to Victor Harbor – covering approximately 5,800 kilometres of sealed roads. Work on the contract will begin on the 2^nd of November 2020.

Fulton Hogan Infrastructure Services CEO, Matthew MacMahon, said the virtual industry briefing was an opportunity for businesses across South Australia to find out more about the maintenance program and register their interest in providing goods and services.

“We currently employ 400 South Australians, contributing more than $350 million per year to the local economy across our civil maintenance infrastructure services, utilities and construction activities”, he said.

“One of the biggest benefits of this program of works will be the opportunity for local companies to be involved in supporting its delivery.”

Mr MacMahon added “We encourage suppliers, subcontractors, service providers, social enterprise and Aboriginal businesses to join us at the online briefing to learn more about the maintenance program and find out how they can get involved.”

Fulton Hogan will also be hosting 15-minute one-on-ones with interested businesses (numbers limited) allowing them to share details about their capacity and areas of expertise with the project team and have any questions answered.

The virtual industry briefing will take place at 11am (SA time) on Tuesday, 13 October.  It will run for approximately one hour.

Registrations close Friday, 9 October. Please register at the link on the top of this post.

 

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Bottling innovation

Halting the exports of recycling waste is having a mountainous impact, with growing piles of bottles looking for a home across Australia. With this problem, though, comes an opportunity.

“People have been frantically trying to solve this problem, and one of the obvious solutions is to recycle glass back to what it was originally – sand,” says Ben Hayward, GM Infrastructure Services, Eastern Region.

Sand typically makes up between 10% and 15% of asphalt by mass. It is often transported large distances to urban sites – often more than 100 kilometres – adding a considerable carbon emission burden on the environment. Fulton Hogan has been working with Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) to modify asphalt mixes to include crushed glass as a sand substitute in asphalt, allowing the raw material to be sourced much closer to where it’s needed.

In recognition of Fulton Hogan’s leadership in this space, the company has been awarded a A$250,000 grant from the NSW Government to upgrade its Eastern Creek asphalt plant, and a further A$236,000 grant to use recycled glass in asphalt on the Albion Park Rail bypass project.

This project is a NSW Environmental Protection Authority, Waste Less Recycle More Initiative funded from the waste levy

Albion Park Rail bypass is a marquee site for the use of crushed glass in New South Wales. On the project, being delivered by Fulton Hogan Construction on behalf of TfNSW, crushed glass will make up to 10% of the base course, by mass. This means between two thirds and three quarters of the sand used in the structural asphalt layers on the project will have originated as recycled glass.

Fulton Hogan has undertaken detailed laboratory testing of particle sizes and grading envelopes, and has optimised the asphalts mix properties for the recycled glass. This blend ensures high performance results are achieved under various test methods.

An additional feeder and conveyor has been added to the Fulton Hogan Eastern Creek asphalt plant, enabling glass to be blended along with recycled asphalt (RAP), thus maximising the amount of recycled product being incorporated into the end product. “We didn’t want the addition of crushed glass to be at the expense of our use of RAP, and we are happily able to use maximum levels of both in the mix whilst maintaining the high performance levels required under our specifications,” says Ben.

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Fulton Hogan takes it to 100 percent

Australasia’s first ‘B100’ truck – designed to run on 100 percent biofuel – is now on the roads around Christchurch. The Volvo is running on GreenFuels® biodiesel, produced at Fulton Hogan’s Christchurch GreenFuels® facility.

Driver Brendon Congalton says it’s been turning quite a few heads, thanks to some powerful graphics developed by Fulton Hogan’s signs division, Signs and Graphics. Despite driving what is effectively a ‘mobile billboard’ for sustainability, Brendon says it’s the “clean as a whistle” exhaust pipe that catches his eye most.

Canterbury Regional Manager Stephen Lowe said the visibility of the vehicle around Canterbury will help raise awareness of the steps Fulton Hogan is taking with biofuel. But it’s equally an opportunity to work with companies like Volvo.

“We’d like to understand as much about biofuels use as we’re learning about making and distributing GreenFuels®.”

 

 

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Where there’s muck there’s class.

Fulton Hogan’s East Coast SQTE advisor Kylee Martin devised the Worksite Waste Challenge for her East Coast team– a challenge to staff to make something useful out of waste from the yard.

The winning entry was by the drainage team, using old pipes to create ‘Fountain‘. Fountain comes complete with a water pump, causing water to cascade from one pipe to the next. It’s been so admired the plan is to auction it for charity.

Other leading contenders included Kylee’s own entry ‘Dog‘, and ‘Bulldozer‘ by Signs Inspector Cheyenne Walsh. Appropriately enough, Bulldozer’s body is made from an old road sign.

And the contents of Kylee’s Dog? A ring-binder providing the ears; a pineapple can its head; a coffee container its body; the feet are wheels from an old chair; the eyes are the pull chords from an expired fire extinguisher; the nose the cover off a car battery anode; the tail an old aerial and the necklace is from a Christmas cracker.

With no need to exercise, feed, walk, wash or take it to the vet, Dog might catch on.

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First biodiesel facility opens in the North Island

Wednesday, 29 July, marked the opening of the new truckstop facility at the Fulton Hogan Reliable Way office. The truckstop development forms part of our bulk fuel facility roll out, led by corporate procurement focusing on the environmental and operational benefits to the business.

With the Fulton Hogan Board present, Chairman, Dean Hamilton, had the pleasure of cutting the ribbon on the new fuel facility comprising of two, 30,000 litre tanks holding B100 from Greenfuels and mineral diesel supplied by our bulk fuel preferred supplier Allied Petroleum.

The facility offers refuelling from both sides, with three fuel pumps that can deliver the biodiesel blend.

This marks a significant milestone for Fulton Hogan and Greenfuels, as this is the first biodiesel facility in the North Island. It enables the Auckland regional business, to further reduce its carbon emission focusing on the 2025 goal of reducing carbon emissions by 25%.

GreenFuels specialises in providing New Zealand with biodiesel, a less-hazardous, environmentally friendly fuel that can directly replace conventional petroleum diesel needs. It’s made right here in New Zealand, offering a fuel alternative that can really make a difference. The biodiesel is made from 100% recycled vegetable oil, refined it in our Christchurch factory and then bulk shipped to Auckland in partnership with Allied Pretroleum.

Representatives from Watercare Services Limited Enterprise Model were also present. Pictured with Dean Hamilton is Anna Mogridge, Agile Lead for Watercare Enterprise Model P1st Team. The Enterprise Model has a bold carbon reduction target of 40% relating to construction carbon across the $2.4BN programme over the next ten years with biodiesel playing a significant part in realising this target.

 

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Another milestone for Fulton Hogan’s WestConnex operation and maintenance contract – Sydney

July 5 2020 marked another milestone for Fulton Hogan Egis O&M Pty Ltd (FHEO&M) on Australia’s largest road infrastructure project – Sydney’s WestConnex.

With the opening of WestConnex Stage 2, the M8, the operations and maintenance contract and incident response services on Sydney’s brand-new motorway tunnel officially began.

The 9km twin tunnels connecting the M5 at Kingsgrove to a new interchange at St Peters add to the growing list of the WestConnex network now maintained and serviced by FHEO&M.

FHEO&M is already overseeing the following sections of WestConnex opened over the past 3 years:

• WestConnex M4, consisting of the 5.5 km New M4 Tunnels (since 2019) and the 7.5 km M4 Widening project (since 2017)
• M5 East, a 10 km motorway including two 4 km tunnels and a smaller 550 metre tunnel (since early 2020)
• WestConnex M8, 9km of twin tunnel and open motorway interchange and ramps (since 5 July 2020)

The latest section provides motorists with a 9km traffic-light free link between the Sydney suburbs of Kingsgrove and St Peters. It forms part of the New South Wales Government’s integrated transport solution designed to ease congestion and keep Sydney moving. The tunnel is equipped with cameras that are monitored 24/7 with 100% coverage with an Incident Response team on standby to assist motorists.

Since the start of construction in 2016, FHEO&M has worked closely with WestConnex | Transurban, who are responsible for delivery and operations of this $4.3 billion legacy project. Involvement of the operations and maintenance provider during the design and construct phases of the project have ensured long-term maintenance requirements were taken into consideration.

Since its incorporation in December 2015, FHEO&M has expanded into an organisation with over 100 employees and developed strong in-house capabilities in maintenance, asset management, incident response and traffic management. It was awarded the operations and maintenance contract in early 2020.

The successful integration of the WestConnex M8 operational and maintenance responsibilities into the WestConnex network maintained under the contract further cement Fulton Hogan’s standing as one of Australia’s premier infrastructure maintenance and asset management providers. Working in partnership with a world leading tunnel operator, we are safely and effectively maintaining a crucial motorway network.

For more information about WestConnex, please visit our client’s project homepage.

Image courtesy of WestConnex | Transurban

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Key milestone for Waimea Community Dam

The diversion outlet of the Waimea Community Dam is due to be completed in August, allowing work to begin on the dam’s embankment in September.

The first major dam project in New Zealand in more than 25 years, it is being built by Fulton Hogan and Taylors Contracting for Tasman District Council and Waimea Irrigators Ltd to irrigate the fruit, vegetables, hops and grapes of the Waimea Plains.

A major focus over recent weeks has been ensuring a stable base, ensuring water tightness on rock that is naturally highly foliated (fissured). To this end, a stable grout mix is being injected up to 35 metres into the ground, and the base rock painstakingly cleaned and any loose material removed. Such was the intensity of this process that the rock on which the dam will be built was hand cleaned by a 20-person team at an average of one square metre per person per hour.

“With so many people working on their hands and knees it had all the appearances of an archaeological dig,” Fulton Hogan’s structures manager Matt Loach says.

Due to be completed in March 2022, the dam itself will be 180 metres wide at the base, six metres wide at the crest with an overall height of 55 metres.  It will 220 metres long at the top and 80 metres at the base, and the reservoir will hold 13 million cubic metres of water.

Pictured, from left, is construction manager Dean Quickenden, structures manager Matt Loach and Fulton Hogan’s general manager, construction Justin Mcdowell. They are standing in front of the first 120 tonne telescopic crawler GTC-1200 crane in New Zealand, purchased for the project. The JV also has one of the largest excavators available, a 90 tonne Hitachi 890.

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