Awards

Winner of the Utilities, Networks and Amenities Category

Transpower NZ Ltd Upper South island Grid Upgrade ISL-KIK B and BLN-STK A Foundation Strengthening

The third New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for New Zealand engineering professionals. The awards are presented in two major areas: Individual Awards, that recognise leadership, entrepreneurship, and our young engineers; and Category Awards, that recognise achievement in the various industry areas, together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Category winners.

The New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are hosted by a consortium of five partners and 10 contributing organisations. The partners are: Centre for Advanced Engineering (CAE); Association of Local Government Engineering New Zealand Incorporated (INGENIUM); Electricity Engineers Association of New Zealand (EEA); Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand (ACENZ); and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand Inc (IPENZ).

The judges comments in relation to the Awards for BBR Contech were as follows:

“Many top-level entries were projects that involved upgrading infrastructure or existing facilities. This often presented special engineering challenges as it is frequently harder to work with an existing facility than with a green field project. The constraints are greater, and there is a strong need for ingenuity and creative solutions, as well as the sensitivity to the existing situation. A prime example is the Supreme Award winner, the upgrade of Transpower’s grid in the upper South Island. The judges were particularly impressed with the creative way the project team managed the geotechnical demands of a very extended site. The project also scored highly in terms of the tight control of logistics, safety and quality in a difficult environment.” David Elms – Convenor Category Awards judging panel.

The citations in relation to the Supreme Award and Utilities, Networks and Amenities Award stated:

“The grid upgrade project scored highly on all judging criteria, and the judges unanimously agreed it was a truly excellent example of engineering at its best. Integrity of the power grid is vital to New Zealand’s economy and the project was clearly of significant national importance. The judges were particularly impressed by the calibre of the technical and logistical management over such an extended site. The project team successfully faced the challenging problem of getting personnel, materials and equipment to remote sites efficiently, under severe time pressure and in an unforgiving environment.”

“A variety of strengthening methods were developed for the range of sites involved, which were spread over 450 kilometres. Great care in planning and implementation was required to manage demanding environmental constraints, restricted communications channels and the need to work with live lines above the sites. The knowledge and experience gained through this remarkable project will undoubtedly be used in the future to help preserve the integrity of power transmission systems here and overseas.”