Kings Avenue Overpass wins Construction Award
The $24million Kings Avenue Overpass has been recognised for its Construction Excellence in the annual Civil Contractors Federation (CCF) ACT Earth Awards.
Woden Contractors from Queanbeyan had fought off several major national construction firms to win the contract for the overpass which has become a landmark greeting for visitors to the national capital as well as making a huge difference to traffic flows for locals entering the parliamentary triangle.
The ACT CCF Earth Awards sponsored by Hitachi Construction Machinery, Refuelling Solutions and OAMPS Insurance Brokers, have long been recognised as the premiere awards for civil construction in Australia at the Canberra Hyatt.
“The primary feature of the project was the construction of a poured in-situ post-tensioned bridge structure with a span of 31 metres, replacing the previous at grade roundabout,” said Woden CEO Peter Middleton.
“Being a solid 1.2m thick slab with edge tapers but without internal voids, the deck weighed 4,000tonnes and at 1,530m3 is the largest bridge deck pour ever attempted within the ACT and surrounding districts,” Mr Middleton said.
“The pour required the coordinated actions of 3 concrete pumps, 2 batch plants, 30 concrete agitators and over 40 on-site workers – emergency back-up plans were in place in case of plant or equipment breakdown.”
CCF National President Ross Barrett said the achievement of Woden Contractors would certainly challenge some of the other Branch winners in its category for projects between $20 and $75million, when judged in the National Earth Awards later in the year. Civil sector members of the ACT Master Builders Association form the ACT Branch of the CCF.
Mr Barrett said ACT entrants had achieved national recognition several times in the Earth Awards and judges had been very impressed with the overall standard of work entered.
Other winners were in:
Category One for Projects up to $1million; Huon Management Services for the manufacture, delivery and installation of plexiglass bridge safety screens over Adelaide Avenue including modification to the existing bridge to accept the new screens.
This work represented a unique approach to bridge screening incorporating the design of public art which is highly visible on one of Canberra’s main traffic routes.
Category Two for Projects between $1 and $5million; Acclaim Contractors for the second stage of refurbishment of the foot paving and landscaping around London Circuit as part of the overall upgrade of the public realm in Civic Centre.
Construction included the supply and installation of high quality pedestrian paving to tight tolerances and intricate details on a very busy site where staging of the works, traffic management, stakeholder liaison and consultation were of major significance.
Category Three for Projects between $5 and $20million: Chincivil in constructing the Springbank Rise at Casey Stage 2 subdivision.
Bulk earthworks on the job moved some 105,000 cubic metres of earth for roads and services for 164 dwellings on a steeply sloping site.
The judging panel was impressed at the high quality of urban design, water sensitive urban designs, rock blasting and re-use of rock; and robust procedures for project planning, monitoring and testing and time and cost control.