A dumped rubbish forum was held at Moreland City Council on Wednesday 10th August 2011. Over 80 public works professionals got together with the aim of sharing ideas on hitting hte dumped rusbbish problem experienced in our municipalites, waterways and rail corridors. Andrew MacKinnon Group Manager City Operations set the scene speaking about the City of Morelands “Looking Good 100 day Campaign”. Robyn Horner, Manager Statutory Compliance and Education at City of Kingston detailed City of Kingston’s experiences with combatting dumped rubbish.
Nerina Dilorenzo, Director City Infrastructure, City of Moreland, then lead a workshop looking at four issues:
1 – Why has dumped rubbish become such a big problem?
2 – What have you done at your Council or Organisation that has made a difference?
3 – What solutions would you like to try? No cost/low cost solutions, completely out of the box solutions?
4 – How do you change people’s behaviour on an issue like this?
City of Moreland is puting together a communique from the issues and solutions generated from the workshop and will circulate when finalised.
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Friday August 12th an IPWEAvic Leadership Series luncheon was held in conjunction with the North East Regional Group Meeting. Peter Harriott, General Manager Asset Development at spoke to the group around leadership in regional victoria.
He cited the key challenge for engineers is leadership and pointed out that the challenge to be better leaders can be met by:
-Consulting
- Simplifying the message
-Producing clear plans
-Learning how to communicate by reading the classics
-Displaying behaviour traits aligned with the blue zone
-Lead by example
-Be brave enough to critically monitor your performance
-And get out there and make a difference for your community
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The next IPWEAvic Leadership Series Business Luncheon is to be held on Friday 12th August 12noon to 2pm in Shepparton, 90 Welsford Street at the Council offices of Greater Shepparton City Council.
Peter Harriet will speak on leadership in regional areas. The Minster for Local Government, Hon Jeanette Powell, has been invited to attend if she can fit this into her busy schedule. RSVP by Wed 10th August for catering purposes would be appreciated.
Download flyer here
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The American Public Works Association is running a webinar on microtrenching on Thursday August 25th 4am Eastern Standard Time! Yes 4am so you may need to be keen. The webinar is scheduled for 11am on Wednesday 24th Agusut Pacific Time in USA and Canada (GMT -7hrs) which translates to 4am Melbourne Time (17 hours ahead). Here’s a bit about the webinar:
“To meet the ever-growing demand for bandwidth-consuming Internet applications, network service providers are rapidly deploying state-of-the-art fiber networks. Answering the call, utility installers are considering new and cost-effective installation options like microtrenching.
Microtrenching is an installation method in which a narrow (.75 to 2.25-inch) and relatively shallow trench (8 to 16 inches) is cut, typically on one side of a roadway. Then a vacuum system connected to the cutter wheel attachment diverts and transports the dry and dusty spoil away from the worksite. Once the conduit pipe is laid, the trench is backfilled with a grout compound. An asphalt sealer may then be used to finish the cut flush with the surface. It’s all completed in one quick and efficient pass.
This webinar will provide an overview of the microtrenching process and equipment, as well as present a case study in how the system has been used on fiber projects in the Southwest.”
For more details and to join the webinar place the following url in your browser https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/402547115
If you do join the webinar I would be interested in your feedback to vic@ipwea.org.au
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On 28th July 2011 the Engineers Australia Women in Engineering Group supported by IPWEAvic will hold an evening meal ($20 cost) at Sailors Rest, Moorabool Street Geelong betwen 6pm and 9pm. Download event brochure here. Two presenters, Dr Mark Toner and Ms Gunilla Burrowes, will address the dinner on Improving Career Prospects in a Male-Dominated Organisation. Mark and Gunilla will discuss the problems female engineers may face in male-dominated organisations, and suggest a set of skills which women can develop to understand the following:
• Male-female differences in decision-making, communication and assertiveness
• The unwritten “rules” of the organisational game they are playing as employees
• Leadership skills to increase their personal power, and
• How to “play” the game to enhance their career prospects.
RSVP by Monday
Download registration details here
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ARRB hosted an IPWEAvic Information Series Event on Wednesday 29th June. Dr Robert Urquhart, Principal Scientist ARRB Group, gave a presentation covering the long term performance tests and construction performance tests commonly used for bitumen and PMB relating the standardes to everyday items from tomoato sauce, shoe heels to heineken beer! This event was a great refresher for those who have not visited testing requirements since their university days and a terrrific knowledge booster for all Local Government Engineers.
One comment recieved :
” 2 staff attend your seminar this morning. They have been raving about the session all afternoon, and they mentioned they enjoyed the session content, speakers, networking, venue and the food. The also mentioned that it was one of the best training sessions they have been to in quite some time.”
If you would like a copy of hte presentation slides please email your request to vic@ipwea.org.au
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IPWEAvic will hold a Dumped Rubbish Forum as part of its Information Series at Moreland City Counicl Office 90 Bell Street Coburg on Wednesday 10 August 2011 9:30am to 12:15pm followwed by a light lunch provided by City of Moreland. Participants will listen to the experiences of City of Kingston and City of Moreland before particoipaing in a workshop on issues and solutions.
Download registration brochure and more information here
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The next IPWEAvic Leadership Series Business Luncheonwill be held on Friday 17th June at Mission to Seafarers 717 Flinders Street Melbourne from 12noon to 2pm.
Our Guest Speaker will be Peter Seamer, CEO Growth Areas Authority. Peter is going to share some of his thoughts on the key challenges facing the public works professionals in the coming years and also his views on the growth of Melbourne and the direction of the new State Government.
More information and REGISTRATION details available HERE
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REGISTER HERE for the next IPWEAvic Information Series Event planned for Wednesday 29 June 2011 10am to 12:15pm at ARRB Group Office, 500 Burwood Highway, Vermont South.
This event is planned around what “Bitumen Tests tell you – Improving your road’s life and performance through better understanding of Bitumen and Binders”.
Attendees will:-
- take away tips on writing and managing construction tenders,
- learn how to interpret test results for achieving the best performance
- gain an understanding of the behaviour of bitumen and binders in roads
- be introduced to the latest science on types of bitumen and binders
This free event is sponsored by ARRB Group and will be followed by a light lunch.
More information and registration details HERE
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Clearwater in partnership with IPWEAvic and Melbourne Water is holding an event on 3rd June on Starting an Asset Register for WSUD as part of the Clearwater Hot Topic Series.
- Is your council keen to gain a better understanding of its Water Sensitive Urban Design assets?
- Are you interested in hearing about steps, tools and guidelines available to help record information necessary for effective WSUD management?
- Do you want to hear how local councils have used an asset register to manage Water Sensitive Urban Design across departments?
This Clearwater Hot Topics is a terrific opportunity to hear about the importance of developing a WSUD asset register in council.
As an attendee you will;
- Realise the value of starting an asset register that incorporates Water Sensitive Urban Design along with drainage infrastructre.
- View examples of WSUD asset registers developed by local councils and see how they are using this information across council departments to support maintenance and future planning.
- Hear about tools, guidelines and standards available to ensure the capture, management and use of appropriate data.
- Presentations throughout the day will be supported with facilitated discussion and networking activities followed by a sit down lunch. Book soon as places are limited.
Date: Friday 3rd June 2011
Time: 9.00am – 1.00pm
Cost: $110: Government / Not for Profit $140: Commercial
Location: Fenix Restaurant, 680 Victoria Street, Richmond
RSVP: Friday 27 th May
Audience: Asset managers, open space managers, technology/ communications staff, engineers, environment and maintenance staff
Register your place now by visiting our website www.clearwater.asn.au or contact 03 9235 5335.
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A dumped rubbish forum was held at Moreland City Council on Wednesday 10th August 2011. Over 80 public works professionals got together with the aim of sharing ideas on hitting hte dumped rusbbish problem experienced in our municipalites, waterways and rail corridors. Andrew MacKinnon Group Manager City Operations set the scene speaking about the City of Morelands “Looking Good 100 day Campaign”. Robyn Horner, Manager Statutory Compliance and Education at City of Kingston detailed City of Kingston’s experiences with combatting dumped rubbish.