Tonkin takes home two IPWEA SA Awards

Our work in regards to the 2016 Clare Flood Damage Claim and Reinstatement Works, in collaboration with Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council, was recognised for Excellence in Asset Management Projects and Practice, whilst up and coming engineer Luke Boin won the Emerging Leader/Individual Commitment to Local Excellence in Public Works Management award.

2016 Clare Flood Damage Claim and Reinstatement Works

In September 2016, the Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council (Council) area experienced a significant rain event, receiving more than a month’s rainfall in two days and resulting in damage to essential Council assets, with repair costs of $5.7M. This was equivalent to two years’ capital renewal budget and had the potential to significantly impact Council’s expenditure on road management.

Council owns and manages approximately $129.5M of assets including 1,200km of roads, 1,150 floodways and cross drains, and 31 bridges. Of these assets, the flood event damaged 117 floodway and cross drains and 442km of roads.

Using mobile technology and Tonkin’s asset and spatial management experience, Council was able to gain Treasury approval for reinstatement works. Council managed the repairs over an 18-month period, with completion in late 2018.

The development of the field tools and associated reinstatement works specification provides a solid basis for other councils to respond to future flood events. The repairs were successfully delivered as a result of the use of open source systems such as GIS Cloud and lessons learned from previous experience.

By integrating Council’s asset register and superimposing flood damage data sets, the final impact of the flood event was able to be clearly demonstrated. Council was therefore able to fully account the loss in its annual reporting and clearly understand the impact on asset value.

The cloud-based solution enhanced the collaborative nature of the team, as all parties were able to readily access information throughout the project.

Pictured right (L-R): Peter Brooks (Conquest Solutions), Nick Firth (Tonkin), Caroline Fleming (Clare & Gilbert Valleys Council), Ian Smith (Clare & Gilbert Valleys Council) and Rod Ellis (Tonkin).

Luke began his career with an undergraduate placement at Hindmarsh Construction on the $200M SAHMRI facility for DPTI. He then moved into an undergraduate placement with the City of West Torrens Council, before graduating and beginning a role with the City of West Torrens as a Technical Officer.

Having been with Council for several years, Luke had the opportunity to further diversify his asset management skills by moving to the private sector with Tonkin. Working under Rod Ellis, our Principal – Infrastructure Management, Luke has gained a wealth of experience during this time and has completed numerous training courses. Luke is also a committed community member, mentoring students at Christian Brothers College in relation to civil engineering career options and assisting the organisation of the Metro Games, a sports day event for local councils in South Australia. In this capacity, he was the coordinator for the West Torrens soccer team.

Luke’s nomination was backed by Tonkin, with particular support from his Team Leader James Paull and Local Government Program Manager Michael de Heus, and was endorsed by CEO Gerry Doyle.