Version what?
Our surveyor has started on the northern end of the alignment as it was the first land given to us by the client. He is marking out the construction boundary and the CL of the tunnel alignment. There are some discrepancies – the title lines do not lie exactly with the fence lines. So what? There is a fibre optic cable that runs the length of the fence which makes up the western construction boundary and runs parallel to the railway. Effectively, the construction boundary has been reduced by approximately 1.0m due to this fence. We are not considering removing the fence and placing a new one for the sake of this meter. So what are the risks? They are two-fold. Firstly, the risk of cutting something increases (slightly), but it is not a show stopper, the show will go on.
The second risk has more severe consequences. The works zone is in an area of significance to the Wurundjeri Tribe Land Compensation and Cultural Heritage Council (WTLCCHC) as it connects present day Aboriginal people with their ancestors who have lived in the region for thousands of years. As you may have read in my first blog, I attended a CHMP (Cultural Heritage Management Plan). This involved an Aboriginal ‘laying down the law’ with regards to excavating in our project corridor. Artefacts of cultural heritage were displayed which included glass ‘knives’ and stone ‘spear heads’ and ‘axe heads’. The Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 makes it a legal requirement for contractors working in sensitive areas to produce a CHMP. It is a legally binding document which must be followed by everyone working on site.
Aboriginal artefacts.
Our corridor has up to 80 areas deemed to be of CH value. We are permitted to remove topsoil inside a 20m corridor centred directly above the sewer tunnel, and outside a 100m corridor of either of the 2 creeks (Merri and Malcolm) without the need to call an Aboriginal ‘advisor’ to monitor our works. However, should we uncover a broken grogg bottle or spear head, or human remains(!), works must halt and the advisor is to be called in. Reaction times can be anything up to 48 hours. Historical dealings include the advisor arriving on site, picking up the ‘valuable spearhead’, and throwing it in a bush. All this for a handsome $2500 per day (or 5 minutes), and we have 8 kilometres of this to look forward to.
So how is this related to the surveyor? We aren’t scraping for BREEAM points by including trees in our construction boundary, but we are going to lose Brownie points, time and money if our works mistakenly step outside our corridor. If everybody is singing off different song-sheets, we are exposing ourselves to future potential disputes, particularly with the cultural heritage side of life. It all seems to come back to communication and version control; two things I feel JHG could improve upon.
In other news, I am the proud owner of a genuine Kangaroo leather hat. Taking orders now for my return to the UK. $60AUD.
Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog 
Hmm
Might have changed but cutting a comms connection used to be f************n’ expensive,. I’m all for some fence , if that reduces the risk…..
Now about that Kangeroo couture…. do they do posing pouches?
I pretty sure I need one to pose, pause and pounce in full military styleee
And cutting a fibre optic cable is f************n’ expensive to the power of 10. BE WARNED! Regards Greg
Pleased to say we did not cut any FO cables in constructing the site entrance. However, the surveyor’s assistant fell off a cattle fence and broke her leg. Who’d have thunk to include that in the TRA!?
Daz, If you have got so much risk of disturbing Aboriginal CH would it not make an element of commercial sense to hire a permanent aboriginal advisor. That way you could likely negotiate a lower rate, in exchange for the prospect of a long term contract. This would obviously still be expensive but you would reduce the risk associated with waiting for his reaction time. Additionally he may be less inclined to bite the hand that feeds.