Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

‘G’day mate’, ‘how you going?’, ‘too easy’ and Struth, it’s hot out here… (ok so that’s enough of the Australian slang from me).  Welcome to the first blog post from me on the Batemans Bay Bridge Project.  After less than 2 weeks on the project I’m still trying to get my head around the technical side of things so this post will give a project overview and summarise my initial observations.

Project Background

Like me, most of you won’t have heard of Batemans Bay before.  Its a small town of about 11,000 people on the East Coast of Australia in New South Wales (see map).  To get here you have either a 4 hour drive south from Sydney (170 miles) or a 2 hour (94 mile) drive east from Canberra.  The town straddles both banks of the River Clyde with the A1 ‘the Princes highway’ between Sydney and Melbourne passing straight through the town.   On the northern side of the town, the A1 meets the B52 ‘the Kings Highway’ which is the quickest route to Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).  As a result Batemans Bay has a lot of through traffic and has become a popular destination for the Canberra residents as it has the nearest beach.

Map showing Batemans Bay location

The existing road bridge connecting both sides of the river is an old 1950s steel truss bridge which supports a single carriageway.  It has an unusual design incorporating a central vertical lifting span to maintain marine access upriver (see picture).  With increased and heavier traffic flow along the A1, spiraling maintenance costs and congestion from bridge closures for marine access the client RMS (Roads and Maritime Services similar to Highways England) has decided to invest in a new bridge and associated junction upgrades.  John Holland’s solution is a joint venture with VSL to deliver a 168 segment precast concrete box girder bridge under a Design and Construct Deed (D&C contract).  This construction method was chosen to increase spans and reduce the number of piers following public consultation.  An impression of the completed bridge is also shown below.

Existing Batemans Bay bridge

Impression of new bridge.

Further information can be found on the RMS website: https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/projects/south-coast/batemans-bay-bridge/index.html

The delivery of the project is split into 4 overlapping phases:

Phase 1 – Design, enabling works and service diversions.  This phase was due to end this month but has been extended by 3 months after additional works were added to the scope of works to ‘future-proof’ cross-river service capacity.

Phase 2 – Bridge construction.  This phase is just getting underway.  This week we started the establishment of the precast yard and commenced the first pier foundation pour.  Initially, my job will be working as a Project Engineer to establish the precast yard bridge.  This is a great opportunity to see a range of engineering including earthworks, piling, reinforced concrete, steel erection and gantry crane installation.  Can you tell I’m excited about it?

Phase 3 – Junction upgrades.  Elements of this phase will run concurrently with Phase 2. John Holland receives incentive bonuses for maintaining certain levels of traffic flow which will result in a staggered approach to the junction upgrades.

Phase 4 – Demolition and removal of the existing bridge including the removal of all substructure and foundations.  Planning for this phase starts next year so if you fancy the job Ash Dale let me know and I’ll make sure your CV gets to the PM…

GA of proposed precast yard

Initial Observations

So what are my initial observations after 2 weeks in the office?

1. Communication.  The Australian construction industry and UK military both have their own slang:

– Slew cranes (mobile cranes).
– Franna cranes (not common in the UK but is used for small mobile lifting operations like a 35t TEREX or RTFL).
– FRP – Formwork, Reinforcement Pour (RC to you and me).
– Star posts (6′ pickets).

It’s definitely worth taking the time to check exactly what is meant by terms you are unfamiliar with to avoid confusion and misunderstanding.  Google image search is also a great resource – it’s true, a picture paints a 1000 words and all that!  We also have a French contingent from VSL as well as engineers from Asia, New Zealand and the UK.  We all use the same technical language which aids communication regardless of the native tongue.

2.  Commercial awareness.  I’ve been surprised at how commercially involved the engineers are on site and was warned about this by the PM during my arrival chat.  Here the engineers are responsible for planning/designing their work packages and resourcing them.  For supply of materials this requires a minimum of 3 quotes and a purchase order.  If services are required, a short form contract is needed resulting in a tender process.  From my initial observations it seems that the majority of the traditional QS role sits with the engineer.  There is a small commercial team here who are responsible for approvals, contract negotiation/writing and payments. I’m interested to hear if this matches the experience of the other students on placement as it was not what I expected.  So what?

– Advantage: site engineers are more aware of the cost of their works so in theory produce more efficient designs and reduce overall project costs.  Reduced costs = increased profit.

– Disadvantages:  the organisation is split into various sub-teams working on different parts of the project.  With each team resourcing their own packages there are missed opportunities to benefit from economy of scale particularly when there is limited communication between the sub-teams.  This results in the duplication of tendering when works across the project could have been combined into one works package.  There is also a significant amount of ‘group think’ in the office when selecting companies for tender packages which may not result in best value for money.

3.  Drawings.  The drawings for the bridge segments are incredibly complex and if I’m honest really blow my mind.  Even the pre-cast yard foundation slab and steel shed erection drawings contain more detail than I’m used to.  I think Phase 1 needs to cover reading and interpreting engineering drawings in more detail as I’m well behind the standard expected for the role I’m performing on site.  Having example drawings at the front of the classroom during project assessments was a good start but I think more time invested in this area would make the Phase 2 transition easier to manage.

4.  Military experience.  The military environment provides a range of transferable skills that are really useful in the construction industry.  From managing people and meeting tight deadlines to technical issues like how to build a bailey bridge (no I’m not joking they are building a bailey/Maybe bridge here) we can add heaps of value. Regardless of what you’re doing two rules remain:

1. No plan survives contact.
2. Keep it simple stupid.