Beca alliancing projects were celebrated at the Roading New Zealand Excellence Awards last night, with the
Auckland Motorway Alliance receiving the Supreme Award and Best Practice Award for Asset Management and the
Victoria Park Tunnel alliance team winning two categories.
The Auckland Motorway Alliance (comprised of New Zealand Transport Agency, Fulton Hogan, Opus International, Beca Infrastructure, Resolve Group and Armitage Systems) was lauded for delivering $23 million of cost savings, while developing innovative approaches to highway management that have been adopted all around the country.
"The outcomes achieved by the Auckland Motorway Alliance in its first four years demonstrate it's well on its way to leaving a positive and lasting legacy on the roading landscape across Australasia," the judges said. Roading New Zealand chief executive Chris Olsen concurred, saying the Alliance "has exemplified the benefits of collaboration within larger performance-based maintenance contracts, bringing a team together to improve efficiency and value-for-money."
As well as the Supreme Award, the Alliance also won the Best Practice Award for Asset Management.
The Victoria Park Tunnel alliance (Fletcher Construction, NZTA, Beca, Higgins and Parsons Brinckerhoff) won the HireQuip Best Practice Award for Environmental Sustainability as well as the coveted Z Energy Excellence Award for a Major Road Project. The $340 million project saw the Victoria Park Alliance team dealing with challenging planning designation conditions, managing contaminated ground conditions and moving a 124 year old brick and mortar building. The judges were impressed by how the team 'exceeded all expectations' in meeting these challenges. "This three-year project was completed three months ahead of schedule and met all the client’s key performance indicators including value for money. In all, an outstanding project," they said.
Competition head judge Dr Robin Dunlop said, despite the tough economic conditions facing the industry, the standard of entries was very high. "We continue to see innovative and dynamic projects across the sector. It's great to see the depth of skill, expertise and leadership growing each year," he said. Roading New Zealand chief executive Chris Olsen commented on the number of joint entries in this years' awards, reflecting a growing trend towards collaboration resulting in efficiency savings across the industry. "All the winners demonstrated new levels of best practice and construction excellence that have been adopted across New Zealand by the industry," Mr Olsen said.
Beca, Total Bridge Services and NZTA were also commended during the ceremony for the Auckland Harbour Bridge Box Girder Strengthening project.
The annual
Roading Excellence Awards promote leadership, excellence, collaboration and best practice within New Zealand's roading industry, along with the transfer of innovation.