Building better bridges

Beca bridge engineers from across our offices attended, presented and collected accolades at the inaugural 2018 NZ Bridges Summit and Awards Dinner in Auckland on 6 and 7 November.

Pictured from left are Terry Cheng, Lawrence Blackmore and Andrew Dickson with our award at the Beca booth.

The two-day summit was an opportunity for us to showcase some of our design and engineering innovations, and share how we’re delivering results in the Aotearoa bridge industry through our local and international experience.

More than 200 delegates from across the New Zealand bridge community took part in workshops, presentations and high-level discussions on bridge design, asset management and recent engineering developments.

Beca’s Andrew Dickson, Senior Technical Director, spoke about our work with the NZ Transport Agency updating the Agency’s Bridge Manual, to bring it in-line with international bridge codes and standards.  Andrew Ball, Technical Director – Structural Engineering, talked about our in-depth review of hollow core bridges, and young engineers Morgan Harris and Eremia Tapsell discussed new developments and looked to the future of bridge building.

At the awards dinner, some of the best designers and constructors in Aotearoa were recognised for creating elegant, practical, and resilient structures that reflect and embrace their local culture, community and environment.

We were stoked to take home the ‘Large Structure Award – Above $5 Million’ for our work on the Great North Road Interchange Ramps of the Waterview Connection.  Described as “the perfect solution – robust, durable, efficient and elegant,” the set of four bridges was a project the Beca bridges team and wider company are extremely proud of. 

We were also finalists for awards across the categories of; Excellence in Bridge Design, Small to Medium Structure, and Excellence in Asset Management and Maintenance, missing out to some stiff competition.  Congratulations to all the other winners and runners up!

Special congratulations also to the NZ Transport Agency’s John Reynolds, who was recognised for his Outstanding Contribution and Service to the NZ Bridge and Structures Industry - an amazing achievement, and well deserved!