Raveen Jaduram, Shane Bishop, Murray Washington, Werner du Plessis, Bernard Kopke
MWH, along with project partners Selwyn District Council, has won the Water, Waste and Amenities award at the New Zealand Engineering Excellence (NZEE) awards for our work in the development, design and delivery of the Eastern Selwyn Sewerage Scheme at Rolleston, near Christchurch. The project was also a finalist for the NZEE Supreme Award. These awards are the premier event in New Zealand engineering recognising innovation and delivery of engineering works within our society.
Initially, the aim of the Eastern Selwyn Sewerage Scheme was to expand the district capacity to convey and treat wastewater for the projected population increases in Prebbleton, Lincoln and Rolleston which already had 20 years of significant growth. Project planning suddenly expanded to allow unpredicted, significant migration of Christchurch residents into Selwyn following the Canterbury earthquakes. The project programme accelerated without burdening ratepayers with unsupportable infrastructure costs, while maintaining the existing plant operation.
Shane Bishop, Principal Engineer
The most innovative part of the project was a New Zealand-first solar air drying hall for biosolids which provided a cost saving of about NZ$3-4 million by reducing the sludge needed to be carted off site for disposal. The project was led by MWH engineers Rainer Hoffmann, Shane Bishop, Mark Ridge and Kieron Thorpe.
This project was the culmination of years of continued work by the MWH team with Selwyn District Council, with thousands of hours committed in delivery, and involving MWH staff across Australasia and the rest of the world.
MWH had previously won the Physical Works Projects over $10 million NZD award presented by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia, New Zealand Division (IPWEA NZ) for this scheme.
MWH was also represented by the Mapua Wharf Wastewater Pump Station project as a finalist in the same category. This pump station was built on what was once the most contaminated site in New Zealand - the former Fruitgrowers’ Chemicals Company (FCC) manufacturing plant area. MWH was commissioned by the Tasman District Council to evaluate the Mapua wastewater reticulation system and propose how it could meet the expected doubling of the area’s population over the next 30 years.
The MWH design ensured that the volume of contaminated earthworks and ground water was minimized while also designing and constructing the pump station in a restricted space at Mapua wharf, a tourist hotspot. The project was led by MWH engineers Avik Halder and Grant Shearer.
Our congratulations go out to all those involved in these projects and their contributions to Building a Better World.
