IPWEA’s best-ever conference was held in Rotorua, New Zealand, from 5 to 8 June 2015. The conference theme was “Sustainable Communities - Sharing Knowledge”. Here are some observations on the conference from a general and then a sustainability perspective.
The 2015 IPWEA International Public Works Conference was held in conjunction with the International Federation of Municipal Engineering (IFME) World Congress. It featured almost 800 delegates from 15 countries, 176 technical papers presented in eight concurrent streams, a lively and well-received entertainment program, several thought-provoking keynote speakers and five post-conference technical tours.
Congratulations to the IPWEA NZ Division for organising such a successful conference!
The conference also saw historic leadership changes. IPWEA President Michael Kahler handed the baton to Ross Goyne of Victoria. IPWEA CEO Chris Champion announced his stepping down from the CEO role to have a break and refresh, and to look for new opportunities. Robert Fuller was introduced to delegates as Chris's successor. As well, Ross Vincent of New Zealand retired as President of IFME at the conference.
The President of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, opened the conference with an inspiring address via video. In his speech he likened his nation to New Zealand, adding that “smallness is not necessarily a barrier to greatness”. “We can achieve a sustainable world by sharing knowledge created in our various communities,” he said. His address can be viewed here.
An overview of the conference by the editor of IPWEA’s PWPro magazine can be found here.
A summary of the conference close, with a preview of the next biennial IPWEA conference in Perth in 2017, can be found here.
All of the conference papers can be found in the library on the IPWEA website here.
Papers number 201, 213, 403, 405, 406, 501, 502, 504, 505, 506, 508, 702, 714 and 721 particularly address different aspects of sustainability.
At each biennial IPWEA conference since 1995 the Ted Hooper Medal has been awarded during the closing ceremony for the best paper presented at the conference. The 2015 Ted Hooper Medal was awarded to paper number 403 “ Wyndham plans a new green-sustainable community” by Samantha Krull and Saurabh Chandra from Wyndham City Council in south western Melbourne, where Samantha is Manager Major Projects.
The paper described a Structure Plan developed for a 113 hectare parcel of land, owned by Council, strategically located close to a proposed railway station. Wyndam is reportedly the fastest growing local government area in Australia. But current development is unable to meet community needs, causing poor environmental, social and health outcomes that undermine the area’s liveability. The award’s judging panel was especially impressed with how Council has used this unique opportunity to present to developers a more sustainable model for urban development and Council’s unique design approach that focused on health as the primary driving principle to help achieve key Plan objectives. The paper can be found here.
The award’s judging panel was also very impressed with paper 716 “The energy potential in wastewater” by Nick Meeten of Smart Alliances in Blenheim, New Zealand, but until recently Team Leader, Green Buildings, with HUBER in Germany. In his paper Meeten presented the innovative idea that commercial buildings can cooled by transferring excess heat into the wastewater flowing in existing sewers beneath them, or heated by extracting heat from the wastewater, saving 30% - 40% of the energy used. The approach would also offer multiple other benefits - reduced Urban Heat Island effect, less peak demand for electricity and distribution infrastructure, improved wastewater treatment processes (less pollution, greater plant capacity, lower operating costs) and maybe a new revenue stream. He pointed to examples of the idea having been applied to single buildings in Germany and Switzerland and in regional systems operating in Canada and Finland. Meeten’s paper can be found here.
Meanwhile, planning is well underway for IPWEA’s next Sustainability in Public Works conference, which is held in the alternate year to the main national conference (i.e. Darwin 2013, Rotorua 2015 and Perth 2017). Building upon the success of the conference held at Tweed Heads in July 2014, the next Sustainability in Public Works conference will be held in Melbourne from Wednesday 24 to Friday 26 August 2016. Save those dates in your calendar or diary!
Stephen Lees | Director
Sustainability | IPWEA Australasia
Level 12, 447 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000
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+61 (0) 412 264 187
w: www.ipwea.org | e:
stephen.lees@ipwea.org
