The steering committee for the project, including representatives from CCF-WA, ASTT, Premium Corporation, Interflow, Georgiou, Underground Services Australia and G&LJ Consulting met with consultants Avenir Consulting in Perth on 27 March 2006. The steering committee viewed all four resources including learning guides and assessment plans for BCCTT3006B – Install Cure In Place Linings for Existing Pipelines; BCCTT3008B – Install Close Fit Linings for existing Pipelines; BCCTT3009B – Install Slip Linings in Existing Pipelines; and, BCCTT3010B – Renovate Large Diameter Pipes and Chambers.

The meeting worked through all resources recommending changes and improvements. The major changes were further information on spiral wound lining procedures within the ‘renovate large diameter pipes and chambers’ unit and the ‘close fit lining’ unit. Other changes were minor in nature and enhancement of the presented work. The steering committee signed off on the information presented, subject to the changes being made and information received from the national consultation.

Consultation then moved to Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. Representatives from various Trenchless Technology enterprises were present at these meetings conducted in conjunction with CCF, ASTT and MBA offices or members within the jurisdictions. Once again, minor improvements and enhancements were recommended to the documents.

In general, considerable support for the production of the resources was provided and high levels of satisfaction with the accuracy and presentation of the information was also stated. To assist enterprises absent at some meetings, the opportunity to comment on the draft documents were extended to 7 April, however no other concerns were received.

The draft documents are now being finalised. A Federal Government approved Quality Assurance consultant will analyse the resources for compliance with the national template and the resources will then be published in their final form. The resources will then be presented to the CCF-WA, ASTT and forwarded to the BCITF with a final report in May 2006.

Victoria’s new councillor

It is with some sadness that I report that John DeGrazia has resigned as the Victorian ASTT Councillor. John has been an absolute pleasure to work with and I shall miss our conversations. Perhaps John’s greatest achievement was the very successful running of the 6th National ASTT Conference and Exhibition in September 2004. John managed to hold a great event and generated a nice profit of around $15,000 for the ASTT also. John has left Victoria in a very sound membership position with a current membership base of 33 Individual and Corporate members. When John took over the reigns in 2002 there were 30 members.

I now want to welcome Mr Chris Geehman to replace John. Chris is currently the Manager Major Projects and Renewals for South East Water. Chris can be contacted by e-mail at chris.geehman@sewl.com.au

Chris has been a member of the ASTT since May 1995 and will be presenting at the Trenchless Australasia seminar, “Trenchless Technology – The Unseen Solution” in Melbourne on July 12 (for more information see page 10 and 11). Chris has a good grasp of the trenchless industry and has presented papers at trenchless and tunnelling conferences including Pipes Wagga Wagga in 1999, the Perth International NO-DIG Conference in 2000 and the Australian Tunnelling Conference in 2005. I am confident that Chris will enjoy his new role and I look forward to working with him.

NO-DIG Awards 2006

Entries are invited for the 2006 NO-DIG Awards to be presented during the Gala Dinner at the International NO-DIG 2006 Conference and Exhibition, being held in Brisbane from 29 October - 2 November 2006. Awards will be made for entries in four categories: Academic research project or training aid/course; Trenchless project completed; New machine, tool, material, system or technique introduced; and Student or young professional paper.

The entry can relate to the practical use or development of trenchless systems or equipment for the installation or rehabilitation of underground utility networks. Entries should be prepared to a maximum of 1,000 words, supported by suitable illustrations in JPG format so that they can be circulated quickly to the judges. Further details are available from the ISTT website, www.istt.com.

Jeff Pace

ASTT Secretary