Council triumphs at engineering awards

Shoalhaven City Council has been recognised for two outstanding achievements in public works at the prestigious IPWEA Engineering Excellence Awards on Friday night. 

Hosted by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia, the awards showcase the outstanding local government projects in NSW and the ACT that make communities better places to live. 

Mayor Patricia White said she was thrilled to see the landslip rehabilitation project win the Judges’ Excellence Award in Disaster Recovery, in addition to a Highly Commended Award for the Huskisson Mangrove Boardwalk design and construction. 

“Repairing the Shoalhaven’s 38 worst landslips in in Kangaroo Valley and surrounding communities was a mammoth undertaking and well deserving of an award for excellence,” Cr White said. 

“This acknowledgment is testament to the collaboration and hard work of Council’s project team and NSW Public Works who spent more than two years repairing the devastating landslips and delivering robust and fully remediated roads,” she said. 

“The award speaks to both the resilience of the community and the project team’s ability to implement critical engineering solutions under challenging conditions.” 

“I would like to thank all the staff involved in both these projects for what they have achieved and congratulate them on these awards,” she said. 

Reconstructing areas of landslips and the sections of road along the Kangaroo Valley and Burrier escarpments that were impacted by multiple flood events in 2022 required technical engineering and speciality construction methods to complete. The landslip rehabilitation works were joint funded by the Australian and NSW governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangement.  

The Huskisson Mangrove Boardwalk received a Highly Commended Award in the Design and Construction of a Public Works Project category. The project was recognised for exemplifying sustainable infrastructure, using eco-friendly material and construction methods that preserved the delicate mangrove environment. 

The mangrove project was a coordinated effort across Council involving environmental scientists, engineers, planners, landscape architects, and community stakeholders, ensuring a holistic approach to ecological preservation, structural integrity, and visitor engagement.  

The Huskisson Mangrove Boardwalk was funded through the Australian and NSW governments Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund. The fund was created to support job retention and creation in bushfire impacted regions, strengthening community resilience and reducing the impact of future disasters.