People Excellence

Some of our best people were recognised for their good work on two separate awards presentations on Saturday 6 September. The NT Vocational Training Awards and the Engineering Excellence Awards were held in Darwin on the same evening.

NT Vocational Training Awards

Several of our people were recognised for the excellence of their training achievements by the Department of Education, Employment and Training. We congratulate them all:

• Bryan Walters, Generation, Katherine, 2002 Vocational Student of the Year
• Nick Coe, Networks, Darwin, was a finalist for Apprentice of the Year
• Sandy Taheny, Retail, Darwin, was nominated for Adult Learner of the Year
• Environmental Awareness Training was nominated for Outstanding Program of the Year.

The qualifications were gained by a combination of 'recognition of prior learning' (RPL) and coursework.

Engineering Excellence Awards

The Power and Water Corporation extended the spillway of Darwin River Dam in 2001 to allow larger floods to pass through the reservoir without compromising the safety of the dam. The project won the Engineering Excellence Award in September 2002.

Power and Water and the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment completed the project in December 2001. It involved widening of the existing 30m spillway, designed for 310 m 3 / second of flow, to seven times this width, allowing 2080 m 3 / second of water flow. In the event of a major flood, large volumes of water will be able to flow from the dam into the Darwin River without compromising the integrity of the dam wall. The judges commented that the project demonstrated the application of sound engineering practices through the design, tendering and construction phases.

Innovative engineering solutions were used in the value for money assessment, in tender pre-qualification and project fast tracking. Detailed hydraulic modelling of the spillway and river channel was required to finalise the design. Particular attention was paid to the environmental constraints and the design detail to complete the project by December 2001 and for a total cost of $3.04M.

Contact:
Annie Darcy,
Media Manager,
Corporate Communications
0401 117 599 or 8924 7488