• Some exciting news in from Minneapolis, after our Western Sydney Airport Major Earthworks project won the International Environmental Excellence Award.
  • The award is shared by ACCIONA and CPB Contractors as the JV partners delivering delivering major earthworks on the Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport project.

The award was presented at the International Erosion Control Association’s (IECA) 50th Annual Conference and Expo in Minneapolis. The Environmental Excellence Award is IECA's premier award. It can be applied for at a local level within the Australasian chapter, or internationally. We won the international level!

It is a prestigious award that was last won by the business in 2011 for the Hume Highway Upgrade – Woomargama Bypass. It recognises an outstanding stormwater and erosion and/or sediment control project, program or operation that demonstrates excellence in natural resource conservation and environmental protection. Winning recipients will have shown a high level of environmental benefit by clearly identifying the objectives, methods used, results obtained, and details of the benefits to the environment.

IECA recognised our outstanding efforts to work through the environmental challenges and constraints on the project. Judges were particularly impressed by our large scale ERSED controls and procedures.

Environment and Sustainability Manager John Wiggers was present to receive the award and said, “Receiving this award was quite an honour. But the reason we won was thanks to the entire project team and how well we all work together.”

WSA major earthworks submission summary

The Western Sydney Airport Major Earthworks project came with environmental challenges largely around the project scale, area and volume of material to be moved. CPBACCJV developed innovative and dynamic tools and processes to effectively manage the risks involved. One of the standout case studies CPBACCJV presented to IECA was the monthly sediment basin catchment mapping and volume reporting completed by aerial surveys. This was an important process to monitor the effectiveness of controls as earthworks progresses at a rate of approx. one million cubic meters of dirt moved every month, as the project transitioned from 16 catchments to four.

The submission had two key referees. Grant Sainsbery (Environment and Sustainability Manager, Bouygues Construction Australia) and Andrew Macleod (President, IECA Australasia).