Peter Brown has been elected the new ASTT New South Wales Councillor, taking over from John Monro who has served the society for seven years. Secretary Jeff Pace said “John took this role over from Mick McGill back in August 2002 and has to be congratulated for excellent work he has done over this period.”

Mr Monro said, “It has been a stimulating and satisfying experience working in a fast developing industry with enthusiastic members whose ingenuity is continuously fascinating.”

Mr Brown has been involved in the drilling industry for around eighteen years and for eleven of those has been involved in the trenchless area, specialising in horizontal directional drilling (HDD). He was involved with Mr Monro and others as part of the successful No-Dig Conference and Exhibition that was held at Darling Harbour in 2002. Mr Brown currently owns and operates a specialised consultancy called Trenchless Advisor Pty Ltd.

Long-serving Tasmanian Councillor Graeme McArthur has also stepped down. “I have enjoyed my long associating with Trenchless Technology and particularly The ASTT tremendously and will miss the interaction with all ASTT councillors,” Mr McArthur said. He added that he would keep up with industry news and wishes all the best to the society. The position of Tasmanian Councillor is vacant.

On an international level Mr Pace noted that the ISTT chairmanship will change this November; Dr Sam Ariaratnam will replace Dr Dec Downey.

If you are not already a member of the ASTT – support your industry and get involved – turn to page 70 for details on how to join.

At the end of 2009, membership numbers totalled (Corporate and Individual) 206, comprising 159 from Australia and 47 from New Zealand. Mr Pace noted that despite the economic slowdown some members upgraded from Individual to Corporate status.

This means that membership has grown from 174 in 2006 up to 206 in 2009. This represents a modest growth of seven per cent for 2009.

A successful 2009

The meeting outlined a number of successes over the past year despite challenging economic conditions. In particular the ASTT celebrating the success of Trenchless Australasia 2009, the 8th National ASTT Conference and Exhibition, conducted in the lead-up to the AFL Grand Final. Mr Gosatti called the event a “fantastic showpiece of the trenchless technology industry.” The event highlighted the strength and maturity of the industry, especially remarkable given the challenging economic climate. The Society gave a special thanks to Chris Frangos and the Program Committee; and to the sponsors, presenters and exhibitors that supported the event.

Chairman Trevor Gosatti said “The announcement of a Trenchless Live 2010 event to be held in Coffs Harbour later this year is a fantastic opportunity for the industry to showcase its capabilities to stakeholders and the public.”

Mr Gosatti also announced that the ASTT will be making a bid for the 2013 No-Dig International to be held in Sydney. A decision will be made at the ISTT’s International No-Dig conference and exhibition to be held in Singapore later this year.

There was also positive news for the trenchless industry as an increase of Trenchless Technology was noted in many of the up and coming projects around Australia. This includes the oil and gas sector and the resources sector. Mr Gosatti said that both sectors are “flagging future works that should include Trenchless Technology in the next few years. Directional drilling in particular should look forward to potential works from these sectors”.

ASTT in Tasmania

After serving nearly two decades on the ASTT board, Graeme McArthur announced at this year’s AGM that he will be stepping down as the Tasmanian Councillor.

This aligns with his retirement in July 2009 from Launceston City Council, where his latest title was the Senior Engineer for Special Projects. Having worked for the council for 35 years, Mr McArthur has always been involved with the sewage and drainage industry.

Mr McArthur said one of the most pleasing parts of his career was to see a number of Trenchless Technology methods tried throughout Tasmania. Especially in the gas pipeline industry where trenchless had some major milestones.

“Over the years I have seen many trenchless products used in Tasmania in all service applications from the earliest CCTV studies to insertion of PVC and fibreglass liners, service line repairs from within the pipeline and recently ovoid pipeline relining in GRP, swage lining, HDD, in all sizes. Although not huge in number or volume it does show that Trenchless Technology has been accepted as an alternative, but due to economies of scale cannot always be used economically compared with trenching in our shallower services. With the three new authorities established the techniques may become more economically viable due to the economies of scale the larger programmes that the water corporations will present.”

Mr McArthur continued, “I have enjoyed my long association with the development of the industry and particularly with ASTT tremendously and will miss the interaction with all ASTT councillors, Trenchless Technology and the consequent projects that will occur in the future.

“I have seen considerable change in the ASTT over those years with much credit going to Jeff Pace and Menno Henneveld for foresight and long time leadership and with the excellent support of all previous and current state Councillors over that time. It is tremendous that we now have guidelines and standards and software calculators for ease of option evaluations for comparison of construction methods both established for users by ASTT. I can see ASTT progressing equally well with President Trevor and the support of all the ASTT state councillors and a renewed interest in infrastructure upgrading.

“Many thanks to all past and present councillors for their professionalism, advice and friendship over my time with ASTT. Best wishes Trevor for your time as president and I wish you and ASTT every success in the future.”

Mr McArthur will be keeping himself busy with many of his hobbies in his retirement – bush walking, kayaking, yachting and his involvement with the local Rotary club to name a few. With the purchase of a camping trailer, he is looking forward to his ‘Grey Nomad’ trip around Australia.

The position of Tasmanian councillor for the ASTT is currently vacant. Please contact ASTT Secretary Jeff Pace jeffpace@astt.com.au to nominate a suitable candidate.

What’s the story Peter Brown?

Part of the ASTT since 1999, Peter Brown was welcomed as the New South Wales Councillor at the AGM in March, replacing John Monro who stepped down after seven years with the society.

A fitter and turner by trade, Peter Brown has eighteen years experience in the drilling industry. He worked for eight and a half years in exploration diamond drilling before spending five years with Vermeer Australia in construction and customer service.

He also spent three and a half years with Infrastructure Constructions as their Business Development Manager before moving on to own and operate his own business – Trenchless Advisor Pty Ltd, one of the only specialised Trenchless consultancy companies in Australia.

Members can look forward to meeting Peter at Trenchless Live 2010.