The event, which was attended by over 40 trenchless industry professionals, focused on the future of relining in the industry.
The presentation part of the evening was convened by Kate Pemberton, Managing Editor of Trenchless Australasia, who outlined current developments across the industry, insight into the upcoming No-Dig Down Under 2011 and gave a deserved welcome to a present trenchless industry legend, Bill Goodman.
ASTT NSW Councillor Peter Brown of Trenchless Advisor welcomed delegates and speakers to the networking event, after which he introduced the first speaker, Ian Bateman from Interflow.
Mr Bateman based his views on the future of relining by looking to the past, reflecting on the industry’s spectacular growth since its inception in Australia in the early 1990s. Mr Bateman also talked “÷the enemy,’ as such, of traditional dig methods and how this is impacting on the relining industry.
On a similar note, Alan Sutton from Kembla Watertech presented a short, summary of his opinion as to where the relining industry was headed. Mr Sutton reflected on early relining projects, such as a Carlton United Breweries warehouse and the Main Western Railway at Bathurst, as case studies that consolidated the success and future of the relining industry.
Mr Sutton concluded his presentation with the remark that “the future of lining depends on the attitude of the buyers of the technology,” and that his hope and expectation is that “the majority of future lining will be done where both price and technical merit will be judged case by case”.
To conclude the presentations, Daniel Gamboa from Insituform Pacific shared his views on advances in pressure pipe lining systems.
Mr Gamboa offered a series of images highlighting the deteriorating state of Australia’s metropolitan water main systems, in particular that of Melbourne and Sydney’s systems, and the immediate need to address the issue by local and state governments.
Mr Gamboa also offered an interesting case study involving the lining of a
300 mm diameter abandoned gas main that was reconstructed into a water main.
Following the closing of the presentations, drinks and canap̩s were provided to enable colleagues and industry associates to catch up, talk trenchless or otherwise, and look forward to the future of the trenchless industry.
The team at Trenchless Australasia look forward to seeing you all at the Melbourne and Brisbane networking events.