The major event for the Australasian Society of Trenchless Technology this year is No-Dig Down Under to be held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Queensland, from 8-11 September 2015. This promises to be the must-see trenchless event for the year and strong interest is already building up to support this from sponsors, speakers, exhibitors and attendees.
This will be the 11th ASTT Conference and Exhibition promoting the trenchless industry in Australia and New Zealand. Papers are currently being considered for the conference program and speakers will be selected from these.
The ASTT is currently in the process of completing negotiations with the North American Society of Trenchless Technology (NASTT) with a view to obtaining the rights to deliver their renowned Trenchless Technology Good Practices Courses. We will be looking to provide full day courses for horizontal directional drilling, new installation methods and cured-in-place pipe as part of the Gold Coast Conference.
These courses will be a fantastic opportunity for engineers, operators, asset owners, inspectors and students to learn about particular aspects of the trenchless industry in more detail. The ASTT is committed to bringing world-renowned training and education of the trenchless sector to Australia and New Zealand and these courses are a further step to fulfilling that charter. We will be looking to bring more of these learning opportunities to our members and the trenchless industry.
I mentioned in my last article that the ASTT Councillors have been looking at the society’s current constitution with a view to updating and modernising it. The council has agreed to amendments to do this and these proposed changes will be ratified at the society’s next AGM by members.
Part of these changes include the creation of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that can be formed to give groups within the trenchless industry a forum to promote their particular industry sector and skill. More detail regarding these will be out soon in this magazine. An introductory article to SIGs, written by New Zealand ASTT Councillor Steve Apeldoorn, can be found on page 20.
The International Society for Trenchless Technology (ISTT) held its International No-Dig event at Madrid, Spain, in October 2014. The event was successful and brought together the 27 ISTT affiliated societies to hold a conference and exhibition in this historical city.
Many of the attendees made a point of coming up to me and highlighting what a great time they had in Sydney the previous year. Later this year the ISTT No-Dig event will be in Istanbul, Turkey.
2015 promises to be a busy and exciting year for the ASTT and its members. I hope you choose to get involved and have a successful and prosperous year.