Despite being AECOM’s Technical Practice Leader for condition assessment and infrastructure rehabilitation for the Americas, trenchless industry veteran Chris Macey primarily describes himself as a “cured-in-place pipe lining (CIPP) guy”.
“I have been working with CIPP since the 1980s,” he told Trenchless Australasia. “The last ten years has seen more growth and innovation than at any other time in the growth of CIPP – evolution of resins, curing technology, and an ever-expanding application and size range. It’s been quite a fascinating run.”
For Mr Macey, pressure pipe relining is a very large focus, especially advances in installation techniques and the introduction of advanced composites such as carbon fibre.
“It’s all pretty neat stuff, with a real need to advance from developing technologies to a mature, well-understood technology with predictable outcomes,” he explained.
Rehab around the clock
Recalling a specific career highlight, Mr Macey spent a decade working on the assessment and rehabilitation of the 160 km Shoal Lake Aqueduct, a century-old asset that serves as the sole water supply to his hometown of Winnipeg, Canada, a city with a population of 700,000.
Describing the project as a combination of “complex logistics, leading-edge condition assessment and rehabilitation, and an immense appreciation of engineering and contracting in a historical sense,” Mr Macey had a fascinating experience collaborating with very large teams of specialised engineers and contractors – an experience greatly aided by a highly supportive client.
“In one shut-down we worked for 23 days straight, mostly 24 hours a day and seven days a week, with over 350 people working together. It was the most challenging thing I have ever done and the most fun.”
CIPP training heads down under
In timing with No-Dig Down Under, Mr Macey is heading to Australia to present the North American Society for Trenchless Technology’s (NASTT) CIPP Good Practices Guidelines Course, an adaption of the successful training module taught in North America that seeks to provide an in-depth view of wastewater mainline and lateral pipe rehabilitation using CIPP, from planning and design to job completion.
Speaking about the course’s objectives, Mr Macey said he expects attendees to “get a clear understanding of how to make CIPP a success every time”, including knowledge of CIPP’s strengths, its limitations, and how to develop quality assurance programs.
“It’s also about confirming that what you design actually gets built in the construction phase,” he added.
When asked how the course’s content would differ from its North American version, Mr Macey said the Australian variant would seek to expand the topic of quality assurance to a global level.
Despite having a strong focus on North America, Mr Macey said both he and the NASTT always strive to stay on top of global trends in the CIPP sector.
“We will try and point out the things that are done well in the North American market and how that could benefit markets around the world – as well as things that we see in the global market that we wish we did better in North America. I think it will be an excellent session!” he said.
Trillion-dollar trenchless
Looking to the future, Mr Macey said demand for the rehabilitation of both water and wastewater assets would continue to grow.
“There will also be tremendous demand for advanced condition assessment technologies that can exploit smaller construction footprints.”
With the North American market requiring up to a trillion dollars of watermain rehabilitation over the next 30-40 years, Mr Macey said he was confident these sectors still have plenty of room left to flourish.
“In North America there is an increasing awareness of minimising construction footprints and placing value not only on capital and lifecycle costs, but also on the physical impact of construction of underground works on the environment. ”
CIPP is in a favourable position to capitalise on these opportunities, continued Mr Macey, especially when comparing rehabilitation techniques from a cost perspective.
“In the CIPP world, large programs in conjunction with an evolution in improved curing technologies have had a dramatic impact on cost,” he said.
“The capital cost of CIPP relining varies from 25 to 50 per cent of the cost of other, more traditional renewal technologies.”
Despite these opportunities, however, there was still a lot to learn.
“There is no question that gravity condition assessment and rehabilitation are mature, well-established fields of science. But pressure pipe condition assessment and trenchless rehabilitation is very much a developing area of knowledge,” explained Mr Macey.
“It has immense potential and need for investment, but it has a long way to go.”
Even taking these challenges into account, Mr Macey remained confident of the fortunes of Trenchless Technology as a whole, seeing a place for the practice within the rapidly growing world of green infrastructure.
“Trenchless Technology qualifies as the very essence of green infrastructure,” he concluded.
“Minimising disturbance to existing urbanised areas all the while maximising the value of old pipe materials – giving them the potential, in some cases, to last virtually centuries – I don’t think it gets any greener than that.”
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