The biennial ASTT stream provides a great opportunity for individuals part of the trenchless industry and anyone else externally wanting to engage and learn about the technology. Each time this stream has featured it has proven to be a popular part of the conference program.
The “÷icing on the cake’ was that both the winner of the “÷Paper of the Year Award’ and runner-up were both ASTT members and the technical papers were from the ASTT stream. I would like to congratulate John Munro for winning the “÷Hynds Paper of the Year Award’ for his excellent paper, “÷Design of liners for deteriorated sewers – Latest Research to make it more efficient’, and also to Philip McFarlane, who won second place with his paper, “÷Is that liner thick enough?’
Well done to both authors, and to all other authors and presenters that made up the ASTT stream, especially for making it such a success. I very much look forward to the next ASTT stream at the conference in 2016.
For the past 12 months, I have been involved in the ASTT rules and by-laws sub-committee, challenged with the task of reviewing the ASTT constitution.
The other members of the committee include Jeff Pace, Nabil Issa and Chris Frangos. The ASTT Council met in Sydney in early September to discuss the findings and recommendations from the committee.
Although, the review and Council discussions are still on-going, I am happy to report that one of the recommendations from the committee has been accepted by the council, one of which I am very excited and passionate about.
This particular recommendation was for the establishment of special interest groups (SIG’s). SIG’s are technical divisions within the Society. They will bring together members with the same interests to liaise, share and solve problems, promote their field of interest, distribute information, provide a forum for discussion and develop and maintain industry standards, policies and training.
Any group of five members or more of the ASTT with a common interest may apply to the Board for Approval to form a SIG, which will operate under a set of applicable guidelines and terms of reference and rules established by the ASTT Council.
Membership to the SIG’s will be open only to ASTT members (a member can be involved in more than one SIG). In future, the SIG’s may become the common way that members can directly interact with the society. It is envisaged that each SIG will have their own website linked on the ASTT website.
Each SIG will be managed by a management committee and the Chairman of each SIG will report on behalf of the group’s activities to the ASTT. Activities will be funded through allocated ASTT funds.
Examples of possible ASTT special interest groups could be:
- HDD
- Microtunnelling
- Pipe Bursting
- Pipe Lining
- Vacuum Excavation.
In other news, the New Zealand Trenchless Technology Forums have continued to be popular events in the trenchless calendar.
In July we had the 21st NZ Trenchless Technology forum in Auckland and, with great success, the 22nd forum was held for the first time in Christchurch with over 50 delegates. Another forum will be happening in Auckland this November.
I look forward to catching up with the industry again there.
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