One must have a certain gift for management to balance the many tensions held within the tangible assets found in an area spanning 4,000km².
That’s the scope of infrastructure found within the boundaries of Yarra Valley Water which, to press home the point, features an extreme contrast of landscapes from volcanic grasslands, peri-urban amenities, rainforests, and highly divergent topography including mountains and new suburban settlements.
A complex environment for contractors to operate in according to General Manager Asset Services at Yarra Valley Water, Bridie Fennessy, who leads and oversees renewal works for an expansive water and wastewater network and major infrastructure projects, including the recent Upper Darebin Creek branch sewer rehabilitation.
But first a brief primer on Fennessy’s background before joining Yarra Valley Water.
A lawyer by training, Fennessy has predominantly spent her time in alternative dispute resolution working with consumers to ensure that they receive a fair go when it comes to dealing with monopolistic utility providers and essential services.
Prior to joining Yarra Valley Water in 2016, she had been working at Public Transport Victoria, and before that, the public transport ombudsman, following a stint with the energy and water ombudsman.
“Water, energy, public transport, they’re all critical for people to be able to live their lives, and they’re particularly important for people who experience vulnerability within our community as well,” she said.
Fennessy joined Yarra Valley Water as a complaint specialist.
“So not an engineer or traditional asset manager, more a jack of all trades, starting in small not-for-profit organisations managing policy work and then moving into operational frontline management,” she recalled.
In 2017 Fennessy helped establish a new faults and emergencies department with an emphasis on providing a customer-focused emergency response service for incidents involving property damage and asset failures while working closely with maintenance service providers and contract partners.
She was appointed to the executive team five years ago.
About 18 months ago the organisation brought together its growth planning and delivery areas which, for Fennessy, incorporated the end-to-end asset life cycle into her remit.
In short, she was now across planning, construction, maintenance, operations, response, and emergency management. Non-invasive underground applications have obvious affinities with the goals of the utility.
Trenchless technologies have indeed provided solutions with repeated efficacy in reducing impacts to existing communities especially for renewal programs.
“Horizontal directional drilling and other no-dig methods on our community sewerage program reduce the impact on the built environment and for local communities when we’re working in their area,” she said.
“It will become increasingly important to us as we start to look at more significant infill development, and particularly with activity centres that the Victorian Government is looking to plan for over the next 50 years.”
In trenchless sewer construction, Yarra Valley Water employs relining and microtunnelling applications particularly when it comes to reducing surface impacts or considerations around cultural heritage listed sites, but also when there’s access constraints as well, which makes open trench impractical and unsafe in some cases.
Microtunnelling, for example, was used to install critical sewerage infrastructure in close proximity to a waterway and sensitive creek environment.
“Without that, we would have needed significant additional work to manage the risk to cultural heritage in the area and run the risk of damage ,” said Fennessy.
“It’s a standout benefit among our recent projects that we can better protect cultural heritage.”
Quietly delivering asset renewals through sewer relining programs – programs that often receive plenty of feedback – is another advantage.
“You can really notice the difference in terms of speed of delivery, but also impact as well,” Fennessy said. “We hear people say ‘I didn’t even know you were there.’”
Two delivery partners undertake the annual renewal program for Yarra Valley Water.
Careful planning goes into community engagement, environmental protection and working with Traditional Owners Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Aboriginal Corporation, concerning the impacts on culture and country according to Fennessy.
“The use of trenchless technology to reduce the impact to culturally and environmentally significant places is really powerful,” said Fennessy.
“As a water authority we want to look at proven technologies. We don’t want to take risks with these long- lived assets. So, we focus on what’s proven that we can adopt in our construction and maintenance activities.”
Yarra Valley Water values long-term partnerships and has established a number of construction panels to support delivery of its capital program, along with tendering projects to the open market.
Having a variety of partners that they can build long-term trusted relationships with helps support Yarra Valley Water in critical early phases of planning and design.
“There’s no point designing something from behind a computer if it hasn’t had input from the contractors on how best to construct it and maintain it.” Fennessy said.
“That has been a really successful approach for us.”
The panels are put together according to comprehensive Victorian Government guidelines. This provides a clear procurement process and procedural understanding of what is required.
“There’s a lot of work involved, and we have a very detailed approach in terms of understanding market conditions,” said Fennessy.
“We let the market know of upcoming tender releases, which can be through an expression of interest followed by an Request For Tender, or we might go straight out to full RFT. It depends on the sourcing strategy we’ve developed based on the nature of the project that we need to deliver.”
A sewer sensor trial is currently underway in Healesville to better understand the capacity and ebb and flow of wastewater through the system as Yarra Valley Water transitions into the delivery of its new treatment plant.
This will not only help identify if there are areas they can optimise in trade waste agreements with local businesses but also isolate any locations where there’s been infiltration into the system so they can be subject to renewal.
“We need proven technologies to ensure they provide clear safety, performance and whole-of-life benefits for the assets that we’re putting in the ground. Especially given our pipes have a 100-year lifespan,” said Fennessy.
“That means using methods we know are safe and reliable, either backed by strong evidence from others or proven through our own trials. We work closely with our partners and contractors and really value their input and experience to help shape the outcomes we’re after. Their involvement is invaluable as we test, refine and put these approaches into practice.”
For Fennessy, effective planning for end-to-end asset life cycles – such as those developed every five years in the regulated price submission – should ultimately be measured by what future generations inherit. That means adopting a longer term perspective.
Not just focusing on immediate priorities.
“We need to ensure we’re not only addressing what’s most important today but also thinking about the decades ahead” Fennessy said.
“What are the decisions we must make today, so that in 30 years’ time, someone in my position will look back and say, ‘actually, they made some really smart and prudent decisions then’? We should be asking ourselves, our engineers, asset managers, constructors, maintainers and operators: what do you want future generations to say about the calibre of your decision-making when it came to the stewardship of these assets?”
Reflecting on the challenges ahead, Fennessy added, “We’ve got some interesting and complex times ahead of us, and the job is to ensure our people and practices are well placed to help us navigate it, so we can keep delivering reliable and trusted services to our customers, and community, while protecting and enhancing the natural environment.”
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