UKSTT Awards Dinner pulls in the crowds
The UKSTT Annual Dinner & Awards Ceremony, held at the Holiday Inn, Birmingham on Friday 25th April 2008, once again attracted a large number of attendees with 252 guests in all.
Steve Kent, Chairman of UKSTT, opened the evening with a short speech, much to the delight of the gathered guests, outlining the achievements of the Society over the past year and its aims for the future. Some of the highlights included a presentation to Russell Fairhurst in appreciation of his tenure as Chairman of UKSTT from 2005 to 2007 as well as presentation of a specially commissioned badge for all past Chairmen of the Society.
Steve commented on UKSTT continued promotion of Trenchless Technology with attendance at industry events such as the series of HAUC shows, the Drain Trader exhibition, the ISTT’s International No-Dig event in Rome and the recent series of Roadshows organised by Westrade. He also invited guests to attend the forthcoming No-Dig Live at Stoneleigh in September. He said that UKSTT will also be attending the forthcoming ISTT International event in Moscow supported by a grant from UKTI.
Furthering the Societies push to bring trenchless technology to engineering students in the academic arena, UKSTT undertook two presentations to students at Warwick and Manchester Universities over the past 12 months. Steve went on to say that whilst some obstacles remain to expanding this process, UKSTT will continue to canvass to make these presentations across the country when the new academic year starts in September.
The Society continues to provide articles and papers for publications and has during the course of the year responded to a number of consultative documents such as the Private Sewer debate, the Traffic Management act and the proposed New Roads and Street Works act.
Steve was also pleased to announce that further to the proposal made by Russell Fairhurst last year concerning Patrons of the Society, both Wessex Water and Bournemouth and West Hants Water have taken such a position. Canvassing will continue to bring more to the Society over the coming months.
UKSTT also increased is technical credentials over the past year with around 10 technical enquiries per month being fielded by the Society and its member organisations. Much of this work has been handled by the Society’s Technical Secretary Peter Crouch.
Finally Steve commended his colleagues on the UKSTT Council for the continued efforts being made on behalf of the Society on a totally voluntary basis and Val Chamberlain for her efforts within the UKSTT secretariat, run for the Society by SBWWI.
Presenting the Awards for the 5th consecutive year, Chris Packham and his friend (a skunk), described as ‘the animal equivalent to a suicide bomber’, entertained the diners with his usual stylish opening address revealing much about the life of his ‘companion’ for the evening. The animal was provided by Paradise Wildlife Park of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.
Chris then gave an overview of the short-listed award finalists. As in previous year’s nominations for the 6 categories included presentations for:
· New Installation – Large Project (>£250K), Sponsored by Develop· New Installation - Small Project (<£250K), Sponsored by Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions and U Mole Ltd
· Renovation – Large Project (>£250K), Sponsored by Jacobs and Ferro Monk
· Renovation - Small Project (<£250K), Sponsored by Severn Trent Water and Barhale Construction
· Small Project (<£50k), Sponsored by NJUG
· Product Innovation, Sponsored by South West Water
The shortlist was drawn up from over 40 submissions, one of the largest numbers of entries in the history of the UKSTT Awards.
After Dinner, over coffee, Chris Packham joined Steve Kent in presenting the winners with their Claret Jugs. In the New Installation (Large Project) the 2008 Award was presented to Longbore TT Ltd for it Two Mile Bottom project for a difficult HDD installation of three parallel bores for a 315 mm OD PE 100 SDR-11 water main, a 250 mm OD PE 100 SDR-11 ‘washout’ pipeline and a 315 mm OD PE 100 SDR-11 cable duct to enable the transfer of raw water from an abstraction well complex in Thetford Forest to the treatment works at Two Mile Bottom, also within Thetford Forest.
Longbore TT Ltd also took the prize for the New Installation (Small Project) for it works on the Strangford Lough Marine Turbine Cable. The project was required to install using HDD an ‘export’ cable for Marine Current Turbines which will operate the world’s first commercial scale tidal energy system located in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland. The site is an internationally renowned wetland and inter-tidal environment. It is a designated Special Area of Conservation, (SAC), an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, (AONB), a Ramsar Site, a National Nature Reserve, a Special Protection Area, a Marine Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, (SSSI).
In the renovation categories the Large Project Award was presented to Waterflow Group plc for its work on the Southend Sewer Renovation scheme using the largest UV-cure sewer lining contract as yet undertaken in the UK. The work involved the renovation of 5.1 km of sewers from 225 to 600 mm diameter in Southend, Essex.
In the Renovation Small Project category the prize went to Thames Water Utilities and J Murphy & Sons Ltd for the Victorian Mains Replacement project in Leicester Square, London using pipe bursting and pipe insertion on the first ever attempt at large-scale deployment of trenchless technology on all four sides of Leicester Square.
In the Small Scheme category the Award was presented to DCT Civil Engineering Ltd for it work on the Farnborough Road, Clifton lining project designed to solve foul water flooding events.
Turning to the Innovation category, there was wide range of new products and innovative solutions for the judging panel to choose from. Ultimately, however, the 2008 Award for Innovation was presented to Fastflow Pipeline Services Ltd for its new Trunk Mains Cleaning System. The new system has been specially designed to clean water mains of diameter range 15 in to 49 in (380 mm to 1,250 mm) and lengths in excess of 600 m without costly interventions using a system with a key component comprising a self centring modular spray cleaning head, which is pulled through the water pipe by means of an umbilical reeling system. Extensive development of the spray head has enabled unmatched levels of cleaning to be achieved in a single pass of the cleaning head.
Amongst the presentations this year was a variety of entries which, whilst they did not gain top place were short-listed and ‘Highly Recommended’. These included:
· New Installation Large Project – Saint-Gobain Pipelines plc for its Bewdley Resevoir to Ledbury project where Directional drilling was used to install ductile iron pipes under a road and two rivers.
· New Installation Small Project – Saint-Gobain Pipelines plc for it project beneath the A38, in collaboration with Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions (BBUS). BBUS was the first UK Company to carry out directional drilling using PAM Directional ductile iron pipe on its A38 project. BBUS undertook an ongoing mains rehabilitation program on behalf of their client, South West Water. As part of this program, a section of water main within the 10 km scheme known as the Avon to Blackdown Trunk main was identified as requiring rehabilitation. This main helps to supply a major area of South Devon. Also entered were Severn Trent for their work across an ancient Ridge & Furrow site.
· Renovation Large Project – Barhale Construction Plc for the Wraysbury Resevoir Inlet Tunnel Reline project and Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions Ltd for its use of the Thermopipe System to renovate Water Mains for Severn Trent Water Ltd in Perryfields Road, Bromsgrove.
· Renovation Small Project – Onsite Central Ltd & Wessex Engineering & Construction Services (WECS) for a Square Profile Lining on a difficult access foul water box culvert in Avonmouth; Dyno Rod for the Kilroot Power Station Project using UV Lining of the Cooling Water Outfall and DCT Civil Engineering for the Farnborough Road Lining Project, Clifton.
· Small Scheme – Dyno Rod for its project of pipe replacement under a terraced house at Collpits Terrace, Durham; and Ferro Monk for its Wet Well Renovation at Edith Weston Pumping Station for Rutland Water.
· Innovation – Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions for it new Meter Adaptors; and National Grid UK and U Mole Ltd for Innovative use of Combined Technologies for the Development of the 'Keyhole' Technique with National Grid.
A further Award was made at the discretion of the UKSTT Chairman for the Young Engineer category, Sponsored by Wessex Water, which this year was awarded to James Kitching of Wessex Water for his work on investigation (including robotics) and renovation of pitch fibre pipes. This prize provides up to £2,000 in sponsorship to a young engineer, under the age of 30, who has demonstrated, in a submission, that he or she has, or is hopeful of, pursuing a career in Trenchless Technology.
The organisers of the event were also grateful for the support of other sponsors for the evening which included: Dinner Sponsors – Adien, TT-UK, Dyno Rod and DCT Civil Engineering Ltd; Chairman’s Reception – Pipe Equipment; Photography – CJ Kelly Associates Ltd; and Charity Prize – Brawoliner.
For the first time, the 2008 Dinner also had as part of the evening a fund raising event in support of the Chairman’s chosen Charity. Funds raised on the night, totalling £1,875, will be presented to the Salvation Army. The winner of the Charity event prize (an iPod), sponsored by Brawoliner, was Kevin Fitzpatrick, Regional Director, J Murphy & Sons.
Following the Award Presentations the after- dinner entertainment was provided by String Fever, a family string quartet (including 3 brothers and 1 cousin). There show started off with a quiz – ‘name those 20 films’. One highlight was the Bolero (as in Torvill & Dean ice skating). For this the boys invited 2 members of the audience up to assist. They were each given a violin to play. The boys then played the Bolero on the cello (yes all 4 playing 1 instrument) the assistants joined in for the final note.
The evening was rounded off well by the usual (occasional?) visit to the bar and a major networking opportunity for the gathered guests.
For details of the 2009 event (provisionally booked for 24-Apr-08 @ Holiday Inn, Birmingham) and when and how to submit your Award entries for the coming year please contact: UKSTT, 38 Holly Walk, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV32 4LY, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)1926 330 935 Fax: +44 (0)1926 330 935 Email: admin@ukstt.org.uk Website: www.ukstt.org.uk
