Rookwood Weir Alliance takes out top project award
GHD is honoured to be recently awarded the Queensland Major Contractors Association Project of the Year Award (Over $100M) for our work on the Rookwood Weir Alliance, alongside Sunwater and delivery partners Acciona and McCosker Contracting.
Recently completed, Rookwood Weir (also known as ‘Managibei Gamu’) is the biggest weir built in Australia since World War II. With a capacity of more than 74,000 megalitres, the weir provides much-needed economic and water infrastructure security benefits to communities near the Fitzroy River south-west of Rockhampton, and the Central Queensland agricultural and local industry.
GHD is proud to have worked with Sunwater on planning for Rookwood Weir in the years preceding its appointment as lead design engineer as part of the alliance (with Sunwater and construction delivery partners Acciona and McCosker Contracting).
The $568.9 million project, co-funded by Sunwater and the Federal and Queensland governments, achieved practical completion on 30 November 2023, just in advance of one of Queensland’s biggest cyclone and wet seasons.
Rookwood Weir is the first weir in Australia and New Zealand to be awarded an Excellent IS v1.2 Design Rating by the Infrastructure Sustainability Council. The rating reflects the positive social and environmental impacts of the project, including the protection of aquatic life, innovative design, leading construction practices and commitment to local jobs.
Cameron Gillanders, Senior Project Director – South Queensland, GHD says: "We are so incredibly proud to receive this recognition for the Rookwood Weir project and our collaboration with the Alliance and delivery partners. Together, our work, and design, including the innovative turtle passages and fish chamber, have played a critical role to nurture local aquatic species and create a sustainably innovative water security project."
As an industry leader in structural engineering for dams and weirs, GHD's Senior Technical Director – Dams, Nick Hamilton, was also recognised for his work on the Rookwood Weir project as a finalist for the 2023 QMCA’s Innovation and Excellence Awards and the Construction Professional of the Year Award category.
"I always strive to find innovative solutions within my work," Nick says. "Rookwood Weir provided an opportunity to not only improve the quality, sustainability and cost-efficiency within the project, but also develop a new concrete mix design that met the technical and environmental requirements of the Fitzroy River location, while achieving ISC’s Excellent design rating. We are immensely proud of what we have accomplished together."
Discover more about Rookwood Weir in GHD's 2023 Year in Review.
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GHD is a leading professional services company operating in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation. Committed to a vision to make water, energy, and communities sustainable for generations to come, GHD delivers advisory, digital, engineering, architecture, environmental and construction solutions to public and private sector clients. Established in 1928 and privately owned by its people, GHD’s network of 12,000+ professionals is connected across 160 offices located on five continents.