04 August 2010 – Four Aurecon projects won at the 2010 INNOVATE NZ Engineering Excellence Awards, with Aurecon receiving one Gold, two Silver and one Merit awards.

The Innovate NZ awards are organised by the Association of Consulting Engineers NZ (ACENZ) and recognise innovation in consulting engineering both in the structures or processes developed and in the means of providing engineering services to the client.

Winning Gold was the Hautapu Lactose project completed by Aurecon’s process team in Wellington for our client, Fonterra.

The Hautapu Lactose Evaporator project included installation of a new finishing evaporator and lactose concentrate load-in facilities. The new finishing evaporator is a novel design that extended production run times, reduced water and chemical requirements for cleaning lower product losses and results in less water being generated than existing evaporator options.

“It’s fantastic to see the great work that our industrial teams deliver being recognised, with this project continuing to cement its place as a world beating project,” said Neil Barr, General Manager, Aurecon New Zealand.

Winning a Silver award for the Saxton Stadium project located in Nelson, Aurecon’s structural team in Nelson have lead the way in the innovative use of timber. Saxon Stadium is a multi-purpose, long-span, LVL timber framed structure that incorporates engineered seismic resistance solution into the design.

Aurecon’s process team from Wellington were also successful with two other projects. Another silver award was won for the Winstone Pulp International energy transfer project. Manufacturing softwood pulp, in a thermo-mechanical plant located at Karioi, Ohakune, the aim of the refiner heat recovery project was to preheat air for the flash drying of thermo mechanical pulp using waste heat in dirty refiner steam that has historically been vented into the atmosphere.

Aurecon provided detailed engineering design work and managed the installation of the heat recovery system. The project recovers approximately 4.4 MW of thermal energy 24 hours per day for more than 320 days per year. It also reduces carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the site by an estimated 6 000 tonnes CO₂per year. 

“Our market is very diverse and these fantastic wins show the range of skills and project types to which we bring these skills. In particular, some of the great work our industrial process team have been doing,” said Mr. Barr.

A merit award was won for the process team’s work for the Ravensdown Fertiliser Plant upgrade project which achieved considerable improvements to health and safety, while also improving the working environment.

“Our winning projects delivered industrial and process control, environmentally sustainable design and survey, and property services. Delivering innovative and novel solutions, while delivering excellence to our clients, played no small part in the projects’ success,” added Mr. Barr.

The Aurecon New Zealand winners in the INNOVATE NZ Awards of Excellence 2010 include:

• Gold award: Hautapu Lactose Evaporator Project, Cambridge, Waikato – process, electrical and automation design consultancy services
• Silver award: WPI Refiner Heat Recovery Project, Hawkes Bay/Central North Island – engineering design and project management
• Silver award: Saxton Stadium, Nelson – geotechnical, structural, building services and fire engineering
• Merit award: Ravensdown One Side Upgrade Project, Hawkes Bay/Central North Island – Process, mechanical, electrical and automation design engineers and project management