On a bright and blustery International Women In Engineering Day at the Construction Training Centre, the 2021 Seymour Whyte All-Female Story Bridge Build commenced as the Constructionarium Australia team was joined by 21 early-stage career professionals and undergraduates for an eight-day training program.
After a quick series of introductions, the first session was a deep dive into Harry’s logic of construction and the important role of oranges, assumptions and asking questions. Seymour Whyte’s Caitlin Tolone, the build project manager, then took the cohort through the vital role that safety will play across the next eight days. Caitlin reinforced to the team their roles, responsibilities and actions that they must all take when working in a live site environment.
At 10:00 am, we were joined by leaders from across the industry to officially launch the All-Female Build and to announce an exciting next step in Constructionarium Australia’s evolution. Over the last few months, Constructionarium Australia has been working with BlueScope Steel, Beenleigh Steel Fabrications, RPG and Mentis Australia and SMEC to design and fabricate a new structure, The Eleanor Schonell Bridge, which will be the centrepiece of future build programs.
Amanda Yeates, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Nick Vaisey Chair of Constructionarium Australia, Will MacDonald and Kent Kieseker of Seymour Whyte, Stacey Rawlings of Engineers Australia, Sheree Taylor, Scott Tanks and Rob Danis of BlueScope Steel and Sami Hossein of SMEC joined the cohort for the official opening addresses. Each speaker reinforced the importance of the program, the opportunity on offer to the cohort and the ever-increasing and vital role played by females in construction and infrastructure.
Following a quick site visit, the team settled in for their first lunch and learn session with Ulrike Pelz, of CPB, who is the Design Director of Cross River Rail’s tunnels and stations. Ulrike took the cohort through the critical aspects of tunnel design and construction, highlighting the real-world history and current examples of how tunnelling is transforming connectivity in urban areas. In addition, Ulrike also expanded on her career development and pathway, highlighting the changes that she has seen in the sector with a clear message to the cohort. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot do it, you can”, a message that resonated with everyone on International Women in Engineering Day.
After lunch, it was down to business as the cohort was split into two tender teams and issued with their tender documentation. With a deadline of Friday at noon, the next two days will be a hive of activity as our teams build their pricing, construction methodology and tender presentations as they compete to be awarded the contract to build the 2021 Seymour Whyte All-Female Story Bridge.
For our final session of the day, Adrian Smith and Christine Knappstein of Bentley Systems joined the cohort for a session on project controls and Bentley Synchro, the system our teams will use to capture every aspect of their program’s schedule and costs.
And that was the end of day one, a fitting way to start the build and to celebrate International Women In Engineering Day.
