No Time to Waste! Critical Project Delivery at GRC Michael Shellshear Proterra Group

Abstract: Picture this. You’re a last-minute addition to the new waste levy zone that includes 39 of the 77 local government areas in . Other councils have had months to prepare for the July 1 implementation of a waste levy and to get upgrades to their facilities underway, but not you. You own seven regional waste facilities, six of which require varying degrees of modifications to suit the new legislation and have a very tight timeline to prepare. What do you do?

This was the situation faced by the Regional Council (GRC) in February of 2019 when opposition by other regional councils to its exclusion from the levy zone lead to their region being a last-minute addition. Their Inglewood, Talwood, , Texas, and Bungunya waste facilities, located some 247 km apart, all needed upgrades.

This presentation will focus on the procurement method utilised by GRC to engage a contractor to complete the works using a Local Buy arrangement and the significant benefits to Council by doing so. The specific contract used by GRC for the works was Contract BUS254 Project Management (Construction). Under this arrangement, Council was able to quickly engage a contractor to design and construct an urgent infrastructure project, but with considerable flexibility in project delivery.

The multiple benefits to Council using this style of project delivery method include:

- Rapid commencement of project (eliminated costly and time-consuming tendering process);

- Ability to package works into smaller portions to enable bids by local contractors through RFQ process;

- Ultimate control of sub-contractors, suppliers and materials used;

- Ability to make “on-the-fly” scope and design changes without costly variations;

- Provision of clear cost tracking and forecasting monthly; and

- Return of a percentage of the project management fees to Council from Local Buy.

Keywords:

• Waste Management • Procurement • Local Buy

Introduction

Proterra Group in partnership with Goondiwindi Regional Council (GRC) have successfully implemented significant changes to Council’s waste management infrastructure and operations. GRC recognised the need and developed plans to rationalise its waste operations some time ago. Rapid changes to state legislation including the implementation of a waste levy meant Council needed to fast-track the planning, design and construction of upgrades to their waste facilities to ensure their capability of meeting the new regulations.

Background

GRC manages seven (7) waste facilities including:

• Goondiwindi Waste Facility • Inglewood Waste Facility • Texas Waste Facility • Yelarbon Waste Facility • Talwood Waste Facility • Toobeah Waste Facility • Bungunya Waste Facility

Prior to the project, all GRC waste facilities, with the exception of the Texas waste facility included a landfill. The Texas site had been converted to a waste transfer station prior to the 2008 Council amalgamations. Recognising a need to rationalise waste operations to meet its Environmental Authority (EA) conditions, GRC commissioned a Regional Waste Strategy in 2013. The waste strategy recommended that only the Goondiwindi and Inglewood waste facilities continue landfilling and become larger regional waste facilities. All other sites were recommended to close their landfill be converted to waste transfer stations with waste delivered to either Goondiwindi or Inglewood.

Proterra Group was engaged to complete the detailed works for the closure and conversion of the smaller landfills to waste transfer stations and upgrading of the two larger sites to regional landfills. The works were programmed to be delivered in a staged approach over several financial years as funding allowed.

Detailed Design of Waste Facilities

Over a period of approximately 12 months, Proterra Group completed the survey and detailed design of the landfill closures and installation of waste transfer stations. Various other investigations were carried out including ground penetrating radar surveys and geotechnical work. With the exception of

Goondiwindi and Texas, all sites needed wholesale changes to meet the requirement of the incoming waste levy. Below is a brief of summary of the proposed works for each site.

Inglewood

• New weighbridge and gate house • New 4 bin transfer station • New entrance and access roads • Upgrade resource recovery areas • Site fencing • CCTV

Yelarbon and Talwood

• Closure and capping of landfill cells • New 2 bin transfer station • New entrance and access roads • Upgrade resource recovery areas • Site fencing • CCTV

Toobeah and Bungunya

• Closure and capping of landfill cells • New 3 front lift bin transfer station • CCTV

Figure 1 - Ground penetrating radar surveys

Figure 2 - Example of detailed design drawings

Queensland Waste Levy

A waste levy is introduced to reduce waste being landfilled through a price signal and encourages the community to recycle. Before the landfill levy was introduced into Queensland, the Sunshine State was the only state in that did not have some type of waste levy attached to the commercial disposal of waste. The lack of waste levy meant that the waste disposal costs were significantly less in the Queensland than and any other state. At the time of the levy review the average landfill levy of for the other states was approximately $52/tonne plus $60/tonne disposal fees with Queensland having only a $30/tonne disposal fee. Lower costs for waste disposal resulted in other states, namely NSW, trucking waste into Queensland. The Queensland waste levy was introduced in July 2019 as a strategy to combat the high rates of interstate commercial waste disposal and encourage recycling of waste generated in Queensland. The current levy rate is $75/tonne which increases for regulated waste with Category 1 at $155 and Category 2 at $110 ( 2020a).

The initial waste levy area incorporated 38 local governments where the majority of the state’s waste was generated and landfilled (Queensland Government 2020b). The decision to exclude the other 39 local governments was based on a cost-benefit approach acknowledging the costs to administer the levy for the less populated and regional and remote local governments was exhaustive and held little to no benefit (Queensland Government 2020b). After consultation about the new levy with the effected and interested local government representatives, it was decided that the Goondiwindi Regional Council should be incorporated into the leviable zone (as it was previously excluded) due to its location and relationship with the other effected local governments as shown in Figure 3 below (Queensland Government 2020b).

Figure 3 - Map of waste leviable local governments in Queensland (Queensland Government 2020b).

Project Delivery

In response to the increasing scope of works for waste facility upgrades, GRC sought and were successful in receiving partial funding under both the Works for Queensland and Levy Ready Grants programs. The Levy Ready Grants was provided to assist Council’s such as GRC transition to a position whereby the levy can be accurately calculated and collected.

The delivery method selected for the project was for Proterra Group to manage the upgrades as the principal works contractor through Local Buy, specifically contract BUS254 Project Management (Construction). A large focus of the delivery was to engage as many local suppliers and contractors within the GRC local government area to participate in the project. Given the nature of the works and the capability of the local suppliers and contractors, the work was packaged into 13 smaller contracts. Proterra sought quotations and tenders for each works package in accordance with GRC’s procurement policy. Evaluation of all offers received was completed by Proterra, with the recommendation forwarded to GRC for endorsement prior to awarding the contract. This delivery method effectively shared both the risks and opportunities for GRC and Proterra and meant GRC still retained ultimate control.

Construction

Construction commenced in April 2019 with work on all sites being carried out simultaneously, allowing contractors with works on multiple waste facilities to seamlessly mobilise to the next site. Works were supervised by Proterra engineers and civil supervisors in partnership with GRC officers. Progress claims were submitted monthly with a forecasting sheet which included forward projections of future claims and tracking against the budget. All sites, with the exception of Inglewood were completed by December 2019. Works were completed at Inglewood in April 2020 with the commissioning of the weighbridge and gatehouse.

Figure 4 – Production of precast retaining wall panels by local contractor

Figure 5 – Works on bin transfer station at Talwood waste facility

Figure 6 – Completed weighbridge and gate house at Inglewood waste facility

Figure 7 – Typical CCTV Camera

Waste Operations

At the largest project site, Inglewood, Proterra Group assisted Council with the integration of the Mandalay weighbridge software with GRC’s finance systems. This allows GRC to accurately account for all streams of waste entering the facility and also accurately report on the volume of waste being landfilled for collection of the waste levy. CCTV was also integrated with GRC’s existing camera system, giving GRC staff the ability to monitor any of its waste sites in real time.

Figure 8 – Weighbridge operations and Mandalay software at Inglewood waste facility

With a proven track record of managing waste facilities, Proterra were successful in being awarded the operations contract for the Inglewood site under another Local Buy contract BUS252 – Asset Management Services.

Project Review

The project is considered a success in terms of delivering a timely and cost-effective solution to Council. The works were completed in 12 months from commencement and only slightly above the project budget. The delivery method and regular forecasting meant Council remained aware of upcoming costs and likely final construction totals. Due to this forecasting, any non-essential items could be omitted to ensure final costs were managed. The local supplier involvement was a highlight, with 10 of the 13 works packages being awarded to local businesses. By utilising Local Buy contracts, Council also received a small reimbursement of the project costs. Proterra group are still in the process of refining this style of project delivery method to ensure the risk and opportunities are balanced equitably between the client and Proterra.

Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge our valuable client, Goondiwindi Regional Council for providing Proterra group the opportunity to partner in the delivery of this project. Council officers Mr Jason Quinnell (Director Community & Corporate Services) and Mr Phillip Gall (Manager Environmental Health & Building Services) were a pleasure to work with and greatly assisted in the smooth project delivery. We at Proterra Group believe the waste facility upgrades to be a great asset to the and an investment in a more sustainable future for its residents.

References

• Queensland Government, 2020, Levy rates, viewed 28 October 2020, https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/pollution/management/waste/recovery/disposal- levy/about/levy-rates

• Queensland Government, 2020, Levy zone map, viewed 28 October 2020, https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/pollution/management/waste/recovery/disposal- levy/about/waste-levy-map