Calibre Consulting wins Gold at INNOVATE NZ Awards

Media Release: September 5, 2016

Calibre Consulting wins Gold at INNOVATE NZ Awards

Calibre Consulting has won a Gold Award at the 2016 INNOVATE NZ Awards of Excellence for the remediation work on Tuvalu’s borrow pits which has provided the Pacific island with increased resilience against sea level rise and seen the main island of Funafuti gain an extra 6% of usable land.

The INNOVATE NZ Awards of Excellence are presented by the Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand and celebrate great projects demonstrating a high level of technical expertise, innovation, complexity and above all, customer service.

Calibre Consulting completed the project management, design and implementation of this NZD10M project for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade under the New Zealand Aid Programme in the Pacific. The objective was to fill in the borrow pits that were excavated by the United States military during World War II to obtain material to construct a new airfield. This left the island scarred and the pits later became unattractive and heavily polluted with septic tank effluent and rubbish, posing health and environmental risks to residents.

Minister McCully showed vision when in 2013 he agreed to a request from the Government of Tuvalu to rehabilitate the borrow pits, as despite the potential risks associated with the project, the development benefits to Tuvalu were significant.

Three years later the project is complete and has won praise from all levels in the Tuvalu community, local and central government and also other aid agencies, for the vision in tackling such a project, and the difference it has made to the country.

Peter Ollivier, Calibre Consulting’s Senior Project Director said that the project’s many positive impacts include increasing available land area of Funafuti by 6%, improving visual impact and land use segregation (between pig pens and housing), reduced odour nuisance, and improved health and access to recreation.

“There are also anecdotal reports of a reduction in mosquitoes and dengue fever, obvious improvements in solid waste management, and a huge impact on both the physical and psychological wellbeing of the Tuvalu community,” said Mr Ollivier.

“Achieving these results for the community has been hugely satisfying.

“Through this project it has become clear that there is a need to apply innovative thinking and to develop solutions outside the box to help the wider Pacific region as the smaller countries battle climate change and sea level rise, and prepare for an uncertain future.”

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About Calibre Consulting:

Calibre Consulting is a 160 person engineering, surveying, asset management and project management consultancy, with eight offices across New Zealand. Calibre Consulting is a member company of Calibre Group, a diversified provider of engineering, consulting, project delivery, construction and asset management services to the resources and infrastructure markets in Australia and select international markets.

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