MARK SIEDLE

State Manager, Victoria

 
How long have you worked for FMG?

12 months, and I moved from South Africa to Australia in 1999.

What is your area of expertise?

Sales, marketing and business development.

What is the best thing about your job?

The great people and the positive and collaborative team culture at FMG Engineering.

Family?

Married to Carol, with children Tom (12) and twins Alex and Meg (11).

Football team?

St Kilda, but main sporting interest is rugby. I follow the Springboks and Wallabies (unless the Springboks are playing against the Wallabies).

Hobbies?

Cycling, golf, bridge and I also coach my son's Under 14 cricket team.

To our loyal and valued clients, partners, contractors and friends, we would like to wish you, your colleagues and families a very Merry Christmas and a well deserved break. The last twelve months have been very challenging but we continue to buck the trend and to make headway with our business in a tough economic climate. We trust that 2012 will provide new and exciting opportunities and we are looking forward to working with you in 2012.

 Peter Bayetto - Managing Director

In our Christmas Newsletter we have highlighted some recent project news for your interest.

FMG Engineering recently was awarded the contract as lead consultant for the Oaklands Park stormwater reuse scheme in Adelaide's south western suburbs. The project involves master planning the project site, designing wetlands and aquifer injection for stormwater storage, landscape design of a park and the wetland and reticulation of 10km of pipelines to up to 30 Council reserves.

The aim is to harvest stormwater from a major drain adjacent to the site, clean and store the stormwater for later distribution to Council reserves for irrigation. There are eight other consultants in the FMG Engineering team providing expertise in community engagement, water quality, planning, landscape design, cost management and irrigation and water distribution systems.

Research House ensured that the recently erected Bonython Park Torrens River Bridge was lifted into place safely. Lab Manager Gary Turnbull received an urgent call from the contractor late one evening to conduct Dcp testing to provide evidence of a firm crane pad base for a 200T crawler crane. One hour later Gary was on site conducting numerous tests.

There was a slight hitch as the Dcps showed the pad was not up to specification. The lift, which involved three large cranes and around 15 crane operators and riggers had been set to start at 7:00am the next morning. Quick thinking Gary offered advice to stabilise the crane platform with cement to a depth of 300mm overnight.

The contractor staff did a great job working throughout the night to complete the stabilisation task. Gary was back on site early the next morning to check and Dcp test the platform to ensure compliance with the specification. The test results were completed and reports issued that morning, which meant the lift could go ahead as planned.

The Adelaide Structural Division has recently completed structural documentation for a new car showroom on West Terrace, Adelaide for Lexus. The state-of-the-art facility over three floors includes internal ramps for vehicle access to the first and second floors with the ground floor service area completely visible to the street. An added complexity was having to retain the existing advertising billboard on top of the old building during construction of the new structure.

FMG Engineering's Environmental Division has conducted soil testing for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, the site of the former commercial rail yard along North Terrace.

FMG Engineering's involvement has been to prepare the site for the removal of 500,000 tonnes of soil which will return the land to its natural habitat prior to works commencing. The project deadlines have been extremely tight and the team has performed considerably well under pressure. The team has been commended for their efforts with numerous staff from other divisions being seconded to help on the project. The project is now in the remediation supervision and validation phase of the project, with the works continuing well into the next year.
 

The Gorilla enclosure at the Werribee Open Range Zoo which FMG Engineering was involved with is now open to the public.

As noted in a previous issue, FMG Engineering's Melbourne office has been involved in an exciting project with Melbourne Zoo to relocate their Gorilla enclosure from the Melbourne Zoo, to a brand new enclosure at Werribee Zoo.

The Gorilla enclosure is central to the African theme that Werribee Zoo has adopted and Lindsay Patone, assisted by Patrick Laguda, designed all of the structural and civil works.