Established in 1971, the Awards for Excellence in Concrete recognise and publicise the many significant contributions to excellence in concrete design, construction and materials in Australia.
In 2023, the Concrete Institute of Australia was pleased to receive 50 entries which were submitted around Australia in all categories.
Awards
Awards are granted at two levels – State and National.
State Awards: All entries are judged in groups based on the state in which they are completed, and winners will be awarded with an Award for Excellence in Concrete. More than one award may be granted in each category.
National Awards: Winners of Awards for Excellence from each state will be judged in their separate categories for an overall category winner. The winner will receive a Medallion for Excellence in Concrete. From those entries, one will be judged to receive the Kevin Cavanagh Trophy for Excellence in Concrete.
The National Awards were presented at the Gala Dinner at Concrete 2023 in Perth on 12 September 2023 as part of the Institute’s 31st biennial conference.
The Kevin Cavanagh Trophy
The Kevin Cavanagh Trophy for Excellence in Concrete is a prestigious industry award, which is granted to the overall winner judged from all categories on the basis of being an outstanding contribution to the quality of concrete construction in Australia, clearly demonstrating an outstanding level of excellence above all other entries.
The 2023 winner of the Kevin Cavanagh Trophy is the Quay Quarter Tower which was entered by BG&E, Multiplex, AMP Capital Design and 3XN Architects. The winner was from New South Wales and was entered in the Repair, Restoration and Retrofitting category.
Located in the Central Business District of Sydney, Australia, Quay Quarter Tower is the world’s tallest adaptive reuse project. The project involved the redevelopment of a 45-year old reinforced concrete building via partial demolition and the addition of new structures – both vertically and horizontally.
The new upcycled tower is a 216m tall building with a hybrid structure consisting of the existing and new structural elements and an extended service life until 2070. It added 45,000sqm of new office space to the existing building in the heart of Sydney without the demolition of the existing tower.
The construction involved the simultaneous top-down demolition of the 30% of each floor in conjunction with bottom up construction of the composite steel jump structure. The partial demolition of each floor saw 30% of the floor plates and their supporting structural elements being demolished to enable the extension of concrete core walls (main lateral stability system) and composite floor plates on the north side of the existing core walls.
Every floor was extended by about 30m to the north, which provided an additional 1,000sqm of office space in each floor. In addition, five stories were added atop the building, increasing the height of the building by approximately 30m.
National Awards for Excellence in Concrete – 2023 Winners
Winners of Awards for Excellence from each state were judged in their separate categories for an overall category winner. The winner received a Medallion for Excellence in Concrete and an accompanying certificate. From those entries receiving a Medallion for Excellence in Concrete, one was judged to receive the Kevin Cavanagh Trophy for Excellence in Concrete and an accompanying certificate.
Our National Awards winners in 2023 are:
Residential Buildings – Treetops House submitted by Partridge Structural
Commercial Buildings – Art Gallery of New South Wales submitted by Arup Australia, Architectus, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Richard Crookes Construction and Infrastructure NSW
Infrastructure Projects – Central Station Metro Upgrade submitted by Aurecon GHD Joint Venture and Laing O’Rourke
Repair, Rehabilitation & Retrofitting – Quay Quarter Tower submitted by BG&E, Multiplex Construction, AMP Capital Design and 3XN Architects
Technology & Innovation – First 3D-Printed Concrete Building – Contour 3D submitted by Contour 3D, Ali Kashani, UNSW and Group Architects
State Awards for Excellence in Concrete
All entries were judged in groups based on the state in which they are completed, and winners were awarded with an Award for Excellence in Concrete. Winners received a framed Award certificate. More than one award was able to be granted in each category.
The entries that progressed to the National Awards were:
2023 Residential Buildings
- Edzell House, Victoria (Entered by Hollow Core Concrete)
- Ravine House, NSW (Entered by Partridge Structural)
- Treetops House, NSW (Entered by Partridge Structural)
2023 Commercial Buildings
- 266 North Terrace, Adelaide City Student Apartments, South Australia (Entered by Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec)
- Art Gallery of NSW – Sydney Modern Project, NSW (Entered by Arup, Architectus, Art Gallery of NSW, Richard Crookes Construction and Infrastructure NSW)
- Chevron Headquarters, Number 1 The Esplanade, Western Australia (Entered by BG&E and APP Chevron)
- Karrinyup Shopping Centre, Western Australia (Entered by Pritchard Francis)
- Luminare, Queensland (Entered by Cavcorp, Torre Developments, and DB Corp)
- Upper House by Aria, Queensland (Entered by Michael Bale and Associates, Aria Property Group, and Minicon Construction)
- Central Station Metro Upgrade, NSW (Entered by Aurecon/GHD Joint Venture and Laing O’Rourke)
- Dove Lake Viewing Shelter, Tasmania (Entered by VOS Construction & Joinery, Cumulus Studio, Aldanmark and Department of Natural Resources and Environment)
- Forrestfield Airport Link – Airport Central Station Building, Western Australia (Entered by GHD and Salini Impregilo NRW JV)
- Forrestfield Airport Link Tunnel Track Slab, Western Australia (Entered by Barchip Australia, Boral, Meales Concrete Pumping, Martinus Rail)
- Rookwood Weir, Queensland (Entered by the Rookwood Weir Alliance)
- Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre, Victoria (Entered by Kosloff Architecture, Nicholson Construction, Matter Consulting, and Bianco Precast)
2023 Repair, Restoration and Retrofitting
- Bondi Pavilion Restoration and Conservation Project, NSW (Entered by Structum, Buildcorp, SDA Structures, and tonkin zulaikha greer architects)
- Captain Cook Bridge Rehabilitation, Queensland (Entered by Department of Transport and Main Roads, Boral Concrete, and AECOM)
- Pullman Carpark Remediation Project, Queensland (Entered by Renovo Solutions and Hanson Concrete)
- Quay Quarter Tower, NSW (Entered by BG&E, Multiplex, AMP Capital and 3XN Architects)
- Tasmanian Bridges Strengthening Works, Tasmania (Entered by Pensar)
2023 Technology & Innovation
- An Innovative Solution for External Post-Tensioning Anchorages using UHPFRC, NSW (Entered by Freyssinet Australia)
- Car Dealership Mezzanine Storage Structure, Western Australia (Entered by PARKD and Delta Corp Precast)
- First 3D-printed concrete building, NSW (Entered by Contour 3D, Ali Kashani from UNSW and Group Architects)
- Frenchman’s Creek Bridge Replacement, Queensland (Entered by SMEC)
- HySustain – High Performance Low Embodied Carbon Concrete, NSW (Entered by Hymix Australia)
- Koora-Yeye-Boordawan-Kalyakoorl Sculpture and Entry Statement, Western Australia (Entered by Airey Taylor Consulting, SCAPE-ISM, BGC, Mateenbar and Rottnest Island Authority)
- Next generation of road barriers to increase public safety and decrease waste, Victoria (Entered by University of Melbourne and SafeRoads)
- Port of Brisbane Boat Ramp, Queensland (Entered by Fosroc, Port of Brisbane, SMEC, MGN Civil, Speciality Precast)
- Quick Nozzle Mixing Technique for 3D Concrete Printing Complex Shapes, Victoria (Entered by Swinburne University and CX Landscape)
- Victorian Infrastructure Industry first implementation: Soft plastics in concrete for structural application, Victoria (Entered by Western Program Alliance)