Award for council assets staff member

The successful study routines of Orange City Council staff member have paid off with the presentation of a road industry award.

Transport Assets Engineer Jason Theakstone is two years into a three year degree in Assets Management, and picked up the award for topping the class for all students in the course. The course includes a number of students from overseas countries who are studying online.

The assets management role is aimed at providing value for council money by routinely assessing the condition of every road in Orange's 500 kilometre network of transport links.

Each road is assessed for factors such as the condition of the road-seal. The assessments are then used to manage maintenance and renewal schedules.

The award was presented at a recent Roads Australia (RA) conference in Sydney. The conference heard an address from Roads and Maritime Services Chief Executive, Peter Duncan.

More than 240 industry leaders heard Peter deliver his fifth annual Roads Australia address, in which he provided an overview of the current capital works program in NSW.

Attendees were told that so far this financial year, major road contracts worth $734 million have been awarded in the State, with $1 billion in major projects currently out to tender or under assessment and a further $1.4 billion of major work in the immediate pipeline.

The underlying message was that looking farther ahead, there was more to come for the NSW roads industry. Peter also used his address to underscore the benefits of engaging with the private sector to deliver value-for-money outcomes, citing NorthConnex as a prime example.

AWARD : Roads and Maritime Services Chief Executive, Peter Duncan presented the RA-sponsored CPEE Student Excellence Award for Pavement Management to Jason Theakstone, from Orange City Council.