Bherwerre Ridge Tower, Jervis Bay

Bherwerre Ridge, Jervis Bay has a number of towers utilised by the Department of Defence for the purpose of undertaking and monitoring various military exercises. The project involved the design and construction of a Flight Termination Tower within the FTS compound at Bherwerre Ridge. The works included demolition of the existing FTS tower plus the design, documentation and construction of a new tower as undertaken by an external construction company.

MIEngineers was commissioned to undertake an investigation of the structural analysis of eight existing towers for conformance with specified performance criteria. The design for one of the towers included a plinth on top of the tower that supported a 4.2 metre antenna which was to be strictly fixed with virtually no sway allowed. This precise design was completed and the construction certified, with end users completely satisfied with the outcome.

We were also required to advise on the ability to upgrade existing towers and provide the design and documentation of various replacement towers. During excavation of the footings for the tower construction, asbestos contaminated soil was uncovered. This posed a problem for the project where tight deadlines for the construction of the tower meant that any delays needed to be reduced as much as possible.

MIEngineers prepared all required documentation and liaised with the necessary statutory authorities, including Comcare, to ensure the required approvals were obtained and the remedial site works for treatment of the asbestos contaminated soil could be completed as soon as possible. The plan of treatment included capping of the whole site to ensure future work could be undertaken without the controls in place that would typically be required for working on contaminated sites. This action resulted in minimal delays to the project’s timelines.