REAAA NZ CHAPTER WEBINAR SERIES
A series of monthly webinars that will appeal to a range of practitioners in the roading and transportation industry. If you would like to present in the webinar series please email admin@reaaa.co.nz
Thursday 21 March, 12.00pm
Reconnecting Communities Following Cyclone Gabrielle
Presenters: Michael Sinclair and Tilly Hoffman-Wall, WSP
Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand from 12 to 16 February 2023 resulting in 11 fatalities and estimated damage greater than $10 billion.
Infrastructure on the East Coast of the North Island was slammed by the Cyclone with over 30 bridges washed away, cutting off access to many communities.
This presentation will talk through reconnecting our communities, inspecting and triaging the entire bridge stock and the designing and building of temporary structures.
Michael Sinclair is a Senior Engineer leading Bridge Asset Management for WSP. He was seconded to the Hastings District Council during the initial response of Cyclone Gabrielle. Michael worked closely with stakeholders, consultants, and local contractors to reconnect communities and coordinated the establishment and implementation of the Bridge Response, Recovery and Rebuild phases for the Council.
Tilly Hoffman-Wall is a Graduate Engineer Civil at WSP. She has worked closely with Wairoa District Council following Cyclone Gabrielle, from the initial inspections through to developing the long term response plan. She has worked with the local contractors and stakeholders to establish access to disconnected communities.
Cloud recording here Passcode: r8^18vv?
Thursday 18 April
Modern Timber Bridge Structures and the Use of Timber to Prolong the Life of Roading Structures
presented by Jeremiah Shaw, BECA
This presentation will discuss some recent bridge projects utilizing timber, learnings from these projects and how timber has been used to economically prolong the life of bridge assets.
Thursday 30 May
The Belts and Braces of Roads Safety in a changing economic environment
presented by Mike Smith with guest Melanie Muirson, Stantec
Mike Smith As an Expert Road Safety Engineer, Mike offers specialist technical advice to Local Governments, Councils, and the NZ Transport Agency, and overseas to Authorities and Governments. He leads the Australasian Road Safety practice for Stantec, providing international technical support in road safety systems including Network Safety, Road Safety Auditing, Active Transport design, Safe Systems, and vulnerable road user advice.
With extensive experience in road safety (utilising the Safe System approach), traffic control, strategy studies, health and safety, existing road safety inspections, road safety audits, crash reduction studies, traffic engineering, maintenance contract and construction projects, Mike has seen first-hand the impacts of maintenance practices.
He has been expert witness for coronial hearings, acting for the coroner, for crashes on rural unsealed roads. He has also undertaken high profile serious and fatal injury crash investigations on behalf of RCA’s, with the reports being provided to the coronial enquiry.
Friday 21 June
ISO55001 Asset Management - What is it and What are its Benefits?
presented by Wayne Hatcher FEngNZ, CPEng, CPAM, WSP
You may wonder what this means?
Around the world and especially in the Asia Pacific region, ISO55001 is being used to firstly guide organisations on the business requirements of an asset management system and secondly to seek certification to the standard as a way to show they can follow good asset management practice.
This webinar will give you an overview of the standard: its purpose; some of its limitations, changes made since 2014 and some of the benefits relative to tactical asset management decision-making.

Wayne has undertaken many roles in road network management throughout that time in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Malaysia and North America.
Thursday 25 July
Winter Surfacing – Understanding the Risks and the Challenges
presented by Bryn Pearson, National Surfacing Products Lead, Fulton Hogan
With the changes in the weather patterns, there is a continued growing workload of winter surfacing. This has become the norm within our industry.
This clearly comes with risk and challenges, not only around the physical construction but also on our performance and strategies that need to be fully assessed and clearly communicated to all parties. Some of these risks and challenges can be mitigated; however, these are not always approved or agreed throughout our industry. Understanding these risks and strategies is key to delivering solutions that meet the requirements of each party.
Cloud recording here Passcode: 7!E7Fszg
AGM 2024
Straight after the Winter Surfacing Webinar, we held our AGM. Cloud recording here Passcode: .GSn9$$e
All the documents for the full agenda were uploaded here.
AGENDA Minutes are here.
Thursday 26 September
Biomass as a bitumen replacement (lignin, tall oil, woody biomass)
presented by Matt Sharp, WSP
WSP Research is undertaking a multi-year research programme to investigate and develop sustainable, biomass-derived materials to replace bitumen. Initial laboratory testing and research into biomass by-products from pulp and paper manufacture, such as lignin and bio-oils, have shown the potential to replace significant proportions of bitumen in roading applications. This presentation covers an overview of these research developments.
Matt Sharp is a materials researcher, specialising in construction materials and processes. Having worked across a range of materials at Industrial Research Limited and Saint Gobain Research Paris, he is now the Pavements Research Group Manager at WSP Research, directing a talented group of scientists, engineers and researchers to identify, develop, and optimise new technologies and procedures for the New Zealand roading industry.
Cloud recording here Passcode: #e6Le1Gq
Thursday 31 October
Papua New Guinea Road Management System Implementation
The GHD Road Management team have been appointed via the Australian funded Transport Sector Support Programme (TSSP) to support the PNG Department of Works and Highways (DoWH) to implement a new Road Management System (RAMM) for use on their 8,200km of PNG National Roads.
This project required a ground up approach to achieve the project objectives and will eventually touch most aspects of the organisation. The information (and related processes) scope for the first two phases included:
- Current and future road network
- Road Structures (bridges, major culverts and causeways)
- Programmes and projects monitoring
- Network supporting information (intersections, restrictions and network video)
To support the work, the project required:
- Developing a fit for purpose data standard
- Establishing a knowledgebase
- Training and capacity development for staff across 22 provinces and headquarters
- Data design for numerous new areas like project monitoring and structures
- Process design to help connect the different parts of the DoWH together
- Developing new automated reporting
- Significant stakeholder relationships

Simon has over 25 years of experience in the roading industry including all aspects of asset management, maintenance and operations.
With previous roles including Roading Asset Manager at Whangarei District Council, Asset Systems Team Leader at Auckland Transport and manager of the Traffic Management Centre, Simon is currently the Lead for Asset Management in the GHD Road Management team.
Simon’s main focus these days is on business improvement and transformation using his wide industry knowledge and his experience in business process design and the use of systems and data to support business activities and improving asset management outcomes.
Cloud recording here Passcode: 5=b6y6H%
REAAA Climate Change Resilience & Emergency Management Technical Committee
Willis will delve into the elements that contribute to climate-resilient infrastructure, highlighting both national and international case studies and exploring ways to strengthen the resilience of our road networks. The presentation will discuss preparation, prevention, and innovative mitigation strategies, along with key lessons learned. As a member of the REAAA Climate Change Resilience & Emergency Management Technical Committee, Willis will incorporate international best practices to potentially apply these insights within a New Zealand context.
Willis is a Chartered Professional Engineer with 18 years experience in a broad range of civil engineering projects, including road network management and project delivery. Willis has been involved in various emergency responses in the past regarding slips, rockfalls and bridge washouts. Recently, he has also played a coordination and project director role in delivering a large programme of Low-Cost Low-Risk projects for NZTA, as well as leading the development of an innovative infrastructure risk asset management system to manage high risk infrastructure.
Cloud recording here Passcode: #F&AC1%0
National Pavements Technical Group (NPTG) updates
This session will provide an update on the latest developments led by the National Surfacing Technical Group and the National Pavements Technical Group. These two groups are focused on delivering better value to road owners, enhancing the performance of pavements and surfacings while also reducing life cycle costs, and reducing the carbon footprint of materials, construction and maintenance.
Dr Bryan Pidwerbesky (CPEng, DistFENZ) is one of the leading roading engineering specialists in Australia and New Zealand. He is chair of the National Technical Pavements Group, a national industry best practice and research group comprised of leading experts from consultants, contractors and NZ Transport Agency. Bryan's current responsibilities include strategic leadership for road pavement and materials engineering, technical training and research at Fulton Hogan. Bryan has authored or co-authored over 100 technical papers in New Zealand and internationally. Prior to joining Fulton Hogan in 2000, from 1986 to 1998, he was a Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, specializing in pavement engineering. During 1998-2000, Bryan was Chief Executive of the NZ Pavement & Bitumen Contractors' Association.