Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has been recognised at a gala night showcasing engineering excellence in the public sector, with senior manager Gary Randall taking out the night’s top award.
The Group Manager of Project Delivery represented the council alongside his award nominator and colleague Senior Project Manager, Josh Bennie, at the Institute of Public Works Engineering Awards (IPWEA) held at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday.
The IPWEA is the peak association for professionals who deliver public works and engineering services to communities in Australia and New Zealand.
Gary’s award for the Public Works Leader of the Year was the highest individual accolade of the night, and he beat a star-studded line up of engineering excellence to achieve it.
In particular, the award recognised Gary’s six years of service growing council’s project delivery team from two Project Managers into 17 Project Managers, Assistant Project Managers and Senior Project Managers.
His team is set to deliver approximately $500 million in capital works projects over the next five-to-10 years.
The award also highlighted his unwavering commitment to continuous improvement within public service delivery, which over the past five-to-six years as Group Manager has seen him lead a team that has delivered significant capital works projects including:
- Stingray Creek Bridge
- Three Villages Sewer Scheme
- Town Centre Masterplan upgrade
- Town Green upgrades
- Wauchope main street upgrade
- Coastal Walk upgrades
- Airport terminal upgrade and runway widening
- Waste facility expansions
- Boat ramps and jetty upgrades
- Numerous road safety upgrades
- Flynns Beach sea wall rebuild
The Project Delivery team has approximately 80-100 projects in the various stages of delivery at any one time across a range of different areas, and Gary is ultimately accountable for all.
Upon accepting his award, Gary said he was extremely humbled by the support of his council colleagues and for all that the organisation has given him during his full 16 years of service.
“The council has provided me an enormous amount of opportunity, and has supported me in growing and building a group of extremely capable professionals within the project delivery team,” he said. “It is a great privilege to lead this outstanding group of people.”
“It’s great to receive this level of recognition – it’s pretty humbling quite frankly. I just feel extremely proud to be able to lead the team that I do, and to have been able to play such an integral leadership role in shaping their development, and in the delivery of our projects for the community. Continuing to lead this high performing team fills me with a great sense of satisfaction.”
