IPWEA Vic Blog

• challenges and insights of managing parks in a changing climate,
• how to get your community engaged in gardens and reserve management,
• contract management and operational issues,
• key issues in managing high profile gardens considering two case studies,
• challenges and insights of managing parks and reserves in a regional city.

Hosted in the Nottinghill Hall located just beside the City of Monash Depot.  Lunch, morning and afternoon tea included.

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IPWEAvic Young IPWEAvic Convenor, Kurt Pitts writes:

A successful night was held on 30 January for the Young IPWEA launch event at La Di Da in Melbourne. The event was sponsored by ARRB Group and received positive feedback from all who attended. Steve Bell, an experienced mountaineer and adventurer was the guest speaker for the night. Steve provided a very interesting talk and had the audience captivated while he described stories of his mountaineering adventures. The group enjoyed finger food and a few drinks while Steve shared his experiences.

A summary of his main points are below:

• Grew up in Devon on the south coast of England where a large amount of outdoor rock climbing exists
• Started rock climbing at the age of 16
• Found his true passion in climbing
• Noted a picture of Mt Arapiles in Victoria and how much he wanted to climb this famous mountain as it was very well known in the rock climbing world.
• Started climbing many First Ascents on sea cliffs around Devon
• From here, he asked himself “Where can I get the next thrill?”
• This is where he “heard the mountains calling” and decided to get into mountaineering
• He made a few ascents and then teamed up with some fellow mountaineers and climbed the north face of the Matterhorn in the Pennine Alps between Switzerland and Italy while they were still teenagers
• It was at this time that he had a large fall which resulted in a rethink.
• He sat back and thought “I’m human, I might be killed” where the fear of death had not previously crossed his mind. Quite a few friends had already been killed.
• Following this, he “wised up at the ripe old age of 20”
• Later, he teamed up with a more experienced climber, a 30 year old, to attempt to climb the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland
• The attempt was made in winter, only the second party to ever attempt the ascent in winter
• The two spent 7 nights on the face, including one in a snow cave they made. They later found out that their snow cave was constructed in the exact location of a previous death in another snow cave and was dubbed the ‘death cave’
• The next step up – The Himalayas. He spent two months there and hated it. This was a major turning point. He felt he needed more meaning. “Climbing mountains is great for yourself, but what does it do for others?”
• He took an opportunity with the British Antarctic Survey and spent 9 months in Antarctica
• Following this, the British Commandos (Marines) were looking for volunteers to go to Mount Everest, so he had a stint in the military for four years.
• Part of his military work involved setting up Camp 7 (last camp) on Everest, but he did not get the opportunity to reach the summit.
• He found the altitude made him very lethargic at 8,000 metres
• He realised he’d had enough and it was time to get off the mountain when he spilled a fresh one litre bottle of urine (pee bottle) all over the inside of the tent which instantly froze.
• Following this work, and itching to get to the summit of Everest, he set up the first ever commercial expedition to the summit of Everest in 1993, and so started his company Jagged Globe.
• Although relatively cheap to join an expedition at the time, the cost is now approximately $50,000 to $60,000 per person
• Steve described that getting to Base Camp is very easy, but within hours of leaving Base Camp, massive chasms needed to be crossed by carefully placed ladders and the climbing got more difficult
• “Choose your attitude each morning – it makes a huge difference in what you will achieve”
• Steve noted that one of the Sherpa’s travelling with the group stayed overnight on top of Everest without oxygen on a previous trip, simply to say he was the first to do so. Sadly he died on another occasion when he went to do number twos during the night and fell down a crevasse.
• Once atop the south summit, there was a fantastic view of the northern summit ridge, the weather was fantastic. Steve noted that these days, there would be a large queue of people walking up the ridge.
• It was interesting to note the current age record for climbing Everest is 78 years old
• Steve also mentioned that more people die coming down the mountain than going up, an approximate death rate of one in ten people.
• After Everest, Steve decided that it would be nice to climb the highest point on each continent.
• He started with Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya) in West Papua and claimed this as the Australia/Pacific’s highest point, as Australia’s Mt Kosciuszko is no real challenge.
• He followed this by returning to Antarctica to climb Mt Vinson, and completing the other continents, noting his favourite was North America – Mt McKinley in Alaska.
• He noted there is often no view when climbing mountains, due to regular white-outs. Mountaineers don’t climb for the view, although it is a pleasant reward.
• Once accomplished, he had a reality check, thinking of his family and his three kids, and the enormous amount of friends and acquaintances who had died mountaineering. He decided to retire from mountaineering and spend time with his family.
• He emigrated to Australia for a change and lived in Melbourne before moving to Natimuk in Western Victoria, just up the road from Mount Arapiles.
• He noted he finally got to climb Mount Arapiles, and regularly visited to continue his rock climbing passion.
• He thought he must have something else to give to the small town.
• He heard that a local identity had been stirring the town up for some years with vague suggestions of opening a café, so Steve decided to go into partnership with him and make it happen.
• He successfully opened the café and ran it for a number of years before selling it. It is still a landmark in Natimuk today.
• He completed a stint working with Bear Grylls on his Man Vs Wild show and had to sign a confidentiality agreement.
• He participated in a fictional climbing documentary – climbing Mt Olympus on Mars, the fictional highest mountain in the solar system.
• He then returned to Melbourne, to work on a new project, where he is director of Snowflex, a year round ski field which he is bringing to Melbourne.

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IPWEAvic members are invited to attend the next ITSA (Intelligent Transport Systems Australia) Business event on a complimentary basis.

A number of international guest speakers will be present giving an update developments in transport technology from around the globe.

Friday May 2nd 8:30am till 12:30pm RACV Club Melbourne

More details and to register go to https://www.its-australia.com.au/2014/01/its-australia-business-event-melbourne/

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IPWEAvic in conjunction with Biosis has developed an IPWEAvic Information Series Event: Native Vegetation Regulation Reforms – how to operate under the new controls to be held at Manningham Function Centre Thursday 13th March 2014 9am till 1pm including a light luncheon generously provided by Biosis.

HIGHLIGHTS

How Do We Operate Under the New Legislation and Guidelines?
• Over view of Planning Scheme changes and permits requirements for removing native vegetation under the new system
• Background to the policy and its operation – i.e. how are permits assessed by Council and DEPI
• A Council case study outlining there understanding of the new system and the practical realities of applying it
• How changes to the state governments Native Vegetation Framework vegetation controls are likely to impact on the delivery of civil infrastructure projects.
• How changes to the state governments Native Vegetation Framework will impact on biodiversity offsetting
• Vegetation offsets – the new systems has a strong focus on this. How and where to purchase offsets.

This is a free event but you must register to attend.

Download full program and registration details HERE

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Young IPWEAvic is to hold its Launch Event on Thursday 30 January 2014

6pm till Late at La Di Da, 557 Little Bourke St (crn King St) Melbourne

Guest Speaker: Steve Bell, Mountaineer, Entrepreneur & Public Speaker  sponsored by ARRB

This is a free event but you must register to attend.

Registration Details HERE

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Facilities Management of Community Facilities

Register here to attend this IPWEAvic Seminar.

Highlights include:-

• Holistic Planning of Community Facilities
• Contract management of community facilities
• Managing building assets and maintenance – lessons learnt from the private sector
• Asset & Facilities registers for community facilities
• Leisure Centre retrofitting & redeveloping
• Existing building green retrofitting – learn from other organisations

Date:      Wednesday 26 February 9:00 am till 3:30pm

Where:  Manningham Function Centre, 699 Doncaster Road Doncaster

A Seminar for Facilities Managers, Asset Managers, Environmental Officers, Building Maintenance Officers, Facility Custodians and Operations Managers/Officers, those who plan and operate and maintain community facilities

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Asset Management in Parks Seminar was held on 27th November 2013 at Manningham Function Centre and sponsored by Yardstick and Citywide.  It was a terrific conversation with much networking and exchange of ideas between the 70+ participants.

The Seminar program can be downloaded here

The powerpoint presentations of the speakers are listed below and can be accessed  by clicking on the presenters name:

Issues for Asset Management in Parks – Steve Verity, Asset Management Specialist, JRA (2.8MB)

Industry Perspective, John Hennessy, MAV (888MB)

Yardstick Program, Jayson Kelly, Director, Yardstick (2MB)

Case Study: Brimbank City Council – Creating Better Parks Strategy – Adrian Gray, Acting Manager Urban Design and Bright Osagiede, Asset & Spatial Information Coordinator, Brimbank City Council (16.8MB)

Asset Management Along Waterways, Gavan O’Neill,Manager Special Areas & Asset Management Improvement  Melbourne Water  (7.7MB)

Different Ways of Approaching Asset Management in Parks

• Phil Plumb, Manager Horticulture Services, City of Monash (10.3MB )
• Shane Waldon, Manager Parks, Wyndham City Council (0.7MB)
• Craig Medcalf, Manager Parkswide, City of Whitehorse (0.6MB)

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Rosanne Kava was the guest speaker at the IPWEAvic End of Year Leadership Luncheon held on 6th December 2013 at Green Acres Golf Club.  Rosanne shared her career journey and spoke about the challenges she faced as a CEO in a rural council, particularly those relating to

• natural environment
• built environment
• political environment
• economic development
• community demographics, needs and expectations
• access to services
• governance issues
• staff culture

Rosanne has a particular interest in coaching and mentoring and as an engineer is interested in coaching those in technical roles.  She offers the following five insights to those working in technically flavoured leadership roles

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The End of Year Leadership Luncheon will be held on Friday 6th December 12noon till 2pm at The Green Acres Golf Club 51 Elm Grove Kew East.

Our guest speaker is Rosanne Kava.  Rosanne is going to share some of her thoughts on how engineers can show better leadership within their communities and give an insight into the challenges and experiences she faced in leadership of a rural municipality..

Download the registration brochure here

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Download Registration Brochure here

PROGRAM DETAILS

Download Registration Details here

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