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It’s not enough to build better infrastructure for a community. To do the right thing is to also ensure the wellbeing and safety of its members as tonne after tonne of asphalt is being churned out from industrial plants and road after road is being paved. Our responsibility in civil engineering is to truly make these communities more sustainable as we change them.

In asphalt production and services, safety and wellbeing must be ensured from the very first steps to the final product – from workers and the communities living in close proximities to asphalt plants, to the public using the roads we pave.

We maintain rigorous standards of training in health and safety practice for all staff. We also adopted the NSW Roads and Maritime Services’ Worker on Foot program as industry best practice, and are open to innovations which promote employee’s safety. Our priority is that our staff return to their families safe and sound at the end of every working day.

As an innovator in sustainable civil engineering, we are keen to follow global trends with hopes to adopt these technologies in the future – for instance, porous paving as a means to reduce urban run-off. Once paved with a certain type of porous asphalt, roads across neighbourhoods become more harmonious with natural process, letting rain and stormwater percolate through layers of filtering materials – porous pavers, sand or gravel, coarse gravel – to finally infiltrate the layer of soil underneath.

This helps re-establish a more natural hydrologic balance, and lessen the load for the stormwater system by gradually releasing rainwater instead of allowing it to flow freely in large “chunks” into the system. Although this type of asphalt can only support light traffic loads, the result still performs excellently in preventing flash floods and site run-off near factories, commonly caused by impermeable concrete paving.

Asphalt profiling provide roads – especially highways – with better traction and skid resistance for vehicles travelling at high speed, also thanks to the introduction of porous asphalt paving which keeps water from pooling on road surfaces. These asphalt roads are also quieter – with quiet pavement technologies like two-layer open-graded pavements, noise reduction is reported to be reduced by 3 to 10 decibels, the equivalence of reducing traffic volume by half.

To build better roads is just the starting point – we strive to build safer, quieter, and more sustainable facilities for our communities.

At Kypreos Group, people are our driving force: our management, employees, stakeholders, and members of the public. We endeavour to include the larger community in all we do from planning to following-up, we hold ourselves accountable for the safety and health of communities, and we are committed to doing the job right.

A major growth region of Sydney

With a projected population of 3 million by 2036, of which the majority is working-age, Western Sydney is considered by the NSW government to be a key growth area in the state.

The region extends from Canterbury-Bankstown in the East to the Blue Mountains in the West, and from the Hawksbury in the North to Wollondilly in the South, consisting of 13 local government areas. Western Sydney reportedly has the 3rd largest economy in all of Australia, as the area alone comprises 8% of the country’s GDP.

Now with more sustainable infrastructure in the near future

In November 2018, Kypreos Group opened our new $20 million facility of State Asphalts NSW in St Marys, Western Sydney. This new plant officially introduced 50 permanent new jobs for the suburb’s residents and is capable of producing 300 tonnes of asphalt every hour. It has put our company’s name on the map of larger government plans – the Western Sydney Aerotropolis (formerly Western Sydney Airport Growth Area) and the Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan.

Expected to finish in 2025-2026, the Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan has $2.9 billion invested by the Australian Government. The focus is on road and rail linking the future Western Sydney Airport with key surrounding residential and commercial areas.

Some major projects include construction of the new east-west M12 Motorway to the airport, upgrade of The Northern Road and Bringelly Road to a minimum of four lanes, and a $200 million package for local roads upgrades over ten years. This creation of new infrastructure is one of Greater Western Sydney’s growth plans with $35 billion of projects down the pipeline.

Not only must the new infrastructure be innovative; it must also be beneficial to residents and must not harm our ecosystem. The technologies employed by Kypreos Group – such as warm mix asphalt (WMA) and reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) – aim for environmental sustainability, and are used with people’s well-being in mind.

And growing job opportunities to boost the economy

One of the biggest challenges facing Western Sydney in the past was jobs deficit, with a talent pool outsizing the number of vacancies. As of 2015, roughly 300,000 Western Sydney residents travelled outside the region every day for work.

But with the Western Sydney City Deal – a partnership between three layers of government: Federal, State and the local governments in the region – 200,000 new jobs are to be created across a vast range of industries in the next two decades.

The plan is to transform Western Sydney into the single largest new employment space in NSW, creating job opportunities for local residents to work closer to their dwellings. According to the Western Sydney Employment Area plan in 2014, the state government aims for more than half of new jobs in Sydney to be created in this region, by 2031.

Proud to be a part of the force making these changes happen, we want local companies to be part of all innovations, and focus on working with local business to provide jobs and to boost the region and the state’s economy.

Our place in the plan

We believe quality asphalt production and services are crucial to any infrastructural innovations. The ultimate, long-term goal must be improving the quality of life for the people living and working in Western Sydney, making the region attractive to skilled workers and investors, and liveable and sustainable for its communities.

Kypreos Group is committed to involve communities throughout our projects. Workers’ and the public’s wellbeing and safety are at the core of our values. For more details about our services and contributions to NSW and Australia’s growth.

For over 10 years State Asphalt Services & Sydney Road Profiling have been the contractor of choice by NSW Government for pavement maintenance on this iconic Australian mantlepiece. Most recently in 2022, State Asphalt Services was chosen to upgrade 3 x lanes on the Bridge. This involved precision planning and flexibility in resources to ensure minimum inconvenience to the public. Our crews have delivered this project during public holiday weekends, when traffic is at it’s lowest point, re-opening for the commute to work for Sydneysiders as normal daily traffic resumes.

On 19th March 2012, the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge celebrated its 80th birthday. This monumental occasion called for complete re-profiling of the deck to improve the waterproofing and asphalt surfacing, reducing the need for later reactive maintenance. Except for small-scale trials prior to its start, the project was the first ever of its kind since the Bridge’s construction decades ago.

Sydney Road Profiling (SRP) – part of The Kypreos Group – took on the entire milling works. From organisation and management to execution of this mammoth part of the operation, we delivered.

The Project

Commissioned by Road and Maritime Services (RMS) alongside several other contractors, SRP and The Kypreos Group were allowed two weekends and another for contingency to complete the milling, with approximately 8-10 hours per weekend.

Without needing the back-up weekend, The Kypreos Group wrapped up the operation within the allotted time, with stellar outcome. Surveying of the milling job after it was done showed that all levels were within a minute ± 5mm. This profiling ensured a clean, flat base for the new waterproofing membrane and the new and smoother asphalt driving surface for travelling vehicles.

Client Challenge

The most challenging aspect of the Harbour Bridge re-profiling project was the sheer amount of logistics that went into it, all having to comply with the time allowance. The status of Harbour Bridge as one of Australia’s largest iconic structures and key transport gateways gave the project high publicity, adding to the already immense pressure. This was a road that had to be opened on time, no matter what, so there was no room for error.

Assembling all the pieces of plant and trucks was a tough task given the central location of the job site. All approaching roads had to be closed off with the help of police escorts. This massive number of workers and equipment, all in a restricted site rushing against time pressure, raised the risk of injury significantly which required immense care and thorough planning to minimise.

Also, there was the critical need to moderate the amount of water used to curb the dust produced during milling, since a too-wet milled surface would hinder the subsequent application of the waterproofing membrane.

What We Delivered

By committing to taking on the responsibility of organising the entire milling works, SRP and The Kypreos Group stood out. Few other profiling companies would want to manage a project of this size from start to finish like requested by RMS: most organisations would prefer simply hiring out their machines and operators and leaving the management to another party.

This thorough commitment involved fortnightly planning meetings with RMS to discuss, in painstaking detail, options to tackle the project and to solve any restrictions as they cropped up. It also entailed hiring and managing additional external labouring crews and profilers, trucks, jackhammers and bobcats.

The Kypreos Group brought our entire fleet of profilers to this operation: Wirtgen W210, Wirtgen W2000, Wirtgen W100F, Wirtgen W350, Caterpillar PM-200, Caterpillar 226B, Bobcat S250 plus various trucks and air compressors. On the second night, there were over 75 pieces of plants and more than 120 people all managed by us, of that 8 pieces of plants and 18 workers were in-house.

All the operators were handpicked for the project and needed to be able to work quickly and, most importantly, accurately while under immense pressure, and the machines must be in perfect working order. SRP and The Kypreos Group had unique stickers made for all the trucks and plant so they were easily identified and contactable, the plant movements were planned out to the metre. Everything was timed and organised to the quarter hour. The success of the project was down to such detail and strict safety management.

If you are in search for quality, safe and sustainable asphalt production and profiling services, The Kypreos Group is at your call. Visit our website to browse what we deliver. 

$211.2 million was the estimated value of the Australian future transport market, as of 2016. According to a 2018 report from the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, the transport sector is the ninth largest employer in Australia, with 625,000 workers.

The industry is constantly shifting, with the most recent government’s plan already in motion – the Future Transport 2056 strategy is a vision for the next four decades of transport in NSW, covering motorway, rail and light rail. Such expansion puts great demands on the state’s infrastructure, calling for two supporting strategies – the Regional NSW and the Greater Sydney Services and Infrastructure Plans.

Although it is impossible to predict with precision how far the future’s transport can go, there are positive signs of a focus on sustainability as an integral part of innovation. Here are what can be expected from the transport system of the (near) future, and why, in our view, infrastructure innovation must be at the heart of these changes.

1. Human – workers and the public – at the centre of innovations

4/7 global megatrends listed on the NSW’s Future Transport site are about the public. These range from customer demand and flexibility with life and work, to adapting to an ageing population and the promotion of healthier lifestyles, and to workers’ health and safety.

Public transport will be promoted as a means to keep the public healthy through walking for short trips to stations and stops. As the public become more and more informed through social media and the web, they have more say over what should be provided in terms of public transport services. To keep up with convenient ride-share services, public transport systems are increasingly incorporating technologies like real-time updates and live timetables, to maximise convenience for commuters.

Convenience and safety Issues such as passenger congestion or slippage on station platforms are being addressed and thoroughly researched by the Australian Centre for Rail Innovation. For consistent quality of the railway network, Kypreos Group are one of those who deliver end-to-end niche rail projects, including ones with difficult access; for instance, the 20km of the Down Relief Line from Auburn to Granville back in 2005-2006.

With the rise of the “gig economy”, employees in the sector face foreseeable, rising risks of insecure work, lack of proper training, and weaker reinforcement of safety standards. However, at Kypreos Group, we are proud to keep a long-term vision, treating our employees with respect and integrity. We uphold strict training procedures, and are constantly adopting new technologies in safety and health management. Our work culture is one of continuous learning and performance improvements, and we are committed to developing and retaining Australian talents.

2. Increased harmony with our planet

It is essential that the future’s transport be environmentally sustainable, with minimal impact – noise, waste, emissions – on the natural ecosystem which we are a part of. Better public transport systems would encourage people out of their cars, to instead walk, cycle, and take buses and trains. This helps reduce private passenger vehicle trips, which produce ten times more GHG emissions than rail and light rail and thirty times more GHG emissions than NSW buses.

As the transport sector relies heavily on fossil fuels, it is crucial to invest in an overhaul, transitioning forms of transportation to renewable sources of electricity. Consequently, this requires extensive modification of roads and fuelling stations to suit new types of vehicles.

Asphalt is an indispensable component of a better infrastructure network for many years to come – its recyclability and strength makes this material future-proof. To make it even more eco-friendly, companies like Kypreos are moving towards using warm mixed asphalt (WMA). Made at a lower temperature than traditional hot mixed asphalt (HMA), WMA is a more energy efficient option, helping to reduce emissions during asphalt production.

3. Rapid technological innovations

Nearly 90% of the existing timber sleepers in Australia will need replacement by 2025, according to researchers at the University of Southern Queensland. Civil composites research is being done to address this costly problem, hoping to revolutionise the Australian infrastructure industry with the use of fibre reinforced polymer composites in civil engineering and rail/road construction.

Meanwhile, in September 2018, Australia’s very first on-demand driverless car was revealed in Perth. These futuristic cars are expected to become the dominant vehicle on Australian roads within two decades and can potentially remove 90% of on road crashes.

A month later, a Gold Coast tech firm announced that all-electric passenger planes could be put in commercial use in as little as four years. As of now, battery-run airplanes are already in use, but on smaller scales such as for pilot training. In 2019, Qantas said they would consider adding hi-tech amenities to their long-haul aircraft – VR meditation, gyms, cafes. To keep up with these ambitions, airport infrastructure would require intensive updates, which we are eager to contribute to.

 

We at Kypreos Group endeavour to deliver innovative and sustainable infrastructure, to better serve our communities. Our elite fleets are suited to a vast range of civil engineering services, from plant hiring and haulage to asphalt production and precision road profiling. To see our past and current contributions to building better transport facilities for NSW, visit our website.