Monteath & Powys were recently successful in winning the Asia Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards, for their work with the Port of Newcastle monitoring the break walls for deformation using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

The Asia Pacific awards consisted of entries from The Pacific Islands, New Zealand and every State and Territory of Australia – which were generally multinational engineering firms and Government entities.

Monteath & Powys were selected as NSW representatives at the awards after previously winning the NSW Spatial Excellence Awards.

Director, Ben Belfield, said winning the award was an enormous achievement for the company as they were up against strong competition from large multi-nationals and government entities.

“Credit goes to the project’s manager, Matt Greig, for leading the team to produce outstanding results that has been recognised on a global scale,” Ben said.

The Nobbys and Stockton breakwalls are flown with a UAV on a regular basis to create a 3D model of each individual rock. Using their 3D laser scanning software capability this 3D model is overlaid on the previous 3D model to check for any movement within the structure. This is critical after large storm events, such as the April 2015 storms, to ensure the breakwalls are safe and not scouring at any location.

“By capturing a 3D model of the breakwalls in this manner we have found a safe, cost effective solution to monitor one of the Ports most critical assets,” Ben continued.

Since developing this technology, Monteath & Powys have been able to provide these services to a number of clients outside the Hunter providing spatial solutions in many areas where access is difficult and quite often cost prohibitive.

“We have recently opened our first Sydney office and have been successful in providing both survey and UAV services to many of our Sydney based clients,” Ben concluded.

A video of this project can be seen here.

Image | Matt Greig accepting the award, with Ben Belfield and Sam Kekovich.