This year the David Sugden competition has been particularly close, with judging of the top three papers separated by a single point. The winner of the 2018 David Sugden Award is Matthew Bennett’s paper Vulnerable Road User Inclusion in Spoil Removal Route Planning. Congratulations Matthew!
Special mention should go to the two runners up, Aaron Lippett (Constructing the Arncliffe Ventilation Connection – A Case Study from the WestConnex New M5 Project) and Brodie Aitchison (Design and Construction of a Shallow Cover Tunnel Junction Using Sprayed Concrete) who submitted exceptional papers.
In 2004 the Australian Tunnelling Society started the David Sugden Award to encourage young engineers to develop the art of technical writing.
David Sugden was the driving force behind the successful design of mechanical full-face rock excavation machinery over a number of years, resulting in the forging of countless tunnels across the world. David continually showed a commitment to innovation and design throughout his career, often custom making machinery to solve problems that arose and for which no existing devices were available or appropriate. As a result of this attitude, David is listed as the inventor on over 40 patents.
Beginning his career in 1938 as a Cadet Engineer with the Public Works Dept of WA he continued with a number of appointments at the Hydro-Electric Commission of Tasmania. Whilst at the HEC, David was instrumental in introducing the Commission and subsequently Australia to Machine tunnelling. In 1967, David began a long and internationally recognised consultancy career that continues to this day. Notably he had significant involvement with both the Robbins Company of Seattle, USA and Terratec Asia Pacific.
