Backed by 80 years’ experience, CivEng Consulting supports power, BESS and solar projects with agile, on-time delivery.
A civil engineering consultancy backed by 80 years of combined industry experience is turning heads across the power and renewable energy sectors.
Founded in 2019 by Dave Jones and Vincent Kelly, CivEng Consulting has grown into a key provider of civil and structural engineering design solutions for Australian substations, BESS (battery energy storage systems), solar farms and beyond.
As Jones explained, when CivEng was established, Jones and Kelly had already been completing this line of work for decades.
“Vincent was always heavily interested in renewables, while I’ve been working as a civil/structural engineer on substation projects since the early 2000s,” Jones told Energy.
“This meant that when CivEng Consulting was established, we could hit the ground running with a strong reputation and robust client base. And we’ve been able to cement that over the last few years.”
In recent years, CivEng was independently appointed to the design services panel (DSP) for transmission network service provider (TNSP) Powerlink Queensland.
“Being on the DSP is a requirement to be considered for any Powerlink project,” Jones said. “We deliver earthworks, roads and drainage design work, and civil extensions to existing switchyards for the TNSP.”
CivEng’s strong relationship with leading power and water consulting business Entura – also listed on Powerlink’s DSP – has generated further work as a sub-contractor to the TNSP.
Another key CivEng partner is TasNetworks, with the two – through Megavar – recently working together on a pair of transformer replacements at the St Marys substation on Tasmania’s east coast.
Here, two 62-year-old transformers had reached their end of life and were beyond their 10MVA firm capacity. After months of cost-benefit analysis, planning and choreography, new concrete plinths were poured, transport routes mapped and subcontractors engaged.
CivEng Consulting led the civil and structural design for the project, having already established a reputation for its work on previous transformer replacements alongside Entura at TasNetworks’ Boyer, Lindisfarne and Port Latta substations in Tasmania.
Specifically, CivEng carried out the engineering design and documentation of replacement transformer bunds at St Marys, along with the integration of new conduit and oil containment systems.
Other works included the installation of a new underground 40,000-litre oil water separator tank, concrete “transformer” delivery roadway and stormwater systems, and an extension to the electrical conduit pit-and-pipe network.
CivEng also provided construction support throughout the course of the project.
TasNetworks project manager Leigh Henderson explained why the TNSP keeps coming back to CivEng.
“CivEng has a long association with TasNetworks projects and has established a familiarity with its sites, technical standards, and staff over time,” TasNetworks project manager Leigh Henderson told Energy. “This has resulted in a sense of confidence and comfort that the end product will be fit for purpose.
“CivEng has also provided a timely and professional construction support service to assist with inevitable site issues that arise during the project, particularly on brownfield sites.”
In order to achieve project deliverables, Henderson said, it’s critical that delays (and associated costs) are kept to a minimum.
“To achieve this, critical stakeholders such as design and asset engineers, project staff and tradesmen in the field must be able to liaise quickly and effectively to develop solutions and keep the project moving,” he said.
“This approach has been effectively implemented by TasNetworks and CivEng and is now progressing into pre-emptive design to seek project efficiencies in construction methodology and program, ideally leading to reduced cost.”
Henderson said TasNetworks “would not hesitate” to recommend CivEng to other TNSPs or renewable energy developers.
Megavar – who engages CivEng for many of its TasNetworks projects – explained what makes the engineering consultancy a trusted partner.
“CivEng’s niche focus on the power sector means they understand the unique interfaces between civil/structural and high-voltage electrical requirements,” Megavar senior electrical engineer Sam Hach told Energy. “This enables them to deliver robust, compliant, practical and cost-effective designs, which stems from a responsive, collaborative, and proactive team that anticipates issues rather than just reacting to them.”
Hach said CivEng has established a “strong track record” across greenfield and brownfield projects, with a strong emphasis on delivering on-time and on-budget.
CivEng Consulting intimately understands its own capability, and the industry does too, which is leading to the firm being considered over larger firms for work.
“We compete very well with larger firms because we’re able to put experienced people onto projects,” Jones said. “You can quite often tell when a project has been carried out by less-experienced personnel – CivEng is often called upon to rectify design issues or resolve problems on site.”
Partners are also able to come direct to Jones with any concerns, rather than navigating a chain of command.
“We also have the agility of a small firm, which means we can be easily contacted and easily respond pre, during and post project,” Jones said.
Jones said he’d received feedback from peers about other larger consultancies going missing after the delivery of a project.
“But CivEng is always here right the way through,” he said. “Even after the project, clients can come back to us and make sure the job is 100 per cent finished.”
With less bureaucracy as a smaller firm, CivEng can move through projects “pretty swiftly”, with Jones suggesting the company is “almost never the bottleneck”.
“We know what we’re meant to be doing before project engineers detail the project specifics,” Jones said. “This means we’re often ahead of the program and rarely on the critical path, even if it looks like we should be.”
Building on its success in the power sector, CivEng Consulting is expanding into the renewable energy industry, already establishing a reputation in delivering battery projects.
“We’ve been involved at a preliminary stage on several battery projects, completing detailed design for earthworks, roads and drainage, while also overseeing the structures, such as footings and steel frames,” Jones said.
“One battery project saw us deliver an end-to-end solution, completing all the preliminary civil engineering work such as designs for an access road and internal roads, full earthworks and fencing. This also included design for a substation within the facility.”
This project included 100-megawatts (MW) of battery containers alongside inverters, control rooms, and a switchyard with a transformer bund plus firewalls, outdoor switchgear, and a gantry for transmission lines leaving the switchyard.
CivEng Consulting can deliver all civil and structural aspects of power and renewable energy projects both large and small and provide substation expertise to boot – an end-to-end offering bringing more clients to the company’s door.
“We’ve got low overheads, we’re price competitive and I’m increasingly seeing a shift in the industry where utilities and TNSPs are turning to smaller consultancies to do components of work,” Jones said.
“While larger firms are contracted to complete entire multi-disciplinary projects, where utilities can control part of their project, they seem increasingly interested in using a smaller firm like us.
“At the same time, we’re gaining a foothold in larger projects – evidenced by the recent 100MW/200MWh battery project we delivered.”
As timeline and cost pressures intensify in power and renewable energy industries subject to heightening stakeholder and government expectations, having a trusted partner to turn to is critical to ensuring project viability.
Through CivEng Consulting, utilities, DNSPs and TNSPs not only have a domain expert backed by 80 years of combined industry experience, but a partner that delivers on time and can quickly pivot to meet evolving project needs.
This reputation positions CivEng to play a central role as the energy transition accelerates.
Visit civengconsulting.com.au to learn more.
This feature appeared in the June edition of Energy.
