The Streets Opening Coordination Council is working to build a culture of collaboration between utilities, traffic authorities and councils across Australia.
Uncoordinated street works present several critical challenges, including financial waste, public inconvenience and reduced asset integrity due to repeated excavation and repairs.
By working together, councils, road authorities and water, energy and telecommunications asset owners can coordinate their capital works programs with each other to minimise community disruptions, reduce costs and deliver better outcomes for customers.
This is the mission that underpins the ethos of the Streets Opening Coordination Council (SOCC), but the association’s goals don’t stop there.
Sydney Water Maintenance Programs Planning and Monitoring Manager and SOCC Chair, Stuart McDonald, explained that these industries have so much they could learn from each other.
“Whether you’re a utility asset owner, a council asset owner, a service provider or a designer, we want to upskill and inform for the betterment of the entire industry.
“By working together, we can look at solutions together,” he said.
Down memory lane
Mr McDonald explained that SOCC was initiated in 1909 to address challenges surrounding Sydney’s street works.
“Prior to 1909, there were a lot of issues with the Postmaster General and councils, particularly regarding where their assets have been constructed,” he said.
“Then, as the city developed further with trams and other utility services, the roads were being dug up time and time again. And the community was getting really frustrated.”
It was clear that the city needed a centralised organisation to bring these parties together and coordinate future capital works, so the Lord Mayor of Sydney convened the first Streets Opening Conference on 10 March 1909.
“It was originally hosted by the City of Sydney, it was well attended by all the utilities and Sydney Water was one of the foundation members within that forum,” Mr McDonald said.
“Then around the 1940s or 1950s, SOCC endorsed a proposal from the City of Sydney for an agreed allocation of utilities within the street space, which gave each organisation dedicated space to lay their services to ensure that there was a consistent approach for where assets were being constructed.”
Mr McDonald said that SOCC also initiated Dial Before You Dig in New South Wales.
“In the late 1980s, the Sydney One Call was first floated in SOCC, and it was kicked off in the early 1990s. This was later known as Dial Before You Dig New South Wales and ACT. Each state’s Dial Before You Dig service was combined into a nationally operated service about two years ago,” he said.
While previously only covering the Sydney Metropolitan area, SOCC was reconstituted in 1995 to encompass the whole of New South Wales and the ACT.
During this time, the collaboration process was still a manual task, and Mr McDonald said that he would have to scour excel spreadsheets for more than 40 councils to find potential overlap with Sydney Water projects.
“So, in the late 2000s, SOCC saw an opportunity to make everyone’s capital works programs easily available on a common digital platform,” he said.
Over several years, the specifications were finalised and then iWORCS (the infrastructure WORks Coordination System) was trialled in a proof of concept.
Mr McDonald said that SOCC went out to tender with iWORCS in 2016, and the first generation of the software was launched.
“We’ve now gone on to iWORCS II, with a new provider and partner and we’re able to promote iWORCS nationally,” he said.
With the national expansion of iWORCS, SOCC saw a need to share its knowledge and collaborative culture with the rest of Australia.
“The issues that our members have day to day are the same issues that will be happening in every other state in Australia,” Mr McDonald said.
“We saw a great opportunity to open chapters in other states so they can share the same level of collaboration that we enjoy in New South Wales.
“I know that I can ring up Jemena, Ausgrid or Telstra and have a chat about how that organisation might deal with certain scenarios, and I can then inform my organisation about how we need to work with another party.
“It’s really beneficial to be able to have those conversations. Many of the members have been on the Board for a while, and over time you get to build trusting connections between organisations.”
Fostering collaboration
In his role at Sydney Water, Mr McDonald said there’s been several instances where SOCC members have helped him solve a complex problem.
“I’ve worked closely with Jemena. When one of their assets was too close to our water main, we were able to be respectful of each other’s assets and ensure that assets are constructed as per the technical guidelines that have been endorsed by all of our members,” he said.
“Another example was a traffic kiosk that was immediately adjacent to an operational water valve, which took away some of the space required to operate that valve. Through collaboration with the road authority we achieved a positive outcome for both parties. In that instance, working together informed a change within the best practice guidelines to consider not just the underground space, but also ensure that the operational space above ground that is not impeded by other surface related infrastructure.”
Transport for NSW Senior Manager, Utilities Services, Thanh Ha, said that he joined SOCC ten years ago, and having a network of people to connect him to other organisations has been hugely beneficial.
“At intersections, we have traffic signal facilties, and Sydney Water’s got water mains that are generally allocated to a section near the kerb,” Mr Ha said.
“We have to place our traffic signal facilities in the footway as well, and it may clash with other utilities. So SOCC is very important to mediate that and help all the other service providers to collaborate, and there is now an allocated space for transports traffic signal facility in the footway.”
Mr Ha said that SOCC has helped Transport for NSW work together with utilities to reach a positive outcome for both parties.
“For example, we needed to upgrade our stormwater in Newcastle, but Jemena had an old gas pipeline in the way that was redundant but was kept or reserved to accommodate possible future use.
“Through SOCC, they gave us approval to do it, on the condition that we just cut out a section to get our pipe through.”
Shared success
Mr McDonald said that in October 2022, SOCC saw a need to add further value to its members.
“Part of that is running community practice sessions to share innovation and share success stories about how we’re doing something different and how other organisations can utilise that.
“Within the community practice events, we’ve also showcased a number of safety innovations that have then been shared across all industry service providers.”
Through these events and its board meetings, SOCC shares safety alerts and lessons.
“While we may not share the exact particulars, we can still share the lesson that has been learned without naming names,” Mr McDonald said.
“This is not necessarily just when someone is injured, but it could also be a potential incident that can be shared before it occurs across all industry, not just within one organisation.
“What we’re also looking to do is highlight these safety lessons on our web page – that’s coming in 2025.”
United across sectors
SOCC is supported by several other organisations that work in the same space but have different objectives.
“By working together, we can cover a much wider group of interested parties to share common messages. And we’re really proud that we have an MoU with IPWEA New South Wales and ACT,” Mr McDonald said.
SOCC’s focus for 2025 is to continue its engagement across all sectors, and open chapters in each state where local utilities, councils and stakeholders can come together.
“There’s great value in learning from someone else that’s done it all before. SOCC is not for profit, we’re here to help everyone create a positive change in their state,” Mr McDonald said.
“Wouldn’t that be great if everyone had a story to share that helps to prevent damage and safety issues, and provide cost savings right across the industry.
“We’ve embedded a collaborative culture within SOCC where we can grow together across all industries. It’s important to protect your organisation, but we can be better together.”