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ICOLD Annual Meeting and Symposium in Johannesburg, South Africa

ARQ Consulting Engineers was represented at the ICOLD Annual Meeting and Symposium in Johannesburg, South Africa from 16 to 20 May 2016 by Dr Quentin Shaw, Mrs Michelle Blaeser, Messrs David Cameron-Ellis, Albert Duffy and Henry-John Wright.

The following papers were published as part of the symposium proceedings:

• Update of ICOLD Bulletin 126 on RCC Dams (Dr Shaw);
• The Rehabilitation of the Mt Coffee Hydropower project in Liberia (Quentin as co-author); and
• Hardfill Manufacture – Appropriate Dam Technology for Africa (David Cameron-Ellis as author). This paper was also presented during the symposium.

ARQ is also the respective South African members on the ICOLD Technical Committees, who participates actively in the completion on new technical bulletins:

• Committee C: Hydraulics for Dams – Henry-John Wright;
• Committee D: Concrete Dams – Quentin Shaw; and
• Committee P: Cemented Material Dams – David Cameron-Ellis.

In addition, Quentin and Henry-John acted as session facilitators during the Symposium held on Wednesday 18 May 2016.

ARQ was also a sponsor for the ICOLD 2016 event.

As the involvement of young engineers in the dam engineering profession is a priority for ARQ, both Michelle and Henry-John forms part of the ICOLD Young Engineering Forum (YEF). To show our commitment towards the YEF, ARQ also sponsored two prizes for the best young engineer paper and presentation, as in the case at the annual SANCOLD event.

Four members of the ARQ Panel also formed part of the Local Organising Committee that was responsible for the organising of this hugely successful and popular ICOLD event. These members were involved from 2014 and were responsible amongst others for the compilation of the book on South African dam engineering innovation of which Dr Quentin Shaw wrote a Chapter on Early Development of roller compacted concrete dams in South Africa and Michelle Blaeser wrote 2 Chapters e.g. Development of rubble masonry concrete dam engineering in South Africa and together with Paul Roberts Energy dissipation by dam crest splitters. They also organised study tours, coordinating sponsorship and financial management. More information on the event can be found at www.icold2016.org.