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2026 Stormwater Victoria Awards

Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 Awards for Excellence

The Awards Ceremony took place at Mantra Lorne on Tuesday, 2 June 2026 with over 200 people to celebrate the outstanding projects, people and organisations making a significant contribution to stormwater management and integrated water practices across Victoria. See below full list of winners: 

 

Excellence in Asset Management

Winner

Returning the Jewel to Emerald: Precinct‑Wide Stormwater Asset Management Through Outstanding Stakeholder Engagement and Heritage‑Sensitive Environmental Management

Cardinia Shire Council

Project Overview: This precinct-scale program addressed long‑standing headwater erosion and pollutant mobilisation issues within an environmentally and culturally significant landscape. Delivering three interrelated projects within a precinct affected by a Vegetation Protection Overlay, Heritage Overlay and Significant Landscape Overlay, and supported by strong community stewardship through multiple volunteer groups and committees, required a highly considered approach to ensure all works respected the environmental and cultural significance of Emerald Lake Park and Nobelius Heritage Park.

Each project required tailored environmental management, including flora and fauna assessments, conservation planning, a robust communications plan and construction methodologies designed to minimise disturbance within this highly visited landscape. Gaining planning approval under the Heritage Overlay meant demonstrating that modern engineering and heritage protection are not opposing forces. We turned this challenge into an opportunity to showcase artfully delivered solutions that strengthened the precinct’s historic landscape.

Strong collaboration was essential to shaping the scope and delivery of the works, improving stakeholder satisfaction and avoiding budget creep. Melbourne Water provided funding and technical inputs, while coordination with internal teams, heritage planners, environmental specialists and external stakeholders, including Puffing Billy Railway, community groups and the parkrun organiser, ensured safe access, minimal visitor disruption and compliance with environmental and heritage requirements.

"This multifaceted project demonstrated a deep understanding of the role each water sensitive asset provided and showcases innovative engineering to repurpose those assets to meet broader objectives to achieve long term environmental benefits".

 

 

Excellence in Integrated Stormwater Design

Nominees

K Road Cliffs Masterplan Implementation Project – Engeny Australia, Wyndham City Council, and Urban Initiatives - Highly Commended

Bradmill Development – Stantec Australia

Alira Waterways & Estate – KLM Spatial and Stormy Water Solutions

Milan Drive, Integrated Stormwater and Public open space project, Irymple - Mildura Rural City Council

 

 

Excellence in Integrated Stormwater Design

Winner

Alira Waterways & Estate

KLM Spatial and Stormy Water Solutions

Project Overview: Alira is a landmark development which has transformed one of Melbourne’s most complex parcels into a vibrant community. Located in a natural flood plain by the Hallam Valley Contour Drain levee, a syphon under this major drain is the only outfall. Long considered “undevelopable” the land provided informal flood storage behind the levee, attracting antisocial behaviour and illegal dumping despite surrounding thriving residential growth.

KLM Spatial, Stormy Water Solutions, Moremac, Melbourne Water, City of Casey and a consortium of landowners worked collaboratively on the project for well over a decade. Through a pioneering regional stormwater strategy, this “undevelopable” land has transformed into a multi award winning neighbourhood, winning both the UDIA Victoria and National awards for excellence for Residential Subdivision in 2025/2026 respectively.

The end result is a series of four interconnected and ecologically rich wetlands, operating as a single treatment and flood storage system, at the centre of 770 new homes. Amongst a raft of incredible outcomes, the stormwater solution exceeded best practice water quality outcomes for 508Ha of previously untreated external catchments. The project has also successfully restored natural waterway and floodplain habitat values, and created high value recreational corridors linking existing floodplain developments in the surrounding area.

"Alira represents an exceptional example of integrated stormwater design that facilitated a previously undevelopable area, where complex flood, water quality, ecological and community objectives have been resolved through genuine design and integration of non-standard solutions at both project and catchment scale, supported by rare long-term collaboration and delivery of enduring, resilient public infrastructure".

 

 

Excellence in Policy and Education

Nominees

What Millimetres Don’t Tell You: A Risk-Based Approach to Flood Impact – SWM Consulting, Floodplan and Melbourne Water - Highly Commended

From Consultation to Governance: A Framework for Embedding Community Voice in Stormwater Decision-Making – Rain Consulting and Yarra Ranges Council

Understanding water across Wurundjeri Country – Arup and  Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Association

 

 

Excellence in Policy and Education

Winner

Understanding water across Wurundjeri Country

Arup and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Association

Project Overview: When decisions and activities have the potential to impact water within Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country, the WWCHAC work with other stakeholders to make decisions. In practical terms, this can mean that WWCHAC are asked to contribute to a wide number and range of projects and need access to area-specific data and information about water on country to understand the full context.

Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation (WWCHAC) and Arup collaborated to develop a data visualisation tool for understanding water on Wurundjeri Country. The tool, created through a co-design approach, integrates hydrological data, ecological indicators, water supply and use data, waterway catchments and water infrastructure locations. It aims to support WWCHAC in advocating for the health of Country and informing decision-making by providing a holistic view of water on Country from a First Nations perspective.

"This project clearly responds to the need for the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Association to have access to better water literacy and cultural framing within stormwater management and responds by establishing a Country centred resource for understanding water. It facilitates uptake of stormwater principles by reframing them within an interconnected First Nations narrative, strengthening conceptual understanding and informing better decision-making, rather than prescribing technical solutions".

 

 

Excellence in Research and Innovation

Nominees

Harnessing excess stormwater for distributed environmental flows – Streamology

Smarter Thresholds: Bringing Risk-Based Thinking to Flood Impact – SWM Consulting, Floodplan and Melbourne Water

Proactive Stormwater Monitoring Using Smart Sensors – City of Monash and Matter - Highly Commended

 

 

Excellence in Research and Innovation

Winner

Smarter Thresholds: Bringing Risk-Based Thinking to Flood Impact

SWM Consulting, Floodplan and Melbourne Water

Project Overview: As the designated floodplain manager for the Port Phillip and Westernport regions, Melbourne Water plays a critical role in managing flood risks and ensuring that development does not adversely affect flood behaviour, property or community safety.

The Flood Impact (Afflux) Practice Note has been developed to provide clear and practical guidance on managing offsite flood level impacts for proposed developments, where zero-afflux cannot be achieved, by using a risk-based flood impact assessment framework. The risk-based approach to floodplain development impact assessment was established in collaboration with industry, via the Urban Planning and Development Strategic Collaboration Group (UPD SCG) technical working group. The UPD SCG is a technical working group of specialist flood engineers from independent consultancies facilitated by Melbourne Water, established to progress water cycle related urban planning and development challenges by collaborating with state government stakeholders and industry groups on measurable actions that improve policy and deliver outcomes.

The Flood Impact (Afflux) Practice Note provides clear guidance to assess flood impacts under a risk-based framework. The DEECA Guidelines for Development in Flood Affected Areas (2019) require that development cause no detrimental impact to nearby properties, and acknowledge that floodplain managers have discretion to vary their approach. In practice, however, no methodology existed for exercising that discretion.

This project provides that missing methodology. Developed by a technical working group of flood engineers from four independent consultancies, the framework introduces a five-step assessment process with five risk tiers (Extreme to Very Low), each linking allowable impact to actual consequences – land use, existing conditions, hazard and vulnerability. It recognises that flood impact is more than just a change in water level, and that effective floodplain management requires nuance, not a one size fits all approach. The staged implementation of the Practice Note focused on testing an early version of the Practice Note on 15 urban development projects and state-led initiatives to identify and address any gaps and ambiguities, increased the confidence in the framework and its applicability, and development further technical guidance and an approach for managing cumulative impacts. The project aligns with Melbourne Water’s Housing Statement Roadmap by introducing a risk-based approach that balances flood risk and urban development needs, providing clearer and more proportionate guidance for assessing minor flood impacts in low risk situations and this risk based approach ensures that developments cause “no detrimental impacts to nearby properties, particularly properties downstream” in line with the key principles in the DEECA Guideline.

"This project represents a clear step-change in floodplain management practice in Victoria. It identifies a long-standing gap between hydraulic model outputs and risk methodologies in Melbourne Metro area, and provides a robust, practical and defensible solution that is already embedded in practice. The combination of strong technical grounding, significant levels of collaboration, immediate uptake, and commitment to review of outcomes places this work firmly at the excellent end of the criteria for applied Research and Innovation".

 

 

Excellence in Strategic or Master Planning

Nominees

Elizabeth Street Catchment Hybrid Flood Management Plan – City of Melbourne and Rain Consulting - Highly Commended

Adaptive capacity modelling of the public & private realm to reduce flood and heat impacts in the Chapel precinct – Water Technology and City of Stonnington

Delivering Flood Benefits Through IWM across South Geelong – Water Technology

 

Excellence in Strategic or Master Planning

Winner

Adaptive capacity modelling of the public & private realm to reduce flood and heat impacts in the Chapel precinct

Water Technology

Project Overview: City of Stonnington’s Chapel Precinct is an important activity centre poised for significant development and renewal. A Climate Vulnerability Assessment undertaken by CSIRO identifies the precinct as vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, in particular increased urban heat and flooding by 2070.

This project supports the precinct planning process by providing evidence of benefits associated with two adaptation pathways to 2050 and 2070: a business as usual or cautious approach and an adaptive or radical approach. Building on internal engagement across council, comprehensive WSUD responses were developed for seven sites across the precinct, reflecting cautious and radical policy settings and best practice WSUD design practices. The CRC for Water Sensitive Cities Scenario Tool and TUFLOW were used to model changes in air and surface temperature, flood level differences and areas impacted by flooding. Site findings were then extrapolated and modelled for the precinct.

The results indicate that cautious pathways can only provide small reductions in flooding and heat, with the radical pathway being the most effective due to the larger number of WSUD assets to manage stormwater in the landscape. This further enforces the need for radical planning and policy settings to support a climate resilient and liveable precinct.

"A forward‑thinking project that looks beyond BAU and challenges current urban planning approaches by integrating innovative Integrated Water Management solutions to address climate change, urban heat island impacts and deliver long‑term community resilience".

 

 

Excellence in Infrastructure

Nominees

K Road Cliffs Masterplan Implementation Project – Engeny, Wyndham City Council and Urban Initiatives

Max Pawsey Stormwater Harvesting System – City of Casey and Engeny - Highly Commended

Alira Waterways & Estate - Excellence in Infrastructure – KLM Spatial and Stormy Water Solutions

Reimagining Lewis Park Retarding Basin and Blind Creek – Alluvium Consulting, Knox City Council and Melbourne Water

Peter Hopper Lake Revitalisation – Spiire and City of Whittlesea

 

Excellence in Infrastructure

Winner

Reimagining Lewis Park Retarding Basin and Blind Creek

Alluvium Consulting, Knox City Council and Melbourne Water

Project Overview: The Reimagining Lewis Park Retarding Basin and Blind Creek project is a major open space and waterway transformation extending from Scoresby Road through to the Lewis Park Retarding Basin in Wantirna South. As Knox continues to grow and densify, the project was undertaken to improve stormwater quality, maintain flood protection, and reimagine under-utilised drainage infrastructure as a multifunctional green space for community, ecological and water management outcomes.

The project includes three constructed wetlands, two naturalised channel reaches, two stormwater harvesting ponds, extensive revegetation and a connected network of paths and community infrastructure. Key objectives were to improve stormwater quality entering Blind Creek, maintain existing hydraulic and flood conditions, increase community interaction with the waterway through creek daylighting, improve accessibility and connectivity to surrounding amenities, and enhance biodiversity, urban cooling and amenity.

Innovative urban and landscape design interventions were used to celebrate water in the landscape while retaining the core flood function of the retarding basin.
Construction is now completed and the site is a popular and well-utilised by the community.

"Melbourne Water’s recently constructed Reimagining Lewis Park Retarding Basin and Blind Creek project plays a pivotal role in delivering Knox City Council’s vision to transform 40 hectares of Lewis Park into the green heart of Knox.

Implemented at scale, the project blends engineered and natural assets, including daylighting former stormwater drainage pipes, creating new wetlands, and installing stormwater harvesting infrastructure that will help diversify the City’s water supply into the future. More than half a million plants were established, complemented by new community infrastructure that makes the precinct a vibrant destination for residents and visitors alike.

The broader benefits of this project are significant, addressing issues such as flooding, habitat restoration, community connectivity, water quality improvement, stormwater harvesting and traditional owner values, backed by meaningful engagement. In summary, this outstanding project not only gives back to community but also creates a local destination that fosters community wellbeing and environmental sustainability".

 

 

Young Stormwater Professional of the Year

Nominees

Merlin Jolly - Arup

Samuel Beckham - Stantec

Kirsten Fearn-Wannan - Spiire

James Trebilco - Beca

 

Young Stormwater Professional of the Year

Winner

Kirsten Fearn-Wannan - Spiire

Kirsten Fearn-Wannan is a civil engineer with five year experience delivering Multidisciplinary Civil road and drainage along with WSUD and stormwater projects across Australia. Graduating in May 2021 from Monash University, Kirsten has always had a strong interest in IWM and design. Undertaking Spiires student and graduate program in our Civil team gave her a fantastic grounding in fundamentals problem solving principles. Kirsten actively pursued her passion for problem solving and design outcomes in the Water space transitioning into Spiires integrated water team in 2023. Kirsten specialises in the design and construction supervision of waterways, wetlands, and bioretention systems with a strong focus on quality, sustainability and community outcomes. A collaborative team member demonstrating strong leadership and mentoring capabilities and systematic improvements across design and QA processes. An invaluable team member who leads by example and supports other with their own goals. I cannot recommend her more highly for this award.

"Kirsten demonstrates a balance between technical problem solving, teamwork and actively participating in wider industry events. As a young professional, Kirsten’s enthusiasm and passion for the stormwater industry makes her an excellent role model for all stormwater professionals".

 

 

Read more ...

This one day training course will introduce you to the concepts of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) and water sensitive cities, focusing on the WSUD approach to stormwater management.

The session will cover the principles of stormwater management, focusing on how to set targets to allow for water conservation as well as flow and water quality management. It will emphasise basic principles of water quality treatment and flow management to guide selection and design of treatment systems. Design considerations, treatment performance, operation and maintenance will also be discussed.

The course will include an integrated practical exercise running throughout the day, covering aspects from target setting through to the conceptual design of a stormwater treatment train.

In addition to classroom-based learning, participants will visit some of the latest research and demonstration facilities at Burnley campus, including the newly inaugurated Burnley demonstration green roof.