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Rob Carr and Seymour Whyte Win Prestigious Earth Awards
Rob Carr & Seymour Whyte win 2025 CCF Earth Awards in Victoria, celebrating excellence in civil construction innovation & impact.
Our two members both won the 2025 Victoria Civil Contractors Federation (CCF) Earth Awards — the civil construction industry’s highest accolade for project excellence — recognising innovation, sustainability, safety, stakeholder management, and social legacy.
Seymour Whyte has been recognised for the Port Rail Transformation Project (PRTP). Delivered in partnership with the Port of Melbourne, the PRTP is a landmark initiative that shifts containerised freight from road to rail, easing congestion, reducing truck movements, and boosting efficiency at Australia’s busiest container port. Completed within one of the nation’s most operationally complex and high-security environments, the project demanded precision, innovation, and seamless collaboration to ensure uninterrupted 24/7 port operations.
The project pioneered several world-first and industry-leading innovations, including:
- Multi-lift in situ stabilisation for heavy-duty port pavements.
- A 612-metre continuous concrete track slab to overcome poor ground conditions and enable dual train access.
- An onsite water treatment plant that processed more than 42,000 kL of contaminated water - often cleaner than tap water.
Through clever reuse of 41,000 tonnes of contaminated soil, the team diverted 93% of waste from landfill, setting new standards for sustainability in complex infrastructure delivery.
The award also recognises the project’s strong people-first culture.
- More than 547,000 hours worked without a Lost Time Injury (LTI).
- A graduate program embedding engineers with site crews to build real-world skills and respect.
- Initiatives that supported female participation, First Nations-owned businesses, and social enterprises.
- A fundraising campaign for McAuley Community Services for Women, raising over $10,000 and leading to direct employment opportunities.
Throughout delivery, Seymour Whyte demonstrated agility in responding to unexpected challenges – including scope changes and traffic diversions from the West Gate Tunnel Project – while meeting all key deadlines. The project was completed with minor defects, praised for its transparency, environmental excellence, and stakeholder collaboration. Seymour Whyte said:
We’re equally proud of our Healesville–Koo Wee Rup Road Upgrade Project Team, recognised as a finalist in the same ‘Projects Over $150m’ category — a reflection of the high calibre of projects Seymour Whyte is delivering across Victoria.
Rob Carr Pty Ltd also achieved a fantastic result at the recent awards night, winning the 2025 Earth Award for Project Excellence in Category 4 ($10 million to $30 million) along with Greater Western Water.
The Elizabeth Street Sewer Upgrade was Stage 3 of the CBD Sewer Augmentation Program for Greater Western Water, a complex wastewater project delivered in the heart of Melbourne's CBD. Stage 3 involved designing and constructing a new 730-metre-long sewer through variable ground conditions, a spaghetti of existing underground utilities, dealing with an adjacent heritage brick drain and operating near active tram lines (~1m) along the alignment.
Community engagement and stakeholder management was a key focus, collaborating with local residents, businesses, and stakeholders to ensure transparency and minimise impacts.
Rob Carr also won a 2025 CCF Earth Award in WA a few days ago in the category “Project Value $5–10 Million,” along with NEWest Alliance, for the Anaconda Drive Sewer Pressure Main Realignment.
The awarded projects will go on to compete for the CCF National Earth Awards in Canberra on 28th November.
Source: Rob Carr,Seymour Whyte and Victoria Civil Contractors Federation
