The Western Program Alliance (WPA) is a project team with a particularly specialised skillset – it is very good at removing level crossings. The WPA comprises McConnell Dowell, Arup and Mott Macdonald, Metro Trains Melbourne, VLine and the Level Crossing Removal Project. Since forming in 2017, they have successfully removed three level crossings, built one new stabling facility and have much work in hand including rail duplications, 7 level crossing removals and a creek bridge in two years.

It is difficult to understand the sheer amount of organisation, cooperation, expertise, and material needed to accomplish a successful level crossing removal. In amongst all that is a strong vein of environmental action, from sourcing sustainable materials, to exploring more Earth-friendly alternatives, to setting up recycling and other ethical waste management systems.

WPA acknowledges that when it comes to environmental initiatives, its people are its strength. It has recently partnered with us to plant 15 trees for each hard-working staff member identified as a Sustainability champion.

Since 2020, we have had 22 recipients in the eco-program and this year we have started a new round of awards. We acknowledge the ongoing efforts of our sustainability champions in the Alliance. Well done to those recipients.

Bo Christensen | Sustainability Manager | Western Program Alliance

Here at Fifteen Trees, we love the idea of planting trees as staff rewards. We’re proud to have planted 120 trees for WPA this year, and would like to join in applauding the efforts of the staff involved and named below.

Please note, this list will be updated as new sustainability champions are added.

• Fred Pigdon

Fred is the store man for the WPA Vic University Laydown Yard in Werribee. Fred’s role is to store and manage all WPA owned materials/assets while they are not being utilised on existing WPA Projects. As these materials/assets get returned to the laydown yard from WPA Projects, Fred is then required to sort through the materials/assets so they can be organised and reused on future projects or disposed of if they are faulty/damaged.

Fred’s nomination: I want to recognise the hard work that Fred is doing at VIC Uni to repurpose waste materials. Some examples of his fine work include the donation of redundant MTM assets to community schools for garden beds, retention of old LXRP banner signage for reuse as material protection and his commitment to repurposing waste materials across other projects. Fred will always reach out if he thinks we can immediately reuse materials from one site on the next. When calling to ask him if we have an item in stock, Fred will readily have an option available of a material we could repurpose instead.

The trees (120) were planted at Mt Worth in the Western Gippsland District of Victoria by Tetoora Road Community Centre (TRCC). The planting of trees and shrubs indigenous to the district will ensure the viability of the planting.

TRCC were assisted by 15 school students who provided important labour for this task and made short work of planting and clean up tasks. The work experience gained by the students provided them with the confidence to tackle further landscaping tasks as well as demonstrating the contribution these students can make to the community.

We have been planting trees on behalf of WPA for 3 years. Here are the links to the 2021 and 2020 sustainability champions and their trees. Thank you to WPA for your continued support of our community tree planting projects.

Writer: Colleen Filippa

Colleen is the Founding Director of Fifteen Trees. Established in 2009, Fifteen Trees has helped Australian community groups plant over 280,000 native trees. This has been made possible by companies such as WPA who purchase the trees for the groups to plant.