UWS PhD student puts steel into research

UWS PhD student, Olivia Mirza, is conducting research into anew technique for reinforcing concrete and steel structures which could dramatically reduce construction costs. The project is part of an Australian Research Council linkage grant with UWS Bluescope Lysaght, which contributed $100,000. She is being supervised by Professor Brian Uy, head, of the School of Engineering, who is regarded one of the world’s best-known researchers in composite steel and concrete structures.

$500,000 to boost tourism in Parramatta

The promotion of Parramatta’s heritage will get a boost thanks to funds of $500,000 allocated in the federal Budget. The funds will help fund Parramatta Stories, a series of heritage tours around Parramatta, which was the original centre for government, farming and trade in colonial NSW. The project is the first in a three-stage tourism strategy to deliver vast improvements to heritage-listed properties and link them with imaginative trails to bring alive specific themes and characters from Parramatta’s past, council said.

Funds for Western Sydney in the Budget

The Western Sydney Regional Organisations of Councils (WSROC) has welcomed funding for the region in the federal Budget. Additional funding, of $20.2 million, has been allocated for upgrading the Great Western Highway west of Penrith, $20 million will be provided towards a feasibility study of a high-speed metro proposed to connect Parramatta to the Sydney CBD and $5 million for a feasibility study of improvements to the M5 corridor from Port Botany and the airport to South West Sydney.