McConnell Dowell has delivered the final 3.6 km of the 31 km Hūnua 4 water pipeline which is part of the biggest-ever water project undertaken by our customer, Watercare.
Our team worked with Watercare to develop a design that allowed for 80 per cent of the alignment to be tunnelled, minimising disruption to neighbours and traffic in the busy city centre.
“Hūnua 4 has been a technically challenging project so it’s incredibly satisfying to see the work completed,” says Project Manager Richard Atkin
“The hard work and perseverance of the team has been phenomenal, and we are all very proud to have helped deliver this important new water pipeline.”
The team set two pipe-jacking records for the longest single drives in the Southern Hemisphere by a TBM greater than 2.6 metres in diameter in 2020. The longest was a 1,296-metre record set by the Herrenkenecht AVN2500 mTBM during the third drive.
Watercare chief infrastructure officer Steve Webster says the colossal project caters for our growing population and provides resilience in the event of a natural disaster.
“As far as water pipes go, Hūnua 4 is massive. With a diameter ranging from 1.6 m to 1.9 m, it carries huge volumes of water – up to 3000 litres per second – or 19 bathtubs per second.
“Hūnua 4 does all this beneath our feet, without us even realising it – she’s a bit of a quiet achiever.”
Take a 3D tour and virtually visit the project’s four sites at milestones like TBM being set up, go down inside the shafts and trenches, the TBM’s first breakthrough, and look around the completion of the first drive.
Find out more about our record-setting tunnelling expertise or the scope and the challenges of the Hūnua 4 project.
Traffic is now moving up and over the railway line at Ovingham, following the opening of the newly-constructed Torrens Road bridge, in Adelaide South Australia
The new bridge, the centrepiece of the Ovingham Level Crossing Removal Project, means that motorists will no longer need to stop at the boom gates, cutting travel times, improving safety and easing congestion.
Our project team is now developing the area around the bridge as open space for the local community to enjoy, while construction continues on the Torrens Road approach ramps, and on building a new link road to Hayman Street near Chief Street.
Well done team!
The Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road Upgrade team worked alongside Cranbourne Primary School students on Monday 23 May, spreading 15 cubic metres of mulch donated by the project team.
The gum mulch is a direct donation to the school, following tree removal works along Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road and will help refresh garden beds across the school grounds.
The working bee consisted of 10 student leaders interested in the environmental support of the nearby project and a team of construction staff.
The focus area for the mulching was a large garden bed near the school oval, facing Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road.
Cranbourne Primary School Principal Lachlan Yeates said the collaboration with MRPV offered a great learning experience for his students.
“We’re excited to be working with MRPV and McConnell Dowell to help support student leaders in becoming more environmentally aware,” Mr Yeates said.
“We greatly appreciate the time and resources volunteered by the project team to beautify the school grounds.”
The working bee is another example of Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV) optimising environmental outcomes in the long term by reusing felled timber wherever possible to benefit the community.
MRPV is delivering the upgrade, which will include an extra lane in each direction between Thompsons Road and the South Gippsland Highway, easing traffic congestion and ensuring quicker travel times for the 33,000 motorists who use the road every day.
The upgrade will also improve traffic flow and allow better access to the Cranbourne town centre by installing traffic lights, and replacing the roundabouts at Thompsons Road and Berwick-Cranbourne Road.
Additional traffic lights will be installed at the South Gippsland Highway intersection, Majestic Boulevard and Lyall Street, as well as at a pedestrian crossing south of Hunt Club Boulevard.
The upgrade will also include significant safety and accessibility improvements for all, including safety barriers and new shared walking and cycling paths.
The Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road Upgrade is expected to be completed by 2025.
McConnell Dowell has secured another win with the official signing of the Auckland City Hospital Central Plant & Tunnel Project’s main works contract this week.
The main works will see us joining forces with Built Environs for the second time in Tāmaki Makaurau to deliver the second largest project within the Facilities Infrastructure Remediation Programme (FIRP).
The project aims to address the hospital’s aging infrastructure by constructing a new five-storey plant building and 240-metre-long services tunnel. After project completion, the ADHB will be able to provide a higher quality of care to patients, and a safer environment for staff and specialist providers. The newly built infrastructure is also future proofed to include expansion, as the population grows in Tāmaki Makaurau and more people are in need of the hospital’s services.
We are proud to be delivering a key piece of infrastructure for the largest hospital in the country, and will draw heavily on our knowledge in deep foundation piling and open-cut trench experience.
To read the full scope of works for this project, click here.
McConnell Dowell is proud to announce it has been selected by the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) in Queensland as the contractor to deliver the Archer River Crossing project.
The Archer River Crossing is the latest project in a program of upgrades on the Peninsula Developmental Road to be delivered as part of the Cape York Region Package (CYRP) Stage 2. The project is jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland governments under the Roads of Strategic Importance program.
The Archer River Crossing project includes:
- a new 230 metre long (11x 21 metre spans), 10.4 metre wide deck bridge over Archer River
- vertical alignment modification to improve resilience to flooding
- bitumen surfacing
- earthworks and drainage
- guardrails, signs, and pavement marking.
The new bridge at Archer River will be located around 20 metres downstream of the existing crossing, with abutments and piers supported by three 1200 millimetre diameter columns.
McConnell Dowell has an outstanding track record in delivering transport infrastructure across Australia. Many of these projects have been delivered in remote locations with challenging supply chains.
We have drawn upon this knowledge and developed a robust methodology that aims to see the major elements of the project delivered at a faster than normal pace.
It is recognised that a true value-for-money proposition extends beyond the direct cost to deliver a project. To achieve this, we have developed a project-specific integrated procurement strategy to deliver further benefits to the region beyond the infrastructure itself.
McConnell Dowell recognises and pays respects to the Traditional Owners on the project site and the surrounding areas:
- Coen
- Aurukun
- Weipa
- Lockhart River
This project aligns perfectly with our Purpose of 'Providing a Better Life' with this critical infrastructure delivering long-term positive benefits to the community. We look forward to working with TMR to deliver this important infrastructure upgrade.