As part of the Djilang Alliance we're excited to announce selection as the preferred contractor for the South Geelong to Waurn Ponds Duplication project – delivering more frequent and reliable services and better stations for passengers on Victoria’s busiest regional rail line. Our alliance includes Downer, Arup and WSP.

The South Geelong to Waurn Ponds Duplication includes elevated rail bridges for level crossing removals, around eight kilometres of track duplication and signalling upgrades. The project also includes new station buildings at Marshall and South Geelong with landscaped forecourts, second platforms and accessible pedestrian overpasses.

Early works on the project will begin soon, with major construction expected to start later this year and completion targeted for late 2024. 

While it’s not on the scale of the largest wastewater treatment plant in the world  – that honour belongs to Egypt’s Guinness record holding Bahr El Baqar – the Pukekohe Wastewater Treatment Plant is NZ’s most sophisticated wastewater treatment plant to date.

The project converts the WWTP from a batch process using Sequence Batch Reactors (SBRs) to a Continuous Flow Facility, doubling the capacity of the plant within the confines of the existing plant. For the sake of sustainability and cost efficiency, the plant’s design re-used as much of the existing infrastructure as possible, including taking the plant’s existing two main SBR tanks offline and then refurbishing them as continuous flow reactors with new dividers. Rather than a ‘filling, treating, emptying’ regime of a SBR-based plant, the new plant takes flow continuously through a new inlet works and Activated Sludge Reactors (ASRs) before the effluent to be discharged is separated from the solids by a new membrane facility. The clever design is also sustainable, utilising membranes from another water plant to reduce the project costs.

McConnell Dowell and Heb Construction constructed the Pukekohe Wastewater Treatment Plant for Watercare Services. As part of their approach, the MCD HEB JV undertook extensive value engineering, which saved $2M prior to construction. The team then continued their drive for efficiency throughout delivery. This included applying experience from the team’s successful delivery of the Mangere Biological Nutrient Removal facility to change the pipe methodology during construction.

The original design specified FRP pipe and gate valves, however the JV had already successfully used large diameter PE pipework on Mangere BNR and while more technically challenging than the FDR pipework, the team was confident they could deliver this solution for Pukekohe WWTP.

During construction, the team also saw the opportunity to change the specified valves to knife gate valves – providing an appropriate solution that was ultimately cheaper with a much lower carbon footprint. The overall result was a more robust, reliable and streamlined solution for the treatment plant and Watercare Services Ltd. When asked what is at the heart of Pukekohe’s success, Construction Project Manager Pete Hodgson says: “The biggest challenge on any project is getting the right people with the right team ethos working together from day one. In a large multi-discipline project the real magic in terms of innovation, efficiency, and quality happens when you’ve not only got the right technical skills, but when you’ve got all parties – the client, designer and constructor - in it together. That results in being willingly to listen to each other, willingly to be open and transparent, and willingly to examine ideas and concepts that may not initially have been considered.”

Both Pukekohe Wastewater Treatment facility and the Mangere Biological Nutrient Facility are great examples of our MCD HEB teamwork and collaboration and demonstrate the value we achieve for our clients and ratepayers through the right technical experience and a genuine passion and skill for working together. Starting in 2015 at the detailed design stage, we completed the first separable portion (comprising 85% of Pukekohe works) back in Jan 2021. We’re on track to deliver the project’s Sep Portion 2 in June 2022.

Learn more about the project here.

McConnell Dowell Decmil Joint Venture (MCDDJV) with Major Roads Project Victoria won the Excellence in Environmental Outcomes Award for the Mordialloc Freeway Project (MFP) at the Infrastructure Sustainability Council Gala Awards 2021 held last night in Sydney. The awards celebrated sustainability best practices across Australia and New Zealand. 

Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC) is the peak body for infrastructure sustainability, advocating for the delivery of cultural, social, economic and environmental benefits in all infrastructure projects. 

The MFP is a 9 km freeway link in Victoria, incorporating interchanges, bridges over wetlands and a shared user path. 

The project implemented a range of world-first sustainability initiatives in response to Victoria’s waste crisis and shortage of quarry materials, creating ‘Australia’s greenest freeway’. 

Thousands of tonnes of otherwise waste material were used to construct noise walls, asphalt pavements, concrete reinforcing mesh and stormwater drainage pipes. This shift to sustainable consumption of materials achieved a 27% reduction in embodied energy.

The judges acknowledged the significant effort in innovating new technologies to divert waste away from landfill, saying…

“The focus on reduced truck trips, local sourcing and recycling is a powerful way to improve industry practices. 

“The MFP demonstrates the potential cost benefits of improvised sustainability practices while supporting development and scale-up of local industry.”

Luke Peters is one of 20 *Vivid Work Crew supported employees who are part of our team at the Echuca-Moama Bridge Project, which we’re delivering with Major Roads Projects Victoria. A fanatical fan of Lee Kernaghan, when Luke isn't wearing PPE - he dons his cowboy hat with pride. He's enthusiastic, decidedly cheeky, and has enjoyed his role of site ‘peggy’.

Luke’s mother, Jill Peters says, “(During his work on the project) I've seen Luke's confidence grow, his speech has developed. And by conversing with the workers on the project site, he's learned more skills, he's having more conversations."

"The project has motivated him, and he's so proud to have been part of building the new bridge."

These are the opportunities that arise from the work we do, and we harness them, while delivering what we promise, projects that contribute to the betterment of community.

* Vivid Work Crew is an Australian Disability Enterprise based in north central Victoria.