2018 Environmental Excllence Awards - Highly Commended

2018 Environmental Excllence Awards - Highly Commended

19th Sep 18

NorthConnex

Lendlease Bouygues Construction Joint Venture

The $3 billion NorthConnex project will deliver significant benefits to road users across Sydney, with the opening of the twin nine-kilometre tunnels expected in late 2019. NorthConnex is the longest road tunnel project in Australia, and will link the M1 Pacific Motorway at Wahroonga to the Hills M2 Motorway at West Pennant Hills. The tunnel will remove around 5,000 trucks daily from Pennant Hills Road, helping to improve safety, local air quality and reduce existing traffic noise. The project is being delivered by Lendlease Bouygues Joint Venture on behalf of the proponents Transurban and Roads and Maritime Services with the tunnel to be operated and maintained by NorthConnex Company Pty Ltd (consisting of Transurban and the Westlink M7 shareholders).

The project presented several environmental challenges, particularly within the northern civil package of works at Wahroonga, where the realignment of a 395 metre stretch of a live creek (Cockle Creek) was required to facilitate site establishment and the construction of the M1 Motorway southbound tunnel dive structure. As a result, the project adopted innovative design and construction methodologies to deliver the required engineering scope in conjunction with best practice erosion and sediment control outcomes. The construction methodology took into consideration multiple stages of creek relocations, in order to enable earthworks and the construction of the tunnel dive structure footings and walls. This ensured an extremely high level of environmental protection, with all personnel working on the project understanding the importance of protecting this local waterway.