Boosting capacity on Sydney's road network
BulkX Streamlines Excavation at Australia’s Premier Road Infrastructure Project: WestConnex.
Contractor
CPB Contractors JV
Location
Sydney, Australia
Project Overview
The WestConnex Rozelle Interchange, an integral part of Sydney's premier road infrastructure project, connects the M4 and M5 tunnels to the Anzac Bridge and Victoria Road. It also marks the starting point for the future Western Harbour Tunnel. The Rozelle Interchange is built almost entirely underground, liberating surface space for a regional park. A critical challenge of the project involved dealing with potential acid sulphate soil (PASS) and adhering to a rigorous top-down construction schedule.
Navigating a complex excavation program
The demanding construction program necessitated continuous excavation to the basement levels of the structure simultaneously with the superstructure development from the roof level. Only four openings on the roof were available for excavation from Reduced Level (RL) +1.25 to RL -19. In addition, due to the presence of PASS the aim was to minimise rehandling of the excavation spoil on site.
Harnessing the power of BulkX
Enter BulkX, Conquip's revolutionary excavation system. Having proved its reliability on an extensive excavation program at the Crows’ Nest Station Box on the Sydney Metro project, BulkX was chosen for the Rozelle Interchange. Its primary advantage was the ability to interchange between the 4 different roof openings and use different load out points as required, using the crawler crane optimally to excavate material in bulk.
Program success with fast spoil removal
The use of BulkX allowed continuous excavation of potentially contaminated material directly into Articulated Dump Trucks (ADTs), ensuring the excavation program stayed on schedule and reducing the risk of rehandling the material.
The reuse of the system from Sydney Metro supported the projects aims around reducing their environmental footprint, as the skip and gantry system could be used again rather than being disposed of.
Feedback
The main benefit of BulkX was that it was adaptable, allowing us to move between different excavation and load out points to fit in with our complex construction schedule.
John Holland | Senior Project Engineer, Vent Buildings, CPB Contractors JV