McConnell Dowell and Gamuda Australia are assembling a 1.3m-diameter micro TBM for a water upgrade on Sydney’s North Shore.
mTBM Piper will be launched later this month to excavate a 680m-long tunnel for Sydney Water’s Ryde to Pymble Pipeline Upgrade.
The machine will bore beneath the Lane Cove River and Lane Cove National Park, to the Kissing Point Road receival shaft.
Using Direct Pipe technology, Piper will excavate the tunnel while the new drinking water pipeline is installed behind it – enabling the joint venture to build the underground section with minimal surface impact on the environmentally sensitive area.
The drive is expected to be completed in early March next year.
The Ryde to Pymble Pipeline Upgrade is replacing the original pipeline, which was built in 1936. McDonnel Dowell and Gamuda’s A$157m (€98m) contract involves laying more than 10km of DN900 water main from the Ryde Pump Station to the Wahroonga Reservoir using open trenching and trenchless construction methods.
