In the spring of 2008, Jacobs Associates opened the doors to its newest branch office in Melbourne, Australia. The company has its head quarters in San Francisco, California. The company’s expansion solidifies their presence in the region and positions Jacobs Associates to provide tunnel and underground engineering for water, wastewater and transportation projects throughout Australia and New Zealand.
The Melbourne office is led by Karl Assi and currently supports numerous ongoing projects in the region such as the Northern Sewerage Project and Epping Craigieburn Sewerage Project, both in Melbourne, and the Boggo Road Busway in Brisbane. These projects are the latest in Jacobs Associates’ history in Australia, which dates back to its founder J. Donovan Jacobs’ involvement with the Snowy Mountains hydroelectric tunnels in the 1960s. Since that time, Jacobs Associates has provided consultancy services on over 20 major contracts in the region, including rail transit tunnels for Melbourne City Loop in the 1970s, the M5 East Motorway in Sydney and the Melbourne CityLink tunnels in the 1990s.
Jacobs Associates also provides temporary works design services for all stages of civil construction projects. The company offers practical experience and an understanding of the urgent demands of the construction environment, based on a history of working closely with contractors in Australia and the US. To help in this field, Jacobs offers value-added services such as the design of temporary support of tunnels and shaft excavations in both rock and soft ground, as well as other general construction related design work.