The tunnel boring machine (TBM) was lowered 11 m underground as part of Queensland Urban Utilities’ (QUU) $A80 million Woolloongabba Sewer Upgrade Project. The project involves the installation of 5.2 km of HOBAS pipe as new trunk sewer main that will increase the capacity of the Woolloongabba sewerage system to cater for development and population growth in the area.
The upgrade project will ensure the long-term sustainability of sewerage services for around 50,000 properties in the Woolloongabba catchment.
The project will be carried out by approximately 100 personnel and will involve the construction of six new sewer lines and 37 access shafts. QUU said that current sewer pipes in Woolloongabba are approximately 80 years old.
QUU Chief Executive Officer Louise Dudley said “This trenchless method was chosen as it limits the impact on the community, making it ideal for use in heavily urbanised areas, such as Woolloongabba.
“As part of the Woolloongabba upgrade project, TBMs will install pipes as large as 1.4 m in diameter up to 17 m underground,” Ms Dudley said.
Involving the community
Ms Dudley saw the project as an ideal opportunity to engage East Brisbane State School students in a large-scale project so close to their school.
“On the surface, it might seem like nothing is happening but under the ground the boring machines will be making their way through Woolloongabba,” Ms Dudley said.
Around 90 children in grades one, two and three (ages six to nine) at East Brisbane State School took part in a competition to name and choose the colours of the first tunnel boring machine to be used in the project.
Ms Dudley said “We had our contractor, John Holland, paint newly named “÷Cora the Tunnel Borer’ in the colours that reflected the winning entry. This was a novel way of involving children in the project and introducing them to the concept of how pipes are installed underground.”
The first part of the project will take place in stages along Stanley Street and is expected to take up to 14 months.
Progress to date
Cora the Tunnel Borer took twelve days to tunnel underground for 61 m from an access site to a receive shaft, both on Stanley Street, Woolloongabba.
Tunnelling has commenced from the access shaft outside East Brisbane State School to the temporary receival shaft on Stanley Street, between Longlands Street and Fisher Street.
Construction is continuing, with work sites established on the corner of Gibbon Street and Stanley Street, at the Caswell Street Pump Station property and within vacant area between Stanley Street and Pacific Motorway on ramp.
In January 2013 investigative work commenced in ten locations within Woolloongabba and Stones Corner. The investigations seek to locate ground services to plan for future works, and includes core drilling and saw cutting into the asphalt, followed by minor excavation work.
The upgrade is part of QUU’s $A3.35 billion, ten year capital works program.