Rob Carr celebrating 35 years of excellence

When it comes to delivering complex utilities infrastructure projects, Rob Carr is a trusted name among major utilities, councils, and Tier 1 contractors alike.

Combining its highly skilled team with the best in civil and trenchless plant and equipment, Rob Carr boasts a wide range of capabilities from early concept and design phases, right through to delivery and commissioning.

When it comes to tunnelling, the company utilises two specific techniques to undertake trenchless construction: slurry pressure balanced microtunnelling and pilot auger soil displacement tunnelling.

This is backed by Rob Carr’s fleet of over 30 microtunnelling machines, with the largest machine diameter being 2180mm covering all ground conditions.

The machines are supported with a wide ranging ancillary equipment fleet in the form of control cabins, jacking frames, slurry separation tanks and systems, gantry cranes, power generation and guidance equipment.

The company has also invested in German Herrenknecht AVN technology to facilitate larger scale tunnelling projects. Additional design and delivery capabilities include deep access shafts, pump stations, and live service connections.

To round things out, Rob Carr engages in sound project management practices to ensure projects are appropriately planned and staged, and risks are considered, managed and mitigated accordingly.

An exciting year

This year marks the company’s 35th anniversary, and business is booming.

“Rob Carr has been in the business for thirty-five years, and there’s a lot of technical knowledge within the company,” Rob Carr Project Manager Thierry Candito said.

“We thrive off challenges, which makes Rob Carr the ideal partner for larger-scale projects where you know there will be difficulties.”

In Sydney, the company secured a contract to deliver part of a $90 million upgrade to the city’s North West Growth Area. The project will provide drinking water and wastewater services to roughly 17,000 homes by mid 2025.

Rob Carr’s scope of work entails significant early works investigation, complex temporary works design, construction of major bespoke access shafts, construction of two 270m long tunnels (DN1200) in parallel formation, construction of two 45m long tunnels (DN1200 and DN500) in parallel beneath rail infrastructure, and installation of multiple HDPE pressure mains.

These works are well-advanced, with the company completing the first 270m drive in September and the second in November.

Rob Carr also secured another Sydney contract to help deliver water and wastewater upgrades in the Cleveland development area. As part of the project, the company is presently constructing 1.45km of pipeline using slurry pressure balanced microtunnelling, along with associated civil works to aid the tunnelling operation.

In Brisbane, the company completed a highly technical sewer upgrade, which incorporated single 1002m drive by microtunnelling with an internal diameter of 1.8m. This alignment travelled beneath arterial roads, railways, and waterways, presenting various technical challenges which the Rob Carr team were able to manage with expertise.

The company demonstrated its speed and efficiency on the time-sensitive Dudley Street project in the Gold Coast. Here, Rob Carr was contracted to deliver a time critical DN1800 stormwater pipe underneath the Gold Coast Highway, tunnelling through sand.

Impending light rail works in the area also posed a challenge to the project, but the Rob Carr team delivered the project effectively and were off the scene well before the allocated timeframe.

In Melbourne, Rob Carr is helping to deliver an $80 million four-stage CBD sewer augmentation project. The company completed the third stage 700m Elizabeth Street sewer this year. The work was undertaken in a highly constrained site in amongst the CBD, with Rob Carr also constructing a series or access shafts, structures and service connections immediately adjacent to live rail.

In Western Australia, Rob Carr delivered the Mullewa water main project, which incorporated 7.2km of DN300 PVC pipe via open cut, and a DN700 reinforced concrete rail crossing; and the Benara water main project, which consisted of a DN1100 glass reinforced pipe road crossing. These projects only reinforce Rob Carr’s one stop shop offering.

Rob Carr’s order book is already starting to fill up for 2025, with the company securing a contract for a major capital works project in WA. Many more are currently in negotiation throughout NSW, Vic, SA, and Tas.

The project will see Rob Carr self-perform the construction of 356m of DN600 sewer, 517m of DN450 sewer, 277m of DN375 sewer and 12 access chambers in Armadale, Perth.

The sewer will be predominantly constructed via microtunnelling, with the longest drive being 186m. The work will commence in January 2025 with completion scheduled for September 2025.

Rob Carr General Manager Angelo Soumboulidis said that complex projects are where the company truly excels.

“Navigating tough geological conditions, rail and road crossings, and critical infrastructure connections requires not only technical precision, but also resilience and adaptability,” he said.

“Our team’s expertise and dedication ensures that whatever project we take on will be executed with the highest of standards, delivering a seamless outcome for our clients.”

For more information, visit robcarr.com.au.

This article featured in the December edition of Trenchless Australasia.