Information Pack

On the Granite Island Causeway project in South Australia, our team designed and implemented a "shroud and bubble curtain" to stop marine piling noise from disturbing the Southern Right Whale (SRW) and other marine fauna, such as the Australian sea lion and little penguins.

Prior to the solution being developed and approved, a local whale protection group strongly objected to piling occurring during whale season, which had the potential to impact the project's schedule and budget.

The bubble curtain was designed to reduce the noise levels by scattering, absorption, reflection, and refraction of the sound waves. The curtain design, along with some other piling modifications, gave sufficient confidence for federal approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act for piling during the whale season.

Our Mordialloc Freeway Project (MFP) won the Excellence in Environmental Outcomes Award at the Infrastructure Sustainability Council Gala Awards 2021. The awards celebrates sustainability best practices across Australia and New Zealand. 

Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC) is the peak body for infrastructure sustainability, advocating for the delivery of cultural, social, economic and environmental benefits in all infrastructure projects. 

The MFP is a 9 km freeway link in Victoria, incorporating interchanges, bridges over wetlands and a shared user path. The project implemented a range of world-first sustainability initiatives in response to Victoria’s waste crisis and shortage of quarry materials, creating ‘Australia’s greenest freeway’. 

Thousands of tonnes of otherwise waste material were used to construct noise walls, asphalt pavements, concrete reinforcing mesh and stormwater drainage pipes. This shift to sustainable consumption of materials achieved a 27% reduction in embodied energy.

The judges acknowledged the significant effort in innovating new technologies to divert waste away from landfill, saying…

“The focus on reduced truck trips, local sourcing and recycling is a powerful way to improve industry practices. 

“The MFP demonstrates the potential cost benefits of improvised sustainability practices while supporting development and scale-up of local industry.”

In partnership with our customer Major Road Projects Victoria, construction partner Seymour Whyte, and two local Men's Sheds, we're building 40 bandicoot shelters on the Healesville to Kooweerup Road Upgrade.

The shelters, along with underpasses and habitat ponds, are all being built to assist endangered and vulnerable native wildlife before, during and after construction. The shelters will be installed in locations along Healesville-Kooweerup Road where they can be moved as needed.

"Men’s Shed" is a community-based, non-commercial organisation that is open to men and provides a place where they can feel included and safe, thereby improving their health and wellbeing.

Ken Hordem, Cardinia Men's Shed Pakenham secretary said he was proud to be working with the project team to design and build these bandicoot shelters.

"As a not-for-profit community organisation, we're always looking to contribute to community projects like the Healesville-Kooweerup Road Upgrade,” he said.

Kooweerup Men's Shed secretary Brian Harlow shared the sentiment.

"We understand the need to protect the native wildlife and are proud to be able to contribute to sustaining the Southern Brown Bandicoot population in the area," he said.

As part of the project, more than 40 underpasses and fauna crossings will be built so Southern Brown Bandicoots, Growling Grass Frogs and other wildlife in the area can safely cross the road.

In partnership with Australian OEM, Black Stump Technologies, we have co-created the 'Solarator', a compact containerised power plant that combines solar panels, batteries and a small diesel generator. 

Now being used on our project sites across Australia, the Solarators are scaleable in output and can reduce diesel consumption by up to 90% for our off-grid site facilities. Over a 10-year period the units will save over 8000 tonnes of carbon on our work sites.

The Solarators are available in a number of configurations, including ‘accordion style’ (where the panels unfold on frames) and solar-only (i.e. no diesel generator). The solar-only units can result in a carbon positive project site, with unused energy being exported to the grid.

In addition to their sustainability benefits, Solarators are quiet, low maintenance, compact, transportable and 'plug and play' in their set up. 

You can't get many more wins than that!

On the Cranbourne Line Duplication in Victoria, our team (the Western Program Alliance), successfully designed, assembled and slid a 63 m long, 340 tonne steel bridge over a sensitive waterway.

Eumemmerring Creek is home to two endangered freshwater fish known commonly as the dwarf galaxias and the Australian grayling or the ‘cucumber mullet’.

60,000 hours of design and construction effort ensured we avoided touching the creek or any sensitive vegetation.

This included a full 'digital rehearsal' using 4D planning.

Temporary steel walkways and fibreglass grating were used to allow site access without disturbing flora and fauna.

We retained significant portions of native river red gum and established environmental no-go zones through clear delineation, signage and education.

The 162 tonne launch nose was reused from another project which saved over 300 tonnes of carbon emissions. Over 10 tonnes of steel was successfully reused on other projects.

Our Epping Road Upgrade Project team and about 50 Year 7 students built 10 ‘bee hotels’ at the new college to encourage the growth of the bee population in Wollert.

The project team conducted the initiative over two sessions, with about 25 students in each. The college is next door to the main site compound and opened this year, so all students had an opportunity to take part. 

Victoria’s seven native bee species comprise reed, blue-banded, teddy bear, leafcutter, resin, homalictus and masked varieties bees. As solitary bees that don’t form colonies or hives, the hotels will provide them with places to rest, nest and breed over the cooler months. Each of the bee species has a preferred type of home, so the hotels were built with varying internal designs.

To promote a circular economy, some of the materials came from the construction site on Epping Road.

The hotels were installed on a grassland area and with north-east aspects to maximise sunlight and pollen production.

The project team donated and planted flowering native plants including banksia and grevillea nearby at the college to further encourage the bees’ populations.

To top if off the students made signs for the bee hotels in art class.

Since installation there has been a recorded increase in the native been population surrounding the school.

Hear our 'Sustainability Superstar', Yvonne McNicholas, talk about the bee hotel initiaitive...

Climate change is increasing the 'heat sink' effect, with traditional construction materials such as asphalt, steel, and concrete, trapping heat and increasing ambient temperatures by up to 20%. That's where our creative team on a level crossing removal project in Melbourne's west comes in.

We used an innovative product called 'Cool Seal' to coat part of the new railway station's asphalt carpark to reduce the heat sink effect.  This bitumen-based seal coat product contains 5% recycled crushed glass and lowers surface temperatures by 3-15 degrees. Not only that, it can also extend pavement life by 5-7 years and decrease lighting requirements due to its high reflectivity. This makes it both highly effective and cost neutral.

The impact on human comfort is considerable. In combination with smart landscaping elements 'Cool Seal' delivers a high value community outcome, increasing commuter comfort and reducing the station precinct's impact on the environment overall.

As part of the Epping Road Upgrade, the Wollert Methodist Church was relocated to enable road upgrade works at the Lehmanns and Epping roads intersection, supporting the preservation of an important local heritage asset.

The church had served the Wollert community for more than a century and was recognised for its historic and social value to the City of Whittlesea. Its Carpenter Gothic design, including timber cladding and lancet windows, was retained through the relocation to Carome Homestead in Mernda.

The relocation and subsequent restoration were undertaken by others in collaboration with the City of Whittlesea and heritage specialists. Following restoration, the church was reopened to the public and became a community asset managed by Working Heritage.

This outcome formed part of the Epping Road Upgrade’s broader legacy initiatives, aimed at delivering lasting community and heritage benefits alongside major transport infrastructure.

As part of the Epping Road Upgrade, we preserved important local heritage while delivering safer, more reliable transport for the community.

Building on the earlier relocation of the Wollert Methodist Church to Carome Homestead, our team reconstructed historic dry-stone walls along Epping Road, an enduring feature of the City of Whittlesea’s rural heritage.

Six dry-stone walls were rebuilt at various locations along the corridor, totalling 365 metres. Works included walls near Lehmanns Road, Pine Park Drive, De Rossi Boulevard, Craigieburn Road East and Rhone Drive.

After carefully dismantling the original walls to enable the road upgrade, specialist craftspeople rebuilt them using traditional dry-stone techniques and the original basalt stones. Constructed without mortar, each wall was reassembled to reflect historic methods while ensuring long-term durability.

These works preserved an important link to early farming practices on the Merri–Darebin Plains and ensured the area’s cultural heritage was protected for future generations.