Western Harbour Tunnel, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Aurecon is transforming Sydney Harbour, replacing dredging with TBM tunnel engineering to deliver a faster, safer and more sustainable second harbour crossing.
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' participation is being celebrated on the Bruce Highway Upgrade – Caboolture-Bribie Island Road to Steve Irwin Way (Exit 163) in Queensland.
Exceeding the Queensland Government’s Indigenous participation requirements and recognising the valuable contribution First Nations Peoples and Indigenous businesses offer, the project is providing employment and supply chain training, skills development, and business engagement opportunities.
Aurecon is the contract administrator on behalf of the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), overseeing two construction companies to ensure this project addresses design and construction requirements, as well as complying with targets for Indigenous participation.
This AUD 662.5 million project is jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland governments under an 80:20 (federal state) basis, with AUD 530 million from the Australian Government and AUD 132.5 million from the Queensland Government.
This project is significant for the people of Queensland as the Bruce Highway is a key route for commuters, freight, and tourist traffic. It is already heavily congested at peak times, particularly on weekends, resulting in longer-than-usual and less reliable journeys for road users. It is also severely impacted by flooding events and has the highest crash rate of any section of the Bruce Highway.
The project works will widen the 11 kilometre stretch from a four lane to a six lane divided carriageway and replace 10 bridges over five creek crossings with wider and higher bridges, improving safety, flood resilience and capacity along the length and breadth of this section of highway.
Holistically, the project team is consciously ensuring the project embeds Indigenous knowledge and recognises the significance of Country and culture. In addition, project leaders, in partnership with Traditional Owners and Indigenous organisations, are engaging with local Indigenous communities, businesses, and individuals to create economic and education opportunities.
This achievement was recognised when TMR and the project were named as a finalist in the Partnership category of the 2022 Queensland Reconciliation Awards. The department was shortlisted alongside Aurecon and ACCIONA (for one contract of the project) for nurturing a positive relationship with Traditional Owners, the Kabi Kabi Peoples, and providing employment and business participation opportunities.
To date, this specific partnership has achieved more than five times the compliance workforce hours to be undertaken by Indigenous personnel with more than AUD 4 million of goods or services procured from majority Indigenous-owned businesses.
Forming a part of this process is Aurecon’s liaison with 15 cultural heritage monitors, for more than 900 hours, to recognise and protect significant objects uncovered during the construction works. Upon any find, objects are catalogued and stored, followed by Aurecon working with TMR and Traditional Owners to decide the destination for each object.
The project commenced construction in November 2020 and is scheduled for completion by late 2023, weather conditions permitting.
The project was recognised with the following award:
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