Now that the Middle East is coming off the boil (somewhat); friends and colleagues have begun jetting off to new projects and lives around the world. One place in articular stands out as the new hotspot for tunnelling activity: Australia.

But just how large is the coming boom in the sunburnt country? For Rob Muley, general manager for tunnelling at locally based contractor John Holland, the pipeline of work has never been better.

“We have the best market that I have ever seen in my 30 years in tunnelling and getting the skilled labour in to the market is actually a challenge. It’s going to be a real strain on the existing resources in tunnelling experience.

“We are having a lot of interest from all over – the Middle East, the UK, everywhere. A lot of interest in the market here, but I think fundamentally we are going to be stretched as an industry, particularly when it comes to labour.”

Project Pipeline

The work really is extensive. Following the completion of the impressive 15km Sydney Metro Northwest tunnels between Bella Vista and Epping early in 2016, there is the ongoing twin 22km of tunnelling for the AUD 12bn WestConnex road project in Sydney; the twin 9km tunnel NorthConnex coming up also in Sydney for another AUD 3bn; the twin 1.5km Western Distributor in Melbourne, a six-lane road tunnel, is in tender for AUD 5.5bn, although this includes a bridge; the AUD 11bn Melbourne Metro is also tendering and is looking like twin 9km tunnels; the twin 11km Harbour Link road tunnel and the 10km South Link in Sydney are also on the horizon; and the nation’s surprise 8km twin rail tunnel, which forms part of the AUD 2bn Forrestfield-Airport Link (in the spacious, low-density city of Perth) is also underway. According to Muley there is also talk of a couple more tunnels for Melbourne.

Stable in Sydney

For John Holland and Muley, tunnel construction work on the Sydney Metro North West rail tunnels (single contract for twin tunnels each 15.5km long excavated by four TBMs and four underground stations) is complete, with the project moving into fit out and due to commission in 2019. The company is still heavily involved in Sydney however, with work ongoing for WestConnex M4 East, a twin three-lane 5km tunnel driven by roadheader. John Holland is also tendering for WestConnex M4-M5 Link early this year, another multi billion dollar project.

John Holland recently submitted a tender for the tunnel section of the second stage of Sydney Metro (Sydney Metro City and South West). This stage includes twin running tunnels each 15km long and six underground stations between Chatswood on the north side of Sydney Harbour and Sydenham on the south side.

Work in Sydney for road tunnels is typically carried out by roadheader unless there are serious water concerns and is predominantly in the stable Hawkesbury Sandstone or Ashfield Shale. Over 50 roadheaders (300 kW) will be in operation across Sydney over the next two years.

Rail and water tunnels are generally constructed by open face TBM through the Hawkesbury Sandstone and Ashfield Shale. The exception being a 5km long section the New Southern Railway which was constructed for the 2000 Olympic Games to provide a rail link from the city to the airport which was excavated by a 10.8 m diameter slurry TBM.

“The Ashfield Shale is not much fun. You generally have to bring in much heavier ground support, going from active to passive depending on where you are and the amount of cover.

What you might be able to do with traditional CT bolts elsewhere you may have to switch to cable bolts. We change our designs and processes for Ashfield Shale.

“There are a couple of fault zones in Sydney, and while these do not run cleanly, they are known and understood and so do not pose a problem.”

Looking abroad

The company is associated with Australia, being founded by Australian engineer Sir John Holland in 1949. It changed hands once or twice throughout the years; most significantly it was recently acquired by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), a majority state-owned construction giant worth close to USD 30bn and operates in over 100 countries. In 2015 Tunnels and Tunnelling reported on a November 2014 joint KPMG-University of Sydney report on Chinese investment that was based off a survey of Chinese investors, and concluded that although they are drawn to Australia as a natural and historical trading partner, they feel limited by a lack of integration into Australia’s public and private sector. Australia is an interesting proving ground for these investors. Integration into Australia’s marketplace could set them up for success further afield.

As for John Holland, aside from what the rest of the industry probably assumes is some decent financial security, one of the most immediate changes for the company the opening of a Singapore regional office with a country manager – John Anderson – with a view to staking its claim to the upcoming work there, and also to manage work it has already won.

According to Muley, although this was the plan anyway, it happened quicker with CCCC investment. “It was strategic for us to go when we were thinking about it back in 2011, because the growth plans involved a doubling of the railway network there by 2030 – around 176km of tunnelling. On Downtown Line Stage 3 we picked up Contract C935, then on the Thompson East Coast Line we picked up Contracts T208 and T309. Australia was quiet at the time and Singapore had this pipeline. The company works in seven countries in the region, but Singapore is the focus. The Deep Tunnel Sewer System Phase 2 which involves 100km of tunnels is currently out tender.”

With the new backing of CCCC, John Holland is contemplating work further abroad, where it can help. The parent company has around 14 design studios and four specialist BIM studios, so management is trying to work out how to share information and help cooperation. However, the pipeline of work in Australia is such that there is plenty to be getting on with domestically.

Final thoughts

Muley reiterates that the underground construction industry has never had it so good in Australia, adding: “Tunnelling is often in a unique position, working across all sectors: road, rail, water, power and so on.

We are seeing it as a growth area of engineering as more and more infrastructure is driven underground as a preferred option, be it the road tunnels and some rail we are seeing in Australia, or the full cable tunnel system being installed in Singapore. There is less of an appetite for above-ground infrastructure, so we are in a good position in terms of our market