Dear Sir

Recent events on Melbourne’s City Link highway tunnel in Australia underscore FIDIC’s view that the Silver Form Conditions of Contract (EPC/Turnkey Projects) are not suitable for underground work (reference: Introduction to First Edition).

In essence Australia’s design-build contracts adopt a Silver Form approach by having detailed performance specifications, putting all the risk on the contractor including ground conditions and so-called reference material and workmanship specifications as provided by the client’s consultant, which the contractor is free to adopt or write it’s own.

In January this year, Transurban, the owner/operator of the City Link Burnley Tunnel issued a statement saying it plans to sue the contractor, Transfield-Obayashi JV, because the tunnel was unlikely to last its forecast 100-year lifespan because its cast concrete walls were too thin. City Link has been plagued with problems on the tunnel since design and construction began. Many of the issues have been reported in T&TI (February 2007, p14, and March 2000, p34). A settlement of the claims between all parties back in 2001 was mediated behind closed doors, losing a prime opportunity to improve industry practices.

Recent reports in the Australian media refer to walls not being built to specification. This implies a breakdown of the contractor’s quality assurance system leading to a construction defect – not a design error. The self-certification process, intended to certify construction integrity without the need for independent checking, was relied upon by the client to indicate construction quality was adequate.

A newspaper article in late January alleges claims by the independent assessor that he was pressured to approve the tunnel for opening. If this was so, and no denial has been published so far, the Melbourne public should be somewhat alarmed that the check to avoid faulty design and/or construction has been subverted.

There have been claims in the industry that the City Link’s Burnley Tunnel situation is a worse indictment of the industry’s ills than the circumstances that led to the Heathrow Express station cavern collapse in London in 1994. It certainly has similarities due to inadequate construction standards.

Reliance on design-build procurement and self-certification procedures on these projects certainly vindicate FIDIC’s reservations about the use of the Silver Form of contract for underground works.

David Baxter, CPEng, FICE, MIE(Aust)

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia


Cross section of the 3-lane Burnley Tunnel showing the pattern of the ground anchors installed to correct cracking of the invert slabs Cross section of the 3-lane Burnley Tunnel