Victorian Project Wins 2019 CCF National Earth Award!

Victorian Project Wins 2019 CCF National Earth Award!

CCF Victoria would like to congratulate the Winners of the recent 2019 CCF National Earth Award – Project Value 4: Melbourne Water, John Holland-KBR Joint Venture and Interflow.

Further to winning the 2019 CCF Victoria Earth Award – Project Value 4 on August 16^th, this project ‘North Yarra Deviation’ was entered into the 2019 CCF National Earth Awards, which was held on 22^nd November at the Hotel in Canberra. It was great to see the Victorian project win the national award for this level (Project Value 4 – $10 million – 30 million).

A video outlining the winning North Yarra Deviation project is available for viewing on Youtube via the CCF Victoria Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8PuUyJQqvc

This project saw the rehabilitation of the brick arches and access shafts of a sewer carrying 20% of Melbourne’s sewage flow had to extend its life by at least 50 years. Despite flow deviation, the project was undertaken with approximately 500mm of continuous live flow throughout the project.

Most of the works occurred 20 metres underground in a high-risk confined space environment. Safety was paramount and emergency evacuation drills conducted monthly. Continuous air quality monitoring in the underground was critical.

The proximity of a 220 Kilovolt-Ampere overhead power supply, high pressure petroleum fuel lines, (including the Tullamarine Airport fuel supply), and the inability to demolish a building on top of an essential sewer access manhole, created significant technical complexities.

Advanced laser and sonar profiling first determined the extent of deterioration, sewer dimensions, and the depth of silt and debris in the invert.

To remove the silt, a remote-controlled Kanga excavator allowed safer and faster works and minimised man entry into a dangerous environment. This ensured that 22 tonnes of silt could be removed in an 8-hour shift.

To remove the redundant penstock, the team had to build a scaffold and cut the equipment into smaller pieces to lift out. With high H2S and volatile gas levels recorded, the team switched to high pressure water cutting to eliminate risk.

Ribline Polyethylene Spiral liner pipe was then installed, independent of the sewer, including around bends which was innovative. Grouting of the void between the existing sewer and new liner had high quality control requirements.

Other significant rehabilitation works included casting a 6-metre diameter manhole lid onsite, and cleaning and coating two 18-metre deep access shafts with calcium aluminate cement.

The project was certainly a worthy winner, deserving recognition and we again congratulate the winning companies. We look forward to seeing everyone again at next year’s CCF Victoria Earth & Training Awards Dinner, scheduled for August 2020.

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