QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Airport

Since 2005, Brisbane’s bedrock has been bored by some of the most ingenious machines ever devised, which started their lives in the Black Forest and will forever be a part of Queensland’s earth, as Peter Ludlow discovered just after the opening of the AirportlinkM7 tunnel. Under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with the Queensland Government, BrisConnections, under CEO Dr Ray Wilson, has the concession to design, construct, operate and maintain the AirportlinkM7 tunnel for a period of 45 years (2008 to 2053). The design and construction contract was executed by a joint venture between Thiess and John Holland. BrisConnections was also contracted with the Queensland Government to design and construct the Northern Busway (Windsor to Kedron) and the Airport Roundabout Upgrade, and handed both back to the government on completion for ongoing operation. The combined AirportlinkM7, Northern Busway and Airport Roundabout Upgrade projects totalled $4.2 billion in design and construction costs, and required total finance to be raised of $5.6 billion. BrisConnections’ Charles MacDonald, General Manager, Construction: “Most of our bankers are based in Europe. Of our equity holders, we have two organisations that hold 90-odd percent of the equity – Deutsche Bank and Macquarie Bank. Both have a very strong ownership of the project. They underwrote the float and as a consequence of that they are holding a lot of the equity in the project. So there is a significant German interest.” The German underground

Moreton

AirportlinkM7

Bay

Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges

Brisbane CBD

Legacy Way (under construction)

Clem7 cross-river tunnel

Gateway Mwy

Centenary Hwy

Pacific Mwy

Ipswich Mwy

Charles is careful to make the point that, “it is important to note, then, that this project has not contributed any debt to Queensland,” and adds: “As far as the German involvement is concerned, it is quite significant because quite a lot of the equipment involved, both construction equipment and permanent equipment in the tunnel is sourced from Germany. The TBMs [Tunnel Boring Machines] actually did only a third of the excavations, but you wouldn’t know that from the publicity because they are always the glamour part of the construction. “Design and construction of this integrated transport solution, within the densely populated environment of inner-city Brisbane and the northern suburbs, represented one of the most challenging engineering feats in Queensland’s history and included 25 bridges, 15km of tunnelling and over 7km of new road.” Brisbane’s trio of tunnels: the completed Clem7 and Airportlink, and the under-construction Legacy Way, which will feed into the junction of the other two via the existing Inner City Bypass road.

Excavation for the Kedron entrance to Airportlink, where the on-ramp from Gympie Road makes a tight 360-degree loop beside Kedron Brook.

TBM start

Airport Roundabout

TBM finish

Northern Busway

Roadheader and cut-and-cover tunnelling

BrisConnections map of the AirportlinkM7, with its links to the Clem7 cross-river tunnel lower left; Brisbane’s CBD begins just off the lower limit of the map, and the airport lies beyond the top right corner.

advanstra / wikimedia commons

Construction of AirportlinkM7 commenced in November 2008 and involved a number of significant aspects including: two Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) at 12.48m in diameter and 195m long (almost the length of the Melbourne Cricket Ground); 17 roadheaders; 125,000 tonnes of reinforced steel; 807,000m 3 of concrete. At its peak, the project employed 4,500 people

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