South-East Qld Underroad Drillers provided a crew to install eight 125mm electrical conduits along George Street and down Margaret Street in the centre of Brisbane City. Working times were restricted by both Council and Police, to night works only.

Once this project had commenced it became increasingly apparent that there were a large amount of existing underground services in the area. This made for a very congested work area and required that we utilise alternative methods of excavation outside of the Yanmar Vio excavator. Due to the congestion of existing services it became necessary to “break out” a number of old earthenware conduits and leave the existing cables amongst the newly installed PVC Conduit. In order to achieve this, a substantial amount of Hand Excavation and careful Jackhammer work was required. In addition to the limited room dictated by the existing services, there were a number of large trees along our conduit route which needed to be negotiated. To achieve this we used large water excavation units. This kept any damage to the existing flora to a minimum.

The majority of the footpath along our conduit route was covered in pavers. Due to the high pedestrian traffic through the area, both during the day and early evening, reinstatement had to be done on a nightly basis. The pavers and footpath were reinstated to their original condition or better before the completion of the night works to ensure public safety throughout the day. Reinstatement Crews must be congratulated as in most areas it was not apparent that works had been carried out the night before. One area that required specialised reinstatement was the “cross” mosaic outside of Parliament House. This required temporary reinstatement with bitumen/hot mix until the correct match of pebbled concrete could be achieved. Also through the area were a number of businesses whose driveways we were required to trench through. As some of these businesses required constant access to their driveway a great deal of liaising with building representatives was necessary to formulate a time when we could open cut the driveways with minimal disruption to business.

Despite the challenges of limited access, space and night works this project was completed by the target date with minimal disruption to businesses and pedestrians within the area and to the customer’s satisfaction.

SEQUD were contracted by to install nine 125mm Electrical conduits in the existing and new alignments all around the southern entrance to the North South Bypass Tunnel. Along with the conduit installation we were contracted in build and install a total of seven manholes.

Among the seven manholes requested for construction were some challenging custom designs. These required the breaking out of sections from existing manholes and the rebuild of a new manhole around the existing. This was most challenging in that all cables and joints were required to be “live” whilst work was being carried out, which required additional safety measures and awareness at all times.

We installed conduit through four road crossings in major areas of Ipswich Road, Woolloongabba. This required the exposing and cutting out of old tram tracks as well as working around High Pressure Gas mains. All road crossing were governed by a strict curfew, due to traffic volume and project needs, which dictated working times and completion dates.

SEQUD also installed all high voltage and low voltage cables into new as well as existing ducts. We were also required to retrieve decommissioned cables.

SEQUD were employed to locate and repair major blockages in old concrete and earthenware ducts (still with live electrical cables) throughout a large part of Kangaroo Point in Brisbane. The repair of old these old type ducts requires an extremely steady machine and operator as well as extensive hand work. This is to avoid any safety concerns or incidents involving live electrical cables.

As part of the above works we have had to expose the damaged sections of existing old style ducts and “break out” these, using specialised insulated equipment. We have then had to install new conduit into the old duct using adaptors.

Reinstatement of this area has had to be of an extremely high standard as the streets are lined with high-end apartment complexes. We have endeavoured to reinstate all areas work in to their original condition.

This project is continuing and we are hoping that feedback from the customer and residents continues to be positive throughout.

This job proved to be quite challenging as work had to be performed at an existing live roadway, where the traffic flow was extremely high. This dictated working times and many of the conduit installations across the roadways had to be completed outside of normal working hours. In addition to the traffic volume work had to be performed to proposed levels instead of existing, as the existing heights/levels were to be altered in the intersection upgrade.

SEQUD had to work very closely with the customer to ensure that our works were completed to schedule as not to delay any of the city council’s upcoming works. In all, despite some of the challenges of this project, works were completed to the customer’s satisfaction. All scheduled completion dates were met, despite wet weather interruptions and the upgrade of the intersection has been able to continue as planned.

SEQUD were required to install various numbers of electrical conduits beside, above and sometimes below live 11KV direct laid cables and into an existing electrical sub station. It was immediately apparent that this would not be a simple project.

The ground condition soon proved to be that of rock, meaning that work was slowed considerably and that a rock breaker would be necessary. Work was further slowed by an existing water main running parallel to our working area and sometimes crossing into our designated alignment. We were required to work in front of several small business and residential properties, which meant additional co-ordination to ensure minimal inconveniences. All areas trenched were reinstated to original or better condition.

Works were conducted outside many resorts and hotels, which meant that any reinstatement work had to be of an extremely high quality, while causing as little disruption as possible. Top quality turfing was used and all footpath, driveways and walkways encountered were returned to their original condition.

This particular project yielded a very positive outcome and credit must go to both the civil and reinstatement crews involved as they have made what could have been a difficult project run smoothly and easily with the best possible results.