MCT Italy Australian local partner and Salini Impregilo has won an award for the design and manufacture of the precast concrete segments used to line the tunnels they are excavating for the Public Transport Authority’s Forrestfield-Airport Link in the latest recognition of the level of excellence they have brought to the project in Perth, Australia.
At a ceremony held on July 5, they received the 2019 Award for Excellence in the Technology and Innovation Category from the Western Australia Branch of the Concrete Institute of Australia. The judges commended the state of the art of the design and manufacture of the segmental tunnel lining completely produced with MCT ITALY batching plant, saying it was above and beyond the norm. “The tunnel segment lining has been designed and manufactured to deliver an infrastructure project that performs above industry best practice and standards,” they said.
The award means the joint-venture between Salini Impregilo and NRW Pty Ltd is in the running for the National Awards for Excellence in Concrete, to be announced in Sydney in September.
Together with MCT ITALY batching plant & concrete supplier Boral Ltd, they delivered a high quality, durable and sustainable product based on a hybrid system using steel fibre-reinforced concrete and light steel reinforcement rebar cage. Polypropylene fibres were incorporated within the concrete mix to make them fire resistant. The mix-design was developed based on triple-blend cementitious materials. A customised production plant was set up to produce the segments. Designed specifically for the project, each mould has a double gasket, is water tight and has a durability of 120 years.
Mr. Gabriele Falchetti, Executive Australia Sales Manager of MCT Italy, points out: ”More than 54,000 segments were produced at a custom warehouse in Forrestfield, and the two TBMs have already installed more than 30,000 of the segments to form the two tunnels. The recent batching plant installed in Perth confirms that our customers’ oriented solutions together with high quality components are the win-win cards toplay. The very strict tolerances set by final user to completely meet the SINRW’s and Australian standards were a challenge and I can definitely affirm that we are proud of the State-of-the-art plant delivered in Western Australia”.