Underground Overachievers

Laing O’Rourke, one of six shortlisted in the Specialist Tunnelling Project of the Year category, was nominated for Contract 901 Admiralty Station Expansion Project in Hong Kong for client MTR Corporation.

The project, being delivered with joint venture partners Kier and Kaden, is one of MTR’s most complex and challenging to date and will expand the transport hub at Admiralty – under the heart of Hong Kong’s Central district – for the new South Island Line.

When confirming the winner, the judges said the project was “…clearly a challenging endeavour that has been driven using innovation, pragmatism and clinical management of temporary conditions, and permanent temporary works. The work was completed from restricted surface sites with sensitive stakeholders and neighbours.”

The Specialist Tunnelling Project of the Year was judged against a number of key criteria including the quality of design and execution and any innovative solutions brought to the project.

Project Director Viv Jones said the award was well deserved.

"Despite working in one of the world’s most challenging delivery environments, this phase of the project was delivered successfully,” Mr Jones said.

“This project saw hard rock excavation work carried out beneath a live railway line with trains running through the tunnel directly above, sometimes one every 45 seconds, without any interruption to the MTR service.

“This award is recognition of Laing O’Rourke’s industry-leading capabilities and highlights our leadership in structural and geotechnical engineering, supported by our digital engineering capability.”