Project Overview
McMahon Services has successfully secured the contract for the preparation of land for the construction of the Howard Springs Accommodation Village in the Northern Territory.
Our Civil division prepared the extensive site managed by JKC Australia LNG Pty Ltd (JKC). The Howard Springs Accommodation Village houses 3,500 workers building the gas processing facilities at Blaydin Point.
Engaged by Laing O’Rourke, McMahon Services were awarded three separate contracts:
- Major civil works including; site clearing, bulk and detailed earthworks, rock excavation, final trimming, internal road works, pavement preparation, external road and pavement works, along with line marking and signage
- External road works to widen the site entrance off Howard Springs Road
- Construction of 3km internal ring road and seven individual car parks including; boxing out to subgrade, laying base course and sub-base in specified thickness, kerb preparation and concrete, and final subsurface pavement
To tackle the major civil works, totalling 250,000m3 of cut including bulk earthworks and drainage systems, McMahon Services adopted innovative surveying techniques.
McMahon Services equipped four graders and a land plane with UTS GPS machine control system in order to perform a stakeless set-out for the bulk earthworks, detailed excavation and final trimming.
A continuous operating reference station located at the site compound and two high precision total stations distributed corrections for machines, along with two GPS rovers assigned for guiding excavators in order to excavate stormwater drains.
Early in the project, the team encountered a large amount of soft rock, which then hardened upon exposure. McMahon Services quickly mobilised three dozers, three 30 tonne excavators with rock breakers and ripper attachments, a 20 tonne excavator and 13 tonne excavator from Adelaide, which worked together to excavate the rock and allow for reinstatement of select clean fill.
Contamination was also discovered across the site, including asbestos and metal waste. Utilisng our specialised in-house labour force all contaminated material was appropriately treated and removed from site in accordance with legislative requirements.
The seven month project demonstrated McMahon Services’ strong civil works capability, with teams from Darwin and Adelaide working together to deliver one of our most complex civil projects to date.
