Spark North East Link Tunnels D&C

We’re one big team at Spark, but it’s been a case of site against site in the inaugural Spark Soccer Championship.   Eight teams are playing in the 12-week tournament.   One of our mantras is ‘Succeed together,’ and we wish each team the best as they battle it out over the coming weeks.

Fantastic night at the NAWIC VICTORIA awards for excellence – celebrating the achievements of women working in the construction industry.  Congratulations to Spark Sustainability Coordinator Mia Deans who received a commendation for the Young Achiever Award. Mia exemplifies our values and continues to challenge industry standards to create a more sustainable future, leaving a lasting legacy. A special mention to all of our nominees – Ekaterini Karabatos, Jagoda Grigorean, Aqilah Amran, Serina Yu, Natalie MacGregor, Coby Weetra, Eunice Quah, Connie Gouskos, Lucy Whalen, Navena Segar, Mark Harrington and Ben Scott. Their contributions have had a strong impact on Spark and the broader industry - paving the way for future women leaders.

It’s Indigenous Business Month, and we’re proud of the important relationships we’re forging with local Aboriginal businesses as we build the North East Link tunnels.   One of them is A2B Personnel, an apprenticeships, recruitment and labour hire company creating opportunities that are helping change lives.   We’re proud to work with incredible Aboriginal businesses and look forward to providing more opportunities as the Project progresses.

Works are powering ahead on the Yarra Link Green Bridge!   Once complete, the two-hectare bridge over Bulleen Road will link Koonung Creek Trail to Bulleen Park for the first time.    The bridge will be planted with indigenous trees, grasses and shrubs. Pockets of open space will provide a bike and walking trail, fitness station and places to stop, rest and enjoy views of the Yarra River.

We’ve hit yet another important milestone, with our second TBM now on its way digging the North East Link tunnels.   TBM Gillian is excavating the southbound tunnel and will progress around 10 metres a day on average, travelling up to 45 metres below ground.   Gillian is named after Dr Gillian Opie, who founded Australia’s first breast milk bank at Mercy Health Australia more than 10 years ago, providing sick and premature babies in neonatal intensive care units with safe, screened and pasteurised milk.   The tunnels are being built using 100% renewable electricity provided by Yurringa Energy, and are being lined by nearly 44,000 concrete segments made locally in Benalla at LS Precast.

Spark’s work has been recognised on the international stage. Our engineering design team in conjunction with WSP took out the Subsurface Modelling and Analysis category at the Bentley Going Digital awards in Vancouver, Canada. Spark and WSP worked together on the best way to use digital tools to model and communicate the project’s complex geological site conditions and risks. Using Leapfrog, PLAXIS and ProjectWise, their connected digital platform saved 1500 hours in collaborative modelling, which in turn optimised risk management and design compliance that generated huge cost savings. Our Lead Geotechnical Manager James Martin is pictured here accepting the award on behalf of Spark. Well done to the team! 

Fantastic turnout at our Spark Family Day at the Veneto Club last weekend.   The day provided an opportunity for our team and project partners to come together and celebrate everything we have achieved so far.   The kids had a blast with face painting, bubble art, colouring, and even pony rides! Families also got the chance to hop on bus tours to visit our work sites and see where their loved ones work and what we’re building together.

Tunneling is underway across our Manningham and Trinity work sites! We are using the Sequential Excavation Method (SEM) between the two sites, with five roadheaders chipping away at the rock layer deep underground. Each roadheader is over 22 meters long and weighs around 120 tonnes.

Meet Alexandra SOM, Project Engineer on the SEM mainline tunnels. Alex not only excels in the field but also channels her strength through aerial fitness. Whether she's managing complex construction projects or mastering aerial silks, Alex exemplifies dedication and resilience. We're proud to have strong, inspiring women leading the way at Spark.

What a month and a half it has been for our Project! TBM1 has started its journey and TBM2 is almost ready to launch at Watsonia, while in the south, SEM tunnelling is well and truly underway. Last week we have also reached an important milestone in Benalla. The dedicated team at LS Precast produced tunnel segment number 21,460, which means we are at the 50% mark of the almost 43,000 segments that we need to build our tunnels. I visited Benalla to thank the team on behalf of the Project. They are a great group of people doing wonderful work every day. Spark North East Link Tunnels D&C