Airport Link Audit

The Project

The Airport Link is a tunnelled, motorway grade toll road in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The construction of the motorway commenced in 2008 and was opened to the public in July 2012. The Airport Link and busway project comprised 15 kilometres of tunnelling including the road (6.7 km of twin tunnels), busway tunnels and connecting ramps, as well as 25 bridges and over 7 kilometres of new road. The Airport Link comprises Australia's longest road tunnel.

The road and tunnel reserve and associated infrastructure traversed thorough predominantly urbanised land, a significant proportion of which was affected by soil and/or groundwater contamination. Several portions of land comprised former landfills (council-owned) and service stations (resumed). Michael Seignior was appointed as the environmental auditor (Third Party Reviewer), under the approval of the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (DEHP), for the multiple portions of land segments along or immediately adjacent to the project corridor.

The role of auditor involved significant liaison with representatives of the project builder and DEHP, obtaining an understanding of broad-scale geological and hydrogeological conditions, conducting multiple site inspections, the review and subsequent approval multiple construction plans, investigation work plans, assessment and validation reports and risks assessments, and the provision of audit closure reports.

Outcomes

The construction project was completed and commissioned without any significant delays or hold-ups due to contaminated land and groundwater issues. All required environmental approvals were obtained.

Benefits to Client

Michael was able to dedicate a significant proportion of his professional time to serving the needs of this project and to be responsive to client needs due to the time-critical nature of many facets of the project. Reviews and inspections were completed in a timely manner and a high level of communication was maintained with key stakeholders to ensure that delays to contamination management issues were minimised and effectively addressed. Key benefits were therefore smooth and timely delivery of audit services that avoided project delays.