Leading projects firm Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) was delighted to hear that the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne was one of the winners in this year’s ACE Engineering Excellence Awards.
At the awards event on 23 May, the West Gate Bridge Strengthening project, submitted by our project partner Flint & Neil Limited, was successful in the Infrastructure category for Small Firms.
The awards recognise excellence in engineering and showcase the finest achievements of consultancy and engineering firms and the innovation that makes the industry crucial to local, national and global economies.
West Gate Bridge is one of Australia’s longest and busiest bridges and a classic example of 1970s concrete infrastructure. Originally built to take 40,000 vehicles a day, it now carries 160,000 freight and commuter vehicles and forms a key transport link from the city to Melbourne’s west district.
SKM was engaged as part of the West Gate Bridge Strengthening Alliance, working alongside Flint & Neil Limited, to strengthen the bridge and upgrade it with the addition of two new traffic lanes to five lanes each way.
SKM had responsibility to design the complex strengthening of the eastern and western concrete approach viaducts (at 870 metres and 670 metres long respectively) using carbon fibre composite materials. The original design required more than 100 km of high strength carbon fibre plates and more than 10,000 m2 of carbon fibre composites, making it by far the largest carbon composite strengthening project in the world.
SKM would like to congratulate our design partners within the alliance for their ongoing work that has contributed to this and other nationally recognised awards for this project.
About Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM)
Sinclair Knight Merz is a leading projects firm, with global capability in strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery. It operates in three regions: Asia Pacific, the Americas and EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa), deploying some 7,000 people from more than 40 offices while serving the Buildings and Infrastructure, Mining and Metals, Power and Energy, and Water and Environment sectors.
