Discussion Paper on Implementation of an Overarching Authority to Improve Sustainability in Transport Mega-Projects

To facilitate the cost burden of mega-transport projects, elected governments have traditionally staged projects, contracting each stage as a new award. While this method spreads the cost loading over multiple federal and state budgets, it ultimately brings a higher total cost burden on the tax payer. The current limited or delayed knowledge sharing, particularly between overlapping road and rail projects results in significant unwarranted additional site investigation, while construction access is often duplicated as a risk-mitigation measure. This paper delves into considerations we as an industry can promote to improve sustainability in construction. As an industry, we could eliminate around 90% of intrusive site investigations in the major cities by simply having all data and models controlled by an overarching authority. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is gaining huge traction to express the surficial and underground architecture of our cities, but currently poorly reflects the outstanding 3D geological and geotechnical models that have been developed through mega-transport projects completed to date. Digital twins are in development for Melbourne, but not publicly available for Sydney at this time. Further, the present staged approach to mega-project development results in significant site investigation, design, and construction duplication to avoid subsequent stages having to take ownership of risk. By adopting an overarching authority, who sign-off on both design and construction, this risk issue would be mitigated, and significant costs and time delays avoided.