Rating Highlights

People and Place

The project achieved a level 3 score of its Hea-1 design submission. In response to three raised priority issue; community connectiveness, skills development and social procurement. Several measures have been incorporated into the design phase of the project. Some of which include:

• Travelling in the Shoes of Others Workshop, an immersive experience to discover what it is like for a person living with a disability to travel on public transport in Melbourne
• LXRP EPIC cadetship program. The program targets engineers from refugee or asylum seeker backgrounds, removing barriers to paid employment in Australia and opening up a talent pipeline for entry-level site engineers.
• Targeting 10% of all procurement at SEPA to be social procurement (4% indigenous businesses).

Energy and carbon

The project achieved a level 3 score of 14 points for Ene-1. Overall, the projects lifecycle emissions were reduced by 35%. Emission reductions initiatives included:

• Purchasing of Greenpower
• Use of biodiesel over diesel for construction activities
• Design optimisations to reduce energy, water and materials

Water

The project achieved a level 3 score for Wat-1. A 25% reduction in water use was modelled for this project. Several water reduction initiatives were implemented in the design phase. Design changes from the base case allowed for considerable reductions in water use associated with compactions works. Adopting a 3.3% ruling gradient for vertical rail alignment as opposed to the base case 2.0% grade resulted in significant reduction in materials and works and impact on third party services crossing the corridor

Emesh

Emesh is a product made by ENVIROMESH manufactured from 100% recycled plastic fibres. It replaces the requirement for steel reinforcement in non-structural concrete applications. Emesh is manufactured from 100% recycled polypropylene plastic (PP), a Type 5 plastic is the second most widely used plastic in the world. PP has the lowest recycling rate that is estimated at below 1%. Benefits (Stated by Emesh) include:

• Provides good impact, fatigue and shrinkage control in all grades of concrete
• Superior crack management
• Increases the lifespan of concrete
• Quicker to install than steel mesh

Reconophalt

Reconophalt is Australia’s first asphalt product that can contains high recycled content from materials such as soft plastics, toner, glass and reclaimed road material. Each tonne of Reconophalt laid includes the following (Inn-3b, p.1):

• 800 plastic bag and packaging equivalents
• 252 glass bottle equivalents
• Toner from 18 used printer cartridges
• Overall, 35% total recycled material content, and
• A 60% improvement in fatigue for longer life pavements and superior deformation resistance for withstanding heavy vehicular traffic

MatX

MatX is an innovative material reuse internet platform technology. It is engineered specifically to facilitate the reuse and repurposing of materials from construction sites headed for landfill. The technology also enables the data of this circular economy process to be better captured, and able to be quantifiably measured.