The heritage listed Australian Technology Park, located in the inner-city suburb of Eveleigh, is undergoing an impressive transformation, bringing new life to a significant piece of Sydney’s built history.

JN provided Structural Engineering design for an underground sloping tunnel to house a travelator within the 120 year old Locomotive Workshop. With this improvement, patrons can utilise parking facilities within the Commonwealth Bank building, proceed along the travelator and arrive within the new retail and food precinct without traversing multiple levels and roads, vastly improving their overall experience.

While simple in theory, the sloped tunnel required rigorous design for a shoring system, steel bridge and concrete tunnel structure to support the new travelator. These elements were particularly vital during the excavation and construction period to protect not only the delicate buildings in question, but also the existing ancillary heritage structures. The site was stabilised by an underpinning permanent jack system to retain foundations of the unstable site. Maintaining access during construction was also a key consideration, with the team electing to utilise a steel bridge and staging, ensuring at least one side of the road was open for use at all times.

The travelator now sits seamlessly within the revitalised precinct and is used daily by workers within the commercial business district and guests to the retail and food precinct.

The JN team worked with Mainland Civil and Mirvac on this project and look forward to future collaborative opportunities.