ACCIONA has won the 'Technology and Innovation Award' at the 2024 Queensland Major Contractors Association’s (QMCA) ‘Innovation and Excellence Awards’, for the delivery of the Brisbane City Council’s Adelaide Street tunnel. 

The tunnel is a critical part of the Brisbane Metro project, creating a dedicated connection to the existing busway network, and demonstrates ACCIONA’s commitment to delivering sustainable infrastructure. 

Instead of closing Adelaide Street for three years with a traditional cut-and-cover method, ACCIONA, together with our design partner ARUP, delivered an Australian-first mined tunnelling solution beneath Brisbane's CBD city streets

Chief Executive Officer at the QMCA, Andrew Chapman, presented the award at the QMCA Annual Awards Luncheon. 

“Our industry does amazing things and provides excellent technical solutions, environmental solutions, and community solutions,” Mr Chapman said.

“We have a fantastic industry in Queensland, and we need to look at how we improve our culture to deliver things more productively using technology and innovation.” He said.

Despite challenging soft soil conditions and extremely shallow cover of just 3.5 metres, this innovative, mined solution maintained settlement below 30 millimetres.

This approach protected Brisbane City Hall and other heritage structures, preserved the street's characteristic trees, and allowed 50+ bus services to continue operating.