Sydney Metro – Crows Nest Station
Sydney, Australia
Best project, Rail/Transit
Presented by SJ/SMEC group
Owner: Sydney Metro
Main design company: SMEC Australia
Contractor: AW Edwards
MEP Engineer: NDY (and Tetra Tech Co.)
Architect: Woods Bagot
Consultants: Robert Bird Group; North Bureau; Surface design; Oculus
Working in a constrained urban environment, the teams built a durable and context-sensitive underground railway station using precast concrete elements and applying long-span bridge engineering principles to create up to 25 meters of space between columns, improving passenger circulation. The lobby maximizes accessibility, with five elevators, nine escalators and step-free walkways.
The six-level structure consists of around 1,000 beams, each 200m long, 25m wide, 30m deep and weighing 120 tonnes, says Sav Dell’Aquila, SMEC’s principal project manager. They were transported at night from the yard to the site, where a crane lifted them off the trucks and into position.
Built to last 120 years, the blast-resistant station reflects the town’s character through brick and steel accents that match the local landscape. Because crews didn’t have space for staging or material storage, the team worked closely with the community to eliminate street parking and close trails at certain times.
With a focus on customer-centric design, the team invited residents to take virtual reality tours of the proposed station, Dell’Aquila says. “We took the feedback, we worked with the architects and the modelers … to incorporate it [the suggestions].”
