The $US224 million Beauty World Station and Tunnel project includes the design and construction of the Beauty World Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) underground station, as well as station entrances, subway links, architectural finishes and external landscaping. It also includes the development of two underground 1.1 km rail tunnels, two cross passages, and 135 m of cut and cover tunnels.

The station, located at Upper Bukit Timah Road near Jurong Kechil, forms part of the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore’s strategic network expansion of the underground metro system. It will also double as a Civil Defence shelter.

McConnell Dowell South East Asia was awarded the contract for the scope of works in March 2009. It is the company’s first major MRT contract with the Singapore LTA.

In June, assembly of the two 700 tonne tunnel boring machines (TBMs) that will create the rail tunnels commenced.

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The TBMs were manufactured and fully assembled in the Herrenknecht workshops in China for factory acceptance testing. They were then broken down for transport and shipped to Singapore for reassembly on site.

On arrival on site, the two 6 m diameter TBMs were lowered piece by piece into the 30 m deep launching shaft and then assembled below ground.

The project was recognised in July at the LTA’s Annual Safety Award Convention, where McConnell Dowell took out the top prize for their work on the project.

The design and construction contract for the project, DTL2-C916, received the ‘LTA Contractors Challenge Shield’ ASAC Award 2011.

The DTL2-C916 project team has come from diverse backgrounds with a wide range of underground, engineering and tunnelling experience.

McConnell Dowell also received a Safety and Health Award Recognition for Projects from the Workplace Safety and Health Council of Singapore for performance safety.

The award recognises projects or worksites with excellent safety and health performance and workplace safety and health management systems.

Back on site at the Beauty World Station and Tunnel project, construction is continuing and works are scheduled for completion in July 2015.