Best Project, Rail/Transit: Sydney Metro — Crows Nest Station

Elevating a station down under

Sydney Metro – Crows Nest Station

Sydney, Australia

Best Project, Rail/Transit

Submitted by SJ Group/SMEC

Owner: Sydney Metro

Lead Design Firm: SMEC Australia

Contractor: A W Edwards

MEP Engineer: NDY (a Tetra Tech Co.)

Architect: Woods Bagot

Consultants: Robert Bird Group; Buro North; Surface Design; Oculus

Working within a constrained urban environment, crews built a durable, context-sensitive underground rail station using prefabricated concrete elements and applying long-span bridge engineering principles to create up to 25 meters of spacing between columns, improving passenger circulation. The concourse maximizes accessibility, with five lifts, nine escalators and step-free paths.

The six-level structure consists of about 1,000 beams, each 200 m long, 25 m wide, 30 m deep and weighing 120 tons, says Sav Dell’Aquila, principal project manager with SMEC. They were transported at night from the yard to the site, where a crane lifted them off the trucks and set them in position.

The blast-resistant station, built to last 120 years, reflects the village’s character through brickwork and steel accents that match local streetscapes. Since crews had no room for staging or material storage, the team worked closely with the community to remove on-street parking and close footpaths at certain hours.

With a focus on customer-centered design, the team invited residents to do virtual-reality walkthroughs of the proposed station, says Dell’Aquila. “We took the feedback, worked with the architects and modelers …to incorporate [the suggestions].”

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