Utility Locating & Mapping
ECU Yagan Square
PROJECT: Edith Cowan University City Campus Project | Perth WA
CLIENT: Edith Cowan University
THE SITE
Edith Cowan University (ECU) is developing Perth’s first comprehensive city campus. The $695 million Creative Industries, Business and Technology Campus will be located at Yagan Square, in the centre of Perth.
The world-class campus is the centrepiece of a Perth City Deal, designed to bring the energy and vibrancy of more than 9,000 students and staff to the heart of Perth’s Central Business District (CBD) by 2025.
THE CHALLENGE
In order to complete pre-planning works, ECU required accurate and up to date underground service information within Yagan Square and its surrounds.
The 3ha site contains a multitude of subsurface services including communications, power, water, gas, drainage and traffic signals. MNG Locate were faced with the task of accurately locating these assets in an efficient and safe manner, without causing major disruptions to public areas and busy road networks.
Major roads border the site and experience extremely high traffic flows throughout the day. Keeping traffic congestion to a minimum and maintaining road safety was of the utmost importance throughout the duration of the project.
THE SOLUTION
To identify and efficiently locate the highly congested services throughout the site, MNG Locate liaised with relevant service providers to obtain pertinent information and gain access to locked asset pits and cabinets to positively identify individual assets.
This enabled MNG Locate to methodically locate the conductive services such as power and communications with the use of Electromagnetic Induction (EMI) tools. Once the traceable services had been eliminated from the scope, MNG Locate could more readily identify the non-conductive services with the use of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) equipment.
Where possible, road works were conducted during night shift hours under traffic management. This significantly reduced the amount of disruption to traffic. To ensure the safety of pedestrians in the area, hard barricading and warning signs were employed.
MNG Locate ensured regular communication with local businesses was maintained in regards to scheduled works, to minimise any adverse effects on trade.
THE OUTCOME
MNG Locate were able to complete the project discreetly with no permanent marks made to pathways or roads, thus minimising any visual impact to the site.
The heavily congested underground services were located both safely and efficiently, in an unobtrusive manner, within AS5488 standards.
The comprehensive service network was located in a three-dimensional digital format, allowing for the accurate design of future services and infrastructure.
This complete dataset will provide the client with the ability to accurately detect assets, ensuring the avoidance of asset strike or damage throughout construction.
