Byron Bay Bus Interchange Canopy Steelwork - Fabrication of all Steelwork for Project
Overview of Project
The new Interchange at Byron Bay is part of the Transport Access Program (TAP). The new Interchange is constructed at a location along Butler Street, adjacent to the rail corridor. The interchange involves constructing a covered canopy area to accommodate up to three buses/coaches at a time, public amenities and kiss and ride facilities. Key elements of the new Interchange include:
- 3 Dedicated Coach/Bus Bays,
- 1 Additional bay for Coach/Bus and Mini/Shuttle Bus Services,
- Kiss and ride, taxi and accessible parking space,
- Provision of allocated seating space for wheelchair users,
- Provide accessible passenger information, signage and wayfinding for bus service customers,
- New amenities building with Ambulant facilities and Family Accessible Toilet,
- Landscaping using existing local flora, including a Heritage sympathetic canopy design,
- Upgrades to the existing Heritage Water Tower, including stabilisation.
Scope of Works
Neumann Contractors were awarded the supply, manufacture and erection of the structural steelwork for Bus Canopy #1, #2 and the Amenities Block. Bus Canopy #1 also included the supply of perforated aluminium screen panels that portray the image of the old steam train that used to service Byron Bay. The steelwork consisted of approximately 80 tonnes of complex heavy steel box columns and rafters fabricated to TfNSW B201 Quality Specification B201- Steelwork for Bridges. The fabrication works required approximately 5,000 person-hours to fabricate the steelwork on a two-shift basis. Welding of the canopy columns included full-strength butt welds to the box sections complying with AS/NZS1554.1 with all welds ultrasonically tested. Steelwork accessible to the public, such as the columns, was protective coated in a three-coat anti-graffiti paint system by Neumann Contractors Paint Workshop.
Challenges
- The design of the canopy columns was such that the completed weldments were very rigid and did not allow any flexibility during erection; therefore, these structures were scanned using Trimble point cloud scanning technology to ensure that welded steelwork would not create any fitment issues during erection.
- The construction site was also a very compact site with a limited laydown area. Therefore, the utilization of flat rack transport allowed steelwork to be lifted directly from the flat racks to respective locations within the structure.
Outcome
- The project was completed on time as scheduled. A notable achievement was that the erection of the structure identified the columns and rafters to be a high-quality risk, fitted as planned without modification.