The Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP), established by the Victorian Government, oversees the largest rail infrastructure project in the state's history. The project aims to remove 75 level crossings across metropolitan Melbourne by 2025, in addition to upgrading or constructing more than 27 train stations and the associated rail improvements.
The AUD$15 billion project reduces congestion whilst increasing safety and efficiency of both the road and rail network across Melbourne.
GHD and its joint venture partner Aecom, are the Technical Advisors for LXRP delivering technical investigations, consultation, planning and design for level crossing sites across the city.
The Challenge
Against a backdrop of escalating cost pressures, increased resource demands and complex coordination of work, the LXRP was looking to challenge the construction industry using digital technologies and a human-centric approach to project delivery. There was however, no clear vision for the utilisation of digital tools nor the organisational design needed to harness the teams and the data.
A key challenge the project faces is capturing the right information, formatted in an insightful and actionable way, and presenting it to the right people at the right time. This is compounded by multiple, remote sites, which can only be occupied by the project teams temporarily, for the duration of works, in an environment where connectivity for sending and receiving data is often challenging.
A project of this size requires a scalable platform that demonstrates the value of digital disruption to its 4000-strong delivery partners and the wider construction industry.
The Solution
Members from the GHD Digital team are helping the client respond to these challenges, by supporting the LXRP project with ‘The Hive’ and ‘The Connected Site’. This a program of works to deploy and test digital technologies that improve the transparency and awareness of real-time information at project construction sites.
To do this effectively, team members from GHD Digital supported an integrated digital solution through:
- Digital strategy and transformation: developed LXRP’s digital transformation plan with a clear vision of delivering the connected, digitally enabled site of the future.
- Smart technology solutions: crafted a technical solution, combining several existing and emerging technologies, by incorporating global technology alliances.
- Data and analytics: created a series of dashboards and data analytics based on requirements which focused on real-time value.
- Cybersecurity and digital risk management: assisted in the creation of a risk management framework to manage the dialogue between site workers and government.
- Digital innovation: built the digital incubator to constantly challenge, re-evaluate and reimagine The Connected Site platform.
All these factors produced vast amounts of data which then needed to be sorted and interpreted to draw meaningful implications. To address the plethora of data, the GHD Digital team members created five ‘Instant Intelligent Insights’ that alter workflows in safety, environmental monitoring, site asset management, site logistics and program benchmarking.
The Benefits
A variety of benefits are being explored and exhibited through The Hive, these include:
- Site construction efficiencies targeting substantial savings in equipment usage
- Developing a learning organisation through a data driven and enterprise wide innovation program
- Providing a common data set across the project for all participants to use on both fixed and mobile devices
- Delivering data analytics to inform leading practice activities and share information and insights across the project sites
- Tailored project information accessible to project participants on mobile devices
- Partnerships and associations with Tier 1 technology vendors to pilot opportunities for step out applications
The project revolutionises the industry’s approach to major infrastructure construction. The Hive and The Connected Site, is an Australian first digital incubator on a major construction program.