SPARK North East Link project - Photography
We have partnered with the team at Spark; the consortium awarded the contract to build 6.5 km of tunnels for the North East Link project. For the past 2 years we’ve had the privilege of heading underground capturing their tunnelling progress and we’ve become a little obsessed with the imagery we produce.
Underground, there’s a different style of lighting at play and with that, an inspiring array of construction details both big and small for our photographers to capture. The images look like something out of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey or Ridley Scott’s Alien; strangely lit underground spaces, a bizarre sense of scale, intricate machinery and brightly coloured wires and pipes, leading to spaces you can’t see. It’s so cool to see these tunnels develop as the project takes shape.
What’s unique about the Spark tunnels is the specialisation required for access. For most active construction sites our team is required to be inducted for access and to wear full PPE, but for Spark, particular addons are necessary. Anyone with a beard has to be clean shaven before heading down into the tunnels so that masks (that have their own induction) can be perfectly fitted. As well as the usual obligatory long sleeves, long pants, hard hat, safety glasses and hi-vis shirts or vests we also need to wear good ol gumboots in some locations as well. All of these efforts are to ensure our team is healthy and safe to access these highly specialised areas.
The Spark consortium is made up of local and international firms WeBuild, CPB Contractors, GS Engineering and China Construction Oceania.
Images above show the same location a number of months apart deep underground on the North East Link project