About The Project
The Darlington bridge upgrade is a part of the North-South Corridor program. It was initiated to improve the traffic flow and reduce congestion between Adelaide’s southern suburbs and the city. Temporary steelwork was required to support bridge construction during installation.
This temporary structural steel supported nearly 12,000 tonnes of steel and concrete during installation onto permanent piers and abutments. The project required value engineering and close collaboration between Gateway South, Robert Bird Group, and the structural steel engineering team.
Our Solution
During the main contractor tender phase, Bowhill Engineering helped our client, Gateway South (Fulton Hogan/Laing O’Rourke JV), with some critical constructability feasibility checks. This process was done well before the award of the contract to Gateway and well before any actual scope of work was negotiated with Bowhill Engineering. This process uncovered some important budgeting information to give our client certainty with their bid to the project client (DPTI).
Early engagement is something that Bowhill Engineering invites on projects where there are opportunities to find better ways to improve the scope. This service is offered without any expectation, a reliance only on openness, innovativeness, honesty, and helpfulness shines through and this alone often sees us being chosen to represent our trade during the actual project.
During the project, Gateway asked us to provide additional scope by way of the temporary steelwork that supported 12,000t of steel and concrete prior to its installation onto the permanent piers and abutments. Upon inspection, it was found that the initial design had some inefficient features, and the client’s budget was looking under serious threat.
With some quick and innovative thinking between the client, their engineer, and Bowhill Engineering staff, the cost to actually complete the temporary steelwork was reduced by some $400,000, thus saving the client’s budget and making the ambitious timeline to supply possible. Credit must be given to the engineer James Deane-Butcher from Robert Bird Group for the cooperative and flexible nature he had in responding to our repeated requests for tweaking the design to achieve significant efficiencies while still maintaining structural integrity.
About Bowhill Engineering
Bowhill Engineering delivers heavy and complex structural steel fabrication for infrastructure projects across Australia. Our expertise in value engineering, metal fabrication and collaborative project delivery sets us apart in the industry.
- End-to-end capability – Design optimisation, fabrication, surface treatment, and installation under one roof
- Advanced manufacturing technology – Robotic welding systems, CNC machining, and automated fabrication equipment
- Heavy lift capacity – Fabrication of components from 5 tonnes to 140 tonnes with overhead cranes up to 100 tonnes
- Quality certifications – AS5131 CC3 structural steel fabrication, ISO9001, AS4801, ISO14001, Weld Australia AS3834.2
- Major projects – Torrens to Darlington (6,600 tonnes), Inland Rail bridges, Oaklands Railway Station, and bridge infrastructure
- Regional strength, national reach – Based in South Australia, delivering to Victoria, NSW, NT, and across Australia
- Collaborative partnerships – Working with major contractors including Fulton Hogan, Laing O’Rourke, McConnell Dowell, and engineering firms
- Strong safety culture – Industry-leading safety record and environmental compliance on all projects
Together we thrive – investing in our people, technology, and regional communities to deliver structural steel solutions that matter.
Other Projects & Solutions
Inland Rail Bridge Short Street – Fabrication of 70-tonne high-strength steel bridge girders for Australia’s largest freight rail infrastructure project
Light River Bridge Replacement – Heavy bridge fabrication and installation for regional infrastructure upgrade
Oaklands Railway Station – 200 tonnes of complex architectural steelwork, canopy structures, and pedestrian bridge for public transport infrastructure
