Work has temporarily stopped on the future M6 motorway project following the opening of a sinkhole underneath an industrial building at Rockdale, which saw the structure teeter on the brink of collapse last Friday.
The hole opened up in the early hours of Friday morning, with workers quickly evacuating after dirt began to seep into one of the twin tunnel’s roofs. An exclusion zone was quickly set up around the building.
The building, an industrial complex, was evacuated. Approximately ten people were inside, none of which were within the part of the building that sat above the hole. It is not yet determined what caused the hole, but the Australian Workers Union (AWU) has indicated that tunnelling work often is the cause of sinkholes, referencing the delays on the Snowy 2.0.
“There was nothing leading up to (the hole’s forming) that would have suggested there were any issues,” says M6 Project Director Terry Sleiman.
“There are a lot of factors, obviously, when we’re tunnelling. There’s water, varying geology and the like, so that’ll all be borne out in the investigation.”
AWU Site Organiser Steve Ackerman says work will not resume until it is absolutely safe to do so.
“I want an absolute guarantee that under the best engineering and geotechnical advice that it will be safe, because we do not want our members put at risk. Their safety doesn’t come behind productivity.”
Concrete has already been poured at the site to strengthen the industrial building’s foundations. The cleanup will be undertaken by M6 contractors. The motorway remains on schedule for completion in 2025.
Image: NSW Fire & Rescue.
