Boral opens precast hub for Sydney tunnel

Boral has officially opened a precast manufacturing facility on its historic Emu Plains site in western Sydney, supporting delivery of the city’s Western Harbour Tunnel project. The move continues the site’s 140-year tradition of supplying materials to major infrastructure schemes.

The company has leased 18 hectares of the former quarry to Acciona, which is delivering the project, to house the new precast yard alongside a dedicated wet mix concrete batching plant operated by Boral. Around 90,000m³ of concrete will be supplied to produce more than 13,000 tunnel segments and 1,400 culverts for the new under-harbour connection between Birchgrove and Waverton.

“This is proof of our ability to recycle assets,” said Boral CEO Vik Bansal. “During its life as a quarry, Emu Plains supported projects including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Warragamba Dam and Olympic Park. This next chapter reinforces our contribution to the region’s growth.”

Commissioned earlier this year, the wet mix plant — manufactured in Queensland and transported to site — has a production capacity of 120m³ per hour. Raw materials are supplied from Boral’s Peppertree and Dunmore quarries, with cement sourced from its Berrima plant.

“A wet mix plant allows the ingredients to be blended on site and placed directly into the precast moulds,” explained Mark Campbell, Boral’s executive general manager for concrete and quarries in New South Wales.

The Emu Plains site continues to operate as a recycling facility alongside the new tunnel segment operation. It handles virgin excavated natural materials (VENM) and reprocesses stored quarry stock to produce aggregates, sands and engineered fill products for distribution across the Sydney market.