Fortescue has received two Progress Rail EMD SD70J‑BB battery-electric locomotives, described as the world’s largest, for deployment on its heavy-haul iron ore network in the Pilbara. The units are designed for 100 per cent battery operation, integrating regenerative braking on long downhill runs from mine to port to recharge onboard packs and cut diesel use. For rail and mine planners, the key question will be how these high-mass, high-axle-load locomotives perform on existing Pilbara track geometry, gradients and maintenance regimes.

Beijing’s April export controls on seven rare earth elements, followed by a now-suspended October expansion covering additional REEs, magnets and lithium battery materials, have forced Western buyers to reroute critical minerals via longer, chokepoint-heavy sea lanes such as the Red Sea and primary canals. Trading houses including BGN Group, Traxys and Gerald Group are acting as integrated maritime logistics platforms, combining shallow, infrastructure-poor African and Latin American load ports with highly automated deepwater hubs using mixed fleets of smaller bulk, multipurpose and VLGC-capable vessels. Global container lines like Maersk and Evergreen, which has ordered 14 LNG dual-fuel containerships for Asia–Europe, now directly influence lead times, freight costs and emissions for lithium chemicals, magnet alloys and battery intermediates moving to refineries and OEMs in Europe, North America and allied Asia.

M Resources has signed a binding MoU with Hazer Group to deploy Hazer’s methane pyrolysis technology, developed with KBR, at the Whyalla steelworks in South Australia if its planned acquisition of One Steel Manufacturing Pty Ltd proceeds. The process converts natural gas into hydrogen and solid carbon rather than CO₂, offering a potential low-emission reductant and fuel source for iron and steelmaking. For plant engineers, this signals possible future integration of hydrogen-ready furnaces and on-site carbon handling infrastructure at Whyalla.

Unprecedented UK demand for high-density data centres driven by AI workloads is straining grid capacity and forcing operators to balance multi‑megawatt power feeds with strict net‑zero commitments. Developers are turning to on‑site generation such as gas reciprocating engines and fuel cells, advanced liquid cooling to handle rack densities above typical 10–15kW, and battery or flywheel systems to smooth grid interaction. For civil and M&E designers, this means planning for heavier plant loads, larger cable routes and switchgear rooms, and more complex resilience and waste‑heat integration strategies.

Lovell is creating a dedicated Renew Central business to deliver housing refurbishment, planned works and retrofit services across the Midlands and East Anglia, building on more than 20 years of regional activity within Lovell Midlands. The unit will sit alongside the existing Renew North arm to give housing providers a focused offer on safety, compliance and decarbonisation-driven upgrades, including energy-efficiency retrofits. Long-serving Lovell manager Carl Yale, who joined as a trainee in 1998, becomes regional managing director from 1 January 2026.

Northvale Construction is delivering a £7m airspace extension to Trickett House in Sutton, adding two floors to the rear block and one to the front to increase capacity from 49 to 68 retirement flats, with handover of the rear block due in 2026 and overall completion by October 2027. The scheme creates 19 net-zero-carbon homes using air source heat pumps, solar PV, a green roof, SuDS and low-energy lighting, while most residents remain in situ. Works also include upgraded communal areas, additional parking, ambient access improvements and new EV charging points.

Final designs have been approved for the Isaac Resources Excellence Precinct in Moranbah, a $47 million hub to support coal, critical minerals and METS innovation in Queensland’s Bowen Basin. The precinct, led by the Resource Centre of Excellence and Isaac Regional Council, will include a 3000m² innovation centre, underground mining simulation facilities and training workshops targeting automation, decarbonisation and mine rehabilitation technologies. For engineers and METS suppliers, the project signals new testbed capacity close to large open-cut and underground coal operations.

Genus general manager, commercial, Eoin Gorman argues that de-risking mine electrification starts with integrated planning of power supply, distribution and fleet charging rather than bolt-on battery swaps. He points to remote Australian sites where 11–33kV overhead lines, containerised substations and high‑power DC fast chargers must be staged alongside pit expansions and new electric haul trucks to avoid stranded assets and grid constraints. For engineers, the message is to treat electrical infrastructure as a core part of mine design, with early load modelling and phased capital deployment.

Antofagasta CEO Iván Arriagada has been re-appointed chair of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) for a two-year term, succeeding Newmont chief Tom Palmer, who is retiring as CEO at year-end. Arriagada, who previously chaired ICMM from 2022–2024, helped establish the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management and backed the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) on common ESG benchmarks. His return signals continuity in ICMM’s 26-member CEO council as it executes its 2025+ strategy on tailings governance and responsible project development.

Deep-sea mining tests in the Clarion–Clipperton Zone at 4,280 metres depth, commissioned by Nauru Ocean Resources (a The Metals Company subsidiary), cut macrofaunal density by 37% and species richness by 32% along machine tracks over two years, based on disturbance of 3,000 tonnes of polymetallic nodules. European researchers from the Natural History Museum, University of Gothenburg and the National Oceanography Centre collected 4,350 sediment macrofaunal animals and identified 788 species, mainly polychaete worms, crustaceans and molluscs. The trial used machines only about half the size of planned commercial systems, raising concern that full-scale operations could cause larger, possibly irreversible, benthic impacts.

Sixteen projects across England, Wales and Scotland will share more than £13M from The Crown Estate’s Supply Chain Accelerator to develop UK offshore wind manufacturing, installation and operations capability. Funding is aimed at critical supply chain gaps such as large-diameter monopile and jacket fabrication, high-voltage export cable systems, and specialised installation and service vessels. Civil and geotechnical contractors should expect opportunities around deep-water foundations, port upgrades for heavy-lift components, and logistics hubs supporting Round 4 and Celtic Sea leasing areas.

Scottish Water has signed an advance market commitment to procure almost 20,000m³ of low carbon concrete over five years, equivalent to about 30% of its current annual concrete use. The Innovate UK and Carbon Limiting Technologies-led scheme, funded by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, aims to aggregate up to 500,000m³ of demand to de-risk commercialisation of novel low carbon mixes. With Scottish Water investing over £1bn a year in infrastructure, the commitment signals material changes to mix design specifications and supply-chain carbon baselines on upcoming projects.

K-Briq, a masonry unit made from nearly 100% recycled construction and demolition waste, is now sold direct to consumers via B&Q’s diy.com online marketplace. Developed by Heriot-Watt University spin-out Kenoteq, the brick has already been specified by architects for commercial projects and award-winning festival installations, and is now being adopted for domestic renovations and garden walls. Wider retail availability signals growing client pressure for low‑carbon, circular materials in small‑scale builds as well as large commercial schemes.

Net Zero Teesside’s £4bn gas-fired power and carbon capture project is expected to award a 10,000‑tonne, £30m structural steelwork package to a Chinese fabricator, prompting a procurement challenge from the British Constructional Steelwork Association. BCSA argues UK plants have immediate capacity to deliver the work, which it says would support about 600 fabrication jobs for a year and avoid roughly 4,000 tonnes of CO₂ from shipping ready-fabricated steel from China. The contract decision sits with Technip Energies, EPC partner with GE Vernova and Balfour Beatty.

Nuclear Waste Services is exploring an unmanned, highly automated design for the UK’s planned deep Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) for higher-activity radioactive waste, potentially removing routine human presence from underground vaults and access tunnels. Concepts under review include remote-operated emplacement systems, autonomous guided vehicles for waste packages, and fully automated ventilation, monitoring and backfilling operations. For geotechnical and civil designers, this points to layouts, shaft and drift geometries, and ground support that must accommodate robotic handling, long-term remote inspection and minimal maintenance access over many decades.

Perpetua Resources has signed an agreement with Idaho National Laboratory, operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, to host, commission and run a flexible, modular pilot plant to recover critical and defence-related minerals, including antimony, from Perpetua’s orebodies. The pilot is expected to test flowsheets for selective antimony recovery alongside other strategic elements, using containerised process modules that can be reconfigured for different ore types and chemistries. Outcomes will inform full‑scale processing design for the Stibnite Gold Project and potential US domestic supply chains for military‑grade antimony products.

Construction has begun on GTC’s community heat hub for Taylor Wimpey’s 762-home Swinnow Park estate in Wetherby, using a single large air source heat pump feeding individual heat interface units via underground flow-and-return pipework to eliminate gas boilers. The system, designed to meet the Future Homes Standard, claims 75–80% carbon reduction versus traditional gas and integrates a large thermal water storage tank providing around two hours’ storage in peak winter conditions. Smart control of the hub as a single grid exit point and off-peak charging of the thermal store aim to cut peak electrical demand and limit grid reinforcement.

A new $25,000 scholarship package is targeting Whitsundays school leavers to study science and environmental disciplines at James Cook University’s Townsville campus, building a local pipeline of skills for mining and resources projects in North Queensland. The funding is structured to support undergraduate study in areas such as environmental science, geology and related STEM fields that directly feed into mine planning, rehabilitation and water management roles. For operators in the Bowen and Galilee basins, this signals a stronger regional talent base for environmental approvals, closure planning and ESG reporting.

Mineral Resources has begun full operations at its Onslow Iron port facilities at the Port of Ashburton, using purpose-built transhippers to move ore from a 220,000t enclosed storage facility to deep-water capesize vessels offshore. The system is designed for low-dust handling, with covered conveyors and a fully enclosed shiploader feeding 20,000t transhippers that shuttle to a 25m-deep anchorage. For port, civil and materials engineers, the project showcases large-scale, low-footprint iron ore export using off‑shore loading rather than traditional long trestle wharves.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is assessing options for a new floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and a strategic geological gas storage facility to bolster UK gas resilience. An FSRU would provide ship-based LNG storage and regasification at an import terminal, while geological storage would likely use depleted gas fields or salt caverns for high-volume, seasonal buffering. The work signals potential demand for large-diameter offshore pipelines, high-pressure injection wells and long-term integrity management of underground gas containment.

Luton Airport’s expansion, including raising its passenger cap from 18M to 32M a year and adding a new terminal, can proceed after the High Court dismissed a legal challenge to the transport secretary’s development consent order. The scheme, promoted by Luton Rising, entails significant airfield, apron and landside works, plus upgrades to the M1–A1081 corridor and local rail/bus interchanges. Campaign group LADACAN is now considering an appeal, prolonging uncertainty for detailed phasing, surface access design and environmental mitigation commitments.

Scania and LKAB have deployed a new fully electric 8×4 heavy tipper with two steerable front axles into underground haulage at LKAB’s Malmberget iron ore mine in northern Sweden, the first truck of this configuration in Scania’s global fleet. The unit, nicknamed “Sleipner”, is being trialled in production conditions to handle heavy ore and waste movements on ramp and level haul routes traditionally served by diesel trucks. The collaboration is intended to validate battery-electric performance, charging logistics and driveline durability in deep, confined mining environments.

Modern quarry sites are being forced to overhaul operational management as rising diesel and lubricant prices, escalating maintenance on large haul fleets and crushers, and persistent labour shortages erode already tight margins. Operators are turning to tighter fuel burn monitoring on 50–100 t rigid dump trucks, predictive maintenance on primary jaw and cone crushers, and closer cycle-time analysis on loading–hauling circuits to cut idle time. Stricter blasting, dust and traffic-safety regulations are also driving more formalised traffic management plans and data-led risk assessments across benches, haul roads and processing areas.

Heidelberg Materials UK has awarded Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Worley an EPCM contract to deliver a carbon capture facility at the Padeswood cement works in north Wales, following completion of FEED and a final investment decision with the UK government in September. Using MHI’s Advanced KM CDR Process, the plant is designed to capture about 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year from the existing kiln line, with commissioning targeted for 2029. The project will enable industrial-scale production of evoZero carbon captured near-zero cement, directly affecting embodied carbon specifications for UK infrastructure and building projects.

Timber imports into the UK reached 7.01m m³ in January–September 2025, 2.1% below 2024, with Q3 volumes only 0.2% down year-on-year as contractors restocked after strong Q2 construction activity. Softwood volumes fell nearly 3% but values rose 9% on a 12% price increase, while imported MDF slumped 25%, offset by gains in hardwood, particleboard, OSB, hardwood and softwood plywood, and engineered wood, including Finnish LVL up about 14% and still 83% of the UK market. Supply shifted away from Sweden, Germany and Ireland towards Latvia and Finland, and NSD forecasts softwood imports down 3% in 2025 before a 3.7% rebound in 2026.

A new report on Australia’s battery supply chain positions graphite as a strategic material for lithium‑ion anodes, noting that graphite makes up most of the active material in current EV battery chemistries. The analysis points to Australia’s existing natural graphite resources and emerging synthetic graphite projects as a way to reduce reliance on Chinese processing capacity, which currently dominates anode production. For miners and processors, the report signals growing scrutiny of flake size distribution, impurity control and downstream spherical graphite and coating capacity as key value drivers.

New research on Australian expansive clays warns that more frequent intense rainfall and drought cycles are accelerating differential movement and cracking in lightweight buildings, pavements and transport corridors founded on shrink–swell soils. The work points to heave and settlement driven by deep moisture fluctuations, with particular concern for lightly loaded slabs, shallow footings and low-volume roads where historical climate data underestimates design suction changes. Engineers are urged to revisit site classification, footing depth, drainage and moisture barriers, and to integrate updated climate projections into geotechnical design for new and existing assets.

The US “One Big Beautiful Bill” allocates US$7.5 billion to critical minerals and is backed by a further US$1 billion in Department of Energy funding for lithium, nickel, rare earths, gallium and graphite, but the impact will hinge on directing money to mid‑chain extraction, refining and processing rather than simply expanding mining. Arizona holds 71% of US copper reserves, yet in 2024 the country consumed 52,000 tonnes of graphite while importing about 60,000 tonnes, with zero domestic production and 90% of rare earth refining controlled by China. Emerging projects such as Ucore’s rare earth facility in Louisiana, USA Rare Earth’s LCM metallisation and strip‑casting assets, and Idaho plants processing Sheep Creek ore show where funding tied to energy‑efficient refining, digital ore characterisation and circular recovery could materially de‑risk grid and storage supply chains.

OCP Green Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of OCP Group, has commissioned the first phase of its renewables programme, adding 202 MWp of solar capacity now fully operational across three Moroccan sites linked to its phosphate mining operations. The utility-scale PV plants are designed to feed mine and beneficiation loads, cutting grid dependence and exposure to fuel price volatility. For mine planners and process engineers, the new capacity enables higher electrification of pit equipment, conveyors and slurry pumping, and supports future integration of large-scale storage.

John Graham Construction has been appointed main contractor for the University of East London’s £45m New Academic Building in Stratford, the flagship element of a £170m Stratford Health Campus. The facility, scheduled to start on site in early 2026 and complete by summer 2027, will house medical and healthcare teaching and research subject to General Medical Council approval. Targeting BREEAM Outstanding, the design leans on cross-laminated timber, low‑carbon construction methods and circular design principles, signalling strong demand for high‑performance sustainable materials and detailing.

Changes to London’s planning system to prioritise office redevelopment could unlock £262bn of investment and an £84bn economic boost, with the London Property Alliance and Knight Frank warning of an 11 million sq ft office shortfall over the next five years in the central activities zone. Some 147 million sq ft – 56% of central stock – is “secondary” space likely to miss 2030 sustainability standards, while prime and Grade A vacancy is at 0.8% and 1.7% respectively and only 12 single floors above 40,000 sq ft remain. Developers cite rising construction, labour and finance costs plus expanding planning obligations as tipping many retrofit and rebuild schemes into non-viability.

BHP and Rio Tinto have begun large‑scale trials of Caterpillar 793 XE “Early Learner” battery‑electric haul trucks in Western Australia’s Pilbara iron ore operations, marking the first deployment of this class of BEV truck in the region. The trials will test truck performance on long, high‑temperature haul profiles typical of Pilbara pits, including payload, cycle times and battery endurance under >40°C ambient conditions. Outcomes will directly influence future pit design, power infrastructure sizing and trolley or static fast‑charging layouts for ultra‑class fleets.

XCMG Australia is pushing a net-zero strategy in mining fleets using battery-electric haul trucks and loaders engineered for high-duty cycles and harsh pit conditions. The company is pairing electric drivetrains with advanced thermal management and fast-charging systems sized to typical shift patterns, aiming to minimise downtime without major changes to existing haul road geometries. For mine planners and geotechnical teams, the shift implies rethinking power distribution corridors, substation locations and pavement design to handle heavier battery vehicles and different torque–traction behaviour on ramps.

London Gatwick has become the first airport globally to achieve PAS 2080:2023 certification for carbon management across its buildings and infrastructure assets. The BSI-verified standard requires quantified whole-life carbon baselines, option appraisal and reduction pathways for capital works, including terminals, piers, pavements and associated civil engineering. For designers and contractors working at Gatwick, future schemes will need to evidence embodied and operational carbon performance alongside cost, influencing material choices, construction methods and asset renewal strategies.

BHP and Rio Tinto have begun joint trials of two Caterpillar Early Learner 793 XE battery-electric haul trucks at BHP’s Jimblebar iron ore mine in the Pilbara, testing whether fully electric haulage can handle large-scale iron ore operations across 18 Rio Tinto mines and BHP’s Western Australia portfolio. The programme focuses on validating truck battery performance, high-capacity charging infrastructure and associated supply chains under Pilbara duty cycles. Results will determine whether the miners progress to broader trials or fleet integration as they target net zero operational emissions by 2050.

Boliden is accelerating deployment of “green fleets” across its European copper, nickel and zinc operations, building on its position as the continent’s largest copper and nickel producer. The miner is pushing mine electrification with battery-electric mobile equipment and trolley-assist haulage to cut diesel use and associated ventilation demand in deep underground workings. As a Miner Partner sponsor for International Mining’s Electric Mine events, Boliden is using field data from Scandinavian sites to refine charging strategies, power infrastructure design and fleet selection for cold-climate, high-latitude operations.

UK net zero building targets for 2030 and 2050 are at risk, with a House of Commons energy security and net zero committee report warning of a shortfall of at least 250,000 construction workers for new housing alone, plus large numbers for retrofit. MPs call for a nationally recognised, industry-backed construction and retrofit skills programme, expanded “try-before-you-buy” training, and targeted public funding to support SMEs in taking on inexperienced trainees. The report also flags likely short‑term reliance on importing specialist skills unless domestic completion and retention rates in construction FE improve sharply.

Approval has been granted for large-scale extraction and remediation across 200 acres of the former Ravenscraig Steelworks in North Lanarkshire, covering Meadowhead, land beside The Craig urban park and the Ravenscraig regional sports facility, and plots TC1–TC3 north of New College Lanarkshire Motherwell Campus. Works will remove deep reinforced concrete foundations and process more than 2.7 million cubic metres of material for extraction, recycling and backfilling in phased campaigns starting early next year. The treated land is expected to unlock capacity for up to 2,000 homes, supported by a new road and active travel links from Motherwell into the site.

Heidelberg Materials UK is trialling CarbonCure technology in ready-mixed concrete at its Greenwich plant in London, injecting pure manufactured CO₂ into fresh concrete where it mineralises permanently and allows around 5% less cement to be used. The process is claimed to cut concrete-associated emissions by 7–11 kg CO₂/m³ with no loss of performance, while potentially increasing strength through more efficient hydration. The Thameside plant also supplies calcined clay, evoBuild low carbon GGBS, crushed concrete, accelerators and evoZero near‑zero cement, positioning it as a low‑carbon materials hub.

Australia’s first Cat 793 XE Early Learner battery-electric haul trucks have arrived at BHP’s Jimblebar iron ore mine in the Pilbara, where BHP and Rio Tinto will jointly test Caterpillar’s BEV heavy haulage platform under production conditions. The two 220‑t class trucks, supplied under an industry‑first shared development agreement, will be evaluated on typical Pilbara duty cycles, ramp profiles and ambient temperatures. Data from Jimblebar will feed into Caterpillar’s commercial 793 BEV design, with direct implications for trolley, charging and pit power infrastructure planning across large open pits.

Industry ingenuity and breakthroughs in tunnelling were recognised at the NCE Tunnelling Awards 2025, which focused on advances in construction technology, project delivery, social value and sustainability. Categories covered innovations in areas such as mechanised excavation, digital design and monitoring, and low‑carbon construction methods for complex underground works. For geotechnical and civil engineers, the awards signal where clients and contractors are now prioritising investment, particularly in data‑rich ground investigation, optimised lining design and reduced whole‑life carbon for major tunnel assets.

MinEx CRC is advancing several mineral exploration technologies in 2025, including coiled-tubing diamond drilling systems designed to cut metre-rate costs and in-field sensing tools that acquire continuous downhole geochemistry. Prototype rigs are targeting deeper cover sequences typical of Australian greenfields, using smaller footprints and reduced drilling fluids to minimise site disturbance and mobilisation time. For geoscientists and drill contractors, the work signals faster stratigraphic drilling, denser subsurface datasets, and potentially different design assumptions for access tracks, pads and water supply on remote programmes.

Rio Tinto chief executive Simon Trott has signalled a sharpened operational focus across the company’s global portfolio, consolidating capital and management attention on its highest-margin iron ore, copper and aluminium assets. The strategy points to tighter discipline on non-core or underperforming operations, with divestments or joint ventures likely where projects cannot meet internal hurdle rates or decarbonisation pathways. For geotechnical and mining teams, this suggests stronger scrutiny of strip ratios, orebody continuity and tailings liabilities when competing for sustaining and growth capital.

Latrobe Magnesium has produced its first sustainable magnesium oxide at a demonstration plant in Hazelwood North, Victoria, using proprietary technology to extract magnesium from Latrobe Valley brown coal fly ash. The process targets commercial production of both magnesium metal and supplementary cementitious material (SCM)-grade by-products, aiming to replace imported magnesia and reduce cement clinker content. For geotechnical and concrete practitioners, locally sourced MgO and SCM from waste ash could alter binder specifications, shrinkage control strategies, and durability mix designs in eastern Australia.

Rio Tinto’s Nuton venture has produced its first 99.99% copper cathode using proprietary sulphide bioleaching at Gunnison Copper’s Johnson Camp Mine in Arizona, just 18 months after starting work on site. The four-year demonstration aims to deliver about 30,000 tonnes of refined copper from the existing heap leach pad, with Nuton’s microorganisms in bioreactors achieving up to 85% recovery while eliminating milling, tailings, smelting and off-site refining. Gunnison’s 25-million-lb-per-year operation, with a 15–20-year mine life, is now focused on multi-year technical validation, third-party verification and Rio Tinto internal review.

Regulators have advised that Thames Water’s proposed £7bn Abingdon reservoir is sufficiently mature to move to the next development stage, unlocking further public funding for detailed design and assessment. The strategic storage scheme, intended to bolster long-term water supply resilience for London and the South East, will now undergo more advanced option appraisal and environmental scrutiny. However, regulators have questioned the scheme’s value-for-money case, signalling closer interrogation of cost assumptions, demand forecasts and alternative supply or demand-management options.

Ofgem has confirmed final determinations for the RIIO-3 price control, enabling up to £90bn of regulated investment in Britain’s gas and electricity transmission and distribution networks between April 2026 and March 2031. The framework sets allowed revenues and performance incentives for National Grid Electricity Transmission, gas transmission operators and the regional distribution network operators, targeting large-scale grid reinforcement, new 400kV and 275kV capacity, and resilience upgrades. Civil and geotechnical works will centre on substation expansions, cable route corridors and asset hardening to accommodate rapid electrification and higher renewable penetration.

Gary Bushnell has been appointed managing director of Robertson Capital Projects (RCP) after 10 years as chief executive of Hub East Central Scotland, with Robertson’s pre-construction director Brian Craig moving to replace him at Hub. RCP, based in Stirling alongside Hub East Central Scotland, will use design–build–fund–maintain models and private finance structures to progress social and community infrastructure, regeneration schemes and housing. Bushnell’s remit centres on upgrading public sector estates to meet net zero requirements while enabling projects constrained by tight public budgets to proceed.

Rio Tinto has produced its first copper cathode from the Johnson Camp mine in Arizona using its proprietary Nuton® bioleaching technology after more than 30 years of R&D. The Nuton process targets low-grade and complex sulphide ores that are typically uneconomic with conventional heap leach or concentrator routes, aiming to recover additional copper from existing waste and tailings. For mine planners and metallurgists, the trial signals potential brownfield uplift in copper recovery without major new concentrator builds, subject to scale-up performance and permitting.

Four Earth Pressure Balance TBMs from China Railway Engineering Group, each over 100m long and just over 7m in diameter, are being procured for the northern twin tunnels of Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop East, delivered by Webuild’s Terra Verde JV. All four machines, powered by 100% renewable electricity, will launch from a 19m-deep box at Burwood, driving nearly 10km of parallel tunnels between Box Hill and Glen Waverley with 39 cross passages, two station boxes and an intervention/ventilation shaft. EPB configuration tailored to the corridor’s mixed geology signals complex ground control and settlement management requirements for designers and contractors.