Geotechnical Baseline Reports for Risk Management and Sharing in Australian Tunnelling

Alex Gomes and Dr Richard Kelly

Underground construction must inevitably deal with uncertainty and risks associated with the subsurface conditions. Geotechnical Baseline Reports (GBRs) are commonly used internationally on large tunnelling projects to help manage and contractually allocate geotechnical risks between the Parties. While Design/build is the most prevalent procurement method in Australia, with most clients contractually shedding all geotechnical risks to the contractors, a positive change towards collaborative contracts are being observed in the industry with the recent inclusion of GBRs to set the geotechnical risk-sharing mechanisms for major infrastructure projects.

Join Alex Gomes and Richard Kelly for an overview of geotechnical risk management and sharing mechanisms in tunnelling and to learn from their experience in the development of GBRs of different types (traditional GBR in accordance with the ASCE and the FIDIC Emerald’s book GBR) for recent major tunnel projects in Australia

A joint ATS & AGS Sydney technical presentation

Engineers Australia members participating in AGS technical sessions can record attendance on their personal CPD logs. Members should refer to Engineers Australia CPD policy for details on CPD types, requirements and auditing guidelines.