Sneak Peek into the Tunnelling and Infrastructure Academy
As part of the Group’s regional human capital development strategy, Gamuda Australia built and opened a state-of-the-art Tunnelling and Infrastructure Academy (TIA) at Clyde in July 2023. This Academy focuses on training and upskilling our employees and delivery partners through the use of virtual reality equipment, allowing trainees to learn in a safe and controlled environment before applying those skills on the worksite.
Our impact goes beyond our employees, benefiting various communities at large, from Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders to women in non-traditional roles, youths, migrants and diverse groups.
An inspiring effort from the Gamuda and Laing O’Rourke Consortium and members from Gamuda’s Australian and Malaysian employees to deliver this project for the Sydney Metro West – Western Tunnelling Package project.
About the Training and Infrastructure Academy
The purpose-built facility was delivered for Sydney Metro by the Gamuda and Laing O’Rourke Consortium on the Sydney Metro West Clyde site, located in the heart of Western Sydney. The academy specialises in the delivery of innovative training activities across both civil construction and tunnelling disciplines, with the aim of upskilling new and existing workers.
The TIA facility comprises five training rooms, two meeting rooms, and five bespoke practical training rooms including a virtual reality simulator room featuring a tunnel boring machine (TBM) manufactured by Herrenknecht, which will emulate underground tunnelling operations. An original TBM cabin, conveyor belt, foaming and grouting station, partial cutter head, and various workshop equipment form part of the hands-on experience trainees will receive during their time at the training facility. Most of the equipment used is decommissioned and/or refurbished parts from TBM used in tunnelling projects overseas and was shipped in for the exclusive use of the TIA.
The TIA is the next evolution of Gamuda’s original Tunnelling Training Academy (TTA). Based in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, the TTA has trained over 1,000 workers since its establishment in 2011. The facility has provided targeted training courses for Malaysian school leavers and graduates, designed by Gamuda in collaboration with international experts such as Siemens, Bosch, and Herrenknecht from Germany.
The TTA was Asia’s first tunnelling academy designed to produce a skilled workforce in the highly specialised field of tunnel construction while simultaneously supporting the required specialist skills needed to roll out the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) project.
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