Brisbane, 19 May 2016: One of Australia's largest regional road projects, the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing (TSRC), was named the Best Road Project at the 2016 Partnerships Awards held in London on 12 May. Clayton Utz has advised the Queensland Government on the project since 2012.
The TSRC involves an innovatively designed 41 kilometre tolled bypass route to the north of Toowoomba, a major Queensland regional centre, helping to ease growing traffic pressure on existing highway networks and providing a safer gateway for heavy vehicles to the resource-rich Surat Basin. The Australian Government has committed $1.285 billion to the project, with the Queensland Government contributing $321 million.
Clayton Utz major projects and construction partners David Lester and Alan Maguire have led a multidisciplinary team advising the Queensland Government from the project's inception in 2012 to the formal awarding of the project contract to the Nexus Infrastructure consortium (Nexus) in 2014. Clayton Utz continues to advise on the implementation phase of the project, which is expected to reach completion in late 2018.
David said the Clayton Utz team was proud to bring its significant experience in advising on road infrastructure projects around Australia to the TSRC. "The TSRC is a fantastic project to be involved in and represents a new benchmark in road infrastructure with several innovative design features and significant benefits for the community and in road safety, as highlighted by the judging panel. TSRC is also a first for Queensland in that it is toll road being delivered using an availability style Public Private Partnership. Unlike other toll roads in Queensland, the private sector is not taking full patronage risk in relation to this project."
A number of other projects Clayton Utz has advised on were also named finalists in their respective award categories at the 2016 Partnerships Awards:
- Best Social Infrastructure Project - ACT Law Courts PPP Project led by Jo Pugsley and Stuart Cosgriff
- Best Education Project - WA Schools PPP Project led by Marcus Davenport and Jo Pugsley
- Best Transit Project - Sydney Light Rail PPP led by Andrew Poulos
Clayton Utz was also a finalist for the Legal Adviser of the Year Award.
The annual Partnerships Awards by Partnerships Bulletin recognise the best projects and advisers across the global Public Private Partnerships industry.