A fresh approach to Independent Certification services

Sydney Metro is a key part of the NSW Government’s Future Transport 2056 priorities. Sydney Metro City & Southwest extends metro rail from the end of Sydney Metro Northwest at Chatswood under Sydney Harbour, through new CBD stations and south west to Bankstown. Services start in 2024 with a train every four minutes in the peak.

A consortium comprising Advisian, Spanish firm TYPSA and French firm CERTIFER, called ATC, was recently awarded the role of Independent Certifier (IC) for the greenfield components of the Sydney Metro. ATC’s IC services include the greenfield stations at Martin Place, Victoria Cross, Crows Nest, Barangaroo, Pitt Street, and Waterloo Station along with the Line-Wide (LW) rail systems contract, and the Operations, Trains and Systems (OTS2) contract. 

The ATC team have a compelling mix of capability, experience and shared values; a unique combination that sets the consortium apart. Advisian’s globally recognised Project Delivery Framework, technical management, and consultancy expertise is teamed perfectly with TYPSA, a multidisciplinary consulting engineering firm with more than 40 years of experience in the design and construction supervision of metro projects in Europe, the Middle East and both Americas. CERTIFER is a trusted specialist global certification firm for systems in both metro and rail, with operations in ten countries. 

The scope of works are shared approximately evenly between the team, with TYPSA providing expertise in stations and infrastructure, and CERTIFER providing rail systems and rolling stock certification. While each firm brings their own skills, experience, and expertise, the team will operate under the provisions of Advisian’s proven infrastructure project development and management framework. This will support the small, technically competent core team, complemented by subject matter experts as required. 

With 2,500 engineers, architects, and other professionals, TYPSA has extensive experience working in major projects as part of a highly-skilled multidisciplinary team.  TYPSA’s General Manager Australia & New Zealand, Carmen Verdú said, “Our relationship with Advisian and CERTIFER gives us the opportunity to share our experience in the field of metropolitan railways with Sydney Metro. We will bring our experience in Metro projects such as Barcelona, Madrid, Stockholm, Riyadh, Doha or Singapore. We are looking forward to contributing to the rest of the parties involved to make Sydney Metro one of the best Metros in the world.” 

CERTIFER are already a well-known and trusted partner to Sydney Metro, having previously worked on the Sydney Metro Northwest project. Within this highly specialised market, CERTIFER employ 550 certification experts worldwide across rolling stock, control command and signalling, infrastructure, energy, maintenance, and global systems. Australian representative, Mr Eric Vanpeperstraete noted, “CERTIFER will make a real difference to the successful delivery of Sydney Metro. Our expert teams have brought their knowledge on projects as diverse as Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project, Budapest Metro, India’s Delhi Metro, Riyadh Metro, Paris Metro, as well as many others.”

A fresh approach to Independent Certification services

Traditional approaches to certification can be complex, time-consuming and expensive. The key values the ATC team will bring to the Sydney Metro are safety, on-time and to scope. To successfully deliver on these values the ATC team will bring a fresh approach to certification services, which is relatively new to Australia’s infrastructure market. The regime known as ‘Soft Touch Certification’ respects the need to finely balance safety and compliance alongside the delivery of the project on time and to scope. 

Advisian’s Project Delivery Framework will be key to the successful delivery of the Independent Certification services. Bruce Riddle, Advisian’s Global Director, Capital Project Advisory said, “Flexibility is a critical component of successful project delivery. Process-driven solutions alone are rigid – our project delivery framework, while robust, provides us with the opportunity to be agile and responsive to client and project needs.”

The ATC team will work under a risk-based approach to first assess the materiality and criticality of the element to be certified. High-criticality items are investigated to a finer level of detail, while those items which are evaluated to be non-critical are expedited through the process. Subject matter experts within the ATC team will draw from their considerable experience to assess the documentation provided by Sydney Metro’s design evaluation teams, as well as the evidence provided by the design and construction contractors. Through this they will identify areas of concern or where certification should be investigated to greater detail. The process focusses efforts at where the greatest value can be provided, and where the greatest risks exist. This helps maintain schedule so low-criticality items don’t hold up or frustrate the delivery of the project as a whole. 

This whole process requires a highly collaborative relationship between all parties. The ATC consortium will provide local and international expertise, understanding, best practice, and deep technical and commercial insight to work for the best outcome of the Sydney Metro project and the end-user. The team will begin providing IC services during the first quarter of 2019.

For more information, please contact Ken Devencorn.