Our speaker, David Och has been carrying out detailed geophysical and geotechnical investigations of the Sydney harbour floor in preparation for the Sydney Metro. Limited data has been available until now to characterise the ground below the harbour floor, to identify possible geotechnical risks in tunnelling beneath the harbour. There have been some surprises. Click here for a video on how they did it!

The Sydney Metro is Australia’s largest public transport project, extending 65 km from the northwest of Sydney, under Sydney Harbour, through the CBD and then towards Bankstown to the west. There are three tunnel alignment options.

David Och is a structural and engineering geologist who has worked on major geotechnical problems in Australia and overseas. These projects include infrastructure design (road, rail, dams). He is an active researcher in collaboration with University of NSW, University of Newcastle, ANU and CSIRO and previously worked for the Geological Survey of NSW.