Fletcher scores with Victoria Park tunnel tender

The $406 million contract for the Victoria Park tunnel is Fletcher Construction's most lucrative win in the past two years.

The consortium V Formation - made up of Fletcher Construction, Beca Engineering, Higgins Contractors and Australian consultancy Parsons and Brinckerhoff - was yesterday announced as the winning tenderer for the tunnel, which will double the capacity of the road corridor through Victoria Park,

Mark Binns, chief executive of Fletcher's infrastructure and construction division, said he was delighted with the result.

Binns said the company had worked with the other firms in the consortium on other jobs.

Fletcher's forward order book stood at more than $1 billion but he said the total construction costs of the tunnel outstripped the value of work at Mt Eden Prison, Eden Park and the Manukau Harbour second crossing - all jobs the firm won more than a year ago.

Fletcher Construction is creating building work worth about $80 million every month, he said, and the tunnel project was "particularly signifi-cant".

Precisely how the consortium will build the tunnel has not yet been decided but a "cut and cover" technique is likely.

This would involve massive earthworks to dig a large trench, not unlike Fletcher's work double-tracking Auckland's railway network.

Fletcher Building will announce its annual result next month. Shares closed up 1c yesterday at $6.56 having risen as high as $6.63.