Cat Rental Store goes all out to plant Sugarloaf pipeline

It supplied everything from hand tools to 45t excavators, to build the Sugarloaf pipeline aimed at bringing water to Melbourne’s drought affected storages across the Great Dividing Range.
The massive rental supply agreement, involved many hundreds of items of plant and equipment, to ensure the construction program progressed on time and on budget over the past 18 months. Built at a cost of $750m, the 1.75m diameter pipe will transfer supposed water savings from irrigation infrastructure upgrades, mostly in the Goulburn Valley around Shepparton.
The Cat Rental Store worked closely with key contractor John Holland, before building started, to devise strategies to ensure every requirement would be met, regardless of location on the 70km pipe corridor.
Highlights of the hire contract were the supply of more than 2700 small items and more than 100 items of heavy plant including excavators, wheel loaders, track type tractors, articulated dump trucks and graders.
The scope of the contract, saw the Cat Rental Store establish an on-site facility with full support and administrative functions, at the Sugarloaf Pipeline Alliance’s Glenburn construction site, 85km north east of Melbourne.
The Store’s business development manager Mark Gubbels said, “Before the project started we spent 12 months working with the alliance team to ensure we would deliver the right outcomes. Once we worked through key objectives we established our on site facility.
“The use of Caterpillar technology such as ProductLink, let the alliance know exactly where the machines were, how and for how long they were being utilised. That helped control costs for the alliance but also helped us in managing service and maintenance requirements so it would not affect productivity,” he said.
The rental arrangement has set a precedent for the way major contracts are handled.
“Often contractors will acquire plant and equipment for the duration of a major contract before re-deploying it or having to sell it upon completion. A rental arrangement reduces the administrative workload and removes the issues associated with capital equipment acquisition and disposal.
“The Sugarloaf Pipeline Alliance was also able to rapidly mobilise new construction crews as environmental management plans were approved or as the construction process changed,” Gubbels said.
The pipeline runs from the Goulburn River at Yea, to the Sugarloaf Reservoir 5km east of Yarra Glen. It was delivered by the Sugarloaf Pipeline Alliance comprising Melbourne Water, John Holland, Sinclair Knight Merz Pty Ltd (SKM) and GHD Pty Ltd.