Girl power: Adept Civil Group up and coming leader in the trenchless world

What is commonly seen as a male-dominated industry, Maddison Corrie is not phased, taking the opportunity to pave the way for other women interested in the trenchless sector.

Corrie recalls when she finished school that she always wanted to do something in the trenchless field.

“I never wanted an office job. After school I got out in the field and a job came about in traffic control on the Gold Coast,” she says. “Once I finished that job, I then moved to Melbourne doing traffic control and that is when I was working alongside a gas client who offered me a job which then led to the job with Adept down the track.”

In the four years Corrie has been with Adept Civil Group she has progressed from learning to operate machines to running the day-to-day operations of the machine.

Business development manager Quentin Powell says once he has done a handover on site, the project then becomes Corrie’s.

“Maddison is now responsible for running the maintenance of the machines, running crews, and looking after the clients on site,” he says.

“This industry has a very heavy male presence, but the way she has had to deal with the different clients and use her own skills and intuition has resulted in the best outcomes for not only the client but the Adept business too.

“Her growth and communication with everyone has been a pleasure to watch. And we are only at the start of her journey too.”

Continuing to prove her skills and expertise in the industry, Corrie has recently been involved with the Albion Station upgrade in Melbourne’s western suburbs for Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM).

At the end of November 2021, Adept Civil Group was awarded a contract by the Hitch Group to support the upgrade.

Albion Station is extending platforms to fit bigger, more modern trains and installing wheelchair boarding pads to improve accessibility.

Power upgrades are also taking place in and adjacent to the rail corridor near Albion Station as part of works to boost electrical capacity along the Sunbury Line.

As part of the upgrades, an electrical substation on Talmage Street is being built to provide essential power for bigger, more modern trains to run along the line. This will improve the capacity, reliability and frequency of services for passengers.

Corrie says the job was very tricky, with Adept having to work on the railway lines where the trains were and having to overcome challenging and tough ground conditions.

“Adept Civil Group was successful in being awarded this project due to our outstanding safety record and previous success with delivery of major rail crossing by micro-tunnelling method,” she says.

“Some of the hardest ground conditions that you will ever encounter, have been encountered with basalt rock in excess of 250MPA. Our approach and mindset is: slow and steady will win this race. Our client Metro Trains Melbourne has been incredibly impressed by our whole teams’ approach to this project.”

As part of the contract, Corrie says the company also had to modify its drill from 355 diameter to 400 diameter in order to complete the 2 x 36m bores in solid basalt installing a 376mm GRP sleeve. Each sleeve holds 4 x 150mm power conduits.

Powell says in order to achieve this, Adept had to adapt the drill itself and make a few modifications to the rods in order for it to centralise in the bore.

“It was a fairly involved process. However, going forward this modification will benefit us in the future, opening up a wider range of jobs. Instead of being limited to that smaller diameter, it opens up a whole new prospect,” he says.

Describing the project as amazing, Corrie says the next phase will allow the company to adapt the knowledge they learnt from the first part and implement into their future work.

As Corrie nears completing another project under her belt, her advice to other women wanting to get into the trenchless industry is “just don’t give up”.

“It is hard starting out, but just know you will make it one day,” she says. “It is 2022, so women can do what men do. We might not be able to do certain things at the same capacity but that doesn’t me we can’t do it. Just keep trying and you will make it.”

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