By Amy Dale -
From archaeological finds, to fires, to contract negotiations: for the team of lawyers tasked with helping to bring the Sydney Metro to life, each day brought new discoveries.
Nearly a fortnight on from the long-awaited opening day of the Sydney city section of the $21.6 billion project, two of the lawyers in the Metro team have had an opportunity to experience the project, once just “words on a page” in the form of the countless contracts concerning its delivery, firsthand.
The latest chapter of the Metro involved the tunnelling, excavation, and construction of eight new stations, and any decision made about one, such as an extension, would affect all the others. Ensuring the simultaneous delivery of components, such as the building of lifts and escalators, was also critical.
Bethany Harper is Acting General Counsel and Michelle Gray is the Executive Director of Legal in the Project Delivery team at Sydney Metro.
“Each station required a different contract and each one was very complex, with pretty much an infinite number of interfaces. [A big part of Legal’s role] is making sure that [each station] was being delivered at the same time as each other, and that the project was ready for delivery,” Gray says.
“One issue in one area of construction can have an impact [on the whole project].”
Harper, who joined the project in 2017 as the procurement process for the city stations began, says being involved in the strategy of the project was a career highlight.
“There is a perception that legal are brought into these discussions to tell you what the contract says, and to interpret the contract, but you can be a really practical and strategic voice in these negotiations as well,” she tells LSJ.
Much of the work of the 25 lawyers from across the entire Sydney Metro project concerned “day-to-day issues”, as Harper explains, but the legal work also spanned matters like compulsory acquisition, packaging strategies, commercial considerations, deeds of amendment, safety, and insurance.
“Often different issues would bubble up,” Harper says.
This included the question of what to do with archaeological finds, such as the well-preserved remains of a boat discovered at the Barangaroo Station excavation site in November 2018. The boat will soon be displayed at the National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour.
A catastrophic fire at a vacant Surry Hills building in May 2023 caused millions of dollars in damage to the new Central Station Metro entrance, just days before it was set to open.
Heavy rainfall at the start of 2023 also impacted construction delivery timelines.
“And then there are compliance issues and the whole gamut of day-to-day stuff,” Harper says.
For Gray, the official open day on 19 August of the city line connecting Chatswood to Sydenham was an unexpectedly moving moment.
“You get wrapped up in the day to day … but just going on the Metro, I felt very proud, not just for myself but for everyone who has worked on the project,” she says.
“This is my first in-house role, and just the variety of the works and being involved in the delivery of a project like this … it enables me to use my legal skills in all sorts of different places. In a single morning, I can speak to so many people, from engineers, to construction workers, to plumbers.”
Upon travelling on the Metro for the first time, Harper was particularly moved by the artworks, which were specifically designed to celebrate the sense of place in each station.
“To go and see all of those details in person, they are no longer just words on a page [in a contract],” she says.
In terms of favourite stations, Gray says she loves the design of Victoria Cross while Harper appreciates what the Central Metro refurbishment has done to transform the entire busy station through the creation of a walkway, which connects all parts of the station concourse.
The next stage of Sydney Metro is the conversion of the Sydenham to Bankstown train line, which will begin next month.
Header image: Crows Nest station. Image provided by Sydney Metro
