Elizabeth Street sewer upgrade

Project Overview

The successful completion of the Elizabeth Street Sewer Upgrade is a positive step to ensuring continued safe and reliable sewerage services in Melbourne’s CBD.

The project is vital for supporting the growing needs of people living, working and visiting the area by making sure they have access to reliable essential services.

The works involved installing a new 700-metre-long sewer pipe under Elizabeth Street from Lonsdale Street to Victoria Street.

This project was the third of a four-stage strategy to increase the capacity of Melbourne CBD's sewer network, which is over 120 years old.

Construction started in early 2023 and was completed in October 2024.

Thank you to our stakeholders, residents and businesses who were located near the work site for your patience and understanding during the works.

Why the project was needed

The original sewer main under Elizabeth Street was built around 120 years ago and was designed to cater to a much smaller population.

To continue to meet the needs of the growing population we built a new pipe to support the existing main.

Benefits for the Melbourne CBD

The project benefits include:

• increased capacity of the sewer network, allowing us to service the area as the population grows
• long-term reliability of sewer services for CBD residents, workers and visitors.

Environmental care, community and cultural heritage

We ensured the best outcomes for local communities throughout this project, by:

• collaborating with local residents and businesses throughout our consultation process to ensure we understood their needs and minimised impacts
• consulting with organisations like council, public transport companies and utility providers to ensure continued operation of local services
• providing regular updates to the community through our online engagement page
• working with Heritage Victoria to ensure the protection of valued heritage sites
• ensuring respect for First Nations heritage through cultural heritage management planning
• using techniques and machinery to reduce local community and environmental impacts, specifically micro tunnel boring as opposed to open-cut method.