The M5 East Tunnel filtration plant is located on the eastern side of Bexley Road at Wolli Avenue, Earlwood. Most of the filtration plant is located underground and its design is sympathetic to the surroundings, with landscaping over much of the site. This means that nearby residents do not have adverse visual impacts.

The building above ground incorporates a landscaped 'green' roof of native trees and a grassed terrace.

The filtration plant has been designed to have minimal impact on the Wolli Creek Regional Park vegetation communities.

The filtration equipment was installed in December 2009. Preliminary testing and fine tuning was undertaken during February 2010. This is a normal part of commissioning infrastructure like this. Initial testing showed refinements were needed to the air tunnel to ensure the smooth flow of air to the plant.  These refinements were completed in early March 2010 and an18 month trial of the M5 East air filtration equipment commenced on 9 March 2010.

Filtration equipment goals

The filtration equipment is designed to filter and clean approximately:

• 200 cubic metres of air per second to remove at least 80% of particulates less than 10 microns in diameter from the westbound tunnel.
• 50 cubic metres of air per second to remove at least 90% of nitrogen dioxide. 

Filtration plant operating hours

The filtration plant has been operating on weekdays, generally between midday and 6pm.