After 4 years (to the month) of hard work, congratulations to the Biosciences team in the successful completion of the Stage 1 project, with the final component, Stage 1D, now complete.

Some notable achievements:

• completion of $18m of early works, mainly associated with demolition of existing buildings (including two substations and major infrastructure), services relocations, construction of a new substation and relocation of the main carpark entrance. A key challenge with the substation demolition and concurrent new building activities required detailed planning and coordination of shutdowns of the power to four research buildings, which was achieved with no unplanned impacts to users
• the completion of the project within budget with a projected surplus returned to the client, as well as undertaking extra scope to facilitate Stage 2 (which we are now busy doing)
• a high commendation from the users on the quality of the project, as well as effectively managing the extensive consultation and planning for the relocation into the new building and operational commencement
• despite some significant impacts from in-ground contamination, completion within the original target completion dates
• the adoption of a unique procurement form for UNSW, where the building contractor engaged the design team from the outset, based on performance specifications and functional briefs (that we developed directly with UNSW), raising their standard of documentation for future projects.

Now onto Stage 2 (which has commenced construction) and occupation in early 2019!