Albury Wodonga
Military Area
Project description
The works at AWMA were comprised of 9 different sites.
The works included the construction of two new 1600m2 gymnasiums, construction of a new laundry room, extension of an existing pass office and renovation of an existing conference centre.
The project involved working with many trades including: electrical, hydraulics, mechanical, structural steel, concreting, earth works, carpentry and joinery, painting, HAZMAT consultants etc. Buildster’s team professionally coordinated multiple trades through continual consultation with subcontractors and suppliers.
During the project Buildster maintained WHS objectives and targets with regular WHS audits by external auditors. Buildster undertook a federal safety audit during this project, the outcomes from the audit were favourable with minimal corrective actions. Soon after this project Buildster were awarded accreditation with the Federal Safety Commissioner.
Innovations and value adding long term benefits
Initially the two new gyms which Buildster constructed were designed under a building classification which did not allow the end user access to the building for their intended use.
Through consultation with the client, Buildster was able to deliver two gymnasiums with electrical services, fire services etc, thus changing the building classification. This design change enabled the end user to use the gymnasium as intended.
During the project there was a notable tree at the site of one of the gymnasiums, as part of our ongoing environmental sustainability Buildster ensured to maintain sections of the tree and have created a piece of art from the remaining wood. Buildster also planted over 60 new trees to help reduce the impact.
Construction & design difficulties
Orientation of the building, location of the laundry and inconsistency between structural and architectural drawings provided challenges in the delivery of the project.
The two gyms were built with two open sides which were designed to increase natural ventilation and light into the gym. After stakeholder meetings it was identified that architectural drawings had the incorrect orientation of the building with the open faces directly exposed to the weather. After consultation with the structural engineer the design was rotated to ensure end user satisfaction.
The new laundry building was initially designed on top of existing services. After completing a scan for utilities, Buildster alerted the client to the existing services under the proposed new laundry. It was then decided to relocate various services to ensure that the laundry could be constructed. We pegged out and surveyed all new services and included them in the master site plan.
Through Buildster’s QA procedure it was also identified that the structural and architectural drawings weren’t correctly overlayed and that there was an additional run of columns which would have inhibited use of the building. This were raised to the client and the building was redesigned by the PDS design team.
