In February 2021, our M&P Project Director and a consolidated delivery team were given the project to design and construct new teaching spaces for the University’s School of Health Sciences.  The project was located in the ICT building Level 3 which required a full refurbishment in preparation for the return of staff and students after end of year break in 2021.

Due to the significant time constraints, the delivery team were required to explore different design and delivery models to enable the project to be fast-tracked.

In March 2021, a detailed delivery model analysis was undertaken, resulting in the endorsement of a Construction Management delivery model by the Project Board.

The scope of the project included the design and construction of new workspaces and specialised teaching facilities in the ICT building for seven disciplines of the School of Health Sciences including Physiotherapy, Radiation Therapy, Nutrition & Dietetics, Nuclear Medicine, Occupational Therapy, Diagnostic Radiology and Speech Therapy.

Located at the entrance to the University, the space required complete internal demolition of existing teaching facilities and the reconstruction of:

• 3x new Physiotherapy Labs
• 2x new Occupational Therapy Labs
• A new Radiology Medical Imaging Suite
• A new Nuclear Medicine Radiopharmacy Lab
• A new Radiation Therapy Linear Accelerator Suite, simulation lab & associated computer lab
• A new Computed Tomography (CT) Suite
• A new Nutrition & Dietetics Lab
• New workspaces to accommodate 58 staff
• Various fire safety and infrastructure upgrades to accommodate the relevant construction codes and increased load requirements.

The project also included:

• The supply and associated installation of new specialised teaching equipment, following the approval of Research Support Program (RSP) funding, to support the School’s accreditation renewal in 2022.
• The expansion of existing Radiation Therapy teaching spaces in the ICT Building including the installation of a Linear Accelerator following the approval of the Research Support Program (RSP) Funding, to support the Global Institute of Research & Training of Radiation Oncology (GIRTRO).

The floorplate the users were relocated into was approximately 35% smaller than their previous home.  This provided an excellent opportunity to increase the shared utilisation of teaching spaces in addition to sharing of workspaces.  The team undertook an extensive phase of individual discipline and group discipline user consultation, and this resulted in a trusted approach between the users and the design/delivery team.  In addition to above, the team were faced with other challenges including, complex fire engineering, vibration constraints, structural constraints, BCA/Access constraints all undertaken during peak of COVID pandemic.

The project was successfully delivered to allow teaching to commence from the building in time for Semester 1 2022.