Indigenous Mothers Accommodation Facility at Royal Darwin Hospital

Client:	Department of Construction and Infrastructure.
Value:	$4.2M (whole project)  $150k (design only)
Timeframe:	2010

Indigenous Mother Accommodation Facility involved the development of a design from Concept to Detailed Design for the Department of Construction and Infrastructure. During the project a number of design issues arose including: location and availability of power, landscape design, civil earthworks and need to implement a sustainable design.

Kirsty was the Project Director and Ewan was the Design Manager responsible for: analysis of design issues, development of the design from concept through to implementation, development of sustainable design solutions, engagement with key stakeholders, concept documentation and presentation to stakeholders project reporting, cost estimating, initial engineering infrastructure review, concept and detailed design management, provision of advice to the Clients and for providing strategic to the project.

Kirsty and Ewan worked with TCM, AWS, PBC, Mode Design, Royal Darwin Hospital  and DCI to product the detailed design including the: mechanical, electrical, structural, hydraulic and landscaping designs. QS Service and PBC were involved in cost estimating and building certifications the whole way through so as to ensure the nominated budget could be achieved at tender  and the building could be certified as soon as design were completed.

Throughout the project the project team worked successfully with the following Authorities for design input and approvals: DCI's Project Manager, DCI's Sustainability officer, DCI's Architect, DCI's Mechanical engineers, DCI's Client Architect, Telstra, Power and Water Corporation, Royal Darwin Hospital Engineering team, NRETAS, Department of Health and Families, Larrakia Nation and the Australian Hostiles group.

Key Project Achievement:

• Engineering design undertaken on time, to budget and to a high quality standard.
   
• No variations occurred during the project.
   
• Sustainable design solutions were developed and implemented.
   
• Infrastructure issues were dealt with by using working groups to build effective relationships and smooth infrastructure changes.
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Relevant Key Project Learnings:

• Constant and consistent communication to all members of the design team can result in the project being completed on time, to budget and to a high quality standard.
   
• Rushing to have a meeting to meet a Client request can result in lack of results for all. By more carefully managing Client expectations, the Client will understand that sufficient time is needed to be provided to make requested changes and still meet the agreed timeframe.