Yatala Labour Prison Redvelopment
Construction
The South Australian Government’s 10 x 20 Strategic Policy and Better Prisons Program set out the work that is critically important to reduce the rate of reoffending by improving the infrastructure, operation, quality, safety and efficiency of our prison system and, in turn, ensuring greater community safety and less crime on our streets.
At Mossop we believe our long-standing construction experience and partnering with the Department for Correctional Services (DCS) informs us that prisons are places of remand and rehabilitation. All of the team at Mossop believe that we can further contribute to the Department’s mission and desire to introduce innovation and contribute towards more effective and efficient operations and services provided.
After a competitive tender evaluation, Mossop were appointed as the Managing Contractor to deliver this significant redevelopment project at the existing Yatala Labour Prison in Northfield in November 2020.
The $127 million project comprises the construction of four two-story, precast structures (buildings C1, C2, D & E) over a 10,0000m2 offering an additional 270-bed, secure accommodation capacity, new general and family visit / entry waiting area / admission / kitchen and recreation yard facilities. The scope of work also includes:
- Site establishment of amenities for a site requiring up to 350 personnel a day (at maximum capacity).
- Demolition of existing facility administration buildings,
- Contaminated soil removal
- Asbestos contaminated soil removal
- Bulk infill of site remediation,
- Associated services and infrastructure
- New storage sheds,
- Security fencing,
- Connection into existing high security structures and services.
As part of our roadmap for success Mossop set out key project milestones which detail the specific steps we are taking to achieve best project outcomes delivered with the highest safety processes and procedures implemented on this project. We have set up our program to meet all DIT requirements of a construction program, and resourced our team and set their responsibilities to monitor and control progress, for both on-site and off-site activities. We have developed reporting tools specifically to provide the evidence of progress in real time, and communicate it in a manner that is easy to appraise quickly and interrogate all the detail transparently.
Key project milestones at tender:
As a collaborative project team the milestones below are contractual and have been changed to allow additional time for FFE selections and DCS commissioning requirements.
Milestone 1 - Substantial completion of accommodation buildings C1, C2 & D (Feb 2022)
Milestone 2A - Completion of new high security fencing (Mar 2022)
Milestone 2B - Completion of Building E (Visits/ Admissions/Kitchen) & all associated infrastructure and landscaping inside existing sterile zone (June 2022).
Milestone 3 - Completion of security analogue to digital upgrade of the existing prison facility (July 2022).
To assist with security and improve efficiencies on site Mossop invested in facial/ eye recognition innovative technology for the sign in - sign out procedure at the gate. This allows direct access to determine the full extent of resources on site at any point in time which is used to review against TIPP objectives, the construction program and labour histograms on a daily / weekly basis and aligns with Covid-19 check-in requirements.
Mossop continues to be at the forefront with the appropriate tools for BIM (Building Information Modelling). BIM involves representing a design as combinations of objects that carry their geometry, relations, and attributes. Throughout this project Mossop have utilised the advantages of virtual construction to help reduce uncertainty and improve collaboration. Mossop has explored the benefit of BIM model to help with site establishment, safety-in design, on-site safety, sub-contractor inductions and concrete slab loading for craneage. The BIM model was further used for clash detections and penetrations through structural steel and these resulted in incorporating these through off- site fabrication resulting in improved safety on site (reducing the need to work at heights and reduced manual labour on site).
Collaboration is a word that is used extensively throughout the industry over the past few years, and yet this is central to what Mossop want to be known for. We believe we will be recognised with that status on this project as we have a great project team who are continuously rolling up their sleeves in support of DIT, DCS and the project team. We are doing the required work and delivering what we said we are going to deliver. We continue to enjoy our journey on this project to date and remember that no one creates success alone and that we all need a team to be successful. We will continue to add value on our mapped path ahead.