Proven Project Management (PPM) has been appointed by DevelopmentWA to deliver large scale improvements at the Australian Marine Complex Henderson as part of its role as the Rowe Group’s project management division.
It’s responsible for complex construction ventures for owners, occupiers and investors ranging from greenfield developments, major fit-outs, and other large scale commercial and industrial developments.
The Henderson CUF is a unique facility; a world class centre for excellence shared between the Australian Navy and the marine, oil and gas, and resource sectors for marine manufacturing, assembly, maintenance and for further developing technological advancement in its field.
CUF’s Vessel Transfer Path Upgrade
In April PPM completed CUF’s Vessel Transfer Path Upgrade, a project that allows the transfer of larger vessels to and from the floating dock.
Early in 2023 it is expected to finish the second phase of its work there, again providing both Project Management and Superintendent Services during the design and construction of the extension of Berth 1 to an overall length of 288m, to allow two large vessels to berth alongside at one time.
The project is a collaboration between DevelopmentWA, engineers Advisian and Norman Disney and Young, and contractor Ertech.
Proven Project Management senior project manager Nikola Stojanovic says when completed, the Wharf Extension will have taken about 19 months to build, used 485m3 of precast concrete and a further 1535m3 of concrete pours and needed 91 piles driven to a depth of up to 45m to extend the wharf to a length of 132m and width of 27m.
He says it’s the type of project his team thrive on for its complexity and challenges, many of which have been managing stakeholder relationships in a facility that has so many ‘moving parts’ and where commercial companies and the Navy use the same complex for major upgrade and new build works.
“We’ve put in a lot of effort, trying to get an understanding of the specifications and requirements in terms of what the Navy needed for the wharf,” he explains.
“Then we also had to figure out how to make that work with the requirements of the other users who aren't Defence orientated, because their service requirements are slightly different, and it was a matter of trying to find a happy medium that worked for everybody.
“Keep in mind these guys don't work on small projects. Most are dealing with projects like multi-million dollar yachts or hundred-million-dollar battleships, so there's a lot of work in terms of managing everybody's expectations in the design and of course during construction, to ensure we carry everyone along on the journey.
“Keep in mind too, the CUF has been around for a long time, and we've come in and interrupted day-to-day operations that've probably run fairly smoothly for years.
“We've come into it with a project that builds a better CUF but some of the work has been quite intrusive; we’ve had to turn off power to remaining wharfs and decommission protection systems to put new ones in, alongside new fire mains and electrical services to name just a few of the disruptions.
“Obviously, we’ve had to carefully manage the works and the impact it’s had on users to ensure everyone feels like they're winning through the whole process and expectations were aligned with all project stakeholders.
“I think that's really important and this is how we manage projects; we want to bring everyone along on the journey.”
The CUF upgrade works managed by PPM also included the design of a 271 metre by 50 metre ‘finger wharf’ connected to the new wharf extension which is awaiting funding approval.
