WA joint venture team awarded $80 million road works package

08 Aug 2008

The Western Australian government recently awarded a multi-million dollar road upgrade package to a Laing O’Rourke joint venture team.

Team Savannah, a joint venture between Laing O’Rourke and BGC Contracting, was awarded the $80.8 million contract for the upgrade works on the Great Northern Highway in the state’s Kimberley region.

The team previously worked on the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) phase providing professional services such as pricing, planning and approvals to Main Roads Western Australia.

Western Australia Regional Manager David Brough said the team’s involvement at the ECI stage had been extremely valuable.

“It’s been a tremendous benefit as we’ve been working with the designers through the whole process from concept stage to construction drawings,” David said. “This has allowed us to incorporate constructability innovations and general practicalities into the design, which will benefit us during the construction stage.”

The works will include, construction of a 160-man camp with associated mess and recreation facilities, demolition and replacement of an existing low-level bridge crossing, construction of two new bridges and the construction of 20 kilometres of road.

The works are spread over 120 kilometres of the Great Northern Highway (Highway 1).

The team, which has worked together in a Perth office since September 2007, has now relocated to the site office, 3000 kilometres north of Perth.

During the peak stage of construction about 160 people will work on the project, including 10 trainees from the local community.

The majority of the works, which have been programmed around the wet season, will be completed by the end of 2008, with full completion expected by October 2009.