Project Overview
Royal Australian Air Force’s Base Edinburgh is situated 25km north of Adelaide within the Edinburgh Defence Precinct. It is primarily home to No 92 Wing’s AP-3C Orion and P-8A Poseidon aircraft that conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations throughout Australia’s airspace, the Air Warfare Centre Headquarters, and two regiments of the Army’s 1st Brigade.
Building 301 within RAAF Base Edinburgh was originally constructed in the 1940s as an ordnance factory. Today it is an office space within the Base occupied predominately by U.S. global security company Northrop Grumman, with a portion of the overall building footprint being retained be Defence. In Australia, Northrop Grumman provides technologies for the Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C), and the F-35A Lightning II fighter jet and F/A-18F Super Hornet multirole fighter aircraft programs, as well as providing support for the AP-3C Orion land and maritime surveillance aircraft.
Scope of Work
Building fit-out works focused on creating four key work spaces: the Operational Areas comprising of test rooms, the Material Control Area comprising of offices, storage and training rooms, the Cafeteria area and the Entry and Reception Area.
The Operational area included the construction of a Class 8 clean room which was subjected to particle count limit requirements and humidity controls. Six test rooms incorporated nitrogen lines and outlets, laser interlock systems, humidifiers and heater banks. All power requirements for the Northrop Grumman sections of the building were in U.S. voltage and phases to suit U.S. equipment, requiring the installation of new frequency convertors and a power factor correction unit. A new 750kVa kiosk substation to provide high voltage power to Building 301 was also installed.
Works across the 2,000m² building included new civil and concrete works as the foundation for a new electrical kiosk, demolition and internal strip out, structural steel installation, galvanised handrails, partitions, ceilings and linings, carpentry and joinery works, block timber doors and Security Construction and Equipment Committee (SCEC) endorsed hardware, security services, mechanical services and building management system interface, hydraulic services, fire services, electrical services, data and communications services, 2,000m² of painting, 400m² of epoxy floor coatings and floor finishes including electrostatic discharge resilient floor finishes.
Works were delivered under a tight timeframe as the Northrop Grumman team were awaiting on the delivery of specialist equipment for the development of new aircraft and helicopter systems. Works were staged so that key building areas could be handed back before overall project completion was achieved, allowing Northrop Grumman technicians to set-up and commission their specialist equipment within a two-week timeframe to meet their program objectives for Defence.
Building 301 is heritage listed requiring that the structure and aesthetics of the external walls and saw-tooth roof remained intact during the works.
During the demolition of the internal elements of Building 301, various walls totalling 100m2 which were discovered to contain asbestos sheeting. These were sampled and then removed under appropriate asbestos conditions including packaging in double layer 200µm plastic wrap and disposal at EPA approved waste facility receiving stations.
At the peak of construction there were up to 70 construction workers onsite on any given day, covering all aspects of the build. Works were undertaken on a 6-day week roster for the majority of construction to meet the tight construction period. Two Indigenous and one female employee worked on the project. Despite the tight timeframes, all works were completed on time and on budget and allowed Northrop Grumman to meet their program timeframes for Defence.
