HKA’s site visit to the Picnic Point High School redevelopment project
7th July 2022
Our team recently went on a site visit to Picnic Point High School, a redevelopment project to refurbish some existing learning and administration spaces and construct a new Technical Applied Science (TAS) learning facility.
The new TAS building is currently in construction. It uses innovative Design for Manufacture & Assembly (DfMA) systems to standardise design and reduce the impact on the school and disruption to students whilst still allowing the delivery team to respond nimbly to local site conditions and requirements.
Infrastructure Australia’s Delivering Outcomes report recommends that projects be “in favour of Modern Methods of Construction, enabling improvements in productivity, quality and safety”. School Infrastructure NSW is leading the deployment of DfMA on NSW social infrastructure projects, with many school projects like Picnic Point High School adopting Modern Methods of Construction (MMC).
The benefits of the DfMA system and modular design include:
- Increased speed of delivery
- Shortened assembly time
- Lower assembly costs
- Reduced wastage
- Higher quality
- Increased safety
- Improved sustainability
- Greater product reliability
- Increased quality control by fabricating elements in a controlled environment
- Less disruption to students and stakeholders
Our team received a comprehensive tour of the active site, where we witnessed firsthand the panels being moved and installed. It was amazing to see the project coming to life, one panel at a time!
Ashok Rajendran from the Quasar team provided an overview of some of the lessons learned:
- Lock in the final design early
- Conduct an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) phase
- Commence early works as soon as you can
- Upskill and train the team on how to adopt and deliver modular buildings using DfMA and MMC as soon as the design system has been chosen
- Use that upskilled team to deliver future projects using innovative MMC.
“The use of DfMA/MMC and the implementation of this system at Picnic Point High School is the future of construction. This system is concerned with maximising the manufacturing ease of a product. It employs techniques that make manufacturing faster, cheaper, and easier by improving the design and the manufacturing process.”
Fred Gershberg, Senior Project Manager
The final TAS building will be completed in early 2023.
This publication presents the views, thoughts or opinions of the author and not necessarily those of HKA. Whilst we take every care to ensure the accuracy of this information at the time of publication, the content is not intended to deal with all aspects of the subject referred to, should not be relied upon and does not constitute advice of any kind. This publication is protected by copyright © 2024 HKA Global Ltd.
