Construction costs are a bridge too far
Without some sanity in wages, we will not be able to build for the future.
For me, the penny dropped in the 2010 state election campaign. John Brumby pledged to replace the level crossing at St Albans with an underpass. Treasury put the cost at $165 million – for one underpass.
Melbourne has 175 level crossings. Most are on main roads. Andrew McLeod, former CEO of the Committee for Melbourne, warned that unless they go underground, the inevitable expansion of peak-hour train services in future will shut down those roads in peak hours. And 175 times $165 million is almost $30 billion.
Melbourne’s population has doubled in the past 50 years, and is on track to double again in the next 50. To house it, we will need to build more than a million new dwellings. If they are to be, as the Grattan Institute puts it, ”the housing we’d choose”, most will be apartments, units and semi-detached homes in existing suburbs. We will build up. Continue reading
Queensland Emergency Operations Centre
Napier & Blakeley are just completing their role as Quantity Surveyors on the new QEOC building at Kedron Park in Brisbane.
This world-class communications centre, the largest emergency operations centre in the southern hemisphere, enables best practice strategic response and planning for daily emergencies and incidents and coordinated disaster management for the Queensland Government.
The building was centre of attention in the recent South East Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi as it became the broadcast facility for regular bulletins by State Premier Anna Bligh and Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
The 14,500 m2 building uses green technology throughout and the project is designed to achieve a 5-star Green Star rating. Sustainable features include full water recycling, rainwater harvesting, low-energy lighting and on-site power generation. Information and communication technology forms a major part of the project and is one of the key elements in it achieving “world class facility” status. Continue reading
