World-leading naval and shipbuilding hub engineered to boost local jobs market

13 October 2020 – South Australia’s world-leading naval and shipbuilding industry hub, the Osborne South Development Project, has completed construction and is ready for handover to ASC Shipbuilding, with the Honourable Prime Minister Scott Morrison and distinguished guests visiting the project site to commemorate the milestone.

Australian engineering, design and advisory company Aurecon was the lead engineering and advisory consultant on the project, working in strong partnership with Australian Naval Infrastructure, Odense Marine Technologies and Lendlease.

The Osborne South Development Project is home to Australia’s two largest naval projects – the Collins class submarine sustainment project and the Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyer project.

The project is also the build location for the nation’s AUD50 billion Attack-class submarine programme, the AUD35 billion Hunter-class frigate programme as well as future frigate and future destroyer programmes for continuous shipbuilding in Australia.

During construction, the Osborne South Development Project created close to 1500 jobs and once fully operational it will employ approximately 5000 people.

Aurecon Managing Director Defence and National Security ANZ, David Barnes, said that the Osborne South Development Project is crucial to support the growing capability of the Royal Australian Navy.

“Over 200 Aurecon engineers with deep technical knowledge from across the country came together over three years to help bring to life the colossal Osborne South Development project,” David said.

“Teamwork between Aurecon’s partners brought together significant interdisciplinary design experience that’s delivered a world-class facility capable of supporting Australia’s future shipbuilding program,” David concluded.

Aurecon Principal, Infrastructure Advisory and Built Environment, Niko Tsoukalas, said the shipbuilding hub’s enormous buildings and windy coastal location called for innovative engineering design.

“The largest steel structure on the site, B22 outfitting hall, is designed to house two ships side-by-side for construction – measuring 190 metres long, 90 metres wide and 50 metres high. That’s almost as large as the Adelaide Oval and as tall as a 17-story building,” Niko said.

“The design requirement to easily transport ships in and out of the building also meant that we had to engineer the building to accommodate an enormous 30 metres wide by 34 metres high ‘gigadoor’ – the size of which has never been seen in Australia before.

“Naturally, putting a door of that size into a building with a significant internal volume has the potential to create a resonance due to the wind effects – similar to when you open the car window while driving at high speed. This wind action can put further strain on the four thousand tonne structure and its 6500 steel members.

“To overcome this challenge, we used advanced digital models and analysis to engineer the best and safest design solution. It’s been a fantastic project to be a part of, and it will be a real asset to our Navy and the local economy for many generations to come,” Niko concluded.