Aurecon manages redevelopment of Australian Defence Force’s largest training area

Situated north-west of Adelaide on South Australia’s Spencer Gulf, the Cultana Training Area is the Australian Defence Force’s largest training area, capable of supporting combined arms exercises.

Aurecon was at the helm of its Stage 1 redevelopment with project management and contract administration services for the training area. The redevelopment has a total footprint of 2100 square kilometres.

The project includes new training buildings, a camp area, training operation areas and vehicle wash points. The site supports the Australian Army’s First Brigade training exercises during the monsoon season in northern Australia, the location of their primary training base.

Complex planning in a time-sensitive environment

As a large and complex project, there were design and construction challenges to overcome. Budget timeframes and costing structures required sophisticated coordination and collaboration between stakeholders.

The project’s multi-use design demanded complex planning to execute multiple deliverables in a time-sensitive environment. Strong leadership and collaboration between Aurecon and Defence, as well as Federal and State Government departments, ensured the best possible outcomes.

The Urban Operations Training Facility (UOTF) is constructed to simulate battle scenarios in urban environments. Upon full completion, the urban environment will include civic spaces, high and low density residential buildings, a central business district and outlying suburbs.

In partnership with Defence, Aurecon optimised the planning and funding scenarios, and achieved project outcomes within tight timeframes. This included robustly administering contract drafting, together with flexible negotiations, to adjust to project changes.

Finding extra value for the project

To the maximum extent possible, Aurecon actively worked with contractors to provide innovations on the project to add extra value to the strategic and budget expectations. These included:

• Road building materials were scoured from the site and reused in construction which reduced the volume of waste needing to be removed from the site, and the volume of new material purchased for the project.
• By pivoting the direction of the building panels from horizontal to vertical, safety risk was minimised. Vertical, rather than horizontal, panels were constructed on-site instead of in a prefabrication factory in Adelaide 400-kilometres away. This reduced the risk exposure of large trucks transporting panels on high-traffic roadways. It also provided employment opportunities to locals as part of the construction process.

The next chapter

Stage 1 of the Cultana Training Area Redevelopment Project is proof that collaborative engagement is powerful in its ability to deliver value and unlock opportunities. As a result, Aurecon has been awarded the Project Management and Contract Administration role for the continuation of Stage 1 works and Stage 2 of the development.

The Stage 1 continuation works will construct an underpass on the Lincoln Highway to accommodate the safe movement of the Defence fleet and tracked vehicles. Stage 2 works include a combined arms range and additional training buildings at the Urban Operations Training Facility.