ANU Burgmann College

AMA Projects were engaged as Head Contractor to deliver significant building upgrades to the student accommodation at ANU’s Burgmann College.

These works involved:

• improving fire egress
• improving building accessibility
• updating amenities
• recycling of materials from demolition of stairwells that could be salvaged
• bringing the buildings up to current BCA standards
• improvements to overall general safety standards
• a new entry access point
• construction of new fire stairs
• the linking of the two buildings
• installation of a new lift
• refurbished bedrooms and new ‘prototype’ bedrooms for future refurbishment upgrades.

The accommodation remained occupied for the entire duration of construction, so close communication with the client was required to ensure students were adequately prepared for noisy works which were undertaken during times specified by the college. AMA Projects mitigated the disruption to students by staging the works to ensure impacted bedrooms were limited to 12 rooms at any one-time, and installing temporary accommodation units (shipping containers) for residents to be placed in while their rooms were impacted by construction works. The College remained as close to fully occupied as possible through the duration of the works.

Particular technical complexities of this project involved the staging of the works so that all external works were completed first and then linked back in to the rest of the building and to achieve modern expectations of what a university residence should feel like, whilst still retaining the original 1970s architectural characteristics and intent. A number of value management initiatives were also undertaken to ensure original architectural intent was still met, through the re-use of original building materials, whilst modernising the building.