Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre Expansion

Client:

Plenary Group

Contractor:

Probuild

Design:

Woods Bagot / NH Architecture

Project Value:

$200 million

The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) Expansion added around 20,000 square meters of event space to the existing MCEC facilities including approximately 9,000 square metres of new exhibition halls.

Constructed by modifying the then current PPP contract for the existing MCEC, the centre integrated into the existing buildings and included multiple design inputs to allow the MECE to be more flexible in the way they plan and hold events. The PPP development further cemented MCEC’s reputation as a world class exhibition and convention venue.

We were engaged as the Independent Review and Sub-Independent Reviewer for the development.

Challenges included:

• Staged Witness Testing
• Staged Handover of Works
• Tight Project Program

Key Learnings:

• Due to the tight project program, we had to provide detailed program reports each month and highlight program risks to the project teams. This detailed analysis allowed the project parties to work together to formulate strategies to enable the project to be handed over.
• To reduce program risk, the Builder undertook a staged completion testing regime. This included our detailed involvement as well as attendance at weekend and out of hours testing – undertaken by us to ensure a best for project outcome.

The staged handover meant we needed to maintain a detailed understanding of what the project expectations and agreements were with regards to handover. As the handovers came closer, we were in near daily contact with the Project Parties to ensure transparency of IR services and expectations. This communication aided the project parties in focussing their resources on critical factors to enable the handovers to occur.