Enhanced Land Force Stage 2 – Singleton Deferred Works

St Hilliers was appointed Head Contractor for the Design and Construct of a 4 stage upgrade to the facilities at the Defence Base in Singleton. The scope of works included:

• An urban operations training area (including a fake residential compound, a method of entry building, an urban firing direct fire support weapons wall, an urban firing building, targetry and range infrastructure, an administration area including an office building, an all-weather shelter, a toilet block and storage sheds);
• An ammunition transfer point with two open sided sheds with concrete hard stands;
• Refurbishment of the gravel hard stand, drainage works and refurbishment and reconstruction of the access track;
• Refurbishment of the assault grenade range / static grenade range with refurbishment of the existing tower;
• Modification of throwing bays and reconstruction of target areas; and
• Demolition and removal of 39 redundant buildings and make good the landscaping and services.

Works were completed on an operational site and required careful planning and effective communication with base stakeholders to ensure maximum safety and minimal disruption. St Hilliers successfully established a flexible and collaborative working relationship with Defence throughout the delivery of the project, which allowed key events such as school march outs to remain uninterrupted and daily operational requirements of Base users to continue.

Value for money was created through a number of innovations due to St Hilliers’ extensive in house experience. One solution put forward by St Hilliers, was to redesign aspects of a proposed urban firing wall to minimise an unforeseen impact on an existing building which would have required its relocation. Furthermore, St Hilliers also put forward changes to proposed structure levels to optimise the existing site levels and minimise the need for extensive earthworks.