Construction Managers on board at RPA

The State’s largest hospital redevelopment, Royal Prince Alfred (RPA), is set to undergo its multi-million dollar transformation with the appointment of construction managers Thiess Contractors Pty Limited.

Thiess will manage the $170 million construction and refurbishment phase of the $250 million building program which will see one of Australia’s oldest teaching hospital’s become the nation’s most modern.

The RPA project is part of the Resource Transition Program, a $345 million upgrade of hospitals and healthcare facilities currently underway throughout Central Sydney Area Health Service (CSAHS).

Excavation works commenced in January on the $96 million Clinical Building Block in the RPA East Wing and construction is due to start in late June.

CSAHS chief executive officer Dr Diana Horvarth said the appointment of Thiess marked a most important stage in the development of the new RPA, completing the core development team.

“This is a major milestone for the project after a solid year of detailed planning and design,” Dr Horvarth said.

Thiess New South Wales general manager, Mr David Saxelby said Thiess was extremely pleased to be involved with the Royal Prince Alfred redevelopment, which represents the company’s most significant health project to date.

“We are responsible for managing the construction and refurbishment of the RPA East, RPA West and the Joint Replacement and Rheumatology Unit,” he said.

“Health construction is a specialist area and Thiess has a proven track record with delivering complex health projects,” he said.

“We will put best practice systems in place to ensure that the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital continues to run smoothly throughout all stages of the construction period.”

Mr Saxelby said the hospital redevelopment was a prime example of the type of project that Thiess was specialising in.

“As part of our long term business plan, we are positioning ourselves as experts in the delivery of large, highly complex projects to meet a range of client needs,” he said.

“We have demonstrated this through projects such as the $160 million Prince of Wales Hospital, the $102 million Australia Post Letter Facility at Strathfield and Sydney’s new $122 million Ansett domestic terminal.

Construction is expected to finish mid-2002.

The Royal Prince Alfred Redevelopment brings the total value of health projects undertaken by Thiess in the last five years to in excess of $500M. Recent projects include the $160M Prince of Wales Hospital Redevelopment in NSW, the $37.5M Robina Hospital Redevelopment in Queensland, the $28M Clinical Services Building for the Cairns Hospital Redevelopment, the $16M Canberra Hospital Campus and $15M Geelong Private Hospital in Victoria.

Thiess operates in the areas of building construction, civil engineering, mining, process engineering and environmental services, with current work in hand at $3 billion.

Ends

Released by:
Thiess Contractors Pty Limited
A.C.N. 010 221 486.

For further information contact:
Thiess NSW General Manager David Saxelby
Ph (02) 9332 9444
or
Ursula Pollnow Thiess Communications Manager
Ph (02) 9332 9440 or 0407 640 512.