Infrastructure: How to make an entrance | ADM May 08

1 May 2008

John Holland Group may be primarily known as a regular construction company (think Parliament House and the Lane Cove tunnel) but they have entered the Australian defence infrastructure market in a big way over the last few years.

By Katherine Ziesing, Canberra

ADM's Top 40 Defence contractors 2007 list saw John Holland Group jump from 17th to an impressive 11th in one year alone, with the raft of projects now under management.

The company delivered $201.5 million worth of Defence business in 2006/07 and has work in hand to keep it busy all over the nation.

While this is a significant portion of the defence infrastructure pie (an ever growing pie at about $1-2 billion a year thanks to the Defence Support Group), defence-related business makes up almost 10 per cent of John Holland Group's overall work in hand of $3.45 billion.

Not bad for a company that did not conduct any defence related work for the first 20 years of its life during the 50s and 60s with the first Defence project in Victoria at the Williamstown Naval Dockyard in 1974.

"John Holland Group provides a range of capital works services for Defence including the redevelopment of bases and ageing facilities, the combination of which can be seen at Holsworthy base," said John Reddie, John Holland's manager of military engineering programs.

"We also provide comprehensive maintenance management and support services through Defence Maintenance Management (DMM) our 50/50 joint venture with Multiplex, with contracts in NSW and Victoria."

"Our first taste of major defence infrastructure came in the 1990's with the APIN (Army Presence in the North) project, where we delivered 11 APIN projects overall.

"We worked very hard to make sure that all came together for the men and women of the ADF as Army soldiers were moving from Sydney to a new facility.

"Defence flew soldiers from Sydney to show them where they and their families would be living, as the move was going to be a tough sell for families."

Structure
This was also around the time that the company was bought by Janet Holmes a Court's Heytesbury Pty Ltd.

Since then, the company has been progressively acquired by Leighton Holdings.

The business is split into a number of regional construction groups alongside national specialist groups for projects that involve water, tunnelling, power, rail, telecommunications and structural mechanical process (which is currently putting forward a proposal to supply blocks for three Air Warfare Destroyers (AWD's) for the RAN and have already priced the supply of blocks for the two Amphibious Ships the Landing Helicopter Docks (LHDs)).

John Holland Western Region is currently in the design phase for the $142 million RAAF Base Pearce project.

The redevelopment of RAAF Base Pearce will include a combination of new construction and refurbishment works including a fuel farm, engineering services, training and operational facilities, air movements facility, a combined mess, and living-in accommodation.

The project is the first redevelopment planned for RAAF Base Pearce and will focus on training output functions by replacing aged infrastructure and facilities to ensure the base can support pilot training, as well as operational deployments and exercises.

It will also provide aircraft maintenance facilities to ensure that the required aircraft are available for pilot training.

Construction work is expected to commence this year, with completion expected by mid 2011.

Work at RAAF Amberley outside of Brisbane for office accommodation, maintenance, simulator, warehousing and other support facilities for the four new C-17s plus upgrades to pavements is projected to be around $135 million.

Work at the Army training facility at Canungra is virtually complete and includes general base redevelopment involving adaptive reuse and refurbishment of multiple working and accommodation facilities, IT system and infrastructure; new facilities for armoury, convenience store, canteen and museum/visitor centre.

Defence accepted an alternative John Holland offer which better rationalised the training facilities and moved public access facilities, such as the visitor centre / museum, outside the working areas of the base.

The work at the Special Operations Working Accommodation (SOWA) in Tobruk Lines on the Holsworthy Barracks at the Liverpool Military Area, Sydney, is extensive.

The SOWA precinct comprises approximately 31 hectares, and includes the provision of new and refurbished buildings and structures, totalling approximately 56,000 m2 and approximately 73 buildings and structures, including working accommodation refurbished buildings, workshops, warehouses, vehicle bays, and other buildings and structures.

The works also include demolition of certain existing buildings and structures, construction of new buildings and structures, provision of new in-ground services and redirection of existing in-ground services, landscaping works, civil works and the placement of engineered fill.

The two user units will be 4RAR (approximately 600 - 700 personnel) and the Incident Response Regiment (approximately 150 personnel), both of which have their own purpose built facilities.

Maintenance and management
DMM provides fixed price, performance based facilities maintenance and base engineering operations, as well as management of local building and civil work across over 100 sites.

The scope of work covers the maintenance of all infrastructure at Defence's bases in Southern Victoria, Sydney West South and Sydney Central.

These regions include major Defence bases at Garden Island, Holsworthy, Richmond, Nowra, Puckapunyal, Watsonia, East Sale and inner Melbourne for the Navy, Army and Air Force.

Building systems and utilities including air conditioning, fuel storage, high voltage electricity, fire control, security, sewage treatment plants, airfield lighting and water supply are maintained to provide guaranteed performance for Defence.

The maintenance is delivered using a panel of subcontractors for each type of service.

Planning and control of the maintenance activities is achieved using an on-line database accessible to all its subcontractors through the DMM website.

Included with the service is the provision of a 24/7 call centre available to all Defence employees.

All requests for work are logged, assigned and tracked by DMM staff at the call centre.

Customer satisfaction surveys and site visits by operators ensure that the delivery of service meets Defence needs.

"DMM manages such a wide range of contracts and services that feedback from Defence is an important part of how the business is managed into the future," said Reddie.

DMM staff also manage the delivery of up to $120 million of local project works for Defence each year.

Projects vary in value from $6,000 to $10 million.

A strict procurement process is followed in the delivery of these projects to ensure value for money for the Commonwealth and probity.

Projects commence with a client concept which is then developed and delivered by DMM through to commissioning and operation.

Whole of life cost minimisation is a key focus and strength for DMM in all its maintenance and project activities.

To assist Defence with long term strategic maintenance planning, DMM produces fire safety surveys, asbestos condition surveys and infrastructure appraisals throughout the term of the contract.

Defence links
While founder Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Holland, who served in World War II in the Royal Australian Engineers Corps (RAE), retired from the business officially in the mid 1980s, links with Defence are kept alive through a number of professional development and awards programs.

The company provides merit awards to young Army engineering officers as well as a 12-month RAE captain's detachment to John Holland to provide practical and commercial experience since 1974.

There is also a similar program for British Army Engineers managed through the Royal School of Military Engineering.

"The John Holland Award has been presented to some 130 RAE officers since 1963 to the top technically and non-technically qualified officers graduating from the Royal Australian Engineer Regimental Officer Basic Course (ROBC) and the top graduating officer from the ROBC General Reserve," said Reddie.

Defence work in hand: Canungra redevelopment $95 million; Special Operations Holsworthy $130 million; RAAF Pearce redevelopment $142 million; C-17 facilities at RAAF Amberley $135 million; Enoggera redevelopment $65 million;

From Ansett ashes to John Holland Aviation Services

John Holland Aviation Services (JHAS) came into being in 2007 when the company acquired Ansett Aviation Engineering Services (AAES), a 65-year old firm with huge support services based at Melbourne's Tullamarine airport.

The company has seen massive growth with staffing levels jumping from the original 120 staff, to 360 people with an expected workforce of 550 needed in the coming year to cope with the influx of work.

The business is able to cater to the MRO needs of both civilian and military aircraft including the Airbus A320, A330, A340, Boeing 727, 737, 767, 747, 777, BAE's 146, C130 Hercules and C17.

JHAS provides aviation engineering servicing capabilities including aircraft maintenance, aircraft and component painting, structures support, calibration, wheels and brakes, hydraulic component support, instrument/electrical support, life support services, composite structures and non-destructive testing.

Six months after its launch in June last year, JHAS gained approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, European Aviation Safety Agency, the Australian Defence Force Technical Airworthiness regulator and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore to operate as an MRO.

The operation had previously been operating under approvals granted to its predecessor, Ansett Aviation Engineering Services.

JHAS is setting its sights high with a plan to service and maintain the double-decker A380s being acquired by several airlines in the Asia-Pacific, including Qantas and bidding for elements of the C130J through life support contract.