Sydney Gymnastic & Aquatics Centre – Value Engineering Through ECI

The Sydney Gymnastic and Aquatic Centre (SGAC) designed by COX Richardson Architects features a 4,000 sq.m Olympic grade gymnastics facility, two 25 metre swimming pools and a sports medicine and rehabilitation centre. Northrop were engaged by FDC Construction on behalf of Rooty Hill RSL to value engineer and finalise documentation for the project after the project came in over budget. The project was the extension of previous work Northrop have completed at Rooty Hill RSL including a multistorey car park structure. The project was completed in 2013.

Northrop worked closely with FDC Construction to consider the most cost effective construction methods and systems for the project. This included:

  • The use of precast concrete with insitu ‘wet joint’ system to construct the internal rainwater tank
  • Coordination with the project geotechnical engineer to value engineer the foundations system resulting in the elimination of a significant number of piles foundations on the project
  • Discussions with FDC and steel contractors in order to engineer the most efficient steel structure, not only with respect to steel tonnage but also steel fabrication
  • Coordination with the pool consultant who retained design responsibility for the pool structural design

Only by working closely with FDC as well as contractors were Northrop able to find efficiencies cost and time. Our collaborative approach also allowed us to have agility to adjust our design to latent site conditions such as unexpected ground conditions which became apparent at the time of excavation. Northrop were able to quickly minor amendments to the foundation and retention systems avoiding any delays for the builder and additional costs to the client as a result of the latent site conditions. 

rooty hill
Client Name
FDC Construction & Fitout

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