A major project spanning land and water is helping to bring Australia’s defence infrastructure into the future, sustainably.

On the strategically important Australian Defence Force base known as Larrakeyah Barracks, a $580m project is addressing reliability, flexibility, safety, and sustainability

From power supply to stormwater management, and from purposeful ICT to sewerage infrastructure, the Northern Territory’s Larrakeyah Barracks are undergoing much more than a facelift.

Since its original construction in 1932, the barracks and HMAS Coonawarra's berthing and fuel storage infrastructure at the 80-hectare Larrakeyah Defence Precinct provide vital service to the Royal Australian Navy, Army and Joint Task Force units in the Darwin area.

The Precinct, a strategically vital location from which military operations are mounted, deployed, and sustained, serves as Australia’s gateway to the Indo-Pacific.

Collaboratively delivering elevated capacity

The project is split across two parts, with infrastructure upgrades and increased capability being provided at Larrakeyah Barracks and HMAS Coonawarra, with ground broken in August 2018 and a completion date of February 2024.

The first component is the Larrakeyah Barracks Redevelopment, which will provide reliable, flexible, and sustainable infrastructure and facilities to address current deficiencies and risks, to enhance future Defence capability. This part of the project will upgrade key services including power, water, stormwater, sewerage and information and communications technology, along with a new Base Entry Precinct and new facilities for NORFORCE.

The second component focuses on facilities to support Navy operations, including a new outer wharf, warehousing and ready-use fuel storage at HMAS Coonawarra. This new wharf will accommodate varying combinations of major fleet units, minor war vessels, submarines, and other ancillary vessels.

The delivery of these projects is being managed by Laing O’Rourke under a Defence Managing Contractor contract.

The result

Laing O’Rourke has made a large, positive impact on the community, via one of the largest active construction projects in the Northern Territory.

We’re very proud that a high percentage of the works packages have been and continue to be delivered by local businesses. Also, a powerful strategy is being enacted for engaging Indigenous businesses.

The team is proudly delivering on our long and deep commitment to gender diversity and social inclusion, having recently been awarded the GOAL Indigenous Services Award for Engagement of First Nations Women at the 2021 NAWIC NT Awards for Excellence.

Our collaborative approach is also benefiting Defence as we are currently coordinating our works with other projects being carried out on Base.

To mitigate this risk, we drew on our vast experience on major, collaborative projects and undertook specific coordination reviews. We proactively work with project consultants and contract administrators to de-conflict design and delivery requirements to  support the future needs of these other projects.

This has included coordinating the location of the Joint Health Command Facility to reduce the requirement to remove an existing building containing the Base communications node.