Overview

Wagga Wagga City Council provides sewage services for over 18,000 residential and 2,000 nonresidential properties. The sewage network consists of over 530km of gravity and pressure mains and 36 pump stations.

All sewage is transported to one of the council’s 6 treatment plants where solids are removed and the remaining wastewater is further treated to remove impurities. The treated effluent is either discharged into the river or reused for irrigation.

The main objective of the project was to upgrade the sewage treatment plants at the Narrung Street and Kooringal facilities, including the continued use of existing structures and process elements at each of the plants. Increased capacity and improved quality was required and provided by new Sequenced Batch Reactors installed at each plant.

Solution

Tenix Alliance contracted SAGE to provide the high level and detailed design for both the Narrung Street and Kooringal sites. The concurrent design and build of the major panels were constructed and delivered over a very tight time frame, as directed by Tenix Alliance.

Result

The tight deadline of the project provided by the client was a challenge for SAGE. The panel contract was signed in March 2009 with the first panel shipped to site in August 2009. In May 2009, SAGE had 60 staff working on the project including Designers, Managers, Engineers, CAD drafters and workshop personnel. At the time when SAGE had 60 staff on the project, it represented just under 1/3 of our total workforce in South Australia.

Pooling our recourses in this manner, demonstrates the commitment SAGE has to delivering certainty for our clients.

To meet the tight deadline, SAGE also undertook a unique process in designing and constructing the methodology to ensure timely delivery. The panels were designed and constructed simultaneously – working off typical wiring diagrams rather than schematic electrical drawings and motor starter material spreadsheets, as per client specifications. As detailed field descriptions were not available, significant flexibility was built into the design to accommodate scope changes from site.

Due to this required flexibility in the design, the project was run on a target / estimate pricing model with a + / - margin to accommodate the unknown factors and the implications this may have on the final cost. SAGE worked closely and transparently with Tenix Alliance throughout the project to ensure that both the project and cost outcomes were met.