Defence

Defence is a key specialty for Norman Disney & Young (NDY). We understand that defence projects are rarely about a building, but are driven by a strategic need or capability.

In addition to offering exciting projects of large scale and complexity, Defence initiatives allow us to contribute as an organisation to the security of our region.

Every Defence project that goes through NDY is led by a core team or individuals with sound Defence experience, and we carefully introduce new engineers in support roles to become familiar with the Defence environment.

The NDY Defence group sets up project specific plans, conducts initial internal team briefings, reviews each milestone report and deliverable, and captures any lessons learnt on the way to continually improve our offering.

NDY understands that Defence is interested in clever and innovative solutions that deliver value for money, and that unlike other users, Defence own and operate their own infrastructure. We also understand that Defence are unable to insure their assets, and that their ongoing reliability is crucial. We have applied these requirements to projects ranging from the Lead In Fighter Simulators at RAAF Williamstown and RAAF Pearce, to the Single LEAP Stage II Living In Accommodation project across Australia, and we continually deliver to the Defence’s specific needs.

Due to their specialised operational requirements, Defence have developed their own approach to ESD.

In Australia, this is captured in the Green Building Toolkit and the BePM. NDY has experience with these, and understand where and why they differ from a standard Green Star approach. We understand the importance of Whole Of Life (WOL) costing, and also of ongoing sustainment of individual systems in a rapidly changing global environment.

We have combined our native problem solving capabilities and leading edge technology experience with our detailed understanding of Defence methodologies. From this we have developed a tailored approach to Defence needs allowing us to deliver innovative, value for money solutions within Defence’s specific framework, and without compromising Defence’s key requirements of reliability and Whole of Life cost savings.

Our smart, sustainable solutions can deliver significant savings on defence projects. On one recent Canberra project, NDY’s expertise helped lower whole-of-life costs by more than 25 per cent while eliminating environmental impacts.

We’ve helped our defence clients achieve significant financial savings by addressing building operations issues – from energy and emissions minimisation to water conservation, and from waste management to noise reduction. On the Single LEAP Stage II project, for instance, we delivered a 30% improvement in water efficiency and 20% improvement on energy efficiency at the Puckapunyal Military Area and Simpson Barracks sites in Victoria.

And we continue to develop efficient, cost-effective solutions that deliver on the ‘triple bottom line’ of environmental, economic and social sustainability.

NDY Defence in Australia

In the late 1980’s NDY conducted energy audits on Defence bases in Queensland, helping Defence with their first sustainable initiatives.

From there, we become involved in masterplanning and building design for Defence precincts such as the Canberra Russel complex. Now, a quarter of a century later, NDY is working with Defence on projects ranging from medical centres to ground facilities in support of the new Battlefield Airlifters.

In March 2014 the final Single LEAP Stage II site at Robertson Barracks in the Northern Territory was accepted. The $900M national project was designed to raise the standard of single living in accommodation across Australia to come into line with community standards, enabling Defence to attract and retain personnel to provide the strength and capability to defend our country.

NDY is actively involved in ongoing works at bases across Australia, and we have created a specialist Defence group including representatives in each Australian NDY office. We have developed a range of Defence-specific project delivery and design guides capturing the DEQMS policies and standards, and the lessons we have learnt.

Every NDY Defence project is led by personnel with Defence specific experience, and the NDY Defence group creates a project specific delivery plan, and reviews every report and deliverable before issue.

In addition to core electrical, mechanical, fire, hydraulics and communications projects, we are providing SCEC advisory services, and through our DISP facilities are able to process and store documents up to and including confidential.

A key to our success is understanding that Defence projects are rarely about a building or infrastructure item, but are driven by a strategic need or capability. By making sure we understand both the specific capability requirements of each project, as well as maintaining our knowledge of long term strategic goals such as the redistribution of personnel as reported in the Defence Posture Review, we are able to able to better understand project requirements and assist in scoping design to accommodate future needs.

We have a good knowledge of the DEQMS delivery methodologies, and of Defence standards including the MFPE, MIEE, Defence Communications Standard, Defence Server Room Standard, Building Energy Performance Manual, Defence Security Manual and others.

In several cases we have used our detailed knowledge of Defence standards and methodologies to complete peer review roles, including specialist computing/ data centre facilities and also separate Joint Health Command projects at RAAF Pearce, Puckapunyal, Gallipoli Barracks, Larrakeyah Barracks, RAAF Townsville, and 2nd General Health Battalion.

Our goal is to become the Defence services engineering consultant of choice through our specialised understanding of Defence processes and requirements, and we are continually working to improve our offering to achieve this.

Get in touch with our team

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Ragz Padayachi
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Michael Sullivan
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William McCulloch
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Mike Arnold
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Paul Bradbury

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