ProjectMacquarie Correctional Centre

The Macquarie Correctional Centre at Wellington in regional New South Wales is a 400-bed, maximum security correctional centre for male inmates. Inside the secure perimeter, the rapid-build prison includes 4 accommodation buildings, housing inmates in 4 dormitories of 25 beds each. This type of rapid-build facility was a pioneering concept, unprecedented in Australia’s construction history.

TSA Riley provided project management, contract management, and superintendency services. We led the rapid-build prison project team from project concept in May 2016 to completion in late 2017.

The facility is made up of 14 buildings (primarily single storey), has 3 layers of fencing (2 of which are security fencing approximately 5 metres high) and more than 5 km of secure fencing. A state-of-the-art electronic security system with over 600 cameras allows video motion detection and video analytics to monitor inmate movement by day and night.

Due to the extremely compressed project timeline, sustainability was not given a high priority. The desire from Justice was simply to get the facility constructed and operational in the shortest timeframe possible. The project was completed in just 54 weeks, despite experiencing the wettest winter on record in Western New South Wales.

A subsequent Infrastructure New South Wales ‘Health Check in Delivery’ gateway review stated: “What has been achieved in the timeframe is industry-leading and sets a new benchmark in project delivery in terms of time and meeting the users’ expectations”.

The project won the 2018 NSW Australian Institute of Project Management project achievement award within the ‘regional projects’ category. The builder, Hansen Yuncken, was also a finalist in the 2018 Australian Construction Achievement Awards.