BGC eyeing hospital project

After securing the $335 million fixed-price contract to build Perth’s multi-purpose indoor stadium, Len Buckeridge’s BGC is now under pressure to deliver by early 2010.

The deal, which had been expected for some weeks, is the largest single building contract ever awarded to the construction giant and took six months of negotiations to hammer out.

So enthused by the win, Mr Buckeridge had reportedly stated he is now after another state government icon project, the $1.1 billion Fiona Stanley Hospital, which is to be built at Murdoch in Perth’s southern suburbs.

However, BGC staff have tempered the magnate’s keenness, suggesting that the construction giant will have more than enough on its plate with its current workload.

BGC general manager Gerry Forde told WA Business News it would be a challenge, but certainly not impossible, for the company to handle such a project given it would likely be constructed in stages.

“I think Len is getting a bit ahead of himself at the moment, but I doubt the construction contract will be handed out in one hit when the time comes,” he said.

BGC has spent the past six months amassing a sub-contactor army in case it won the arena contract, and Mr Forde said it had high hopes of completing the project on time and on budget.

“Six months ago there was too much risk involved for us in this project and we’ve since spent a lot of time with the Department of Housing and Works to come to a risk sharing arrangement,” he said.

“The construction risk is ours but the government has taken on the design risk…we’re comfortable with that.”

Located next to the dilapidated Perth Entertainment Centre, the Arena will be capable of seating up to 12,000 sports fans or as many as 14,000 concert goers and will have a retractable roof.

Earth works are expected to start on site within weeks in preparation for a 680-bay underground car park below the complex, itself a late inclusion in the arena plans.

Housing and Works minister Michelle Roberts said once the Arena was in use, traffic flow in and out of the complex would be the same as if the site had an open-air car park.

The original car park was intended to be built adjacent to Perth Arena, over the Perth-Fremantle railway line; however, the option is no longer viable due to the delay of the government’s Northbridge Link plans.