Perkins begins $24m prison upgrade

Perkins Builders has been awarded an early works contract as part of the state government’s $23.7 million upgrade to the Bunbry Regional Prison.

The project features construction of a 160-bed, two-storey accommodation unit, but contracts for this work have not yet been awarded.

It also includes upgrades to the reception and educational facilities, as well as the kitchen and a dining room.

Corrective Services Minister Fran Logan said it was pleasing that work had begun.

"It is by using the existing prison footprints and adding new units that we can bring new beds online in nearly a third of the time of a new prison, and for a fraction of the cost,” he said.

"We are not just putting more prisoners in without improving the infrastructure, and as part of the $23.7 million package there will be much-needed upgrades to the reception and educational facilities as well as the kitchen and a dining room."

The new Bunbury unit is one of five to be will be built on existing prison footprints.

Four new units will be constructed at Casuarina Prison, adding 512 beds to the prison estate.

The five new units and the extra beds already been added to existing cells throughout Western Australian jails will result in nearly 900 new beds expected by the end of 2019.

Also announced today was the refurbishment of a previously closed accommodation unit at Bunbury Regional Prison, which will add an immediate 37 beds to the prison.