Programmed wins $270m maintenance job

Burswood-based Programmed Maintenance Services has won a $270 million contract to maintain assets at the University of Wollongong’s Student Accommodation project over a 39-year term.

The scope of work at the NSW university comprises asset management services including maintenance, capital works, utilities management, refurbishment services and environmental efficiency strategies.

It includes the maintenance of an initial 1,906 student beds across nine sites, while Hutchison Builders has been contracted by the university to construct an additional 744 student beds in the next four years, which Programmed will then add to its work scope.

“We are pleased that our investment in developing a pipeline of opportunities in the infrastructure sector is continuing to pay dividends,” managing director Christopher Sutherland said.

The contract win follows financial close on the project today by Living and Learning Partners, a consortium between Balfour Beatty Investments and HRL Morrison’s PIP Fund.

The consortium will provide the university with a funding package, which will be used to invest in teaching and research ventures.

The contract will be a sigh of relief for the staffing, maintenance and project services company, which, in November, recorded a drop in profit for the six months to September to $9.8 million, as a result of a “continued fall in available work in the resources sector”.

Shares in Programmed were 4 per cent lower at $2.40 per share at the close of trade.