Ever Evolving Teamwork

TEAMWORK: Delivering successful project outcomes is our core business, developing our team’s relationships and capacity to work effectively in teams enhances our capacity to do this.

BSE’s teams connect regularly, often over some tasty food, refreshing drinks and fun activities. BSE’s Melbourne team has expanded to 6, recently everyone stepped away from the computers to share lunch, laughs and ideas. The Sydney RECO committee (staff led social and recognition committee) took the team out for an informal lunch in the winter sunshine.

In addition to the lunches, BSE celebrated a successful financial year with several very competitive rounds of ten-pin bowling, giving many laughs and the inevitable controversary of who the actual winner was! We’re still undecided if it was Chris Moore or Andrew Crowe.

Our approach to this team relationship building, is both planned and reactive. Intentionally planned, budgeted and organised, while flexible in opportunities, capturing snippets of non-resourced time and filling them with fun.

Kennards Hire equipment opens new store at Airport West, Victoria

The newest Kennards Hire equipment warehouse has recently opened in Airport West, Victoria. Kennards Hire is renowned for equipment hire for small and larger projects across Australia and New Zealand. The BSE VIC team collaborated with MCHP Architects and Kennards Hire to provide the design documentation for the new Kennards Hire outlet building. This project was listed as a pilot project to accommodate a larger than usual Kennards store which allowed for internal vehicular access.

 BSE was assigned to document the relevant services documentation aligned with the Kennards design standards and liaise with the relevant electricity and water authorities for the external connections. BSE delivered electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and fire services as well as documenting in Revit which was key from a services coordination perspective given the amount of exposed services.

Preston Medical Centre design stage complete

The newly proposed Preston Medical Centre located at 353 Plenty Road, Preston, has recently completed the design phase. In collaboration with architects COAD88, BSE’s Victorian team designed and documented services solutions for electrical (lighting and power), hydraulic and fire protection. The Medical Centre will include two floors of reception/ welcome spaces, medical and consulting rooms, carpark and capacity for ambulance entry. The striking design of reverse flat roof and quality finishes gives the building presence in this location. The Centre will provide the local community with qualified doctors, health practitioners and a welcoming place.

Our design team used creative design and practiced methods to deliver this design and are looking forward to seeing the building come to life during construction soon.

BSE attends PCA’s Annual Women in Property Lunch

BSE’s Sydney team recently attended the NSW Property Council’s Annual Women in Property Lunch! With bubbles, a fabulous lunch and guest speaker Magda Szubanski AO, we had a great time listening to topical discussion and a few jokes around inclusion in the workplace with more than 1000 other industry professionals! BSE is an ally of diversity in the workplace, it was great that so many of our fantastic female team members were able to enjoy the afternoon.

Department of Education & Training team moves into a new office space

A new commercial space is now complete for the Department of Education and Training, Victoria. BSE’s Victorian team delivered building services along with Jones Lang LaSalle as the project managers. The government fitout is approximately 1,100sqm, encompassing open plan office, meeting room, workstations and a new large kitchen to accommodate roughly 100 team members.  

This new flexible workspace has views of Melbourne to Port Philip Bay and allows the DET’s team to improve engagement and collaboration through coworking and shared office solutions. The design is to DET’s office standards is aligned with their operational needs. BSE’s team were able to supplement base-building supply to allow sufficient lighting to all workstations and meet lighting quality requirements. Services delivered were electrical, communication, security, mechanical, fire and hydraulic services across tender documentation and construction services.

RECO Peer Recognition for May [Sydney]

WINNER! | Michael Yan received May’s RECO award from our Sydney team, nominated by his peers for outstanding customer service and exceptional project results. Each month our winner receives a certificate, trophy and gift card.

RECO is a team member led group in our Sydney office who focus on giving our teams different ways to engage with each other and provide a platform for positive peer recognition. This year’s committee is Kenneth Tang, Mike Taherian and Jessica Chesser.

Pedestrian safety is boosted at Deakin University

Godfrey Frederick, BSE’s National Business Development Manager recently visited Deakin University in Melbourne to have a look at one of BSE’s projects on the campus. We recently designed part of the new street lighting infrastructure at the Burwood Campus entry. Congratulations to the BSE Melbourne team for a job well done.

BSE has undertaken a pedestrian safety upgrade project for the Entrance 2 at the Burwood campus. Construction and installation phases are complete.

Wesley Hospital, Ashfield is in full operation

Located in the Sydney’s Inner west, Wesley Hospital in Ashfield offers patients and hospital staff well equipped accommodations and for their care.

The hospital recently conducted an upgrade project carried which included the new construction of 4 recreation rooms along with the refurbishment of entry, reception, offices and nurses’ stations and ancillary works throughout the existing private hospital.

BSE’s design team tackled the challenge of limited as-installed information by undertaking detailed investigation to understand and document the existing services. The services designed were engineered and planned to enable the facility to continue full operation across the entire upgrade program.

BSE provided professional engineering consulting services including mechanical and electrical services, which were were designed to support the operational requirements of the hospital with robust plant and equipment selection, ease of maintenance and the safety of occupants a prime consideration. With Impact Group as Project Manager and BSE as services engineers, this project was delivered successfully - on time and on budget.

Image Credit: Wesley Mission

Revamp of TC Beirne Building & B. Lucky Sons Fit-out

The revamp of TC Beirne Building and B. Lucky & Sons’ newest gaming venue are now open to the public! BSE partnered with both project teams across to deliver base-building upgrades and tenancy fit-out to deliver these outstanding rejuvenated spaces.

TC Beirne Building, a heritage listed building located in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley underwent a full base-building upgrade. BSE partnered with Funlab to revitalize the building delivering mechanical, hydraulic, gas and fire services consulting engineering.

Credit: B. Lucky & Sons

Following TC Beirne’s all services upgrade, BSE partnered with Funlab to deliver mechanical fit-out services to create a relaxing and entertaining recreational space for B. Lucky & Sons within the TC Beirne Building. The new space offers customers a singular experience of entertaining new and old-school arcade games with kitchens offering pizza to prawn crackers and a full-service luxury bar.

 The approach of delivering tenancies in a building after a base building upgrade, is an approach which all of BSE’s design teams appreciate. Given the opportunity to design a tenancy space gives our engineers the ability to take full advantage of a new and well documented base-building design. This ensures a high quality, buildable and maintenance-effective outcome.

Queensland’s Largest Police Station opens

BSE team members recently attended the opening of the largest police station in Queensland. The Brisbane City Police Station is a new $13.5 million facility which is now home to approximately 300 police officers.

The station has multiple floors totalling approximately 5,100sqm and features holding cells, interview rooms, general office, training spaces and a control room for managing events around the CBD.

 BSE delivered a range of engineering services including fire, hydraulic, mechanical, electrical, security and audio visual, to help create an environment that will provide Queensland Police Service with the tools and flexibility to complete their tasks efficiently.

 BSE worked in conjunction with Queensland Police Service, Harry Poulos Architects, Building as Asset Services (BAS), Public Safety Business Agency (PSBA), Blades Project Services, and Abri Projects and is proud to be a part of the project team.

 You can read more about the project here: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/queensland-s-largest-operational-police-station-opens-in-brisbane-s-cbd-20190320-p515zr.html

Curved fins of iconic architecture shines over Sydney’s skyline

The Arc By Crown is a $250m residential mixed-use development on Clarence Street that has set sail with the curved fins complete on the striking buildings. The development is now fully operational with the rooftop garden and Horizon Lounge providing a new perspective on the Sydney skyline.

This iconic tower located in the Sydney CBD comprises of a 25-storey tower including a mix of 173 one, two and three-bedroom apartments, 42 serviced apartments and two levels of specialty retail. This is a building with state-of-the-art building services and amenities second to none in the residential market.

 Koichi Takada Architects (KTA) designed this impressive structure alongside developer Crown Group. BSE designed the electrical, mechanical and fire services engineering respectfully with the existing heritage façade on the lower levels requiring an innovative design approach.

Photo Credit: Alexis Cella from Ethos Urban

Refreshed PIF

BSE were pleased to be among guests at PIF’s brand re-fresh and calendar launch, hosted by WT Partnership in Sydney recently. Kate Mills, CEO of PIF provided her vision for the evolving organisation – Building Homes for Homeless Youth, with her commitment to clear and simple messaging, a national approach to industry engagement as drivers to increase beds built for homeless youth.

The insights provided by PIF Ambassador Greg Paramor AO were generous - philanthropy rather than charity and the unimportance of wealth in relation to giving, with the conclusion that no one is better placed to have an impact with transition accommodation for homeless youth, than the property industry.

BSE has been a passionate supporter of the Property Industry Foundation for many years, as a corporate donor, fundraiser, event supporter, and through initiatives allowing our team members to volunteer their time at fundraising events and provide their technical expertise to PIF building projects.

CSR Prequalification received for BSE’s Victorian Office

BSE’s presence in Victoria continues to flourish, with the team receiving Construction Supplier Registration pre-qualification from Victoria’s Department of Treasury and Finance in February 2019. The Construction Supplier Register (CSR) is an open pre-qualification scheme for construction works and services suppliers for Victorian Government construction projects.

Occupational Health and Safety is a crucial aspect of BSE’s successful CSR application, prioritising the health and safety of our team members and the occupants of the spaces we design. As Designers under Section 28 of Victoria’s OHS Act 2004, our approach to design ensures that users of workspaces designed by BSE meet the requirements of the Act for our clients and project partners, by identifying hazards and eliminating or minimising the potential harm through engineering controls as far as reasonably practical.

Australia’s OHS/ WHS landscape continues with complexity despite attempts to standardise legislation and approaches across different state and territory jurisdictions. Operating across Australia, BSE’s commitment to workplace health and safety is founded on consistency and specialised local knowledge. A comprehensive system that meets the requirements of our different office and project locations while providing compliance with varying local obligations.

Combining WHS commitments under BSE’s certified quality management system (ISO9001:2015) ensures that business and project goals are aligned, while promoting safe, quality engineering design and team member health and safety.  

Project Flashback | Amazing ‘Gracewood’

BSE is proud to be associated with the seniors living and aged care development for the multi-award winning Gracewood independent living community in Kellyville.

 The seniors living project which opened at the end of 2016 is two new residential seniors style apartment clusters for the stage 2 addition to the Baptistcare Gracewood Community. The new apartments comprise eighty (80) 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments that are integrated with the existing development.  Additionally, a new state-of-the-art aged care facility known as the Gracewood Centre has recently opened becoming home for 138 residents, who will have access to all levels of care, including 32 specialised dementia care rooms.

 Both developments were constructed by Lipman.

 BSE’s Chief Executive Officer Andrew Fraser commented, “BSE has provided a range of building services engineering consultancy for the Gracewood development since 2013. In that time, we have watched Gracewood grow to become a major community of people enjoying retirement living in the heart of the Hills District”

Grand Opening for Pyrmont’s commercial atrium

The Atrium at 60 Union Street in Pyrmont held its grand opening on January 31st . BSE’s team leader on the project, Ryan Kidd was in attendance and commented on the opening “ It was great to be part of the opening ceremony which marks the culmination of two years works on site for BSE. With BSE first being engaged in 2017, initially working as part of the client’s design team, with our onsite role developing to include novation to the contractor (Buildcorp) to undertake design completion of the electrical, fire and hydraulics services. Furthermore, being engaged by multiple office and retail tenants within the building for completion of their internal fitout design works, the finished article looks well worth the effort. Particular challenges included the correct specification and location of services while considering both functional and aesthetic details to maintain the architectural intent of the various spaces”

The Atrium is a mix of commercial office (16,500 sqm) and retail space (3,000sqm). The Atrium was built a decade ago and the owners AFIAA  identified the opportunity to enhance the building by creating a new end of trip facility, upgrade of floors, new lift lobbies and amenities.

BSE successfully partnered with the project team to deliver our engineering services from project inception through construction and post construction support.

A new creative space for the children of Western Sydney

A new creative writing hub in Parramatta has recently opened for children around Western Sydney. The new centre was officially opened by Mr Jihad Dib, Shadow Education Minister. Story Factory provides an opportunity for children to author their own novels, write poetry with the guidance of storytellers, tutors and volunteers. The workshop space is aimed towards marginalised youths and their goal is to continue this through schools and at their Redfern Centre.

 Andrew Fraser, CEO of BSE has given his personal time and provided consulting engineering advice on the project. Andrew Fraser commented that “BSE is grateful to be able to assist the Story Factory in establishing yet another of their unique and inspirational workshops “

 BSE encourages team members to volunteer their time to worthy causes, by donating a portion of hours for pro-rata or volunteer work each quarter. Team members have been actively involved with the Property Industry Foundation for many years through this initiative.

Photo Credit: Story Factory

An environmental and sustainable focus at Suez fitout

BSE was engaged by Engine Room VM for services design in a new space for Suez, located at 3-5 Rider Boulevard, Rhodes. This project involved a two-floor commercial office fitout for Suez over approximately 4,000m2, including collaborative workspaces, breakout areas and private meeting rooms to the client’s specific and innovative ‘wish-list’. With an environmental and sustainable focus, BSE tailored our design solutions to the vision with soft lighting, natural finishes and focus on operational efficiency.  

Photo Credit: Simon Whitbread Photography

BSE provided electrical, hydraulic, fire and mechanical services engineering from concept design through to construction services and inspections, partnering with Engine Room VM, RFA Architects & Schiavello Construction and Suez’s executive team to deliver this project on time and budget.

Photo Credit: Simon Whitbread Photography

Winners for NSW MBA award – Bishop Barker House

BSE’s Sydney team is honoured to be a part of the project team for the award-winning Bishop Barker House. Through Architect Mayoh Architects, Berents Project Management and builder, Stephen Edwards Constructions, the project received the award for NSW Best Student accommodation project over $7.5 million in value. This was awarded to Bishop Barker House at the Kings School, Parramatta.

Photo Credit: Stephen Edward Constructions

 The Bishop Barker Harris House project involved major additions and alterations to an existing structure to construct a new three storey boarding house. The new facility includes dorm rooms and a range of study and recreation areas.  

 BSE delivered mechanical, electrical, fire services, and vertical transportation works for all stages.

Maggie Xia (Senior Electrical Engineer) who was BSE’s team leader on the project commented “this is a fantastic success for the whole project team. This was a challenging project as we had to work within an existing building shell to create a successful outcome. Many challenges related to the engineering services were overcome during the design so that all services have been designed to compromise the existing building structure with minimum impact or penetration. All services have also been designed to suit various construction types and fire rating under bushfire hazard. We are really happy to have contributed to the success of this project”.

Photo Credit: Mayoh Architects & Stephen Edward Constructions

Seasons Greetings From BSE

BSE conquers the Amazing Race!

BSE’s Sydney team participated in an Amazing Race event as part of our EOY celebrations around Sydney CBD disguised as superheroes!

Our team members were mixed up into groups – Batman, Iron Man, Captain America, Superman, Hulk and Spiderman -  and completed a range of challenges around the city which tested their knowledge of popular culture, Sydney history, creativity and the ability to cooperate as a team.

Congratulations to the winning team! Lead by Kresimir Mali, Godfrey Frederick, Ping Lu and Catherine Nguyen made up Team-Spiderman who were the clear winners.

 After the win, Kresimir had this to say: “Fantastic event! We had a great time! The team really enjoyed the interaction and activity combined with a bit of fun and friendly competition. The event was a well-organised and memorable experience”.