OPRA Projects were engaged to undertake Arups’s Office expansion on Level 8 of Exchange Tower. The works consisted of 31 new workstations, a ten-person meeting room, four-person meeting room – breakout area and collaboration zone, an informal lounge area and two layout benches; for review of drawings and documentation. AV was included in the ten-person meeting room and the two collaboration zones.
The project was tendered on preliminary drawings with careful allowances made for the budget item and additional items that would most likely be required for the space as understood from the project brief. Floor to slab acoustic walls was constructed for the meeting rooms to ensure complete privacy for meetings and while an Audio Visual system is being used.
COVID-19 impacted the project after the first week on site. Changes were immediately made to site inductions, hygiene routines and trades were further staged to spread out the impact from the number of people in the worksite with social distancing protocols. COVID impacted furniture and AV lead times with some delays attributed to COVID uncertainty. The final delivery of the project was timed to ensure completion of works coincided with the delivery of workstations and furniture to allow the space to be used from PC.