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Babcock Australasia and South Australia’s leading developer, Commercial & General, have announced construction has commenced on a new $31 million integrated, manufacturing, warehouse, and office facility in Adelaide.
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Construction was officially started at a groundbreaking event attended by South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, Deputy Premier and Minister for Defence and Space Industries Susan Close, Member for Cheltenham Joe Szakacs, Commercial & General executive chair Jamie McClurg, Babcock Australasia chief executive officer Andrew Cridland, and City of Charles Sturt mayor Angela Evans.
The Torrens Road site in Adelaide’s western suburbs will include a 4,000-square-metre purpose-built manufacturing and maintenance building which will underpin Babcock’s support contracts for capabilities across the land and naval domains, with programs including the in-service sustainment for the Collins Class submarine fleet.
The facility will also include development of a separate 2,000-square-metre administrative support building while the remainder of the one-hectare site is being kept in readiness for potential expansion to cater for future AUKUS support.
Around 200 construction jobs will be supported through the building process, which will be undertaken by Tandem Building Group and is due to complete in Q3 2024.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said, “South Australia is spearheading the largest, most complex naval shipbuilding and defence projects in our nation’s history. Preparing the infrastructure and skills to support this defence capability is critical, and it relies on strong partnerships such as this one between Commercial & General and Babcock Australasia.”
The increased size of the new facility will enable Babcock to grow the number of ongoing highly skilled jobs from 65 to more than 100 compared with its current Osborne premises, with roles across engineering, project management, HR, finance, and commercial.
Jamie McClurg echoed the sentiments of Premier Malinauskas, saying, “This partnership is an important part of our portfolio growth in a sector that is creating sovereign capabilities for Australia and is a vital contributor to South Australia’s economy. There are heightened responsibilities and technical complexities that come with working with tier one defence organisations such as Babcock.”
Andrew Cridland added, “We are in an exciting and sustained phase of growth, having secured three landmark contracts totalling more than $1 billion over the past 12 months including a multi-million dollar 10-year contract to upgrade the ADF’s Defence High Frequency Communications System.”
“This new facility will be a critical enabler of our ability to not only service existing land and naval programs but to meet the once-in-a-generation opportunities that will be created in South Australia by the AUKUS trilateral partnership. It will be home to current and future generations of highly talented skilled individuals and teams, who will get to work on some of our country’s largest and most important defence projects right here in Adelaide,” Cridland added.
According to Babcock’s Plan Zero 40 roadmap, the facility has been designed to be operationally net zero from the outset through a range of technologies, including rainwater harvesting, large-scale rooftop solar, electric plant and equipment, and the use of electric fleet vehicles.
The Torrens Road development is being funded through Commercial & General’s latest investment fund, which will retain ownership of the property, and as part of the ongoing partnership, Babcock has committed to a long-term tenancy agreement.
