Abergeldie Complex Infrastructure

Case Study: Canberra Light Rail Stage 2 – Raising London Circuit

Our client

Abergeldie is a privately owned civil engineering contractor with over 30 years’ experience delivering projects in the infrastructure, rail and transport, utilities and energy industry sectors in Australia and New Zealand.   Abergeldie is based on the east coast of Australia with operating business units in New Zealand and Ireland.

The requirement

Abergeldie required Commercial and Procurement Management to drive project planning, contract administration, subcontract packages and monthly reporting requirements. A sound understanding of GC21 Contract Conditions and Schedule of Rate mechanics was required to ensure back-to-back provisions to subcontractors and internal budget monitoring processes.  Project specific requirements included:

  • Establishing rights and obligation requirements for project planning and execution purposes
  • Development and implementation a bespoke suite of head contract notices, subcontract agreements, professional service agreements and template proformas for project use.
  • Identify financial and contractual risks, develop risk mitigation, and implement contingency plans and strategies.
  • Maintain registers of variations and claims, delays, instructions, etc.
  • Manage, develop and oversee the implementation of financial and commercial strategies.
  • Develop claims and variations and provide notices where necessary.
  • Conduct financial analysis to identify potential cost-saving opportunities and forecast future project expenses.
  • Prepared all monthly management accounts and quarterly re-forecasts

The challenges

Key challenges faced included –

  • Significant design changes post contract award during the mobilisation and early works phase.
  • Brownfields complexities with existing underground services, construction staging and stakeholder management of key local authorities.
  • Constructability issues with awarded design and incoming design changes created significant engineering management issues.

Our approach

Dreyfus worked with the Project Director and engineering team to:

  • Systematically work through project changes, impacts and cause-effect relationship against budget
  • Collaborated proactively to work through commercial, financial and procurement issues with the project team.
  • Adopted working level proficiency across the project engineering team and senior reporting level.
  • Timely and accurately produced claims, reports and commercial briefings on entitlement, issues and delay analyses.
  • Reconciled plant, labour, material and subcontract costs against budget items for payment, benchmarking and change analysis requirements.
  • Effectively controlled forecasting, cost monitoring and subcontract committed costs and variations changes.

The benefits

Benefits to Abergeldie included:

  • Improved efficiency and streamlined cost, data and productivity reporting processes.
  • Commercial entitlements correctly captured and recommended for head contract claims.
  • Procurement and subcontract packages maintained back-to-back terms and conditions with the head contract for risk mitigation.
  • Cost mitigation through successful negotiation of subcontractor variation and delay claims.