Gulf Construction Online - ISG completes key phase of UOWD campus

Contractors

UOWD campus ... first phase ready for handover.

ISG completes key phase of UOWD campus

01 July 2020

ISG, a construction services company, says it has completed Phase One of University of Wollongong Dubai’s new campus at Dubai Knowledge Park.

The first phase of the new high-specification 200,000-sq-ft, seven-floor campus development has seen ISG hand over levels one, three, four and six to the university.

These key areas house UOWD’s renowned International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Centre, alongside students’ lounges, laboratories and lecture theatres, and the university’s leadership, management, and administration offices.

Having commenced on site last November, this first phase handover is fully aligned with the fast-track programme that will see ISG deliver the new campus, ahead of the start of the new academic year in September.

With a focus on the health, safety, and wellbeing of every operative across its sites, and in strict compliance with the UAE government’s health and safety guidelines, ISG worked diligently to successfully mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on productivity, says the company.

Comprehensive measures have included the review of safe travel to and from site, one-way site route planning, agile shift patterns and flexing the number of operatives on site to conform with strict social distancing regulations.

ISG has also recruited dedicated occupational health first responders and introduced daily temperature checking of operatives, as part of a robust package of measures to maintain consistently high productivity rates, it adds.

As one of the region’s most innovative contractors, ISG has accelerated the roll out of visualisation technology to reduce the requirement for site visits during the crisis.

Using 360-degree cameras, inspections and validation work have been carried out remotely, increasing efficiencies for operatives and project stakeholders.

Project teams across the territory have also utilised the UAE’s official contact-tracing app to allow timely and accurate identification of any infection risks.

Middle East General Manager Scott McCulloch says: “Celebrating this key programme milestone for the UOWD has extra resonance during this unprecedented global crisis. By adopting a smart, agile and, above all, a robustly safe approach, and working in full collaboration with every project stakeholder, we have collectively risen to the challenge of operating in this ‘new normal’ and achieved an outstanding result,” he notes.

McCulloch says technology had certainly played an important role in maintaining ISG’s productivity rates on site, and its strong tech-led credentials have helped it to deploy smart innovations quickly to generate immediate efficiency benefits.

“I would like to thank our outstanding project team for demonstrating the creativity, drive, and professionalism to operate under the most demanding of circumstances. And our client UOWD, Woods Bagot, Cundall, C&B, other project consultants and our valued supply chain partners, who have supported us tremendously, in our strive to deliver this project safely,” he adds.