ISG, a dynamic construction services company, said 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 English Language Testing System (IELTS) Centre, alongside students’ lounges, laboratories and lecture theatres, and the university’s leadership, management, and administration offices. 

 

Commencing on site in November 2019, 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 an absolute focus on the health, safety, and wellbeing of every operative across its sites, and strict compliance with UAE Government’s health and safety guidelines, ISG worked diligently to successfully mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on productivity, said the statement.

 

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 added.

 

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 GM Scott McCulloch said: "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 noted. 

 

McCulloch said 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 added. 

 

Andy Phillips, the chief operating officer of UOWD, said: "We are building the campus of the future with a focus on delivering a first-class education environment that meets the demands of evolving higher education models. Being in Dubai gives us access to some of the most advanced technologies in the world, which have been woven into the fabric of our new building." 

 

"Our campus will have state-of-the-art facilities that will enhance our student experience, support modern teaching methodologies, and cater to the increasing expectations of the new age higher education model," he stated. 

 

“Students will benefit from the cutting-edge technologies, modern architecture, and a mix of traditional and innovative learning spaces.  We are looking forward to opening our new campus at the start of the Autumn semester,” he added.

 

From the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, ISG and its key stakeholders have been working closely to accommodate the immediate and future potential requirements for social distancing measures on the newly created teaching, social and administrative spaces at the campus. 

 

This collaborative approach has enabled spatial planning revisions to be made and dynamically incorporated into physical spaces with negligible impact to the programme.-TradeArabia News Service