Macquarie Correctional Centre, Rapid Build

Client
Hansen Yuncken

Location
Wellington, New South Wales

Completed
2019

Value
$180 million

Role
Structural, civil, hydraulic and wet fire engineering services

Macquarie Correctional Centre, one of the State’s the first innovative new ‘rapid build’ prisons.

With the State’s prison population growing, urgent action was required to ensure new inmates could be accommodated without compromising safety or security. A ‘rapid build’ design was developed that allowed both Hunter and Macquarie to be built within 12 months.

Project scope

Rapid construction was a high priority and was achieved by using a range of building methods in response to the location of the project, local labour and industry capacity. This included off-site prefabricated steel structures, precast concrete, cladding and modular buildings, with some over 1000 square metres in size.

Hunter and Macquarie represent a new approach to the design of maximum-security prisons in Australia. Each inmate is assigned his own cubicle within an open-plan 25-bed dormitory. Correctional officers observe multiple dormitories from an upper tier, ensuring that safety and security are not compromised.

Each dormitory has its own showers, toilets, kitchenette, telephones and yard. Each cubicle features an interactive television that the inmate can use to plan their education, work assignment, rehabilitation programs and other paperwork.

The rapid-build prisons provide a high level of structured activity, including education and training. This approach better prepares inmates for progression to minimum security and, ultimately, their return to the community.