Lavarack bustles as hub rises
IT will soon become one of the military’s busiest hubs but the $ 152 million Defence Logistics development at Lavarack Barracks is already buzzing.
The mammoth new upkeep and storage station, which is set to provide a one- stop- shop for troops departing on operations come mid- 2016, has already had a quarter of a million staff hours go into it through its construction contractor, Lend Lease.
The facility is set to take in about 12ha of the base, with warehouses, workshops, food storage, weapons test fire ranges, vehicle equipment shelters, cargo consolidation point, repair pool and a new headquarters.
“On average there’s about 150 people there on site at any one time,” an ADF spokesman said.
The secure stores and maintenance facilities were finished in May, with the repair warehouse due to be finished by the end of this month.
“Then there’s a rolling staged program with facilities coming online on average one every month for the next three months and then after that until the workshops come together in June next year and then general stores and warehouses after that,” the spokesman said.
The development is part of the Defence Logistics Transformation Program and will complement the Defence Force’s revised maintenance, warehousing and distribution network Australia- wide.
It will provide efficiencies and help implement strategies to achieve overall Defence savings initiatives.
Of a total of 68 work “packets” 39 were awarded to Townsville businesses and a further 10 to businesses from southeast Queensland who have an established office in Townsville.
Almost 60 per cent of the contractors engaged on the project are Townsville- based.