Tag Archives: aged care

ECH_External_progress
Aged Care, Health, News, Residential

ECH Topping Out: New Vibrant, Vertical Retirement Village in the heart of Modbury

Leave a comment

As a South Australian, family-owned business, Sarah Constructions has a strong desire to support people of all ages in the state. With a business culture that puts people first, Sarah was honoured to be selected as the Design & Construct Contractor for a one-of-a-kind, progressive retirement village community being built on Smart Road in Modbury.

As one of the largest not-for-profit providers of integrated retirement living accommodation and ageing care services in SA, ECH (Enabling Confidence at Home) enables people to remain living confidently and independently at home as they age.

Tackling loneliness and social isolation is a major factor in enabling confidence and helping people remain connected to their communities. With the recent topping out of the unique ECH Smart Road Development – Encore Apartments – which features an SA Montessori Early Learning Centre (ELC), Sarah Constructions are excited to help deliver a new retirement village that has been designed to support and create a connected community.

Supporting human connection in retirement living

ECH Chief Executive Dr David Panter says the Encore Apartments ‘vertical village’ will provide “apartment-style living whilst also fostering an important sense of community and social connections to enable people to have the best possible life as they age.”

Encore Apartments, featuring 77 2-bedroom apartments, has been designed to bring the traditional retirement living village atmosphere, with its strong focus on ‘neighbourliness’, to vertical living by creating spaces that encourage interaction. Residents will experience ‘a real sense of belonging’ through access to shared community gardens, an on-site café, community centre and wellness facilities.

Sarah Constructions Senior Project Manager, Robert Maiolo, explains the purpose behind this unique project.

“In building these apartments, ECH is looking to bring people together from across the community.  They want the residents to have the ability to easily connect.”

Connection is the antidote to loneliness and a range of other health problems. This philosophy permeates throughout the site design. From the community gardens enabling residents to interact in an outdoor setting to the shared internal recreation spaces, community café and even apartment entrances, working with the design team, Sarah Constructions will deliver integrated capability for human connection across the development.

A unique, connected, intergenerational community

Encore Apartments is one of Australia’s first retirement villages to incorporate an SA Montessori Early Learning Centre. The partnership between ECH and SA Montessori integrates an ELC into the $44.2M, Smart Road development.

The interaction between Encore Apartments residents and the ELC will create a one-of-a-kind, community-centred independent living experience, providing opportunities for intergenerational activities in the community centre. Residents will be able to participate as little or as much as they choose.

“The community centre features an activity space, community hall, library, lounge and meeting room which will provide many opportunities to engage with the SA Montessori and broader community,” says Dr David Panter.

“It is not just retirement living but community living.”

The Sarah design team worked closely with ECH to meet their Liveable Housing Design Gold Standard, considerable attention has been given by the team to ensure the construction outcome is a harmonious balance of functionality, in terms of accessibility, safety and handrails etc, combined with the overall vision for homeliness, comfort and community.

“Our effort has been to make sure that the finished space is fully compliant with the Gold Standard while catering for ECH residents. The team is committed to understanding and then delivering on the constructability of these standards, making sure that we communicate not only across our team but also to the sub-contractors,” says Robert Maiolo.

Aligning values to create ideal construction outcomes

Believing that best practice construction management is about building relationships, one of Sarah’s core values is to put people first. ECH does the same. “People have always been the main focus, not only in regard to the buildings end-use but also in its delivery,” says Robert Maiolo.

This alignment of values between ECH and Sarah Constructions has seen the team collaborate extremely well on all aspects of the project. An alignment of values, experience and approach are responsible for its successful progression to top out stage, despite obvious COVID-19 challenges.

“We have proven experience for the type, size and nature of this project, combined with an excellent understanding of both the client requirements and end-user priorities. Our team is excited to work collaboratively with ECH and the wider project team to deliver positive outcomes for this project,” commented Adrian Esplin, Sarah Constructions CEO.

From the client’s perspective, Sarah’s collaborative approach has been extremely valuable. “Sarah Constructions was able to provide independent industry advice to assist the consultant team to improve design solutions whilst maintaining project integrity and fulfilling ECH goals,” said ECH Chief Operating Officer, Dorothy Nycz.

“Sarah Constructions was chosen for this project not only due to their recent experience and success on similar retirement living projects but also by practicing every day their promise to build relationships and communities.”

For a sneak peek inside Encore Apartments, you can book an appointment to visit the display suite recently completed by the Sarah team at the ECH Greenhill Rd office. It provides an example of a finished unit with kitchen, bathroom and living area. More information is available at the ECH website, whilst you can find the latest ECH timelapse from October here.

  • ECH_Internal_Fitout_Kitchen
  • ECH_Internal_Fitout_Bathroom
  • ECH_Internal_Fitout_Lounge
  • ECH_External_progress_October_2020
Carmelite Retirement Living Complete External Entry
Aged Care

Carmelite Construction Complete – Leading The Way In Retirement Living

Leave a comment

with Senior Project Manager, Robert Maiolo

Southern Cross Care are leading the way for retirement living in South Australia with Sarah Constructions recently completing their new Carmelite development. Located in Myrtle Bank, the 5 level, architecturally-designed facility includes a mix of premium retirement apartments on the top levels, moving down to residential care suites plus a range of facilities and services on the lower levels. This integrated style of aged care accommodation, combined with a state of the art facilities, will set the new benchmark for retirement living in Adelaide.

The project, at over $50 million is a flagship facility for Southern Cross Care. The last time we reported on progress from Carmelite, the building was nearing the Top Out stage. To understand the steps involved to bring this new development to life, we sat down with Sarah’s Senior Project Manager, Robert Maiolo, to gain his insights from the last 12 months of construction.

“After Top Out was completed, the next major phase involved works being carried out across the external facades. In order to access the multi-levels of the main tower, we erected significant perimeter scaffolding. The scaffolding presented a major programming consideration, as it blocked access to a large degree of outside areas; we addressed this from the outset through detailed scheduling and logistics management.

External Scaffolding at Carmelite

 

As we were cladding the facades, we were also working on completing the balconies, this included waterproofing, floor tiling, cladding and soffit. Balcony design and construction was a key client focus, so the project team spent a lot of time, making sure that the detailing was robust.

Internally the focus shifted to first fix services works and the partition contractor (ceiling and linings) taking a lead role in shaping the internal fit out. The high level of coordination required for this process was established through BIM modelling undertaken at the front-end of the job. This paved the way for limiting potential issues on site with any clashes between services and made for a smoother construction process. The priority for the role-out of first fix services was within the tower working from bottom up, in sequential order.

With the completion of first fix services, we then moved through with the final finishing trades which included tiling, joinery, second fix, carpentry, carpet, vinyl, painting and hardware. To set the benchmark for quality and ensure premium finishes throughout all of the rooms, we established prototype rooms for both the apartments and aged care suites. This enabled us, the design team and the client to visually review the set-out, final selections and level of finish. We worked really hard as team, to ensure a superior level of detailing and high quality finish throughout.

Finished Apartments At Carmelite

The final stage of the project, once the scaffolding was removed was to move through external landscaping and civil trades. This process required tight coordination and sequencing of external works to ensure the completion of works within a compressed time frame. To achieve this, we identified the key trades involved, then through regular liaison and working collectively together we were able to deliver to schedule.

New Benchmark In Retirement Living

External Landscape Area at Carmelite

 

Completing a large project of this scale requires a cohesive team effort. At anyone time there was up to 195 people working on site, to make it successful, we all needed to focus on delivering results for the client. From my personal perspective, I was really proud of how the team came together, pitched in and supported each other to get the job done to a high standard. It was a significant and complex project to manage, for me there was a strong focus to manage relationships and overall project delivery.

It was with pride, that we delivered Southern Cross Care, 8 weeks ahead of schedule a new premium building featuring residential apartments and aged care suites, plus state of the art facilities to support the health and well-being of residents” said Robert.

Graduate-Bathroom-Sponsors_Feature-Image-compressor
Careers, Residential

SARAH Construction Graduates – Minda PKC Cost Neutral Bathroom Project

Leave a comment

The Sarah Construction Graduates worked in partnership with Minda in the delivery of two renovated bathrooms within Minda’s existing Pat Kaufmann Centre (PKC) nursing home in Brighton. This project was a key objective of the 2017 Graduate Program, designed to be a collaborative effort between each other as well as Minda, one of our significant clients. The design team also consisted of consultants in architecture (Cheesman Architects), services engineering (BESTEC), and structural engineering (Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec). The graduates were tasked with overseeing the entire project from design conception, contractor procurement, and ultimately the construction and handover, providing a real-world experience for them to take ownership of and learn from while also providing a service for some very deserving members of our community.

The Challenge? Deliver a cost neutral project for our client.

The challenge put forth by Sarah Constructions to the graduates was to manage and produce two refurbished bathrooms at cost neutral to the client. This meant the graduates had to call upon relationships built over the past year with their subcontractors and suppliers to negotiate labour and materials to complete the job. In turn, this created difficulties with scheduling and programming as some subcontractors had conflicting job commitments which took precedence. This created a domino effect as the delays of certain trades affected the critical path of the construction program which the Graduates had to manage.

Due to the limited documentation and drawings available for a relatively small project, the graduates took initiative to request and review existing drawings. This lead to the discovery of footings and reinforcement situated in both bathrooms where service trenching was required. To remediate this potential issue, the graduates proposed a different floor finish to reduce the extent of concrete cutting required. This was beneficial in terms of both program and cost.

Minda entrusted the graduates with transforming their existing hydrobath bathrooms into fully compliant (with DDA Standards) bathrooms. This resulted in a high-quality project displaying the collaborative efforts between Sarah Constructions and Minda, as well as all others involved in the project.

The Graduates worked closely with PKC’s Clinical Services Manager, Cathy, to minimise disruptions to the day to day lives of the residents and staff. This was achieved through constant communication with Cathy, allowing her to stay updated with the current construction activities on site.

While this project has provided a fantastic new facility for the PKC residents, it has also been extremely beneficial to our Graduates learning and professional development. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Michelle Gheorghiu and Wayne Coutts for their mentoring throughout the duration of the project; and also to the fantastic consultants, subcontractors and suppliers who generously donated their services to make this project possible.

A huge ‘Thank you’ goes to:

  • Michelle Gheorghiu & Wayne Coutts (Minda), for their mentorship to the graduates and assistance to the project.
  • Gary Fong (Cheesman Architects), for his architectural consultation and design advice.
  • Mark Battams (BESTEC), for his assistance and advice with hydraulic services.
  • Shane Rosie (WGA), for his assistance and advice with structural engineering.

The Sarah Constructions Graduates would also like to acknowledge and thank the following subcontractors for their significant contributions (including time, labour, materials, or cost reductions):

  • Jordan Plumbing –  all hydraulic services
  • Reece Plumbing & Bathrooms – new fixtures and fittings
  • Nilsen – Electrical services
  • Complete Pest Control – termite treatment
  • Deconstruct – Demolition and concrete cutting
  • Suez – Bin hire
  • Bianco Hire – Temporary fencing
  • Spence Doors – Door supply
  • Italia Ceramics – Wall Tile Supply
  • G & G Tiling – Tiling
  • SJS Group Nominees, – Painting
  • Premier Linings – Making good gyprock walls and installation of sundry items
  • Access Hardware –  Supply of sundry items

The graduates would also like to thank Terry Tsapaliaris & Dena Van Zyl (Sarah Constructions), for their leadership and advice with construction methodology, practices and safety.

This project has greatly supported the development of our future construction leaders and enhanced the lives of some of our communities most deserving people; together with Minda we are tremendously grateful.