Case study – Ingleburn
In Ingleburn, southwest Sydney, Mainbrace’s industrial builders have delivered a premium office and industrial facility with temperature controlled warehouse space to be occupied by Lynch Group, in a project which saw the retail construction specialist broaden its capabilities in the logistics space.
Led by Senior Project Manager George Sereti, this project involved the delivery of insulated cold-room panels (ICP) to create a warehouse environment featuring numerous internal areas operating concurrently at different temperatures.
A versatile construction company
The circa-$21 million Design and Construct contract began with the base build. During the project, Mainbrace’s ability to adapt and be flexible was demonstrated when tenant Lynch Group Australia required an additional office fit-out as part of the 9,700sqm project.
The Lynch Group is a vertically integrated value-added wholesaler and grower of flowers and potted plants into Australian supermarkets which is why the need for multiple temperature controlled cool rooms was essential in managing our end to end cool chain logistics.
Work onsite in Ingleburn commenced in November 2021 and, despite somewhat unprecedented inclement weather, the project was handed over in November 2022.
Unique challenges and solutions
While Mainbrace is a retail construction specialist, there’s a large capability cross-over which supports our strategic move into the logistics space through industrial building projects such as Lynch Ingleburn.
This project saw a strong emphasis on the design and integration of the cold room panels and the portal frame structure. A significant amount of pre-work was required to determine the height and size of the internal cold rooms to keep energy costs low and efficient. This ethos is shared by our sustainable builders.
Aligning with key specialist contractors and consultants during the early construction and design phase assisted this process and enabled Mainbrace to deliver a favourable outcome.
Mainbrace understood from early in the project that the weather would hit hard due to La Nina. As such, our team proactively reassessed the existing ground conditions and opted to proceed with a stabilised base-course option. What this meant, in a practical sense, was that the on-site construction team was able to progress with the erection of the structural steel portal frame off the stabilised base during and after the deluges of March and April 2022.
Building new client relationships
By the final handover and delivery of the Ingleburn facility, Mainbrace was busy working on a subsequent warehouse, factory and industrial project at Melito Court in Prestons, Western Sydney. This subsequent appointment and contract have been a testament to the successful collaboration between the building occupier and the Mainbrace team at Ingleburn. We were very proud to establish this new relationship to support our future work in logistics.