Melonba Education Campus

MBM Project Lead

David Madden

Client Name

School Infrastructure NSW

Sector

Timeline

2021 – 2025

Project Value

Confidential

MBM Project Team

  • Nahee Kang – Executive Quantity Surveyor
  • Sophie Chen – Executive Quantity Surveyor
  • Emily Wang – Senior Quantity Surveyor
  • Tim Ko – Assistant Quantity Surveyor

Services Provided

MBM is engaged to provide full quantity surveying services for Phase 0-9, from project initiation to project completion including Cost estimates and value engineering in each planning phase, Pre-Tender estimate, tender review of consultant fees and Main Contractor tender, monthly cost reporting and cashflow forecast, and post contract services such as progress claims and variation assessments. We are currently in Commissioning phase for both MPHS and MPS that are now renamed to Melonba Education Campus. In addition, temporary high school was constructed that was repurposed into primary school and we provided cost advise on the temporary school as well.

Project Background and Scope

MMC projects providing quality contemporary education in accordance with EFSG inviting community participation and engagement via providing safe and secure learning environment.
New high school and primary school projects addressing increasing student demand, asset suitability and equity issues as a result vast population growth in North West Sector Growth Area.

Project Challenges

  • Budget alignment with large-scale scope:
    Delivering two major school facilities — a 12-stream high school (2,040 students) and a 35-core primary school (1,000 students) — within a defined government budget posed a key challenge. Balancing educational needs with cost constraints was critical.
  • Complex site and scope requirements:
    The project involved several layers of technical detail, such as remediation, ground conditions, landscaping, public domain, and high-performance façade requirements — all of which had cost and planning implications.
  • Green Star compliance:
    Achieving a 5 Green Star rating for both schools introduced additional sustainability design requirements, impacting materials, systems, and long-term operational costs.
  • Time-sensitive temporary school solution:
    A fast-tracked, temporary school for 400+ students was needed to meet short-term demand, adding pressure to planning and resource coordination.
  • Managing stakeholder expectations and cost visibility:
    Ensuring the Department (SINSW) and project managers had clear, accurate cost insights throughout all stages — from business case through to construction — was essential to avoid scope creep and delays.

MBM Solutions

To meet these challenges, MBM applied a methodical and collaborative approach:

  • Masterplanning & Option Costing:
    MBM provided detailed cost estimates across multiple scope options during masterplanning and concept design. This helped select a viable scope that matched the available budget.
  • Schematic Design Benchmarking:
    Used internal benchmarking and real-time market feedback to validate schematic design pricing, ensuring realistic expectations early on.
  • Holistic Scope Development:
    Considered all project specifics — including remediation, ground works, public space, façade design, and landscaping — to ensure full cost visibility and avoid surprises.
  • FFE and ICT Allowances:
    Developed allowances for furniture, fittings, equipment, and ICT in line with school needs and government standards.
  • Prelims, Margins & Risk Provisions:
    Appropriately allocated preliminaries and contractor margins, and incorporated SINSW fees and contingency planning during business case development.
  • Cost Reporting & Collaboration:
    Regularly prepared detailed cost reports and cashflows, and reviewed them with SINSW and the project team to maintain alignment.
  • Post Contract Administration:
    As Cost Manager, we played a critical role in supporting the project through acceleration requirements and delivery of complex road widening works. Our contribution included:

    Acceleration

    – Reviewed key cost drivers such as labour resourcing, out of hours rates, equipment utilisation, subcontractor engagement and temporary works requirements.

    – By scrutinising contractor allowances and testing the validity of claims, we ensured only fair and substantiated costs were certified.

    Road Widening

    – Established structured cost submission template, facilitated regular workshops to monitor main contractor and subcontractor scope development, scrutinised variances in subcontractor pricing, and identified opportunities to package work more efficiently and recommended provisional sums where uncertainty remained to provide flexibility and cost certainty.