Eurombah Creek GPF Construction Site and Village

Monadelphous Engineering (Monadelphous) were contracted by Origin Energy to construct the Gas Processing Facility (GPF), 350 person village, administration and support buildings at the Eurombah Creek site. The construction of Eurombah Creek GPF involved a 60 man GPF construction office and 350 person village.

Monadelphous was challenged by a lack of communications in this remote location with poor 3G phone service at the GPF and village, via an expensive Satellite Cell on Wheels (SATCOW). Staff at site needed to be connected to their corporate network to access construction plans and other corporate documents. Residents in the village were completely isolated from their family and friends due to congestion at peak times, which overwhelmed the satellite solution.

March IT was required to deliver:

• Reliable remote internet service to site for a 60 person construction office
• High quality and reliable Wi-Fi service to the 60 person construction office
• Private Network between the Monadelphous Construction Office and Head Office
• Reliable remote internet service for a 350 person village
• High quality and reliable Wi-Fi service for 350 person village
• VoIP telephony for a 60 person construction office
• VoIP telephony for a 15 person administration office

March IT was required to install a remote internet service within five weeks of receipt of contract by Monadelphous, In order to ensure all site residents were able to access reliable remote telecommunications, March IT designed and deployed a temporary service within five weeks, and a permanent service eight weeks following.

An inter-connect between March IT and Monadelphous was established in Brisbane to deliver a private network to the Monadelphous site offices, eliminating the need for VPN access.

The temporary service involved the delivery of a Rapid Deployment Trailer (RDT) near site to allow for a line of sight to the existing March IT Fixed Wireless network. This delivered the site with up to 10Mbps of bandwidth, allowing the construction offices to be connected to reliable remote internet and ensure on-time delivery of the project. 75 VoIP phones were installed across the construction and administration offices as there was limited 3G reception. A turnkey Office Networking service was provided at the GPF construction offices with LAN switching, corporate Wi-Fi, projectors, routing and managed services.

Once construction of the Eurombah Creek village was completed, March IT installed a permanent fixed wireless service. This service delivered 70Mbps of bandwidth through a 20 metre radio tower, and connected 62km back to the March IT Fixed Wireless network.

March IT’s innovative village Wi-Fi service was installed at the 350 person village to connect the residents to their families and friends. The service ensured all village residents could simultaneously use the internet at all times, without interruption, without exception.

The services delivered to the Eurombah Creek site was managed by March IT through a Managed Services Agreement, which included a monthly site visit for servicing and maintenance, and Service Level Agreements to guarantee the value and services delivered.

March IT telecommunications delivered a reliable, high speed service to three locations within the Eurombah Creek site. This service allowed users to Skype/Facetime their family and friends during the evening, and improved productivity with access to company resources through the private network to head office.

With the delivery of telecommunications completed within five weeks of being awarded the contract, March IT have been able to:

• Ensure faster project delivery times
• Improve staff satisfaction
• Ensure costs are controlled
• Reduced impact of isolation
• Provide reliable telecommunications to a remote location