Combabula Gas Processing Facility and Village

Laing O’Rourke was contracted by Origin Energy to construct the Combabula Gas Processing Facility (GPF), GPF construction offices, a 200 person village (phase 1) and a 350 person village (phase 2), with administration and support buildings.

Laing O’Rourke 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 the construction offices
• High quality and reliable Wi-Fi service to the construction offices
• Reliable remote internet service to a 200 person village
• Reliable remote internet service to a 350 person village
• Private Network between the Laing O’Rourke Construction Office and Head Office
• VoIP telephony for the construction office

March IT was required to install a temporary service into the Combabula GPF construction offices and a 200 person construction village within five weeks of being awarded the contract, and a permanent service to be installed into the construction offices, 200 person village and new 350 person village within 12 weeks. An inter-connect between March IT and Laing O’Rourke was established in Brisbane to deliver a private network to the Laing O’Rourke construction office, eliminating the need for VPN access.

March IT constructed a temporary solution consisting of two solar powered Rapid Deployment Trailers(RDT) and one 15 metre monopole to provide high speed connectivity to the construction offices. 10Mbps of bandwidth was delivered through fixed wireless technologies, and carried 95kms over the March IT network.

A turnkey Office Networking service was provided in the GPF construction offices, including all required LAN switching, router and rack installation, 30 VoIP desk phones, two conference phones and one projector. The inter-connect enabled staff to securely access the corporate network without connecting through a VPN.

The permanent solution included the construction of two 30 metre radio towers, two 20 metre radio towers, and four 15 metre monopoles with supporting solar systems. 140Mbps of bandwidth was delivered to provide high speed, reliable remote telecommunications services to the construction offices, the 200 and 350 person villages.

Through fixed wireless technologies, remote internet services were delivered into the two villages, providing high speed internet to the residents. Added security was delivered with firewall and content filtering to ensure bandwidth availability for all residents, at all times.

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

THE OUTCOME

March IT delivered a high speed, reliable service to the Combabula GPF construction site and villages. This has improved the productivity from staff working on the APLNG project 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 was able to provide:

• Reliable telecommunications to a site where minimal 3G service was available
• Happier and more productive staff
• A platform for projects to be delivered on time and on budget
• Reliable services in a remote location
• Reduced impacts of isolation
• Secure access to the Laing O’Rourke corporate network