Adelaide (Northfield) Women's Prison

The operating philosophy of the Adelaide Women’s Prison was enhanced to complement the Department’s vision for Strong Foundations and Clear Pathways (Women’s Offender framework). WGA was engaged to provide civil and structural engineering works for the Adelaide Women’s Prison 20-bed secure accommodation. The project comprised four accommodation units located to the east of the existing site accessed from a central spine of support services and a new support building within the current prison grounds to provide health and education programs and rehabilitation functions.

Significant challenges designing around highly expansive clays were solved in the delivery of this project by working closely with our geotechnical team,select areas required over excavation of aggressive clays and replacement with non-reactive fill. Movement detailing was the focus of all finishes interacting with the surrounding landscaping of each building.

Aside from the Defect Free handovers, which dominate the project handover of prison projects, this project also interacted with a number of prison groups to provide construction services during the project delivery. This interaction was considered necessary as part of the rehabilitation of the prisoners and came in the form of painting, landscaping and the like.