Blacktown Hospital Redevelopment

OSA and Nathan Hemmings - Project Manager, Stowe Australia

When Stowe Australia won the tender to install the complete electrical and communications services for the Blacktown Hospital Redevelopment, they needed to find a telecommunications supplier who understood the importance of working within a tight timeframe …

… and experience told them OSA was the supplier they knew they could rely on to deliver on time, and on budget.

Crucial infrastructure for an expanding region

The upgrade and development of the Blacktown Hospital encompasses a nine storey acute services building, housing a brand new emergency department, psychiatric emergency care service, intensive care unit, eight operating theatres, new birthing wards and paediatric centres, inpatient facilities, medical imaging and more.

It is crucial infrastructure to a region whose population is growing rapidly … and these upgraded facilities are desperately needed.

Delivering complex communications networks… on time... every time

“I have always received quality, reliable, outstanding service from OSA. Nothing is a problem, and the material arrives on time, every time.

We knew from experience that OSA had the capability to deliver what was required for this development and a project of this size and importance.”

Nathan Hemmings Stowe Project Manager

It goes without saying that a reliable communications network is vital for a hospital … it really is ‘life-saving’.

And for Stowe Project Manager, Nathan Hemmings, delivering on time to both the community and his clients was crucial.

It came as no surprise when he selected OSA as his supplier of choice.

Nathan knew he could rely on the quality, the expertise, and most importantly the delivery of the cabling that would connect the complex communications systems required by the hospital.

After all, he’d worked with Dennis and the OSA team for almost 20 years on numerous other projects, including Blacktown Hospital Stage 1 and 2, the new Western Sydney stadium, Barangaroo Towers, Westpac, Westmead Hospital and the Darling Harbour Redevelopment.

Industry leading optical performance

“It was an incredibly complex project. We ran fibre optic cables throughout the building, linking all the communications rooms – there are 9,500 CAT data points, which is roughly 5000 metres of communications cables,”

“I have always received quality, reliable, outstanding service from OSA. Nothing is a problem, and the material arrives on time, every time.

We knew from experience that OSA had the capability to deliver what was required for this development and a project of this size and importance.”

Nathan Hemmings Stowe Project Manager

Connecting these wards, operating theatres and departments, and catering for all the various demands of a busy hospital is CommScope’s structured cabling system, which delivers industry-leading optical performance and maximum data transfer speeds.

CommScope is one of Optical Solutions Australia’s select group of world-class vendors – and they work in partnership with OSA to create bespoke, future-proofed integrated network solutions.

After all, he’d worked with Dennis and the OSA team for almost 20 years on numerous other projects, including Blacktown Hospital Stage 1 and 2, the new Western Sydney stadium, Barangaroo Towers, Westpac, Westmead Hospital and the Darling Harbour Redevelopment.

Industry best delivery

“If material doesn’t arrive on time, or a delivery is incorrect, it costs time and money … On any given day I had 55 men on site installing cable. There was no storage room on site, so the material needed to be available when we needed it, and the delivery management needed to be in line with the on-time philosophy.

And over the duration of the project, the number of data points grew significantly, and OSA always kept up with the demand.”

OSA supplied all of the comms equipment for the new nine storey acute services building, including the copper cabling, fibre optic cabling and the comms cabinets, within extremely tight deadlines. They were capable and flexible with their delivery.

Experts who think ‘outside the box’

“We had a pressing issue with the specified communications rack. Having worked with Dennis and the OSA team for a long time, I spoke with them about my concerns. Dennis facilitated exploring an alternative, within a workable time frame and did everything he could to help us cut back because he knew we had a tight budget to work with.”

“Dennis facilitated an introduction between the Western Local Health District and the alternative communications rack manufacturer.

When we initially proposed the alternative rack to the client, they rejected it. We didn’t give up, and found an ‘outside the box’ way to show how the Sydney based laser cutting machine and manufacturing plant could provide a better product.

In the end, it was a rack that was a better fit for purpose…

We saved a significant sum of money, thanks to the comms solutions proposed by OSA.”

OSA are not only leaders in the supply of comms equipment, but they have the ability to think quickly, with agility and most importantly find the right solution to any problems that arise.

And invariably on projects of this size, problems do arise.

Communications racks house all of the terminations of the copper and fibre optic cable – all of the terminating equipment. In this redevelopment, 9,500 points altogether, getting it right was a crucial element to the success of the project.

A seamless process

“We give them a list of equipment we need and the team makes sure they have plenty of stock in the warehouse. The cabling requirements are significant – 5000 metres and a few thousand drums of cable. Dennis and the team always have at least four or five pallets of stock for us. It just ‘turns up’ and we keep going.”

Nathan Hemmings Stowe Project Manager

Nathan finds the process of working with OSA seamless, efficient and professional.

Nathan has complete confidence in the knowledge, expertise and quality of OSA staff … and in their high-performance broadband and wireless infrastructure solutions.

And with patients due to move in at the end of July, that’s a great place to be.