AUSCO Modular will take steps to safeguard the ecology of WA’s Barrow Island, during a $50 million building project for Chevron Australia’s Gorgon Project with the first buildings leaving the factory early December 2009.

Ausco has been engaged to design, build and deliver 530 individual building modules including everything from laboratories to lunch rooms. However, because of Barrow Island’s delicate ecology, Ausco will adhere to the strictest quarantine standards when delivering the buildings.

As a result, the 195 single and multi storey site facility buildings will be fumigated and shrink-wrapped before transportation – essentially quarantining the modules until they are unwrapped again on the island. This will prevent transportation of any animal or plant life from the mainland.

Ausco’s managing director Paul Bailey said the company had worked closely with KJVG, who is managing the project and the client, Chevron over a four month period to develop a unique solution to meet the project’s requirements.

Each building module for the Gorgon Project will meet the standard of “Region D+” cyclonic buildings, meaning they are designed to withstand winds of up to 340 km/hr. The buildings will also be manufactured to suit the Gorgon Project’s corrosive ocean environment and the particular life cycle demands imposed by the site and employees.

The buildings’ lighting has also been specially designed to minimise the impact on the island wildlife. All luminaires will be type six classification, providing minimal upward light output with either yellow dichroic filters or low pressure sodium lamps to minimise turtle and insect attraction to the light sources.

The Gorgon Project is a joint venture between the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (operator), ExxonMobil and Shell, to develop the Greater Gorgon gas fields, located between 130 km and 200 km off the north-west coast of WA. The Greater Gorgon gas fields contain resources of about 40 trillion cubic feet of gas, Australia’s largest-known gas resource.

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