On campus, nothing much.
Demolition continues at the old dental school.
Received from Carol Roberts
Tue, 28 Jun 2016 at 11:12 p.m.
Artist’s impression [Image supplied]
Dental School
Project manager Aurecon’s project director resigned 2-3 weeks ago. This will be the 4th or 5th PM for this job. Aurecon won the job because of this person’s credentials…. shades of the prior Opus Dental school debacle.
Research Building
The PM for RCP New Zealand, resigned about 2 months into the project 2 weeks ago…. Construction of the ‘Animal Research Support Facility’ for the south campus was scheduled to start in August and be completed in February 2018.
Science Building
Leighs onsite QS/PM has left, the Leighs project director, who is supposed to be onsite 3-4 days a week, goes weeks without a visit, and Leighs general manager, Graeme Earl, has left…. Leighs are looking for a replacement.
Leighs AWOL…and behind programme at Science.
A further development
Local Quantity Surveying firms elbowed out of the way
(not implying the university!) Local Institutions are paying substantial premiums (including 6 figures) to out of town firms.
[ends]
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
Received from Aard V Beck
Fri, 1 Jul 2016 at 7:26 p.m.
Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying
[via 123rf.com]
It must suck to work at U of O lol! Sounds like heaps of problems there………………………..
Monday, 4 July 2016
Channel 39: Dunedin Study moving to new building
The increasingly well-known Dunedin Study is getting a new purpose-built home on the University of Otago campus. The Union Street site for the $2.6m project has been confirmed, with construction now underway. It will be the second move for the study’s staff, after being shifted out of the dental school last year due to redevelopment work. Since then it’s been based out of the Logan Park Annexe, which also houses Otago Cricket. The announcement of the new building caps off a successful few months for the study, with a raft of media exposure both nationally and internationally.
Channel 39 Published on Jul 4, 2016
Dunedin Study moving to new building
Wed, 3 Aug 2016
ODT: Work on animal research centre to begin
The University of Otago has announced work on a five-storey $50 million animal research centre to be built in Great King St will begin today. […] The location of the centre was not disclosed when the university announced plans to build it in May because of opposition to animal-based research. The 3936sqm building, to be used to conduct tests on animals for research in the health and biomedical fields, will be built beside the university’s School of Physiotherapy building at 303, 309 and 315 Great King St.
Thu, 11 Aug 2016
ODT: Joint build for school of dentistry
The University of Otago has appointed Australian and Christchurch-based construction companies to build the $125 million school of dentistry. Leighs Cockram JV, a joint company made up of Christchurch-based Leigh’s Construction and Australian company Cockram’s Construction, was given the tender yesterday after a 12-week selection process. The contractor will begin construction of the facility later this month.
Jobs for local trades people, but truckloads of profits (assuming there are any) overheads and fees etc. out of Dunedin to Christchurch and Australia. Government money coming into Dunedin should if possible be kept in the local churn. But that doesn’t seem to be a factor these days. So it tends to make a mockery of the bulldust we hear about a tight knit community and supporting our own. There are building companies in Dunedin capable of doing the work but obviously not the right pencil sharpeners. Oh well, if it’s good enough for the DCC to hive off it’s city maintenance to Christchurch City Council contractors on price I guess that’s the norm these days.
We have to thank McLauchlan and fellow accountants serving UoO for ripping off the local building firms by selecting out of town sharks. In the past construction projects were shared around locally as they always should be providing they deliver. They managed to for decades previously.
It is a competitive world out there. As long as the tender process is legitimate…..have no idea here….it comes down to cost and available expertise.
There is background.
Ok. Take your word for it. This is Dunedin
Wed, 24 Aug 2016
Work set to start on dentistry building
University of Otago chancellor John Ward turned the first sod at the site of the School of Dentistry’s new clinical services building in Great King St yesterday. […] Dental faculty dean Prof Paul Brunton said the new building, due to be completed by mid-2018, would further improve the quality of dental students.
Channel 39 Published on Aug 22, 2016
Construction begins on new School of Dentistry