With the rollout of the Australia’s Broadband Network, Australian’s will have access to fast broadband – which is designed to fuel growth and drive improvements to local economies, businesses and homes, bringing new opportunities to the whole country. As part of the project, nbn has constructed 10 critical satellite ground stations in remote rural locations, with services over the nbn^TM network.

The 10 satellite ground stations will help to deliver broadband services to homes and businesses in remote and rural areas.

Cockram Corporation, based in Melbourne, has constructed six of the facilities located in New South Wales (Bourke, Wolumla, Broken Hill), Queensland (Roma), Tasmania (Geeveston) and South Australia (Ceduna), and Perkins (WA) Pty Ltd has delivered the four satellite stations in Western Australia (Carnarvon, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and Waroona).

A.G. Coombs was engaged to provide HVAC and mechanical services to the six Cockram sites, with Walker Fire Protection installing the fire detection, occupant warning and gaseous suppression systems. Walker Fire Protection has also delivered these services at the four WA-based stations with Perkins.

The satellite ground stations are critical Telecommunication facilities, essential to the delivery of nbn’s Satellite Service. Each ground station has two, 13.5 metre satellite dishes. The majority of stations have on-ground solar farms, designed to offset the power consumption of the facilities. The sites are similar to mission critical Data Centre facilities, requiring highly resilient and redundant power and cooling infrastructure to support the reliable operation of telecommunications equipment.

The remote location of these sites has been a significant challenge. The closest site to the Sydney CBD is Wolumla – a five hour drive away, and Queensland’s Roma site is a 10-hour drive from Brisbane. Carefully planned logistics and closely controlled coordination has been crucial to the success of the projects.

Many of the remote locations come with extreme summertime ambient temperatures. The challenging climates, together with the large volume of heat typically generated by high performance telecommunications equipment, demand ultra reliable, high capacity cooling systems. The HVAC systems also feature high-tech humidification control and spray mist pre cooling systems for the high ambient temperatures.

Smart use of prefabrication strategies was important in the efficient delivery of the fire protection systems. Many of the pipework systems were prefabricated prior to installation, with off-site construction making for a quicker, safer and smoother install, and helping to ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements.

In addition to the satellite ground stations, A.G. Coombs worked with Telstra to upgrade exchanges across Victoria and New South Wales, in preparation for the nbn roll-out. Capacity of key power and cooling infrastructure has been enhanced, and systems reaching end-of-life have been replaced to improve reliability. These works were typically undertaken in live operating environments, with no planned or unplanned downtime. New telecommunications equipment will be installed in these upgraded exchanges, ready to deliver fast broadband services to homes and businesses.

Reg Struwig, Contracts Administrator at Cockram Corporation, is impressed with A.G. Coombs’ integrated capability across this project.

“We are excited to be working with nbn to help deliver fast broadband to Australia’s remote and regional areas. It was important for us to engage a specialist building services provider who understands these highly technical, complex sites. With their notable expertise in critical sites such as Data Centres, the A.G. Coombs Group was best placed to deliver the integrated mechanical, HVAC and fire detection and protection services efficiently and safely. The team has significantly contributed towards the project’s successful outcomes.”

It was important for us to engage a specialist building services provider who understands these highly technical, complex sites. With their notable expertise in critical sites such as Data Centres, the A.G. Coombs Group was best placed to deliver the integrated mechanical, HVAC and fire detection and protection services efficiently and safely. Reg Struwig, Contracts Administrator, Cockram Corporation