Contact Group’s Hobart branch is in the final stages of completing a new pump house destined for Davis research station, Antarctica — a project that plays into a much larger effort to secure the station’s future.
Contracted by Bouygues Construction Australia Pty Ltd, the project saw Contact Group carry out the electrical, HVAC and plumbing installation for the pump house here in Hobart. With that work now complete, the team is running final checks and testing before the structure is shipped south and installed on site.
The pump house forms part of the Antarctic Infrastructure Renewal (AIR) Alliance — a $250 million program between the Australian Antarctic Division, Bouygues Construction Australia, Stantec and Mott McDonald to overhaul Davis Station’s water and power supply.
Water has long been one of the station’s biggest constraints: Davis produces its own drinking water via a reverse osmosis plant, drawing from a nearby saline tarn that freezes over in winter, and limited supply currently restricts the station to somewhere between 63 and 73 expeditioners, well below its full capacity of 88. The AIR Alliance’s works, starting with a new seawater intake and second reverse osmosis plant, are designed to remove that constraint and support a new utilities building housing the station’s powerhouse and workshops.
There’s a fitting symmetry to who’s been overseeing this one. Project Manager Paul Gleeson isn’t just managing a job destined for the ice — he’s lived it. Paul spent years working in Antarctica before joining Contact Group, making seven expeditions to the continent, including postings at Davis Station itself, with stays of up to 18 months at a stretch. He knows firsthand what it takes for infrastructure to hold up in that environment.
Having someone at the helm who’s actually worked at Davis Station, who understands the stakes of Antarctic infrastructure from the inside, has been a real asset in getting this job right. Congratulations Paul and to all the technicians involved in this exciting project.
