Who we are
Real Asset Advisory is a boutique project advisory firm that works across defence, mining and industrial infrastructure real estate markets. All our team members have underpinned their consulting careers with real world experience, each having over a decade of experience managing construction projects for tier one construction contractors on projects in excess of $1bn.
The foundation of Real Asset Advisory is born out of KPMG where most of our team members provided consultancy services within the Infrastructure Assets and Places division.
Our experience
IPACE Blackrock camp
Real Asset Advisory was engaged by 19th Chief Engineer Works (19 CE Works), the Principal under the construction Contract, to verify the quantum of 20 different delay claims submitted by the construction Contractor. 19 CE Works is a specialized unit within the Royal Australian Army responsible for delivering infrastructure, engineering, and project management services for both military and civilian projects. As part of the Australian Government’s Pacific Step-up, the Department of Defence partnered with Fiji to redevelop the Blackrock Camp for the Republic of Fiji Military Forces. The AUD$72m construction only project was delivered over a 33-month period. It began in September 2019 and continued with Fiji’s restrictions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The agreed date of Practical Completion was February 2022. The works included construction of a headquarters building; front entrance and guard house; logistics precinct (including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief warehouse); and lecture/classroom facilities; medical facility; living-in accommodation; sports field; physical training facilities; and parade ground.
GRS Wunghnu 90MW Solar Farm
Real Asset Advisory provided a planning and scheduling specialist to GRS to support an expert determination of time claims entitlement against Lightsource BP (principal). GRS constructed a 90MW solar project in Victoria Australia and encountered numerous delays due to the principal. However, the principal rejected all claims from GRS during the construction of the project. At project completion, GRS now required an overall determination of their entitlement to bring forward to the principal along with negotiation strategies to ensure a successful outcome. This engagement was efficiently delivered only after 4 weeks of work with GRS stakeholders that were based in Spain.
CIMIC Northside Hospital (ECI)
To respond to Canberra’s growing and ageing population and the increasing demand for health care services, the ACT Government is building a new northside hospital in Bruce. The new northside hospital represents an investment of more than $1 billion and will be the largest single health infrastructure project to be delivered in the Territory’s history. CIMIC were shortlisted for the new Northside Hospital project in Canberra procured under an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) model and GC21 Form of Contract. Our team were engaged by CIMIC to assist with CPB’s tender in terms of contract negotiations, assessment of commercial offer and clarifications, review of tender document, program analysis, assessment of market and trade contractor pricing, assessment of resource management, assessment of safety and quality management, construction sequencing/staging and methodology, assessment of CPB’s bid and preparation for the ‘Interactive’ Tendering process, analysis of project risks and mitigation strategies, review of the ECI deliverables including design management and cost planning up-dates.
newcastle coal infrastructure group (NCIG)
This $2.8B project was to build port infrastructure to de-bottleneck the Port of Newcastle which is the
largest infrastructure project in NSW until commencement of Sydney Metro. The project led to a creation of a 66Mtpa Coal Export Terminal, in 3 stages over 8 years.
Real Asset Advisory provided resources to Hatch (in joint venture), which was engaged by NCIG as the EPCM Consultant and Principal Contractor responsible under WHS regulations for all safety obligation on the site. At the project's peak, the team managed 85 – 120 significant conntracts which led to 8.7 million work-hours across all stages with an LTIFR of 0.23.
All stages of work delivered ahead of schedule and below budget. IPACE Delay Claims Procedure
Following the successful claims assessment and certification of extension of time claims on the Fiji Blackrock Camp project for 19th Chief Engineer Works (19 CE Works), Real Asset Advisory was engaged to develop a delay mitigation and claims protection procedure. 19 CE Works recognized that prevention is better than cure and with a growing pipeline of projects to be delivered within the IPACE program, they had a requirement to standardize their approach on how time is managed on construction projects. The procedure arose from a need to understand good practices required in protecting the CoA from delay claims and an understanding of the framework of how extension of time claims are put forth by Contractors. A key objective of the recommended practice was to reduce the uncertainty as to what actions need to be taken to minimize the impact of a delay claim and provide a structured approach to proactively mitigate delays.
Sedgman Mt Pleasant Coal Wash Plants Completions
Real Asset Advisory provided a planning/project controls lead to be part of the Sedgman team that took over this project from the previous contractor to complete the coal wash plants for Mach Energy (principal). The wash plants were partly built, and all major equipment and materials were already on-site. A quick ramp up after award became very challenging as the condition and state of the construction were not up to specification. This produced numerous time and cost claims as Sedgman assumed that the scope completed by the previous contractor were up to specification and would be easily transitioned into their scope. During the 10-month construction period, the principal rejected all claims and Sedgman required an expert determination of their entitlement at the end of the project.
Monadelphous Cadia Cleaner Circuit Expansion
Monadelphous was contracted by Newcrest (principal) to expand a circuit within their Cadia gold processing plant. After contract award Newcrest then instructed Monadelphous to accelerate works. This was particularly challenging as the footprint of the plant provides a limit on how many resources can be fit into a work front. After acceleration, all resources were diverted to focus efforts on accelerating work. Variations and Extension of Time claims became second priority and after a month, there were numerous claims not processed. Real Asset Advisory provided a project controls expert to fill that gap, as a resource to focus on Variations and Extension of Time claims.