Working inside managed city buildings
Almost every CBD job starts with the building’s requirements. Before we lift a tool we need a site induction, a permit to work for any ceiling or riser access, loading dock and goods lift bookings, and a plan for isolating circuits without upsetting other tenants. Fire system isolations for dust-generating work have to be arranged through the building’s fire contractor, and noisy work such as core holes or chasing is often limited to after hours.
We factor all of this into our quote and program. It is the difference between a fit-out that runs to schedule and one that stalls because nobody booked the lift.
Office fit-outs and refurbishments
The CBD office market turns over constantly as tenants move, expand or downsize. A typical commercial fit-out in a city tower involves:
- Reworking the lighting layout to suit new partitions, meeting rooms and open plan areas
- Power to workstations through floor boxes, power poles or partition skirting
- Dedicated circuits for comms rooms, kitchens, printers and AV equipment
- Changes to the tenancy distribution board to suit the new loads
- Coordinating with the base building’s emergency and exit lighting so new walls do not leave areas uncovered
- Data cabling run alongside the power
Much of the existing infrastructure in older towers is reused, so we spend time on site confirming what is actually in the ceiling before we finalise a price.
Make-good at the end of a lease
When a tenant leaves, the lease usually requires the space to be returned to base building condition. For the electrical, that normally means stripping out tenant-installed power and data, removing redundant cabling back to source, restoring the standard lighting grid and making sure the distribution board is labelled and safe. We work to the landlord’s make-good schedule and provide the certificates the building manager asks for.
Upgrades in older CBD buildings
Brisbane’s city skyline mixes recent towers with buildings from the 1970s, 80s and 90s. In the older stock we regularly find fluorescent troffers that are due for replacement, tenancy boards with little spare capacity and cabling that has been added to by several contractors over the years. A commercial lighting upgrade to LED panels with better controls is one of the most common jobs we do in these buildings, and it usually reduces energy use and maintenance calls at the same time.
We can also carry out thermal imaging of switchboards to pick up loose connections and overloaded circuits before they cause an outage.
Travelling in from the Gold Coast
We are based at Mudgeeraba, and the M1 corridor gives us a direct run into the city. CBD work suits the way we operate: planned jobs with a clear scope, booked access and a program to meet. For builders, we provide SWMS, attend inductions, and hand over test results and compliance certificates at completion.