The award, presented at the Australian Institute of Project Management’s annual conference, recognises excellence in project management across a wide variety of industries. The HMAS Waller Full Cycle Docking (FCD) endeavour was chosen over more than 90 other entries.

Commenting on the winner, newly-elected national president of the AIPM, Bill Young said:“I delight in seeing projects that deliver great outcomes. This is a project that, according to our judges, has overcome many difficult challenges to deliver such outcomes. I congratulate the HMAS Waller FCD project team for this outstanding achievement.”

Earlier this year, the Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC) in Adelaide completed work on the Collins Class submarine consisting of platform enhancements, maintenance and the addition of torpedo and replacement combat systems. It’s all part of an $857 million program that will serve as a blueprint for the upgrade of all six Collins Class subs in the Navy’s fleet.

“A lot of unexpected issues arose during the project that had to be [and were] dealt with in a timely manner,” said David Farwell, chief judge for South Australia’s PMAA, where the HMAS Waller project took top honours as well.

Among the unexpected, problems with the submarine main propulsion motor whereby the unit’s physical characteristics prevented it from being removed from the vessel. Instead, a workshop was set up inside the submarine to complete the task, Farwell said.

ASC has the life-cycle maintenance contract for Collins Class submarines and the HMAS Waller was the third in the fleet to undergo Full Cycle Docking. The project was conducted at ASC’s Port Adelaide facility and featured the addition of Replacement Combat System (RCS) and ADCAP/CBASS heavyweight torpedo systems, the Navy said. The HMAS Waller is the first submarine to be equipped with both systems.

Founded in 1985, ASC is Australia's largest specialised defence shipbuilding organisation and it is the prime contractor for the design, manufacture and delivery of the Navy’s Collins Class submarines.

Westpac’s new head office in Sydney was picked as the national runner up. The project featured an integrated change management program that relocated 5000 employees from 10 CBD sites to Westpac Place on Kent Street. According to the company, it was the largest relocation of employees to a single building in Australian corporate history. The move was completed over 23 weekends without Westpac experiencing any business downtime.

The Australian Institute of Project Management organises the PMAA to recognise excellence in project management in each state. All state and territory PMAA winners proceed to the national finals and are honoured at the institute’s annual conference. Next year’s AIPM conference will be held in September in Canberra.

National PMAA winners:

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