Background

The Illawarra Women’s Trauma Recovery Centre is an Australian-first, long-term support centre co-designed by women with lived experience. Located in the Illawarra, it offers specialised support to victim-survivors of family, domestic or sexual violence.

NSW Public Works (NSWPW) supported the co-design and construction of this landmark Centre. We managed the project from start to finish, including site selection, design, construction and procuring furniture and equipment.

Our role

NSWPW were engaged to provide design and construction project management services. Our involvement included:

• Selecting a suitable site for operation of the Centre. This included visiting multiple option sites and providing recommendations of suitability for the proposed use.
• Engaging and managing the designers to fully design the Centre.
• Engaging and managing the head contractor to construct the Centre.
• Procuring and coordinating FF&E supply and delivery.

The project engaged women with lived experience as well as an Aboriginal Women’s Reference Group in a co-design process to ensure the facility met real needs. With no existing benchmark for the building’s design approach, led by the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre, we developed a unique design process and engaged a consultant capable of delivering this innovative process, which proved key to the project’s success.

The project also prioritised Aboriginal participation and female inclusion when selecting the head contractor.

Outcomes

The project was delivered in 2 stages: an office fit-out to provide back-of-house administration support and the main client-facing Centre. Construction of the offices was completed in 4 weeks, and the Centre in 12 weeks, from a ‘cold shell’ base building.

The result is an impactful facility that that will give victim-survivors in the Illawarra area a stable foundation to rebuild their lives.