Practical completion of Bushfire Centre of Excellence in sight

Construction of the Australian-first Bushfire Centre of Excellence (BCoE) is making headway with practical completion expected before Christmas 2020.

The roof and dome shelter of the outdoor maintenance compound is complete, wall and ceiling installation is underway, and work has started on the first stages of landscaping.

Chief Superintendent Bushfire Centre of Excellence John Tillman praised the construction efforts over the past eight months.

“The build has progressed really strongly,” Chief Superintendent Tillman said. “The scale, size and openness of the space is outstanding and the rammed earth walls are a stand-out feature.

“We’re looking forward to transitioning into the space in early 2021.”

As construction of the BCoE continues, unique artwork has been designed for the facility including decorative window glazing and perforated panels depicting a mosaic burn for several areas of the building including the canopy cover for the outdoor auditorium.

The design stage of the BCoE Interpretative Centre is also complete and informing the development of interpretive content.

Both written and visual information will be displayed throughout the building and landscaped areas telling the traditional and contemporary fire story. This will include a visual timeline through the history of fire in WA.

While the facility is under construction the BCoE team has been operating from the Pinjarra Heritage Train Station and establishing the Centre’s functions and business practices.

To date, the training team has upskilled more than 200 trainers across the State to roll out the new bushfire training courses released earlier this year.

They are currently working with key stakeholders to develop four new training courses including Fire Weather, Machine Supervision, Basic Wildfire Awareness and Develop and Conduct Simple Prescribed Burns.

The BCoE Traditional Fire Program has also commenced engagement with key Aboriginal groups and practitioners and started to embed traditional and cultural fire information into training materials under development.

About the Bushfire Centre of Excellence location

The facility is the first state-of-the-art project to be built in the Shire of Murray’s Peel Business Park.

The 1,000 hectare industrial estate, located 10 kilometres north-east of Mandurah in Nambeelup, was identified as a site for the BCoE in the Shire’s successful Request for Proposal submission back in March 2019.

Its proximity to major transport links, accommodation and rural space for training and learning opportunities made it a stand-out location.

Other key developments of the Peel Business Park include the first renewable energy Industrial Microgrid to power the estate off the mains network, and the Shire of Murray’s Western Australian Food Innovation Precinct.

The Western Australian Food Innovation Precinct is being built next to the BCoE and will support cutting-edge, efficient food manufacturing in WA into the future.

Want to know more about the Peel Business Park? Watch this video from Development WA.

For more information about the Bushfire Centre of Excellence, visit www.dfes.wa.gov.au/bushfirecoe.