CQUniversity engaged BRS to audit their Rockhampton campuses (North Rockhampton & CQIRP) for compliance across electrical, fire, hazardous area and building service disciplines. The audit was to span across both physical installations and the associated documentation.

The Rockhampton North & CQIRP campuses have been built over several years since the inception of the original institution, “Queensland Institute of Technology (Central)” in 1967. With a variety of build and renovation dates over the last 50 years, changes in staff and a new campus management database coming online, it became important to complete an audit of the campus to determine how to improve the overall compliance of their systems.

BRS Responsibilities

• Hazardous Area Auditing
• Electrical engineering E&I
• Fire Services Auditing
• Building Services Auditing
• Documentation management support

The campus was audited for compliance against the follow pieces of legislation & standards:
• AS/NZS 3000 Wiring Rules
• AS/NZS 60079 Hazardous Areas
• Queensland Electrical Safety Act 2002
• Queensland Electrical Safety Regulation 2013
• Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990
• Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008
• National Construction Code 2016

Over 3 days, BRS engineers worked with CQUniversity staff to visit a snapshot of buildings across campus to assess compliance of assets & processes to the standards & legislation, or ways to improve their operations. Importantly, consideration was given to the condition of related documentation, and the transition of this information into the new campus management system, “Archybus”.

Several recommendations were made in a report to the client, including:
• Creating an As Built drawing set of HV and LV electrical distribution
• In depth review and required upgrades of Hazardous Areas
• Upgrade to emergency egress features of substations
• Analysis of the HV distribution network for Arc Flash fault levels at main LV switchboards
• Further investigation about fire detection & suppression across all buildings
• Drafting specification for all contractors and staff
• Improved housekeeping around electrical, mechanical and fire panels
• Expansion of solar systems, microgrid distribution, & LED lighting, in order to self-generate energy and lower costs

The report delivered to the client also provided an expected timeframe for delivery of the recommendations.

As a result of the work completed for the client, BRS has been engaged since by CQUniversity to complete similar compliance audits at other CQUniveristy campuses, as well as to work on some of the recommendations for Rockhampton North Campus.