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Client

Government of Samoa

Completed

March 2019

Value

$14,000,000

Delivery Method

Project Management

Architect

GMB Architects

Head Contractor

Craig Construction

Guida Moseley Brown Architects

Commendation for Public Architecture
International Chapter Architecture Awards 2020

As a gift to the nation of Samoa to celebrate 50 years of Independence, the Australian Government donated funds for the construction of a new Parliament building (Maota Fono) to replace the existing and critically damaged building. Sited in the same position as the original, the new building references and reinterprets the cultural heritage of Samoan architecture to create a modern parliament building for the nation.

Manteena was engaged as the Project Manager for this highly complex AusAID project, with the design responsibility, procurement of a Head Contractor and superintendency of the works on site. Specialist Parliament Architect Hal Guida (GMB) was engaged to design the building.

Craig Construction was selected as the Head Contractor—with whom Manteena developed an excellent working relationship over the course of the project.

Faced with a significant difference between the budget allocated by the AusAID program and the assessed cost plan, there was a significant task in managing this to a successful result. Manteena convened and chaired a series of both high-level strategic workshops and detail focused value management workshops over a period of six months with collaboration by all stakeholders.

The end result was a perfect compromise between the two governments of targeted value management reducing scope items which were non-essential to the functioning of Parliament, as well as an agreement between the Prime Ministers of both countries to jointly increase funding to meet the shortfall and allow design to proceed to detailed documentation and construction.

The building is designed to Australian Standards generally with some integration with the Samoan Building Code for specific aspects (such as wastewater) and the New Zealand structural code for seismic design.

Officially opened in March 2019, the Samoan Parliament complex is now viewed as one of the most hi-tech buildings in the Pacific yet it was designed for its simplicity of use and low WOL costs. It is the flag-ship for the Pacific AID program in terms of quality and also building capacity within the local construction industry.

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