The Charles Perkins Centre is the University of Sydney’s centre for obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This $200 million project will be one of Australia’s premier laboratory and research facilities investigating and discovering new treatments for cardiovascular disease, and providing education on this area to students at the University.

The centre accommodates 950 researchers and 1455 undergraduates, providing a combination of wet and dry laboratory spaces, new imaging and flow cytometry facilities, including live cell imaging, clinical research facilities and a ‘biobank’.

Robert Bird Group added significant value to the project, including the following innovations:

• A functional design life of 100 years.
• Some of the strictest vibration criteria applied to any building of its type in Australia.
• A fully hydrostatic basement deep in to the water table, which eliminated some 200 piles.
• Construction cost savings in excess of £10 million from the original tender by others.