Australian construction company Lipman was honoured at the Master Builders Association’s annual Excellence in Construction Awards for their work on the Macquarie University Arts Precinct. The company won the MBA award for industry excellence in the Tertiary buildings $100M-$200M category.
The $107-million project involved the upgrade of two university buildings into modern teaching and office spaces as well as the construction of a new museum and office complex.
“This project is worthy of a significant award and recognition because it is a large, complex, iconic building delivered outstandingly well in a challenging live environment,” the MBA said.
While their extensive experience in the development of education facilities gave Lipman the confidence to bid for the project, the company also engaged tender consultancy firm, Madrigal Communications to ensure the bid was successful.
Madrigal Communications director Tim Entwisle worked with Lipman to develop a creative strategic direction that would place them ahead of competitors.
According to Lipman’s group manager in business development, Craig Butler, Madrigal helped them put together the two tenders valued at around $100 million with Entwisle providing guidance on the bid strategies and presentation, which contributed considerably to Lipman’s success. Competitor research was also done ahead of the bid.
Observing that many businesses fail in the tendering process by solely focusing on submitting a compliant response, Entwisle said, “A successful tender must also assist the business to stand out from competitors. In developing the tender response for Lipman we took a holistic approach – not only did we provide a sophisticated approach to the bid strategy but we helped the business integrate and clarify workflow practices and methodologies.”
Entwisle explained that the university sought a company, which could communicate the assurance that the project would not disrupt university activities. Therefore, Lipman’s tender document communicated a strong stakeholder management plan, where they mapped how each of the organisation’s staff would bring Lipman’s previous success to the project.
Entwisle also collaborated with Lipman’s business development team to add relevant financial, process, people and experiential details to the document, and present the business’ strategic advantage against competitors to the assessors with clarity. Additionally, Madrigal worked with graphic designers to provide basic document design elements to lift the document and improve readability for the tender adjudicator.
