As the Moonta Street upgrade kicked off, the construction team discovered some unexpected underground infrastructure. As is so often the case with projects of this nature, this has meant that the construction schedule has needed to be agile and the impacts on businesses in Adelaide’s Chinatown have changed.
Fortunately, the URPS construction engagement team are on the job and able to quickly respond by keeping the business community in Moonta Street regularly and accurately informed. Helping people understand why changes are occurring and how they will be managed is key.
Every community is unique. Our engagement team adapted to the communication preferences of the Moonta Street community, including more frequent information translated into Chinese. Harnessing the networks, trust and influence of recognised leaders in this community has also proved to be an important and valuable way to disseminate information.
Ensuring that visitors to the area understand that Moonta Street is open for business is another part of our engagement team’s construction engagement strategy. This involves clear wayfinding signage (in English and Chinese) throughout the site and maintaining visual connections to shop fronts via low, waist-height fencing.
No amount of good engagement can change the fact that construction projects can be disruptive. What good engagement can and is doing on Moonta Street is managing the needs and expectations of stakeholders, along with the construction team and client, to minimise the disturbance.
