Brown Consulting has designed a 35m x 36m x 21m high extension to its heavy mining equipment servicing facility on Groote Eylandt. The extension caters for increased plant servicing requirements for a planned mine expansion. Because of the region’s cyclonic wind conditions, and the span and spacings of the frames required to suit the operation of the building, the normal range of rolled steel sizes are not large enough to provide the necessary strength and stiffness. This, coupled with the tight deflection criteria required to suit the facility’s 30-tonne internal runway crane, led to the use of specially fabricated columns and beams for the main frames. Internal and external pavements were engineered to handle the weight of heavy specialist mine equipment. The upgrade also features a new oil farm and tyre bay/store facilities.