The Victorian Government began a major refurbishment and expansion of Ararat Prison in 2010 under a public private partnership. Known as the Hopkins Correctional Expansion Project, after the prison was renamed in 2011, the venture entailed the design, construction and finance of a range of new facilities and systems, including of a new 358 bed medium-security facility, and the provision of a range of facilities management services across the old and new sections of the prison fro the life of the project. Together, the old and new facilities would provide 790 beds for low to medium-security prisoners.

The project was to be completed in late 2012. However, significant time and cost overruns led to the project being placed into voluntary administration. Receivers, KordaMentha, commissioned Gowdie Management Group to carry out a due diligence investigation into the project. During this time we were able to identify all the issues and provide detailed solutions and recommendations to the client to help overcome these issues. Out involvement in the project remains ongoing.