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Volume 3 Number 9
Inside This Edition: Acoustics, Floorings & Facades - Melbourne Rectangular Stadium - Wolgan Valley Eco Resort
contents Feature SUPPLEMENTs COVER IMAGE: AAMI Park
Volume 3 Number 9 Publisher | Brandon Vigon 03 8844 5822 ext. 112 publisher@awardmagazine.com.au Editor | Mark Kenfield editor@awardmagazine.com.au Contributing Writers | Alexander Coyle, Ian Harrison, Andrew Holder, Brooke Barr, David Sharpe, George Xinos, Jim Barrett, Joanna Steele, Kylie Caruana, Mark Kenfield, Megan Motto, Natalie Carter, Paul McLeod, Romilly Madew, Sarah Bachman, Sonya Ku Marketing | Matilde Ejlertsen Senior Designer | Annette Carlucci
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Life Imitates Art
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Façades: It’s what’s on the Outside that Counts
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Façades: A Wrap Up
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The Sounds of Silence: Building Acoustics in Action
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The Sustainability Beneath our Toes
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Flooring: The future laid out
AWARDWORTHY SHOWCASES 8
A Stadium Less Straight-Edged AAMI Park, VIC
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A Natural Beauty: Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa, NSW
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Rising From the Canvas The Olsen Hotel, VIC
Production Manager Rachel Selbie Circulation | subscriptions@awardmagazine.com.au
Award Magazine is published by:
MediaEdge Communication Australia PO Box 6257 Chapel Street, North South Yarra 3141 T: 03 8844 5822 F: 03 9824 1188 www.mediaedge.ca President | Kevin Brown
How Did They Do That?
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Flowering for the World Cup: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
Straight Talk 18
Straight Talk with Tony Lukic Managing Director, Norman Disney & Young
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PROFESSIONAL Columns 26
Sustainability Column Sustainable Acoustics
27
Legal Column High Court Rebalances Onus on Employees
34
Technology Column The Quest for BIM
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Accessibility Column Flooring Mobility and Safety
MARKET Analysis 4 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
48
Construction Commencements State & Sector and Breakdown
26 Industry Matters
24 Australian Made Logo Gives Boost to Exporters
25
Are Manufacturers’ Claims Enough?
Association Matters 53
The Living City
53
Relationship Contracting
54
ACEA Becomes Consult Australia
54 Using Precast For Superior Thermal Efficiency
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Feature PRODUCT SHOWCASEs 48 Under floor Heating Solutions Comfort Heat
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Window Film Film Pacific
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Automatic Door Operators DORMA
Textural Glass Cydonia The Glass Studio
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Engineers & Scientists
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Feature supplement
Life Imitates Art By Natalie Carter
Art created for a well-designed hotel, such as those seen in the Sofitel Brisbane, rely on consultations between the design team, developers, architects, purchasing companies and owners who meet with an art consultant to discuss themes and colour palettes, as well as budgets and the architecture of the building.
You could be forgiven for thinking artists fall into two categories; those who produce esoteric, rarely understood work for public galleries and those who make pictures, seemingly slapped together and mass produced for popular consumption. Yet intelligent art is an essential part of our lives with the power to influence and stimulate our thoughts. Well executed, art has the capacity to make us chuckle, ponder a time passed or subliminally draw us into a space where we feel nurtured, a little clearer in our thinking and somewhat better for the experience. A tall order? Art consultant, Anita Traynor of Metro Gallery in the Melbourne suburb of Armadale, doesn’t think so. “Art has the power to transform a space completely…and can potentially shift the entire mood of a room. A large abstract by artists such as Dale Frank or Michael Johnson can…[turn] a minimalist interior [into] an electrifying space. An Aboriginal painting by Paddy Bedford, Kathleen Petyarre or Tommy Watson…[may] not only give the viewer immense pleasure, but can re-invent and invigorate a space”. In Traynor’s words, “most interior designers and architects are looking for the great 'statement pieces,’ large, grand paintings 6 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
Photos courtesy of Andrew Grech
[by] not necessarily high end or well known [artists]”. “As [interior designers and architects] are buying for a particular 'wow factor,’ size usually comes into play and over the last ten years, there has certainly been a leaning towards much larger works, [in the scale of] two metres by two metres”. “Indigenous works are definitely competing with the modern abstractionists as they tend to meet the designer’s brief and tick all the right boxes,” Traynor adds. “A strong, geometrical Indigenous work by Justin Corby or Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, or a fine, minimalist work by Dorothy Nappangardi or Kathleen Petyarre, can certainly transform a space and add a very contemporary finish”. Yet one of the gallery’s most popular artists is non-Indigenous painter, John Olsen. With over 60 years drawing and painting experience and what Traynor describes as Olsen’s ‘innate ability to capture the Australian landscape as no other artist has before,’ it’s little wonder the artist’s work can be found throughout many of the interior walls of the Victorian Arts Centre. While the romantic view sees the artist working intensively in solitary confinement in their studio above a shop or in an isolated area hours out of town, the act of art sourcing for buildings is a
‘Summer Garden’ by John Olsen
‘Popping Blue Bottles’ by John Olsen
far more collaborative process. Art created for a well-designed hotel, for example, relies on consultations between a design team, developers, architects, purchasing companies and owners who meet with an art consultant to discuss themes and colour palettes, as well as budgets and the architecture of the building. Art objects need to make sense in the spaces they are intended for, they often need to meet specific design standards set by clients and sometimes, the art might need to be secured locally. All this needs to be taken into consideration from the outset of a project’s design intent. Well-designed office, residential or hotel interiors include art that relates to the space and harmonises with the architecture and interior design of that space. Ideally, all of the pieces should interact with each other and be strategically placed; especially when dealing with sculpture, where the physical environment of a space becomes the canvas. And not only is art a very important factor to the overall design of a project, it can also provide creative solutions to help solve design and budget challenges. As such, hiring art consultants during the later stages of a project can rule out the possibility of utilising artworks in this way, and may work against achieving the best outcome. On the subject of achieving the best outcome, many consultants have a stable of trusted artists they turn to when the project scope matches their talents. Art purists may scoff, but some companies have artists on staff, which can streamline the
The Sofitel Brisbane, some beautiful artworks by Andrew Grech relate to the space and harmonise with the architecture and interior design of the hotel. Ideally, in a well-designed interior space, all of the pieces should interact with each other and be strategically placed; especially when dealing with sculpture, where the physical environment of a space becomes the canvas.
‘Mountain Devil Lizard’ by Kathleen Petyarre
process even more; accommodating any requests the owner or designer might have. This enables the artist to custom create anything and change or manipulate an artwork to suit the needs of the design team. For example, if a designer sees something they like but feels the painting needs more blue, the staffed artist can manipulate that directly. In an ideal world, projects are developed collaboratively. A collaborative process articulates the story of a particular space, and allows interior designers and art consultants to look to architects to help substantiate whether or not a particular art plan is appropriate for a particular building. An excellent example of this sort of collaborative process achieving the desired outcome is the Sofitel Gold Coast, home to more than 80 canvases completed by artist, Andrew Grech. “This was a very ambitious project in which more than 80 works were completed at different depths and sizes.” Explains Grech, “The end result was almost like a silver sculpture on canvas and this was a very creative challenge for me to [achieve that effect] on canvas”. “I worked very closely with the project’s interior designer, Andrew Wales,” Grech continues, “and to this day, it stirs an immense reaction from all who see it.” Whether public institution or pub, office, home or hotel, art is an integral part of any well-designed interior environment and, as such, both requires and deserves attention from design teams right from the outset of projects.
AWARDWORTHY: AAMI Park
A Stadium Less Straight-Edged: AAMI Park It’s an odd feeling being struck by the notion that the future has arrived; it’s the sort of thing that comes up suddenly and makes you wonder whether you’ve been missing rather obvious signs whilst it’s been happening around you. But it’s a feeling you can’t really shake these days, travelling along either Melbourne’s Yarra River or Swan Street and seeing the remarkable bioframe roof of the nearly-completed; 30,000+ capacity, AAMI Park loom up alongside you. 8 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
Rendering courtesy of Major Projects Victoria, Electro Light, Scharp Design.
The stadium’s the roof is covered with thousands of LED lights, which will allow for dynamic lighting displays. The LED lights will use around one tenth of the power required to floodlight the stadium while highlighting its sculptural design.
The spectacularly intricate design of the stadium’s exterior façade evokes thoughts of bubbles, of intertwined soccer balls, of The Jetsons, of something organic and slightly alien – and seems all the more fascinating for it. Being in our industry, this naturally begs the question of how you go about realising such a complex design on such a large scale?
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Early Beginnings Well to understand that we have to go back to 2005 when the stadium was originally conceived, in a smaller 20,000-seat form, for Melbourne’s
unsuccessful bid for a new Super 14 Rugby franchise. Although Perth won the bid, plans to build the stadium were put forward again in April of 2006. However this time around, construction was halted due to concerns, primarily from A-League football club Melbourne Victory, that the stadium would be too small given the growing attendance at their games. Finally, in May 2007, it was announced that the $267.5 million stadium would be built with a significantly enlarged capacity of over 30,000 seats. The Victorian Government, through Major Projects Victoria, engaged a team of consultants lead by Cox Architects,
with Arup and Norman Disney and Young (NDY) providing engineering assistance, to undertake the design and documentation of the new stadium; and awarded Grocon the contract to build it. Construction got underway later that year and was initially expected to take two years, however additional scope added to Grocon's brief and a number of technical issues during the build extended the completion by several weeks. The stadium is currently on track to have its official opening on the 7th of May this year. Once completed, the stadium will see duties as the new home of the Melbourne Victory Football Club and Rugby League club Melbourne Storm; along with newly-formed A-League and Super 15 teams Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Rebels; on top of this it will also serve as the administrative home of the Melbourne Football Club, the Victorian Rugby Union, the Victorian Olympic Council, the Olympic Park Sport Medicine Centre, and Tennis Victoria. The stadium will be unique for Melbourne in providing the city’s first purpose-built, rectangular pitch (136m x 82m) stadium to accommodate rugby league, rugby union and soccer. And will provide: a sports campus with around 800sqm of elite training facilities including a gymnasium and internal athletics areas, a four-lane 25m lap pool with additional player recovery facilities, offices and medical facilities, 24 exclusive corporate suites, a dining room with the capacity to seat 1,000, as well as stores, cafes and bars. One of the most interesting elements of the stadium; is that it has been designed and constructed in a time where one of the major challenges faced by sports stadiums around the world is the competition they now receive from television and sports media streaming directly into people’s households. So as Cox Architects’ Project Director, Jonathan Gardiner explains, in order |9
to compete, “A visit to the stadium must provide a total experience, from anticipation to arrival, good circulation and food and beverage facilities, as well as a strong focus on the event”. Gardiner says that a key component of being able to attract patrons to a stadium these days lies in making their visit a distinctive experience. And with AAMI Park, this has been targeted through a cutting edge 'bio-frame' roof design, which provides extensive seat coverage and excellent spectator sight lines; along with first-class facilities for both spectators and participants, including extensive catering, corporate and public amenities.
Image courtesy of Major Projects Victoria and Peter Glenane
Photo courtesy of Peter Glenane
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Curves in all the Right Places At the heart of the stadium’s design lies the complex and dynamic form of the geodesic dome roof, which provides coverage for most of the seating but still lets in high levels of sunlight, it is the stadium’s standout design feature; and has also been, perhaps not surprisingly, the most difficult aspect of the project to realise. As Gardiner explains, “The roof is a lightweight steel design based on the inherent structural efficiencies of the Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome, which allows it to use 50% less steel than a traditional cantilever roof structure of the same size.” This lightweight structure was then skinned with a triangular, panelised façade made up of a combination of glass and metal.“ Together, the structure and the skin form a highly sculptural, nonindustrial kind of building,” Gardiner continues, “it provides a new image for a stadium, by moving away from conventional industrial aesthetics to a more sculptural design”. “The roof was essentially a rectangular shape in plan, working as 4 arching cantilevers, 2 on the east and west elevations and 2 in a catenary action on the north and south elevations,” adds Grocon’s Project Manager Steve Richardson, “these arches are made up of 20 individual shells, which support themselves as a cantilever at a maximum of 37 meters in length and height, and are pinned every 26 meters to the box beams that support the precast seating plates; from there, they arch down to 20 bifurcated columns, anchoring each shell to the concrete structure so that the whole roof structure becomes self supporting.” In order to determine the tolerances for the roof’s self-supporting structure,
Bottom: The completed bio-frame, prior to being skinned with the stadium’s distinctive triangular panelised façade, which is made up of a combination of glass, metal and louvers, and provides the potential to include photovoltaic cells as well.
Top: The intricate steel structure of the bio-frame under construction. The structure, when combined with a high level of fit tolerance, required very close co-ordination and an understanding of all elements from design and structural loads, to buildability and erection sequence.
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AWARDWORTHY: AAMI Park
the project team needed to perform optimisation studies on the steelwork and geometric configurations of the roof, whilst still being able to efficiently manage changes to the roof’s geometry as the design process progressed. Arup, who handled the modelling work, also wanted to be able to provide the contractors with a set of tender documents that detailed the size and length of every individual piece of steelwork in the roof. Arup identified Generative Components as the most appropriate software solution for modelling the primary roof structure, due to its ability to test alternate geometric configurations and accommodate the final preset values for both fabrication and construction. Through the software, Arup created a centreline wireframe model of the roof, which was then able to be analysed by the project’s structural design engineers. Their final analysis model was then imported into Bentley Structural software to complete the 3D model that incorporated the final steelwork member sizes. Without the ability to quickly generate different geometric configurations and export new data to the analysis software, producing the stadium’s spectacular shape would not have been possible. “The inherent structural efficiencies of the Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome, on which the roof is based, allowed a combination of three separate structural systems to work together to produce a light-weight structure,” explains Gardiner, “They were: The overall arch of the leading edge of the roof from north to south 12 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
and east to west; the cantilever action from the raker to the leading edge of roof between each shell; and the curve and shell structure of each roof shell.” However things weren’t simply plain sailing after the structural solutions had been developed. The plans for the stadium’s cladding system; which involved 2500 triangular panels made up of glass and metal - half of which were mirrored onto the roof at different positions, angles and sizes - caused particular headaches; “Having half of the panels mirrored onto the roof initially demanded that we create 11,250 unique brackets (3 brackets x 3 edges x 1,250 panels) in order to connect the
cladding panels to the structural steel.” explains Richardson. “So we had to simplify it all out, by engineering a universal bracket that would fit every one of the 11,250 different connections required by the cladding”. “The precision of the steel roof structure, and its connection to the concrete bowl has required close co-ordination between all of the design, fabrication and assembly teams. The complex three-dimensional structure combined with high level of fit tolerance, required very close co-ordination and understanding of all elements from design and structural loads, to buildability and erection
Rendering courtesy of Cox Architects, Major Projects Victoria, Melbourne Olympic Parks Trust
Bottom: A rendering of the Stadium’s interior, showing the extensive seat coverage and the unique and dynamic form of the bio-frame roof. The inherent structural efficiencies of the dome allow it to use 50% less steel than a typical cantilever roof structure. Top: The main pedestrian approach to the stadium from Swan Street to the northeastern Podium Stairway. The roof panelling on the eastern façade is almost complete, and the lower glazed panels allow light into the concourse behind. You can also see the beginnings of the metal balustrades to the main pedestrian concourse.
Photo courtesy of Cox Architects
The interior of the stadium from pitch level, showing the advanced progress of the turf, as well as the roof’s support scaffolding being progressively removed from the northern and eastern tiered seating stands. Mobile cranes prepare service trusses slung beneath the roof on the eastern side, for lighting both the field and the stadium in general.
sequence.” Sums up Gardiner, “The open communication between the designers, contractor and fabricators became vital to the success of the project, and through extensive reviews and workshops, allowed the team to keep on challenging each other’s assumptions until the entire team was satisfied that the correct solution had been found”.
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Lighting up a Landmark Another key aspect of the stadium’s sustainability lies in the inclusion of highly efficient lighting and lighting control systems. As sporting stadiums have large technical facilities and mammoth lighting fixtures, high levels of energy consumption is generally a given, especially on match days. This not only tends to be costly for the stadium operator, but also increases the overall Greenhouse gas emissions from the facility. “An investigation performed on the FIFA World Cup stadiums has found that lighting tends to consume around a third of total stadium power consumption.” Explains Stark, “This is made up predominantly of a combination of the floodlighting,
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A Sustainable Stadium Another exciting aspect of the stadium, was the fact that the project represented, as NDY Services Engineer, Phil Stark puts it: “an exciting opportunity to produce a world class, environmentally conscious sporting facility; a facility that is at one with its surrounds and which will stand as living, breathing example of how the built environment can meet the most stringent environmental benchmarks.” As such, Stark believes that the most impressive aspect of the services engineering work on the stadium was the sustainable watersaving initiative of the roof drainage system, which harvests rainfall from the stadium roof for use in toilet flushing and landscape irrigation. “A key complexity associated with the bioframe roof is that the forward proportion of the roof slopes towards the playing field, increasing the complexity of the roof’s drainage solution as it couldn’t be allowed to obscure pitch sight lines.” Stark says, “So the system design uses a conventional box gutter and drainage system at the leading edge of the roof shell and a siphonic drainage system at rear edge in order to harvest as much rainwater as possible.”
Though through careful planning of roof orientation and gutter low points, pitch sight lines were able to be preserved via systems driven by gravity rather than energy-intensive and costly mechanical solutions. “In principle, syphonic drainage systems should operate at full capacity,” says Stark, “utilising head pressure to suck or syphon water from the roof to the central harvesting tank at high velocity, which helps minimise the size and volume of pipework required.” Unlike traditional roof drainage systems which operate at a partial-flow and by gravity, the innovative syphonic drainage system approach enabled the project team to install drainage pipework throughout the stadium, with negligible falloff over extended distances, which enabled the pipework to be cleverly and unobtrusively integrated into the roof shell structure and the associated plats beneath.
exterior lighting and internal lighting.” Internal lighting tends to consume roughly half of a stadium’s total lighting power consumption, and becomes particularly wasteful when areas are lit but not occupied. With AAMI Park, NDY have installed motion detectors throughout the building and have integrated lighting control systems to interface with the Building Automation System in order to provide individual control and appropriately zone areas. For example, this will ensure that the public concourse lighting is only turned on for match days and that each corporate box can be individually controlled so that, should some not be in use, they can be remotely switched off. The lighting control system can also be operated remotely, which is an important feature given the generally sporadic use of stadiums. In addition to the stadium’s internal controls, one of its most distinctive features will be the illuminative quality of its exterior. The stadium’s roof is covered with thousands of LED lights; which will light up Melbourne’s skyline with spectacular multicoloured lighting displays that will also serve to highlight the stadium’s sculptural design; but will use just one tenth of the power required to floodlight the stadium. With its highly sophisticated bioframe, and with LED lighting and rainwater harvesting in tow; Melbourne’s latest stadium looks set to usher in not only a new era of integration between architecture and engineering in public sporting facilities, but also an enriched spectating experience. So, it’s probably worth getting used to the feeling that the future is here to stay. | 13
Feature supplement
Façades: It’s What’s On The Outside That Counts
Image courtesy of Rothelowman Architects
By Joanna Steele and Kylie Caruana Rothelowman Architects and Interior Design
The intricate façade of the Wrap Hotel in St Kilda, was designed to respond directly to site-specific restraints, with the screen providing the hotel with both sun-shading and privacy, and the repetitive patterning giving the hotel a distinctive appearance.
14 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
Like beauty, the architectural role of the façade is more than skin deep. Open to multiple interpretations and deploying a range of techniques and a multitude of materials, the façade is not just the front of a building but an integral component of that building’s design, adding dimension and depth and creating a more substantial architectural narrative. A successful façade is more than the ‘face’ of the building. It should form the framework for the design intent, design systems and materials used throughout the entire internal architecture. The palate of façade materials available to the architect are broad; from concrete, brick, timber or glass to zinc, core-ten, aluminium or corrugated iron and these materials may be perforated, solid, incorporate laser cutting or paint. By manipulating a plethora of materials, applications and systems, a compelling architectural narrative can be achieved.
As the external layer that wraps around a building, the façade can be interpreted as a skin, setting the external tone of the building. Some skins can be developed independently from the internal architecture, in which case they are fashioned as a system disengaged from the architecture within. Such facades respond to their external landscape and the context of the site, shielding an opposing design analogy found in the building’s interiors. This was the case with Rothelowman’s original design for Audrey, a boutique, five-story apartment project in Abbotsford, Victoria. The design took its inspiration from the robust, industrial area of Victoria Street. By referencing the urban edge of the street and incorporating raw materials to echo the industrial, working class roots of the area, the design provided a dynamic façade and presented it in a manner complimentary to a neighbourhood undergoing change.
While embracing the urban edge of the area, thanks to a perforated metallic screen façade, a delicacy is infused into the architecture at the same time. Restraining traffic noise and providing protection from the sun, a decorative screen is cleverly punctured at different intervals, creating a striking effect when viewed at night as interior lighting breaks through, and creating a dappled effect on the interior environment as daylight from the outside seeps in. Panels are operable, infusing the façade with movement and life. Distinguishable from the street, tenants can manipulate the façade to suit their needs in relation to street noise, sunlight and privacy, thus activating the façade and creating further interest. Chandeliers hanging in the living areas of each apartment will be vaguely discernible through the perforations on the façade, conveying the warmth of the interiors within. This dichotomy is achieved by creating a façade that speaks to the external context, while
revealing subtle hints about the architecture contained within. Another example would be the Wrap Hotel in St Kilda. Which has a façade created to respond directly to site specific restraints; with a screen providing privacy and sun shading, whilst repetitive patterning creates a strong, singular gesture on a prominent corner site. Pattern is a common theme explored for façades, a recent example being the design for the Vivida student accommodation project in Hawthorn. The design was derived from the contextual influences of the adjacent Victorian shop fronts with their intricate detail and strong sense of proportion, together with the patterning evident in the pressed metal cladding found on the underside of street canopies in the area. These ideas led to the creation of a continuous, three dimensional triangulated pattern; which blurs the lines between the balustrade and the
opening and creates a dynamic visual sequence of perforated metal panels. Inspiration for façade designs can come from all sorts of sources, for the residential apartment building Hub, in Essendon, a weaving pattern of balustrades was designed to create a façade reminiscent of a railway system. The inspiration for this came from a unique junction in Essendon where tram and railway connections meet. The junction is populated by a multitude of crossings and interconnecting tram tracks, and these have been reflected in the façade through the development of a dialogue of nodes and junctions. Through intelligent design, you can create façades that respect and enhance their environment, by referencing certain aspects of each site and its surrounding area. This is a critical aspect of architecture, and has the potential to reward people with insights into their urban environment they might never have considered before.
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| 15
Feature supplement
Façades: A Wrap Up By Alexander Coyle
Photo courtesy of Steve Back
Once upon a time in Australia, not so long ago, you could buy a rivet from one person, a façade panel from someone else, throw them on to your exterior walls and have yourself a shiny new façade. However, although this might have looked great from the outside, and with silicon seals would appear watertight; the reality is that it provided us with significantly less-efficient exterior façades than we could have had, and promoted poor façade health as moisture was allowed to run rampant inside our walls, allowing exterior cladding systems to break down from the inside. Australia has something of a history of outdated methods and systems being used for conventional building façades. It’s a serious issue, and one the industry in Europe started tackling as far back as 30 years ago, however the local industry is finally starting to wake up to this, and as a result the modernisation of Australian façade systems is leaping to the fore. One element that is having a particularly large impact on this is local suppliers and manufacturers moving from the old system of simply providing the parts; the panels, the rivets and everything in between; to now provid16 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
ing complete façade systems, which include everything from the structural components right through to the exterior panelling. “Which is how it should be,” says Multiclad’s Josh Dodd. “A complete, integrated façade system isn’t just important for the looks of a building’s exterior, it’s vital to the overall health of the building. The structural system right through to the outer panels should all work together”. “Many of these systems have been in use in Europe for a good 30 years now; they make up around 95% of European façades.” Dodd adds, “The ones we focus on are rear ventilated systems, the principle of which is very simple; you create a cavity behind the external cladding material with both entry and exit points, and this allows air to enter and escape in a free-flowing dynamic which, in turn, creates a pressure equalised environment. This helps you keep your building cool in summer, warm in winter, controls heat transfer in and out of it, and improves the wellbeing of your building as a whole - especially in regards to the moisture that would otherwise be caught in the wall”. Dodd says that this offers a maintenance-free and far more sustainable
The Australian National University's new Crawford School building, designed by Tanner Architects, incorporates an advanced rear-ventilated facade system to maximise its thermal performance and improve energy efficiency.
approach to building façades, “Instead of looking at 10 years before having to replace or refurbish your cladding panels, you’re looking at 30-40 years, which is a massive improvement to the life cycle turnover of your cladding”. Another development that’s recently made its way down to Australia is a new method for installing exterior glass. “We went overseas to look at the latest innovations in Europe for handling glass and glass components.” explains Heritage Glass’ Bob Taylor, “And what we found was a machine called the ‘Glass Boy’. Where normally you lift the exterior glass into position by crane using a suction unit on a wire, this new method allows you to install from the inside of the building out, and because the machine does all of the work, you don’t need as many people to guide the glass into place - which can offer significant savings on labour costs as it makes what is normally a 4-5 man operation, a 2 man one”. One trend that is seeing a particularly healthy uptake at the moment, is the use of decorative cladding materials to add visual style and expand creative options for façades without complicating buildings’ designs. Some of these developments are even originating right here in Australia. As Digiglass’ Anthony Anderson explains, “More and more people are turning their façades, or portions of them, into more graphic, decorative building elements. What we produce is decorative glass for exterior façades, and what these decorative exterior materials do is offer you complete flexibility, both in the creative design of a building’s exterior, and in the performance of that exterior, due to the ability of highperformance materials to incorporate decorative elements”. So between increased performance, streamlined installation and expanded creativity the future looks bright for the outsides of our buildings.
straight talk
straight talk with Tony Lukic Managing Director, Norman Disney & Young As modern buildings grow increasingly more complex, so too do the drawings, plans, documentation and logistics that go with them. As a result there is now, more than ever, the need for systems to cope with this increased volume and complexity to documentation and design. Enter Building Information Modelling (BIM), an object-oriented style of 3D architectural design; we sat down with Norman Disney & Young’s (NDY) Managing Director, Tony Lukic, to find out what it’s all about… AWARD: Hi Tony, tell us a bit about how BIM works? TONY: Building Modelling seeks to undertake a different path to design. This approach is for the design team to produce a single model of the project, where all the designs are bought together into a single model to enable the team to examine all aspects of the design and co-ordination. Critical to this approach is that the files being used to generate the models are the same as those used to generate the 2D documentation. Consequently if it is correct in the model, it will be correct in the documentation. This approach sees an additional deliverable at the completion of the tender phase, a 3D model. The power of visualisation that this offers should not to be underestimated – on a complex project, the ability of the tenderers to examine and understand the design should give greater certainty to pricing, and give the client greater certainty as to what they are getting. AWARD: And how is this impacting the roles and responsibilities within your team? TONY: We are seeing new roles emerging as well as a shift in the traditional roles of the engineer and draftsman. We are also seeing a shift from 3D CAD as a drafting aid to more of a design aid. As 3D modelling tools become more sophisticated, with intelligent objects that understand their connectivity and re-scale themselves to suit their design parameters, the requirements of the software user become more sophisticated and lean towards a user who understands what they are designing. Consequently the engineer is becoming the CAD or model designer. 18 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
There are also new roles emerging in the project design and construction teams. The team 3D modeller is one of these, and has to assume responsibility for assembling the entire model from the input of the various members of the design team. The BIM Consultant is another new role. There is a need to define data interchange protocols, equipment naming conventions, new design processes and manage the transfer of data from the design team to the constructor to the facility manager, together with matching 3D models. The CAD/Engineering integration manager is the person tasked with ensuring that the design/documentation team see true integration of BIM/3D CAD with engineering software, process and procedure. They also work closely with 3D CAD/BIM standards and object library developers, who create and manage libraries of objects that are aligned to contemporary equipment. And finally, there are CAD/IT developers/ programmers. Until there is a holistic single solution available for a consulting business to produce BIM models, there will be a need for programmers to develop solutions that permit the various applications to intercommunicate in order to improve the effectiveness of design production. In addition to this, there are a variety of support roles emerging such as trainers, data specialists and consultants. We consider it important for all of our staff to understand and be able to work with the new technology to support the changes in traditional workflows from concept design to delivery of final product.
efficiency, etc. In addition to this there will be data associated with the specification of the equipment, for example equipment duties and dimensions. During the construction phase, it’s important that information on as-built parameters be attached. And finally there is the operation of the building, which is undertaken by the facility’s managers. They will need two sets of data, the design and as-built data, together with links to relevant documentation such as drawings, specifications, manufacturer’s catalogue data and operation manuals.
AWARD: What would you consider to be the most important data that you need attached to your BIM models both upstream and downstream?
TONY: Definitely, BIM has allowed us to reduce time in project meetings (internal and external) due to visualisation improving the communication of design issues. It has cut verification time due to reductions in duplication of data entry of equipment information on drawings and into schedules. It has reduced verification time when comparing drawings to specification schedules, reduced errors in coordination, and has also reduced the amount of time staff spend searching for information - as everything required is in the model or the database referenced by the model. BIM has also improved our communication of design to clients and
TONY: There are basically three distinct stages to the BIM modelling process: Design, Construction, and Operation though the type of data attached to the model will vary according to the team members’ requirements. During the design stage it is important to attach data related to the building structure and equipment performance. Interfaces to design programs will require data that provides parameters related to materials, such as wall types, thermal
AWARD: Do you think that companies will eventually adopt a single tool for the whole BIM process, or will they incorporate a variety of specialist tools? TONY: I think it is unlikely that one tool will be adopted by the industry as a whole, particularly in the construction industry where software tools are linked into production machinery, or in the industrial fields where there are specialist manufacturers using 3D software specific to their needs. Many organisations have invested heavily in particular packages in terms of capital investment, training of staff and the methodology they are applying to the presentation of their work and document production. And at the moment, alternative packages are not offering a compelling reason to make wholesale changes away from these established packages. AWARD: Have you found that BIM has improved the efficiency of your organisation?
developers thanks to much improved visualisation. The design team’s ability to examine a single model can significantly shorten the time it takes to identify problems. Take the structural/services co-ordination for example; the traditional method is to issue a set of 2D drawings and then have the services consultants comb though them looking for areas where there may be clashes, a process that is not only prone to oversight, but is also time consuming. BIM offers the alternative of examining a 3D model of the structure and the services, which makes problems such as pipework running through beams very quick and easy to identify. We are also working with the integration of 4D programming tools. AWARD: Do you have any KPIs in place to measure the return on investment or recorded business benefits of using BIM? TONY: We have a range of KPIs including quicker processes, greater accuracy and improved time to issue. Each is designed around improving client satisfaction and allowing us to commit more time to delivering exceptional designs and to pursue new opportunities. AWARD: And finally Tony, where do you see BIM heading in the future? Do you see it in industry standard formats or in direct transfer from one tool to another? TONY: I have no doubt that the industry will move towards standards for the direct transfer of both geometry and data. The issues that are impacting the exchange of data at the moment include different products used by the design teams; and the amount of detail in models of equipment items (which may contain too much detail and balloon the model) - the designer of a specialist item of plant may have designed the item to the last nut and bolt, whereas the architect will only require an outline of the equipment for space planning purposes. I think there is also a definite need for the industry to standardise on the naming of equipment parameters, or to implement effective translation formats. Which is currently made problematic due to different 3D modelling packaging having different naming and structuring concepts. | 19
Feature supplement
The Sound of Silence: Building Acoustics in Action By Mark Kenfield
Photos courtesy of Peter Hyatt
In the Melbourne Recital Centre, every panel in the main recital hall is unique and bespoke, making them very heavy. Each panel is between 80-100mm thick and weighs between 60-85kg per square meter. In order to mount them seamlessly, the mechanism used for fitting the panels was to have screws fitted into the back of the panels (so that they couldn’t be seen), and then use magnetic screwdrivers to screw the hidden screws into the wall. That people are happier at work when they can see sunlight – and even more so when they can catch a glimpse of the outside world – is no great secret. However, the fact that these ‘happier’ workers are more productive, and that their increased productivity can improve a company’s baseline enough to warrant actually spending the money to try and make them happy in the first place… is a rather more recent discovery.
Which brings us to the tightrope-walk that is interior environment quality. Glazing, office layouts/partitions and the resultant daylight levels they allow; HVAC systems, thermal insulation and interior temperature control; the chemicals in interior surfaces and their impact on indoor air quality; and acoustic insulation and reverberation, 20 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
and their impact on ambient noise levels, all factor heavily into the performance of interior building environments and their effect on the comfort and productivity of workers. However, when it comes to prioritising these different aspects of interior environment quality, current trends place a distinct bias on the ‘visual’ over the ‘acoustic’. Which is fine, that’s how it should be – the visual sense that you aren’t locked away from the outside world is more important than having a quieter workspace to concentrate your thoughts in. The issue that’s arising from this though, is that these two key factors in interior environment quality, visuals and acoustics, follow design criteria that can be completely at odds with one another: good visual
design often involves large, openplan spaces, with lowered partitions, and lots of glass to allow high levels of natural daylight and hard reflective surfaces which are hard wearing and easy to maintain; whereas good acoustic design is more easily achieved with much smaller, closedoff spaces, with thick, acoustically absorbent partitions between them. So how do we handle these opposing criteria from an acoustic perspective? And how is acoustic design and engineering adapting to changing face of Australian design and construction? As Dr. Marc Buret, Senior Acoustic Consultant with ViPAC Engineers & Scientists, explains it, “Acoustic design inside buildings can be broken down into three main mechanisms: sound insulation, which involves controlling
the transmission of noise from one space to another; and sound absorption, which relates to the inner acoustic environment within each of those spaces, and control reverberation that impacts on comfort and speech intelligibility. The third component is diffusivity, which relates to the homogeneity of the sound field and can be crucial in sensitive spaces such as auditoria, or even home theatres.” Current trends in interior design and fitout pose a number of challenges to good acoustic performance. “In new buildings hard – sound reflective – finishes are preferred to the detriment of “soft” materials, which provides sound absorption such as carpet,” explains Buret, “this has raised a number of acoustic issues. Other trends are seeing ceiling heights get higher, with exposed ceilings that assist thermal performance, but remove the acoustic absorption previously supplied by ceiling panels.” To help combat this double-
sided hit to acoustic absorption, acoustic engineers are implementing solutions such as absorptive acoustic modular units suspended from the ceiling. Which sounds like an awkward solution, but as ViPAC senior acoustic engineer Dr. Xun Li explains, “There are now suppliers providing suspended acoustic elements that come in quite visually interesting shapes, so they become a decorative part of the fitout”. Another solution that is being seen with increasing frequency is masking noise; the basic principle of which is to intentionally broadcast noise in order to mask unwanted noises. “It seems contradictory,” Buret says, “because you’re playing noise in order to make things quieter; but the characteristics of the masking noise are based on the way the human ear functions, and the frequency spectra of both the noise we want to mask, and the noise we want to keep”. While music and pleasant sounds can be used for masking noise, it
can also be comprised of noises that are unnoticeable, but flood out the unwanted noise. “It’s a matter of placing speakers in strategic positions in order to determine the noise levels that allow optimal masking without being annoying.” Explains Xun Li, “But to be really effective you also need to have control systems, so that the noise you broadcast can be adapted appropriately to improve the acoustic environment ”. Technology is seeing some of the most interesting advancements in acoustic design at the moment, says Arup senior acoustic engineer Andrew Nicol. “One of the most exciting of which is acoustic prediction using 3D modelling and auralisation, which enables you to actually listen to what you’re designing rather than just relying on numbers and designs. We have developed advanced auralisation in our SoundLab, where we model spaces by making changes to geometry and dimensions in order to judge a space’s acoustic quality.”
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Feature supplement He explains. “We use 3d modelling to render the spaces, and then we do an aural render of the space. The model accurately represents the geometry and materials in the space, and the computer allows us to then input music or speech into the model. We are then able to sit in the sound lab, which provides an immersive environment, and hear the model’s output.” Nicol continues, “And once the building is finished we are able to compare the modelled sound to that of the actual finished building. This is an enormous move forward in acoustic design”. An excellent example of some of these methods and technologies in practice is the recently completed Melbourne Recital Centre, for which Nicol supervised the acoustic engineering. “We were designing a space to match the top recital halls in the world.” Nicol says, “We had benchmarks for our acoustical standards, which we had to match or exceed”. The first challenge faced was the size and location of the site, “There is a lot of building crammed into a small site,” Nicol explains, “so some considerable design gymnastics were required”. “When talking about performance spaces, the big deal is keeping acoustics from the outside, out." says Wilkinson Murray acoustic consultant
Neil Gross. With the Recital Centre this was a particular concern, as the site was located right next to a tramline running down St. Kilda Boulevard. Which, for obvious reasons, posed some considerable acoustic problems. In order to overcome the external noise intrusion, the recital hall had to be structurally isolated from the rest of the building; the solution to this was to mount the entire auditorium on spring isolators. “Essentially we had to produce a heavy enough box that the vibrations from the trams would be absorbed by the building mass and the spring isolators.” Says Nicol, “In engineering terms, this meant that every time a corridor or door threshold crossed over into the isolated box, we had to ensure that it was a separate structure. The end result is very, very quiet, so when you’re in there all you hear is the music”. “You can approach performance space acoustics by using modelling in either small-scale models or computers,” Adds Gross, “and use them to look at how noise leaves a space and reflects off both the various panels within that space as well as the audience. Through that you can look into optimising your materials in order to help control those aspects”.
The swirling timber panels of the recital hall are particularly unique, with many different depths of relief on the pixilation, which was a result driven by acoustics and matched by architecture. “It is integrated acoustic and architectural design.” Says Nicol, “Every panel in the room is unique and bespoke, and also very heavy, resulting in panels that are 80-100mm thick and weight between 60-85kg per square meter”. Now although these more advanced acoustic measures don’t transfer over to conventional building acoustics directly, they do push the possibilities and technologies of acoustic engineering, acoustic modelling in particular, forward into exciting new realms. Acoustic design and engineering is a heady mixture of science, mathematics, sound and architecture all thrown in together. Studying how a sound behaves is scientific, and understanding how it affects spaces is architectural. But with very low minimum levels for some acoustic requirements in Australian buildings (as outlined in the BCA), it is particularly important that we don’t forget how large a factor acoustics play in overall interior environment quality. Good acoustic design is vital if we are to build better, more enjoyable buildings into the future.
Luckily, Boral Partiwall® was used on this project! Partiwall® has passed this real life fire test with flying colours providing protection to the units on both sides until the fire was put out. Fire rated to 60 or 90 minutes in accordance with BCA, and with acoustic ratings up to Rw+Ctr=56dB, Boral Partiwall® is a simple and effective separating wall system for attached townhouses and villa units. Discover more contact Boral TecASSIST 1800 811 222 or visit www.boral.com.au/partiwall
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industry matters
AUSTRALIAN MADE LOGO GIVES BOOST TO EXPORTERS By Ian Harrison Chief Executive Australian Made Australia has one of the strongest nation brands in the world, and now a recent survey has confirmed that promoting products as Australian can have a positive impact on sales. The survey conducted by YSC Online in February 2010 showed that products carrying the Australian Made logo are much more likely to see increased sales than products that do not and that growth in sales is likely to be directly linked to promotions of the common symbol. The findings of the survey are exciting because they clearly show that marketing products as Australian gives businesses a competitive advantage. In spite of a challenging financial climate, the number of exporters using the logo has grown in almost all surveyed markets and that growth has been strongest in markets where we have undertaken promotions of the logo. The growth in number of the logo users exporting to the US, for example, has increased by 36% from 2006/07 to 2008/09, while the number of exporters to Canada has increased by 45% in the same period. And perhaps more importantly, the growth has resulted in increased sales with
the number of logo users recording sales of greater than $500K growing by 325%, while the number of non logo users in the same sales category only increased by 20%. The Australian Made logo has been promoted in a number of export markets during the past three years as part of a government funded project administered by the not-for-profit campaign. Promotions have taken place in a wide range of markets and across several industries. Promotions for the building and construction industry have included participation in The Big 5 Show in Dubai. Post show surveys of Australian Made licensees participating in the 2008 Big 5 Show showed that licensees anticipated $17.3m in sales over 2008/09 and results from the show in very late 2009 are encouraging too with 8 licensees getting in front of buyers. The logo can be found on more than 10,000 products, sold here and around the world. In 2009, Australian Made experienced a record 46% growth in the number of new products being registered to carry the symbol.
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industry matters
Are Manufacturers’ Claims Enough? By Sonya Ku Good Environmental Choice Australia
There are currently over 3,600 unique product lines available to Australian architects and designers, which promote themselves as ‘environmentally friendly’. However, less than half of these products have been independently certified against their claims or offer proof– which amounts to some 2,000 product lines advertising unsubstantiated environmental claims. Certified ‘Green Buildings’ in Australia now account for 3.5 million m2 of Gross Floor Area, and this figure is expected to nearly double over the next two years, with an additional 500 projects currently registered for certification by the Green Building Council of Australia. This has fuelled exponential growth in the demand for greener building and construction materials; and as a result, the conversation about certified green products has matured from one about ‘green’ as a differentiating feature, to ‘green’ as simply another product specification requirement. One early result of this, is the ‘mainstreaming’ of a handful of lower impact alternatives for fitouts that have now become competitive on price. Alternatives such as low-VOC paints, low-formaldehyde panels, recycled content furniture, and the increased uptake of alternative construction technologies – for example the use of additives to minimise carbon emissions from Portland cement. However this isn’t quite the success story it might seem. As producers scramble to spruik their products’ environmental credentials to an increasingly ecoconscious market; a healthy cynicism has surfaced amongst specifiers, who are now scrutinising manufacturers’ claims much more closely. As architects and designers grow increasingly savvy about the environmental claims of the products they select, we are now beginning to see skepticism, rather than enthusiasm, greet the introduction or rebranding of products boasting environmental claims. But this trend isn’t unique to the building materials market. Back in 1999, a new word made its way into the Concise Oxford English Dictionary; ‘Greenwash’. As far back as the early nineties the word greenwash has been used to describe the increasing trend in environmental claims that are false, misleading, vague or even simply inaccurate. All of which begs the question: do ‘green’ products actually deliver green outcomes? Well the short answer to this is ‘yes’, but the long answer is that without a reliable reporting framework, and without manufacturers agreeing to collect the relevant data against a standard, it simply isn’t possible to quantify to what extent these products are making a difference. Though this will begin change as organisations such as the ISEAL Alliance begin to collaborate with stakeholders
'60% of building materials claiming to be a green choice are not certified by a third party'. to establish frameworks against which ecolabels can report their progress. The sad fact is that in the meantime, genuine environmentally-preferable products will have to continue to compete with products making unsubstantiated or misleading claims – which will no doubt continue to feed the cycle of cynicism that is emerging around ‘green’ products. The continued ‘greening’ of the property sector is impossible without the greening of its supply chain. And as green alternatives become increasingly available, the need for independent verification of manufacturers’ environmental claims is clear - certification must play a critical role in delivering real sustainability dividends to the market. Organisations such as Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) offer Third Party Certification of environmental claims. For instance, GECA offers over 45 standards that are publicly available. These standards cover key sustainability indicators; these benchmarks are derived from the findings of Life Cycle Assessments, research from peer reviewed scientific literature, and consultations with technical working groups and the public. An independent audit process is used to satisfy GECA that its standards have been met. However, there are still significant barriers to the uptake of independent certification: the lack of government subsidies available to small to medium-sized enterprises, the requirement to produce documentation for environmental indicators that are not typically measured, and indeed the ability for any company to simply choose the easier option and make unsubstantiated claims. In spite of these obstacles though, more and more companies are choosing credible, independent certification by organisations such as GECA and the FSC in order to verify their environmental claims. This demand is being driven largely by specifiers who save themselves time, cost and unnecessary risk by using Third Party Certification systems to do the detective work for them. Certifying bodies make the task simple - gathering the necessary documentation across a broad cross section of environmental issues, and auditing this documentation in order to determine whether or not a product is truly environmentally preferable, when a manufacturer’s claim may not be enough. | 25
sustainability column
Sustainable Acoustics Green buildings deliver a great deal in the way of both environmental and health benefits, as well as long term cost savings. On the acoustics front however, a lot of green fitouts can fall short of expectations in regards to their acoustical performance. There are a number of key considerations for the acoustics involved with green office fitouts, particularly acoustics that offer sustainable solutions. Sound absorption plays a major part in great acoustics, and sound reflection off ceilings can pose a particular challenge to green fitouts. However there are products out there to minimize sound reflection, such as ceilings giving a drywall appearance as apposed to ceiling grids and ceiling tiles. The advantage being that drywall ceilings provide greater sound absorption. A lot of green fitouts now work on the principle of reducing the number of partition walls being built, therefore reducing the amount of building materials used such as gyprock. This initiative lends itself to more open-plan fitouts, yet divisions can still be achieved to assist with acoustics and privacy. For example, storage units with planter boxes running across the top create a functional division that not only absorbs sound but also offers a functional storage solution and a visually pleasing division between spaces. Another division solution is a product known as air curtains. These are a more expensive alternative, yet they create a subtle division and offer privacy while increasing the acoustic value of a space. Fabric-covered walls are another popular choice for a reduction in sound bouncing. Panel walls can be covered in environmentally friendly and visually pleasing commercial fabrics that offer dual functionality as wall art, pin boards and / or division walls. Meeting rooms are invariably a place for management meetings and confidential gatherings. And adding acoustic panelling to meeting room walls can create the privacy and noise protection needed to separate meeting rooms from general office areas. They can also contribute to the quality of sound production for presentations. ‘Cover Ups’ are speech privacy or sound-masking systems with speakers that are as small as a sprinkler head and distribute a pleasant background noise so that workers aren’t disrupted by conversations in neighbouring workspaces. There are a number of new systems in the marketplace and some of these are self-installation products, which reduces the need to engage electricians. Acoustics are influenced by floor finishing choices also. Rather than opting for cement or hard finish floors, a number of environmentally friendly carpet manufacturers are now able to offer carpet tiles made from environmentally friendly fibres. The benefit of carpet is that it offers great acoustic absorption, minimising the sound of foot traffic throughout an office space. Carpet tiles offer longer life due to the durability of the products on the market today and the ability to move carpet tiles around and add to extended spaces. This provides the flexibility to expand or reduce your office size to suit your needs and, in some instances, can even allow you to relocate your carpet tiles when you relocate to a new office space! 26 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
Photo courtesy of TDA Interiors
Storage units with planter boxes can create a division that is both functional and effective as an acoustic barrier.”
Sustainable carpet tiles are a much more environmentally friendly solution to carpet options of years gone by – when rolls of carpets would be laid and fixed to cement floors for the duration of a tenancy, then ripped up and taken to landfill sites to make way for new tenants with new interior design requests. There are real applications for acoustic products, not only in office fitouts, but in hospitality as well. The larger hotel chains are continually seeking to improve their conferencing facilities. One major chain recently launched their new, state-of-the-art conferencing facilities, which allow for conferencing between executives from across the globe through the use of similarly designed and equipped conference rooms in other locations. By managing the installation of panel walls, ceiling components and flooring surfaces, these conference rooms are able to be situated on the bustling business floors of hotels, the soundproofing preventing noise intrusion from being a problem. With the variety of technical applications emerging in the production of textiles, sustainable acoustic options will continue to grow in number; offering functionality and diversity in application without hampering the environmental credentials of green fitouts. For more information about this article, please visit www.awardmagazine.com.au/featurededitorial
Andrew Holder TDA Interiors
Legal COlumn
High Court Rebalances Onus on Employers In a recent judgment, the High Court made a major statement on the appropriate approach to be taken to the onus of proof for industrial and other offences and eased what has been a substantial burden on employers for many years. The case is particularly important because it was delivered by the full bench of the High Court, with practically unanimous agreement on the reasons for judgment. It is likely to give landmark guidance to prosecutors and defence lawyers for many years to come in Australia, and the decision impacts on the role of specialist tribunals and the constitutional structure of the legal system in Australia. Previously, the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, which heard prosecutions for breaches of the OH&S Act had imposed on employer defendants the onus of disproving the implicit assumption that if an accident had happened, the employer must have failed in some way to discharge their statutory duty “to ensure” health and safety. However in this case, where the owner of a farm had been fined by the Industrial Relations Commission in NSW, the High Court took the opportunity to declare that the onus on the prosecution is to define specifically the alleged breaches of the OH&S Act so that the accused has a fair chance to respond and to show that all “reasonably practicable’ measures were taken. In this case Justice Heydon considered, “the proceedings should never have been instituted… it is absurd to have prosecuted the owner of a farm and its principal on the ground that the principal had failed properly to ensure the health, safety and welfare of his manager, who as a of optimum skill and experienceskill and experience much greater than his own – and a man whose conduct in driving straight down the side of the hill instead of a formed and safe road was inexplicitly reckless”. Justice Heydon was damming in his criticism of the logic behind the original decision, and the Court’s comments open up a range of defences for employers where the employee or fellow employees injured, have acted recklessly within an otherwise safe system, or have the special skills and experience necessary to protect themselves. The Court noted that it had interpreted other States’ legislation as placing “the onus on the prosecution to show that the means which should have been employed to remove or mitigate a risk were practicable.” In NSW, where the legislation placed the onus on
the employer to establish that it was not reasonably practicable to take the measure in question, the Court stated that “Such a defence can only address particular measures identified as necessary to have been taken in the statement of the offence”. The Court found the charge laid by the prosecution was defective as it did not specify the particular breach of the duty but alleged a more general failure to ensure the health, safety of an employee as required by the Act. The High Court disagreed with the approach traditionally taken by the Industrial Relations Commission that the employer was required to “guarantee against risks in the workplace” and stated that, “The provisions of the OH&S Act relating to offence and defence were not intended to operate in this way.” And later, “his Honour’s reasons disclose a wrong understanding of what constituted an offence”. The Court was also critical of the delay which had occurred in the matter as the accident had occurred on the 28th of March 2001 and was not resolved by the High Court until the 3rd of February 2010. The Court attributed much of this delay to the WorkCover Authority of NSW and said when dismissing the prosecutions “It is time for the WorkCover Authority to finish its sport with Mr Kirk”. All of this should allow us to expect a more careful and considered approach to procedure will be followed in future, when it comes to industrial tribunals charged with hearing OH&S or environmental offences. And with the building and construction industry holding the highest risk of OH&S incidents of any industry in Australia, this ruling stands to deliver some muchneeded judicial balance in the hearing of both OH&S and environmental offences. For more information about this article, please visit www.awardmagazine.com.au/featurededitorial
Jim Doyle Doyles Construction Lawyers | 27
AWARDWORTHY: wOLGAN VALLEY RESORT & SPA
A Natural Beauty: Wolgan Valley Eco Resort
When you think of the term ‘super-luxury’, there tends to be a number of adjectives that come to mind. ‘Opulence’, ‘decadence’, ‘excess’; most conjure the notion of having more and using more just because you can. Which is why a similarly hyphenated term, ‘environmentally-sustainable’, tends not to cross your mind. And yet they are two terms that Emirates Hotels & Resorts has insisted on throwing together with their recently opened Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa. Located 190 kilometres, or about three hours' drive from Sydney, the $125 million, 4,000-acre, 6-star resort is surrounded by the soaring sandstone escarpments of the Blue Mountains, and nestled between two National Parks and a World Heritage-listed forest. The resort precinct itself takes up just 2% of the total property area and consists of 40 freestanding villas spread out around the main resort facilities, which comprise of a main homestead building, a leisure pool, sauna and gym building as well as a day spa. The Homestead building contains the reception, dining, conference and bar 28 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
facilities, while the world-class spa facility offers a wide range of treatments and therapies. Delivered by Hansen Yuncken, Wolgan is Emirates’ second eco-resort, the first, Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa – built a decade ago in Dubai – provided the model for ecologically sustainable luxury on which Wolgan Valley has been based. As part of its conservation commitments, over time the resort will plant more than 10,000 native trees and will re-introduce native species such as the spotted-tail quoll, and other endangered and locallyextinct animals to the area.
So how do you go about reconciling the innate dichotomy of super-luxury and environmental-sustainability in a project?
Photos courtesy of Brett Boardman
h
Viva Australiana Well, as Coffey Project’s Project Manager Kevin Miksch explains, the brief for the resort had “the objective of creating a property that would blend into the surrounding environment rather than overpower it. As Emirates’ first resort built outside of Dubai, the specific goals of understated luxury combined with rustic Australian architecture were the driving forces behind the design”. “Our brief was to design a resort that sat comfortably and respectfully in the spectacular nature of the valley around it,” explains Project Architect Dominic Bennett, of Turner & Associates (TAA) “Emirates were conscious of the buildings not trying to compete with their surroundings, and TAA agreed, the architecture needed to be 'quiet'”. “The idea was to create a quintessentially Australian experience,” adds Juliet Ashworth from Chhada
Siembieda Australia, who handled the resort’s interior design. “The design was based on the notion of the traditional Australian homestead. Though we had some minor tussles at start figuring out what that actually meant.” The design team tossed around a number of ideas as to what ‘the traditional Australian homestead’ represented, and decided that, “We wanted a more contemporary, more timeless take on it.” explains Ashworth, adding that instead of simply reproducing heritage architecture from the federation period – and the clichés that come with it – the design took cues from it. “The arrangement of the resort buildings was to read as a homestead on a cattle station might,” explains Bennett, “with outbuildings surrounding a large central homestead building, and the scale and complexity of those buildings reflecting that hierarchy.” Material choices played a large part in creating this effect. The timber, sandstone and galvanised metal roofing that form the basis of the buildings were chosen specifically to allow the resort to
Main: The homestead building and pool at night, the right-hand side of the pool features an infinity edge, where the water runs over the edge and cascades down in a beautiful water feature. This removed the need for a safety fence on the inward side of the pool, allowing the poolside views out over the valley to remain uninterrupted.
Right: One of the resort’s typical one-bedroom villas, set against the magnificent sandstone escarpments that surround the valley.
Photo courtesy of Brett Boardman
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The living room of one of the suites, neutral, natural colours and tones provide a comfortable interior space that doesn’t detract from the magnificent views available from the verandah and the private, solar-heated pool.
slowly weather into the landscape. With extensive conservation works underway in the preservation areas, the expectation is that in five years, as the trees start to reach decent heights and the exterior finishes begin to weather – the resort will look as though it has been there forever.
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Innate Sustainability When you consider the sheer remoteness of Wolgan’s location, it seems reasonable to assume that restrictions on what could be built, and how it could be built, would be fairly minimal. However, as Kevin Miksch explains, the opposite was actually true. Due to being surrounded by national park, “The environmental controls inherent in the project’s planning approvals were manifested in all aspects of the development.” He says. Which meant that throughout the design development of the resort and its essential infrastructure, strict attention had to be paid to the preservation of vegetation, wildlife and vital waterways. To aid this, third party monitoring and reporting by specialist consultants took place continuously throughout the construction and commissioning phases. This was to ensure that every environmental safeguard required to protect the site was being properly utilised by the contractors. As an ongoing requirement to operate the Resort, a very strict environmental management plan for the property, including future auditing, was agreed upon and implemented by Emirates and the NSW government. This plan was instrumental in guiding builders Hansen Yuncken in how they needed to behave, "From the outset of the project, processes were established, to address the environmental sensitivity of the
30 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
Valley.” Explains Project Manager Daniel Clinton, “Fauna and flora were treated with the utmost respect in our daily operations. With kangaroos, wombats, eagles, rabbits, emus, and snakes just some of the residents that we shared the valley with. Regular workshops were carried out with the 300 or so workers on-site, to heighten awareness and teach everyone how to conduct themselves in the presence of dangerous wildlife. Wolgan River and Carne Creek, which runs through the resort, were regularly monitored and protected from sediment exposure.” Clinton even recalls one instance that required lowering a tree to the ground by crane, because it was suspected to be housing possums in its trunk. “These were just some of the daily considerations required to bring the construction of an eco-friendly resort to the wonders of Wolgan Valley”. “As a testament to the care taken during this process,” Miksch adds, “Emirates Hotels was recently named the world’s first hotel to achieve carbon neutral certification from an internationally accredited greenhouse gas certification scheme”. The first element of achieving the resort’s lofty sustainability goals was to keep its layout intentionally compact. When it came to selecting the specific site for the construction, it was decided to use a badly degraded former cattlegrazing paddock – the thinking being to minimise the impact of the construction by building where the land was already sullied. With the site selected, the buildings were then arranged within the existing topography to minimise any further disruption to the overland water flow paths, natural landforms and vegetation.
Photo courtesy of Chhada Siembieda Australia
AWARDWORTHY: Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa
A broad range of environmentally sustainable initiatives have been incorporated into the resort. Though as it turned out, the sheer remoteness of the site essentially demanded most of them. As Dominic Bennett explains, “It is such a unique site, with so little of the infrastructure that we take for granted in urban projects, that here was really no alternative but to approach the design with sustainable initiatives being an integral part of the expression of the buildings”. As a result, Wolgan is completely independent in terms of both water usage and waste disposal, with the ability to draw small volumes of potable water from Carne Creek, which runs through the property; rainwater collected from the roof of every building and held in storage tanks for non-potable purposes; a 58 megalitre reservoir providing a secondary water supply; and the resort’s wastewater managed, treated and recycled onsite via an advanced Innoflow wastewater system. The wastewater management system is designed to treat an average flow of 100,000 litres a day, with peaks of up to 135,000 litres. It is comprised of three main treatment processes: primary treatment, secondary treatment and tertiary disinfection, with the Class-A effluent that the system produces used to irrigate key area in the grounds, including pastures and villa gardens. Also, due to its low profile, the treatment plant generates very little odour, minimal noise, and sits almost unnoticed beyond the staff housing area. Solar power factors heavily into the resort, with over 100 solar panels supplying power for up to 75% of the
Photos courtesy of Brett Boardman
AWARDWORTHY: Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa villas’ hot water needs. Heat pump technology is used to provide energyefficient heating to the leisure pool. And motorised external blinds and wraparound verandahs with overhanging eaves, help to provide solar protection from the hot westerly sun and minimise solar heat gain – which in turn reduces air-conditioning usage, and improves energy efficiency. Other environmentally-friendly features include composting toilets on more remote parts of the site, and the extensive employment of solarpowered lighting to illuminate the resort’s landscaped areas at night.
h The spectacular view from the two-bed villa pool at dusk, which looks out due west, and straight down the valley. The minimalist architecture is designed to complement the valley surrounds, rather than stand out from them.
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Long-Distance Dealings Of the project’s many challenges, the one that comes to mind first is the incredible remoteness of the site, says Bennett. Which meant that “we could never really separate the design process from the construction – there was only one little goat track leading into the place, we had no power, no phone reception, and concrete was over an hour away. So all of the things you take for granted in the city we simply couldn’t get there.” The result was that a great deal of the resort; the accommodation buildings for 90 staff, the steel wall and roof frames of the villas, the featured structural timber and timber wall cladding panels were all pre-fabricated in Sydney, and then brought in on trucks. “This was particularly important to the design because it significantly reduced the impact of construction traffic on the delicate environment,” explains Bennett, “which is why we promoted it so heavily to both the client and the builder”. The sheer scale, scope and complexity of the project, combined with the size of project team, and the remoteness of the location meant that managing the documentation and communication
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Opulence, Australian-Style In the design and delivery of any luxury resort, there is always a weighing up of exactly what the guests should feel at the end of the day. And with Wolgan those feelings fell to a sense of quality and luxuriousness that still presented a quintessentially Australian amalgamation of cultural, human and industrial heritage. The process of achieving this fell largely to re-using and recycling materials and elements directly from the site itself, such as fallen hardwood timber, metal star pickets and heavily weathered, hand cut fence posts. All of which have been incorporated into the buildings – in many cases as artwork – and help to form an integral part of the resort’s identity. “We did a lot of work to incorporate elements we considered to be essential to the site,” explains Juliet Ashworth, “for example, to include the area’s coal mining heritage, we incorporated really large, industrial-looking lights – which hark back to that era – into the reception”. Indeed, sourcing products and materials locally became something of a cornerstone on the project. As Ashworth explains, “At Chhada Siembieda Australia, we’ve designed more than 100 luxury resorts; and yet it’s very unusual for us to manufacture and make things in Australia these days. With Wolgan Valley, we were initially told everything for the resort’s fitout would be made in Dubai and India – which was a little depressing for something that’s meant to be quintessentially Australian”. However, samples for all of the furniture, artwork and metalwork were created in Australia and, as Ashworth explains, “the quality was so high, Emirates changed their minds and decided that everything should be made locally, which allowed us to engage lots of boutique local manufacturers, which not only gave back to the local community, but significantly reduced the project’s carbon footprint, as it stopped the shipping of large numbers of parts from the far side of the world”. The sourcing of most of these interior
elements fell to FF&E consultants Customer Focused Solutions. As CFS’s Debra Fredericos explains, “We worked closely with manufacturers from both Sydney and around Wolgan itself,” she says, “this meant that most things were custom made, built from drawing and prototyping, and the quality of the furnishing is excellent as a result. Emirates understand quality, and that's what they wanted. The evolution of the furniture was particularly impressive, for such a big building it is scaled superbly”. “A lot of time and effort was spent making use of otherwise discarded agricultural items to evoke the rural heritage of the place.” Adds Bennett. “For example, over 50km of rusty star picket fencing was incorporated back into the buildings as sculptural screens.” This allowed the resort to reclaim some of its industrial and agricultural history, and incorporate it into its new identity. In a similar vein, the design team made considerable use of local input, “We used local artisans, local glass makers, local metal workers for the many bespoke metal work items around the place, and even used a local sawyer to use wood from the local area,” says Bennett, “we really embraced an emphasis on local materials.” And the result is a resort that feels inextricably linked to site it sits on, which was precisely the original design intent.
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Hardworking Luxury Operationally, the resort is part of a
One of the resort’s typical one-bedroom villas, roofing for the villas is comprised of zincalume .48 corrugated roofing with roll top ridges, custom flashings, 175 quad gutters, and 100mm round downpipes. All of the roofs feature a standard safety mesh and 75mm insulation to improve both thermal comfort for occupants, and the energy efficiency of each villa.
Photo courtesy of Red 8 Roofing
for the project was a mammoth task. So to streamline collaborations, the Aconex project collaboration system was brought in at an early stage. “The system provided an online document and communication management process that allowed for massively streamlined access to, and tracking of, drawings, tenders, contracts, reports, schedules, project instructions and communications.” Explains Aconex’s Will Turbet. “Wolgan Valley had a very large and widely dispersed project team, so the key was to provide a system by which all of these companies could come together and communicate efficiently.” A central web-based system, Aconex stored all of the project’s documentation and correspondence in one place, and allowed team members to log on at any time to access the material they needed. In all, Wolgan saw over 180,000 mail items (general letters, emails, and RFIs), and over 190,000 documents, drawings, environmental reports etc. registered on the system during the project. With such massive volumes of content, information and communication, the efficiencies offered by the system became vital to the smooth coordination of the many parties involved.
massive conservation program over the next 20-30 years to reestablish both the region’s natural environment, and the native species that were degraded whilst it was an operational cattle station. Restoring the region to its former glory will be a prolonged and demanding process, but exploring that push for conservation is a massive part of what Wolgan is about. As Bennett puts it, “Whilst there’s a tennis court, and swimming pool, and day spa – there is also
horse riding, 4WD tours and guided walks - so the opportunity is there for people to explore the natural environment of this amazing place however they chose.” And in the end that appears to be the real explanation for how you reconcile the concept of super-luxury with environmental-sustainability – you construct the luxury as a means to encourage people to explore and enjoy the natural environment.
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TECHNOLOGY column
Photo courtesy of Pacific Computing’
The Quest for BIM
For over 35 years, PDC Consultants in Perth, Western Australia, has shown excellence in its Shop Detail, Design and Engineering delivery. A vast number of projects have been helped along by their concerted efforts to achieve full co-operation and collaboration across as many disciplines as possible in the mining, oil and gas, power and infrastructure arenas. What I’ve just described would loosely translate to a common term used in the industry today – Building Information Modelling or BIM. Quite surprisingly the term BIM has been doing the rounds since the late 1980’s in Graphisofts ArchiCad, quite a few years before Tekla’s Xsteel was commercially sold on the market. In recent years the software, now known as TeklaStructures, has made vast inroads into the realm of BIM and collaboration upstream from shop detailing through to conceptual design, and downstream to fabrication and erection. Some of the exceptional tools made available by the software include: the ability to produce 3D pdfs, and the free distribution of Tekla’s Web Viewer models to ease the communication of technical queries or discrepancies to and from design, fabrication and erection teams. Not to mention the ability to readily hand down numeric control files to beam drill/saw/cut/ crop machines but also dxf outline templates for feeding line cutting machines. The software has proven its capabilities in the full interoperability between a vast number of design/analysis software packages across various file formats, making collaboration simple and easy. It also has the ability to reference many common files formats into its workspace in order to facilitate interface completion/verification across various disciplines. Included in its referencing options is the ability to track historical changes from one reference file to another – an invaluable function in an industry that demands fast-track scheduling and the resultant on-the-go revision. The software is PDC Consultants’ most recentlypurchased 3D shop detailing software but has already proven to be the most versatile in its ability to adapt to the requirements of simple mechanical through to complex mechanical plate work and complex structural steelwork detailing. In and around the end of 2007 and start of 2008, PDC used its 3D modeling softwares to collaborate directly with engineers on the Cloudbreak project for the Fortesque Metals Group (FMG), which offered the 34 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
ability to accelerate programs rather than sticking to the Engineering to Shop Detailing to Fabrication to Erection processes traditionally in place for Iron Ore projects. The facility to talk directly with engineers and make changes to structures ahead of the need to even consider the production of 2D design drawings, made the difference for the project’s success. In order to expedite the fabrication and erection processes, Navisworks software offered the ability to enquire about every last nut, bolt and washer from each of the project’s three shop detailing softwares in the form of an overall plant model available to all parties. PDC also made extensive use of the collaborative referencing of models from all disciplines in order to build video animations that the client used as a direct marketing tool for their push into new areas of development on site, well ahead of the plant even having the first piece of steelwork delivered to site. In Western Australia today, the types of processes described above are becoming an industry standard rather than an industry first. The benefits of being able to review models that have been assembled from various softwares with regard to: health and safety, design reviews, erectability, clash review, and costing analysis are invaluable and are forming the first parts of a solid foundation that Building Information Modelling might be built on, in the near future. I suppose that the next question for a company like PDC Consultants would be, ‘Where to from here?’. The company is constantly driving for a better solution in all facets of its business, and Building Information Modelling – due to what it can mean if it is fully achieved – forms a very large part of that drive forward. As the benefits of technological advancement filter down through the softwares we use on a day-to-day basis, and all sides of project teams start to see the advantages of full collaboration, we should get nearer to what BIM is all about. For more information about this article, please visit www.awardmagazine.com.au/featurededitorial
Paul McLeod Pacific Computing
Accessibility Column
Flooring Mobility and Safety Floor finishes can have a significant aesthetic impact within a building and are often selected with the intention to make a statement as to what the building sets out to communicate and inspire. High gloss finishes and bold high impact designs have always had a presence in monumental public buildings, but many other types of buildings, such as your average suburban shopping centre, now also aspire to a similar aesthetic. This inevitably raises the question of what functional impacts such aspirations might have. People with balance and mobility difficulties are obviously a group at higher risk of sustaining injuries as a result of a fall. In Australia, a staggering 144,000 hospital day beds annually are attributed to admissions due to falls. Many of these falls can occur due to operational issues such as food stuffs being dropped within a food and beverage area, however a great many can also be attributed to the design of the built environment. Glare / Reflectivity Highly reflective floor finishes can be a significant source of glare; all the more troubling given the extensive surface area floor finishes, by nature, are applied to. Significant sources of glare can be extremely disorienting for many people, not just people with low vision, as the ability to locate important landmarks for orientation can be affected. Of greater concern however, is the possibility of sources of potential hazard (e.g. an unnoticed step, piece of furniture, or change in gradient) going undetected due to the presence of glare. Wayfinding and Orientation Selecting floor finishes which contrast with abutting finishes at walls and furnishings, assists in defining a space more effectively and clearly establishing pathways and movement through a building. This of course reduces the risk of trips, falls and collisions; and provides natural and intuitive cues for where movement should occur in order to locate key areas within the building. When selecting contrasting finishes, luminance contrast is what is considered to be most perceivable to people with low vision. Luminance contrast is described as a comparison of light being reflected by two surfaces; not necessarily just colour. A luminance contrast of no less than 30% is what is considered to be appropriate for most people with low vision. For information on how this can be tested, appendices are included within AS 1428 Parts 1 and 4. Patterned Designs and Flooring Layout Flooring designs that include bold elements set together can be confusing to a person with low vision. These include contrasting tiles set together within a location, a bold pattern on a carpet weave, or mosaics with large bold elements. These can often be mistaken for a change in level or even a physical item placed on the floor. Tolerances and Transitions in Flooring Very small changes in level can be detrimental to people with mobility difficulties who are ambulant as well as those who use any type of wheeled mobility aid. Transitions of only a few millimetres can become the source of a fall, or a barrier which prevents a person from accessing areas within
buildings which must be made available to all members of the public. AS 1428 Part 1 advises of changes in level of up to 3mm (5mm where individual tiles / surfaces a beveled or rounded). Carpet pile heights should be less than 6mm and recessed where applicable. Other Building Elements Stairs are an area where falls often occur and, of course, where the resulting injury can be particularly serious in nature. Highlighting stairs at the nosing of the goings is an effective strategy which can assist in preventing unnecessary falls. A solid continuous band (50-75mm in depth) with a high level of slip resistance and luminance contrast should always be provided in these instances. Tactile ground surface indicators are now a BCA requirement in public areas where potential hazards occur (i.e. stairs, ramps, road crossings), and of course provide a vital cue to people with vision impairment in locating these hazards. These must also provide a luminance contrast of no less than 30% - it is recommended that these are tested as a matter of fact in each application and subjective judgments of colour are not made as this can be both misleading and inaccurate. For more information about this article, please visit www.awardmagazine.com.au/featured editorial
George Xinos Blythe-Sanderson Group | 35
Feature supplement
The Sustainability Beneath our Toes By Mark Kenfield
The recent 5-star interior fitout of Crocs’ Chadstone store used Style strand woven bamboo flooring. The flooring is harder than most popular timber options, such as; iron bark, spotted gum, brush box and jarrah; but is sourced from a fully sustainable, environmentally friendly and rapidly growing renewable resource, and is GECA certified. Photo courtesy of Style Australasia
36 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
For quite some time now, the industry has noticed a growing focus on improving the sustainability and efficiency of almost every element of our buildings. Walls, windows and ceilings have all seen strong pushes towards sustainability through improved insulation characteristics, surface coatings, glazing and the use of recycled materials. However there’s one area that, for the large part, seems to have slipped under our collective radars; though perhaps that’s because it’s right under our feet. Sustainable flooring is now leaping to the fore as specifiers and building owners catch on to the quality, durability, lifecycle and cost benefits that sustainable flooring can offer building projects. The options seem to be primarily focussed on three main areas: durability, which increases the usable lifecycle of floors, allows for longer periods between replacement/refurbishment, and minimises the maintenance costs floors require; recycled materials, which massively reduce the environmental impact of a fitout by preventing the harvesting of fresh materials, and reducing the waste from the sites that the materials are repurposed from; and environmentally friendly materials, such as bamboo and eco-timbers, which are harvested using more environmentally sound processes. “Consideration for sustainable flooring is coming from not only the specifying community; but also from building owners, who are looking into ecologically sustainable products.” Explains Style Australasia’s Steven Keats, “People don’t really appreciate the sheer mass of flooring that goes into every building, and therefore the environmental impact that fitting sustainable flooring can have.” He continues, “However as awareness about sustainable flooring grows, so is the demand for eco-certified flooring options; which is now also driving manufacturers and suppliers to ensure that they have the certification in place to meet these new market demands”. “The trend towards green flooring products is enormous,” concurs Safety Flooring’s Loretta Pearson, “in fact it would be hard to find a project at the moment for which sustainable flooring isn’t an issue. We’re finding that
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traditional PVC flooring is pretty much being neglected these days, and there also appears to be a much greater appreciation of quality too, people are finally waking up to the fact that the cheapest product upfront can often be the most expensive in the long run”. This change in emphasis to quality and durability is starting to refocus people’s emphasis on flooring considerably. “There has been a real change in people’s attitudes towards quality of late,” says Pearson, “where flooring is concerned, people have always thought in terms of value for money; the difference now is that they are finally seeing that ‘value for money’ doesn’t mean putting down the cheapest flooring you can – because there’s nothing cheap about flooring that needs to be replaced a few years down the track.” Pearson says that this change in attitudes is starting to form an appreciation for the fact that products made to last, products that are still going to be functioning in 20-30 years time, are much cheaper overall. It’s a feeling that Nullarbor Timber’s Brendan Donchi agrees with. He says that with appropriate usage and proper installation, the lifespan of timber flooring can be increased from just 10-15 years right up to 50. “Used and installed correctly, timber flooring has an incredibly long life.” He says, “It can last up to half a century; and given that over the lifespan of a building, floor coverings are generally the first internal surfaces to be replaced, this can offer a significant boost for a building’s environmental sustainability as, more often than not, timber flooring will outlast the actual building itself.” And nothing saves raw materials quite like not having to use them. This concept of durability as sustainability also adds a lot of appeal to polished concrete as a flooring option. This is because standard floor coatings (epoxy or poly-urethane), sealed concrete, tiled or stone floors require considerable maintenance. As Matt Pluples, Managing Director of My Floor, explains, “Regular everyday use of the floor attracts dirt, grit and dust, which act like sandpaper on surface coatings, inevitably causing scratches, wear and damage to them. And when the coating eventually wears down, you are faced with the unenviable task of stripping, cleaning and re-sealing your floor.” Which is where polished concrete comes in, by mechanically grinding, treating and polishing concrete with diamond polishing equipment, you can create very durable and low maintenance finished surfaces, with a high gloss finish, without the use of film coat sealers. Because this style of finish is hard enough that it won’t scratch and wear from everyday use, there is no need for 38 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
The durability of polished concrete helps to delay the eventual refurbishment or replacement of a building’s flooring, keeping material usage to a minimum of the lifecycle of the floor. And through a diamond polishing process that doesn’t involve any high VOC chemicals, polished concrete avoids surface chemicals and remains very environmentally friendly.
stripping and re-sealing, which provides you with a flooring system that can last for decades. With sustainable timber flooring, considered design and good resource management are especially important because, as Brendan Donchi explains, “The more restrictions architects and designers place on timber flooring elements, the less sustainable that flooring can be.” Donchi says this is because recycled timber is incredibly inefficient, and sustainable timber is a complicated sort of theory, so in order to achieve a sustainable outcome you have to maximise and value-add the logs used. “Without consideration for how the logs are used, sawmills achieve around 40% recovery,” he adds, “however with consideration, we can achieve closer to 60-70% recovery. So we can get a resource far more efficiently, but that’s only possible when timbers are kept to their own natural sizes, and allowances are made for the slight defects that are incurred by doing so. These are the things that get timber into buildings with the least wastage possible.” Now although all of these sustainable flooring options exist, achieving a sustainable outcome with a project’s flooring isn’t always as cut and dry as simply specifying the green-sounding product. So there is currently a big push for independent certification, through agencies such as Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA), to provide an independent view of the materials, specifications, resource procurement, occupational welfare and safety of the products projects select. As Keats explains, “At an application level, substitution does sometimes occur; someone specifies hardwood flooring but, down the path, material arrives on site that isn’t certified; the industry is aware of this, and we’re working on it by seeing that products are presented on
site with known and certified chains of custody. This ensures that customers are getting what they pay for, and that quality sustainable flooring is delivered on site.” Flooring can also offer huge improvements in energy-efficiency through heating and cooling options. One option that is starting to attract significant attention for its energy-saving properties is underfloor displacement air conditioning, which uses displacement (cool air rising upwards, rather than conventional fan-forcing), which removes the need to mechanically augment the return air, which greatly reduces the energy required to deliver air conditioning, and also reduces the amount of cooling required, as conditioned air needn’t be as cold as it would if it was coming from the ceiling. On the heating side of things, underfloor, displacement-based, heating systems are starting to gain prominence too. “Underfloor heating can really help in managing heating costs,” explains Comfort Heat’s Sandra Skelly, “The most efficient options being either electric or hydronic underfloor heating.” These systems use heating cables or hot water pipes, set into the screed, concrete floor slabs, or under carpet or floorboards; and work by radiating heat upwards, this can greatly reduce energy usage, as the heating doesn’t need to be anywhere near as hot as a conventional convection system, which requires both high heat levels and mechanical ventilation. It is almost impossible to ignore that, especially in these environmentally and economically tough times, we have to start looking at maximising the efficiency and cost-saving potential of every part of our buildings. Doing so keeps running costs as low as possible, and maximises the lifecycle efficiency of our buildings - and nowadays that includes even the floor beneath our toes.
Photo courtesy of Paul Lerhman
Feature supplement
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Feature supplement
Flooring – The Future Laid Out By David Sharpe
Photo courtesy of Tasman Access Floors
Flooring solutions are capturing a lot of people’s attention at the moment, and they’re doing it for a variety of reasons. “Much of the momentum is in pre-finished products,” says Style Australasia’s Steven Keats, “This is because the quality of a factory finished floor can be significantly better than one finished in-situ. The advantage of pre-fabricated and pre-finished flooring is that they help eliminate the possibility of dust or particles in the finishing process, and significantly reduce the possibility of moisture intrusion or site-based impacts that can damage unfinished flooring during delivery or installation onsite”. Keats believes a large reason the market is embracing prefabricated flooring is because it moves extra trades out of buildings during construction, he also says that “The beauty of pre-finished products is that, within a factory setting, there’s a much broader scope for these products to be matched to the themes and colours selected for a fitout.” So whether you’re working with natural timber or bamboo, the higher levels of control available in a factory setting allow you to work with colour consultants in order to make a building’s flooring complementary to other interior elements (fittings, furniture, walls etc.). “Coating products in-situ also requires a great deal of attention to detail,” Keats adds, “where the treatment of pre-fabricated products allows you to move much more quickly”. Pre-finished products also open up a broad range of looks and finishes – such as distressed or recycled timber flooring, which can give modern buildings an age and a softened
40 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
finish – that simply aren’t possible to achieve in-situ. Keats believes this is one of the most exciting trends in the market because it gives both specifiers and designers a much greater range of options to make use of. “Acid washed, metallic finished – pre-finished coatings offer designers a very wide range of products to choose from,” he says, “which can increase both their creativity, and their control over flooring choices.” It also makes it much easier to match the materials and marketing feel of other products on sites, which provides consistency from one project to the next, and is especially ideal for franchises”. Another big trend is towards access flooring in both high-end IT buildings and general commercial office environments. Access floors provide reticulated access to the majority of services (power, air-con, data), which are moved from ceiling cavities to under the floor; they also allow you to move air-conditioning underfloor as well. “One of the main reasons we are seeing this take off is the growing prevalence of green buildings,” explains Tasman Access Floors’ Gavin Lee, “buildings can achieve higher energy ratings by installing displacement air-conditioning instead of conventional, mechanically driven systems, and it’s driving them to make the change”. Access floors also allow you to reduce slab to slab heights, by removing the requirements for ductwork in the ceiling. This means that ceiling services can be reduced to just lighting and fire safety, which opens up a lot of potential for buildings to gain some extra floors. “For every 300mm you take out, you can gain another floor for every 12 floors you build.” explains Lee, “Which can mean a great deal for a building’s rental returns”. And taking that even further, is the arrival of ‘green’ access floor systems. Lee says these move away from conventional steel and concrete access systems by implementing recycled materials that can assist with a building’s Green Star rating. “New Manufacturing technology has allowed us to create a new panel that features a very high percentage of recycled material.” explains Lee, “the core component is calcium sulphate, which offers better strength, better dynamic load performance, and better acoustic performance than the conventional steel & concrete access floor systems”. And speaking of concrete, it is seeing a trend of its own at the moment, as increased affordability and accessibility render diamond-polished concrete flooring an attractive, highly-durable and low-maintenance flooring option. One big advantage to polished concrete is the extremely broad range of design possibilities it allows. As Matt Pluples, Managing Director of My Floor, explains, “With new projects, you can choose the colour of aggregate and cement oxides prior to the installation, which keeps the design process very open and free.” The ready availability of a large range of coloured water-based dyes mean the creative possibilities are considerable. It’s a truly exciting time for flooring, with current technologies offering more durable, more sustainable, and more creative flooring options than ever before, the future seems to be laying out quite nicely.
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How Did They Do That?
Photos courtesy of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
Flowering for the World Cup: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
Illuminated from within, the striking effect is made possible through the high translucency of the PTFE fabric used by MakMax. Every night time even held at the stadium will illuminate the outer fabric walls of the stadium creating a unique lighting effect.
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium signifies a turn in the socio economic realiity for Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The presence this structure holds on the Port Elizabeth landscape is immense.
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As with any winning World Cup bid, South Africa’s 2010 win required extensive new stadium developments, to provide adequate sporting facilities for what is the largest sporting event in the world, to cater for the massive human traffic it generates, and to meet the sport’s governing body, FIFA’s stringent requirements for those facilities. All up, five new stadiums have been built for the tournament, and five of the country’s best existing venues have been upgraded. In the case of South Africa’s ‘Windy City’, Port Elizabeth, located on the Eastern Cape; a new, R1.7 billion (approximately $252 million AUD), 48,000 seat stadium, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (NMBS), was designed by German architects Gerkan Marg and Partners (GMP) in association
with Port Elizabeth-based Dominic Bonnesse Architects, and constructed by a Grinaker-LTA joint venture with Dutch company, Interbeton. The stadium is the first worldclass football venue ever built in the Eastern Cape. Prior to its construction, most large football matches were played at the Eastern Province Rugby Union (EPRU) Stadium, the city's rugby ground. However, when Port Elizabeth was chosen as a host city for the 2010 World Cup, it was determined that the EPRU would need to be almost completely rebuilt if it were to meet FIFA’s requirements, so the city elected to build a brand new, multipurpose stadium instead. Shaped by the Elements Port Elizabeth is called the Windy City
for a reason, and the area’s frequent and violent onshore winds quickly became part of architects GMP’s inspiration for the unique, eye-catching roof structure that forms the cornerstone of the NMBS’s design. The stadium’s high windresistance requirements led to a series of soft curves and sharp edges in the roof design, which provided the structural strength it required without affecting its aesthetic appeal. Approximately 40m high and consisting of 6 levels on the western stand and 5 on northern, southern and eastern stands; the stadium’s roof structure is comprised of a series of 36 white, ‘petal’-shaped steel trusses that cantilever over the seating and give the stadium the appearance of a flower. The structure’s ‘petals’ provide shelter and shade, from both the sun and the wind, to 5 levels of seating, corporate and private boxes, and 2 vast (12.7m x 7.2m) viewing screens, and have earned the stadium its nickname, ‘The Sunflower’. The trusses were spanned with a tensile membrane that captures the light whilst providing shade to the stands. Australian company MakMax provided the stadium’s architectural membrane, using a combination of Chukoh Skytop FGT-800 PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) glass fibre fabric, as well as aluminium cladding that covers the perimeter of the stadium, and is supported by over 2,000 tonnes of structural steel. The PTFE-coated, high-translucency fabric membrane they used is a dynamic, highly-durable, woven and nonflammable tensile material that uses a 100% fluoropolymer coating to offer up to 19% light transmission (compared to just 13% with PVC), and eliminate glare whilst providing broad illumination to the stadium’s interior. By evenly dispersing daylight, the material provides excellent shading, and dramatic illumination. Due to the highly reflective nature of its coating, the hightranslucency PTFE glass fibre fabric will also provide the NMBS with a compelling backdrop for both its night time and interior lighting. Structurally, the fabric membrane is waterproof, resistant to ultra-violet
Inside the stadium the PTFE fabric roof provides much needed solar and weather protection to spectators.
radiation and chemically inert. This has helped render the stadium’s roof exceptionally stain resistant, and easy to clean. The fabric can also reflect as much as 75% of visible light, which will assist the roof structure in maintaining its glowing white appearance well into the future. The strength and durability of the fabric also allowed the project team to realise the spectacular sunflower shape of the stadium without having to worry about the region’s high winds cracking or creasing the structure through the strain of repeated flexing and folding. A Constructive Construction With 138,000m3 of material excavated, 110,000m3 of fill material imported, 31,000m3 of concrete, 3,000 tonnes of steel reinforcement, 20,000m2 of PTFE membrane, 20,000m2 of aluminium cladding, and 2,000 tonnes structural steel supporting the roof, the NMBS is one of the most significant building projects Port Elizabeth has ever seen, and the local building industry has benefited a great deal as a result. The sheer scale of the project, combined with the fast-tracked nature of its construction, introduced the local industry to a whole new level of development. And by making extensive use of local suppliers and experts alongside the international specialists brought in, the NMBS ensured a considerable amount of skills transfer into the local industry. Which should provide significant benefits to the local construction industry well into the future.
The stadium’s structure is two-tiered, and the construction featured subsurface drainage, raker beam fabrication, and precast columns and seating elements, as well as bulk water supply, bulk sewerage and stormwater discharge, and extensive earthworks (138,000m3 of excavation and 110,000m3 of in-fill). The seats are comprised of a range of different colour shades, from light orange through to dark red. These are arranged seemingly at random, which helps to make the stadium appear full at all times, and also helps to minimise the issue of sun damage, by making both weathered and freshly-replaced seats less noticeable. A concrete moat serves dual-functions, buffering the pitch from the spectators, and forming part of the stormwater channel inside the stadium. Bridges over the moat allow for the rapid evacuation of spectators onto the pitch, in case of an emergency evacuation. Due to its position on the shore of the North End Lake, a high water table presented some considerable challenges to the construction; the project team solved these through the construction of a canal to facilitate the removal of water seepage and overflow from the lake. The project generated an estimated 6,800 jobs throughout the course of construction, and the development of the stadium is also expected to result in a considerable uplift and urban renewal of the surrounding residential and commercial sections of North End. In all, it was a constructive conclusion to a considerable construction. | 43
AWARDWORTHY: The olsen hotel
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Rising from the Canvas: The Olsen Hotel They say life imitates art, but occasionally hotels do too.
Image courtesy of Rothelowman
The southern edge of the hotel as seen from Chapel Street. The façade – a lightweight, white curtain wall – alludes to a tentlike structure and the idea of short-term accommodation that this conveys. The uniqueness of the façade assisted the design team in creating a boutique, destination hotel, and evokes the idea of an artist’s canvas draped over the building.
There is an exciting new development going on in Melbourne’s hotel industry at the moment, one of the most significant new developments the industry has seen in decades. Boutique hotels. Once solely the domain of the world’s most international cities; unique, highly individualistic boutique hotels are now popping up over Melbourne and offering an intriguing new alternative to the regular corporate chains. One particularly interesting collection of these, are the Asian Pacific Building Corporation’s (APBC) new Art Series Hotels. Originally conceived of back in 2001, the idea for the hotels was inspired by (APBC owners) the Deague family’s passion for Australian art. The idea was to create a series of boutique, 5-star luxury hotels; each based on a prestigious Australian artist, and each specifically designed to showcase that artist’s work and reflect on the essence of their style and character. The first of these, The Cullen, based on the controversially inclined Adam Cullen, opened late last year on Commercial Rd. in Prahran. And the second, The Olsen, based on one of Australia’s greatest living artists, John Olsen, has just opened on its prominent Chapel Street frontage. Built for $50 million by APBC and designed by Rothelowman Architects, The Olsen consists of 14 floors, 238 luxury hotel rooms, 80 on-site car parks, a state of the art gym, a spectacular glass-bottomed swimming pool that hangs over the Chapel Street footpath, and hundreds of Olsen’s original works, including a 5.5m mural of the Yarra River that hangs in the foyer - the largest Olsen has ever painted. So how do you design and construct a hotel based around a specific artist’s work?
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A Blank Canvas Well,thedesignteamatRothelowman decided to “focus on John Olsen’s printmaking and line work,” for their inspiration, explains Principal Chris Hayton. “We were struck by the way his hands seem to touch the canvas lightly. There’s also a transparency to
his work that we picked up on when designing the hotel”. The design’s most distinctive feature is perhaps its white curtain wall wrapping, as Hayton explains it, this delicate, opaque glass skin (or canvas) draped over the hotel’s façade, serves a dual purpose. “The lightweight, white curtain wall alludes to a tent-like structure and the idea of short-term accommodation that this conveys. Its uniqueness also assisted us in creating a boutique, destination hotel,” he says, adding that, “it evokes the idea of an artist’s canvas and we feel that all of these references help complement each other”. Hyder Consulting provided the consulting services for the façade, and had to go through an extensive selection process to find the appropriate glass for the hotel’s curtain wall wrapping. “Sun glare and glass selection were particularly important,” explains Hyder’s Associate Director of Façades, Dominic Li, “We went through a whole series of different scenarios in order to select the glass. On one hand it had to appear as white as possible, but on the other it had to provide enough opaqueness to achieve the architects’ intent. So we needed to strike a balance.” “Due to the building’s location on Chapel Street, which is a major thoroughfare, the glass had to minimise reflections,” adds Principal Façade Designer, Unal Mehmet, “From a safety perspective, we had to ensure there wouldn’t be too much sunlight reflecting back into motorists’ eyes”. Conventional clear float glass, although colourless and transparent when looked at front-on, has an inherent green tinge, which can be seen whenever it’s viewed from an angle. The greenish tinge is a result of the iron oxide found naturally in the raw materials used to produce glass. This obviously posed some problems to achieving the appearance of a white canvas with the Olsen’s curtain wall, so the team at Hyder elected to use a low-iron glass with a special interlayer instead. | 45
AWARDWORTHY: The olsen hotel
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Artistry in the Interior Being an Art Series hotel, John Olsen’s work was always going to play a big factor in the hotel’s interior. And as a result, over 600 of Olsen’s original works can be found hanging in the hotel’s main public areas; including a specially commissioned, 5.5m mural of the Yarra
River in the hotel lobby, the largest painting Olsen has ever done. All of the rooms include prints of Olsen’s work on the walls, and the bathrooms are separated from the main living areas by translucent glass, which features a subtle watermark of an elegant Spoonbill bird created by Olsen. The carpets in the corridors also incorporate the sort of fluid, freeform elements inherent to so much of Olsen’s work. “I think our success will be measured, in part by our ability to strike the right balance between incorporating Olsen’s artistic signature throughout the interiors and the architecture and designing a hotel that is evocative, rather than an overstatement of Olsen’s influence on the design.” explains Rothelowman Associate Principal, Andrew Wales. “There’s a level of sophistication about Olsen’s artwork and the tones, textures and colours lend themselves beautifully to the interiors,” he concludes. A Homely Hotel A large part of the appeal of boutique hotels lies in their ability to offer a more intimate, personalised experience for their guests. The Olsen achieves this through a range of measures. To increase the speed and ease with which guests can check-in, the developers “implemented an automated check-in system, similar to that you’d find in an airport,” explains APBC CEO Will Deague. “You check in on a touch screen, which allows you to look at the room and look at its layout.” Transport and travel accessibility are obviously important elements to any hotel stay, so The Olsen has several Smart cars, which can be hired by the hour, as well as bikes and a taxi waiting room. The end result is a very unique, boutique-style hotel that provides a wonderful insight into Olsen’s work as well as a luxurious place to stay. An inspired hotel for an inspired artist, one might say, and one that brings just a little more artistry to the art of hotel building.
Photos courtesy of Mark Kenfield
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Floating on Air The hotel’s next most distinctive feature would have to be the fantastic, overhanging glass-bottomed swimming pool, which hangs out over the Chapel Street footpath from the hotel’s first floor. “There were several key points to consider with the pool,” explains Li, “the first was waterproofing, the second was movement, and the third was tolerances for the glass. It was vital that both the pool itself, and the frame structure that supports it, had minimal movement so that the seals and the waterproofing wouldn’t be compromised.” For obvious safety reasons, the glass also had to have incredibly high tolerances; “You have to take into consideration the possibility that a vandal might try something like throwing a hammer at the glass.” Li says.
One of the complicating aspects of the pool was that only the end actually hangs over the footpath, which meant that the pool had to be comprised of both a glass section and a concrete section, “There was a pool consultant who looked at the concrete section, and we looked at the glass section.” explains Li, “and we worked closely with them to figure out the waterproofing and the connections between the two sections, because there was a special system on the concreting side, we had to make sure it was compatible with the glass section”. “The sheer weight of the water and glass required a fairly large amount of structural design,” adds APBC Project Manager David Rogalsky, “and the glass is 85mm thick to handle the water pressure.” This led to each panel of glass weighing about 700kg, and as Mehmet explains “at close to a tonne per panel, it obviously needed to be designed with several safety factors involved. As such, each panel incorporates one sacrificial layer, meaning that one layer can break and it will still be structurally sound”. “We worked closely with the structural engineers from Cardno Grogan Richards to come up with solutions for the frame, and to determine the maximum frame movements they could have.” Li adds, “With the combined water, glass and steel involved in the pool weighing approximately 2 tonnes per metre, you have got to have very gutsy, strong connections back to the concrete structure in order to minimise those movements.” The result was that the 16.5m by 1.2m span of the pool’s overhang, was broken up into 1m spans to provide a large number of intermediate supports for the glass.
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Low-iron glass provides a much higher degree of transparency than clear float glass, and eliminates the risk of a green tinge, by removing most of the iron oxide content in the glass. And by working closely with the Glazier during construction, Hyder were able to meet both the performance and aesthetic requirements of the façade. The maintenance access to the façade was also an issue, “The curtain wall wraps around the building like a hood, and features a 3° incline.” says Li; “So getting access to the windows for maintenance and cleaning is quite an issue. The solution to this was found through working with high-rise maintenance specialists, and involved a series of restraint points built into the façade to allow maintenance technicians and cleaners to abseil down it. Structurally, the façade presented another set of challenges, “The trickiest thing was the coordination of the façade framing to ensure that adequate support and framing was supplied for the glass curtain walls,” explains Cardno Grogan Richards’ Senior Engineer, Ben Beveridge, “which included the glass parapets and horizontal cantilevers at the corners of the south tower”.
Left: John Olsen’s influence is present everywhere in the hotel, with over 600 of his original paintings lining the corridors, foyers, elevators and almost every public space in the hotel.
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Right: A typical suite in the hotel. Amenities are extensive, and in the background you can see the opaque glass partition separating the bathroom from the main living room. Each of these transparent partitions incorporates the subtle watermark of an elegant Spoonbill bird created by Olsen.
Australasian Head Office 66 Montpelier Road Bowen Hills Queensland 4006 Phone: 07 3872 9900 Fax: 07 3872 9955 E-mail: info@furnituresystems.com.au Web: www.furnituresystems.com.au
FEATURE PRODUCT SHOWCASE underFLOOR HEATING SOLUTIONs
Product Description Efficient and effective heating solutions for all building projects. Comfort Heat Australia has access to qualified engineers and overseas experience to guarantee the design of heating solutions into any building specification. Having access to hydronic and electric underfloor heating technologies as well as importing components from overseas, maximum benefits can be realised for all heating requirements in residential, commercial and industrial applications. Hydronic Specifications Hydronic floor heating applications can be installed within a cement slab, over the slab in an 80mm screed bed or over structural flooring directly under timber floors. The hydronic floor heating system uses Rehau pink PeX pipe, manifolds imported from Italy, storage tanks as required by the design, pumps imported from Italy and heat sources such as natural gas, electric heat pump, geothermal heat pump or wood fired stove with a wet back and to a more limited extent, solar and LPG gas. Hydronic underfloor heating systems are the only way to heat from the floor up and only need a water temperature of 40 deg C to operate. All the systems are controlled by a thermostat with a floor sensor so the temperature of the floor will not rise above the set temperature, usually 25 deg C. The system can be integrated into existing hydronic systems using radiators so renovations to existing structures can gain the benefits of the in floor heating systems. Electronic Floor Heating Specifications Electric floor heating is provided by installing electric cables in the floor and passing 240V through them. Just as the wires in an electric blanket get warm, the floor heating cables are designed to get warm and impart the heat generated into the surrounding cement. Different cables are manufactured to suit various floor heating applications. Under ceramic tiles is the most popular application for floor heating and the cables can be installed in a 20mm screed bed or in tile glue using an ultra-thin mat. Under carpet floor heating is also available with the flat braided cable being installed directly under the carpet on the underlay. There is a cable system designed to heat under a floating timber floor which uses a foil top to spread the heat evenly under the wood. Larger areas can be heated by installing the cable into the slab which can then bank heat and utilise electricity when it is at its cheapest. All these systems draw electricity to heat the floor, and in bathrooms this is very small in relation to an average household. However, once the area to be heated gets larger there needs to be some energy management included with the design and areas over 100 square metres are ideal opportunities for hydronic floor heating systems.
Product Benefits By having access to many technologies to ensure the efficiencies of heating spaces with underfloor heating guarantees the best design for any particular project. Comfort Heat offers: • Qualified design staff • Access to overseas technology for components and experience • Full range of underfloor heating products • Both Hydronic and Electric systems to get the best balance for the heating system required • Commitment to efficient heating designs and use of sustainable power options • Over 10 years experience in the underfloor heating industry
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FEATURE PRODUCT SHOWCASE TEXTURAL GLASS - THE IMPRESS RANGE
Product Description Cydonia the Glass Studio is the leader when it comes to architectural art glass and with this new range of textural glass, incorporating tight lines and precise repetition of pattern, we are world first. With simple sleek designs, our Impress range of textural glass is able to fit into just about any glass application, keeping a modern look that won’t date. The Impress range of textures was five years in the making and has had an extra two years since in production. Proudly Australian owned and made, Cydonia’s textural glass has been exported all over the world.
Product Applications and Features • Cydonia’s Impress range of textural glass incorporates cutting edge technology in glass that has never before been able to be produced. • The Impress range of textural glass features tight and accurate design that is easily able to be customised to suit your needs. • Can be used for just about any application where you would use normal, flat glass, however without the need for constant cleaning. • Without the need for constant cleaning, Cydonia’s Impress range of textural glass is low maintenance and more eco-friendly. • Gives you privacy while still allows light to be transmitted through. • Able to be used in commercial and residential spaces. • For strength and safety, the glass is toughened to Australian Standards and is able to be made using 6mm, 10mm and 12mm thicknesses of glass in a variety of colours. • Able to be double glazed.
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FEATURED PRODUCT SHOWCASE window film
Product Description Eco friendly, cost effective with a high-class appearance window film is the answer for your next project. Window film is applied to the interior or exterior surface of glass windows and doors. Our film has a powerful adhesive on one side that permits secure bonding to the glass. As well as a clear, scratch resistant coating on the outer side preventing the exposed surface from being damaged. Product Applications Window film can be used for variety of purposes. Film Pacific imports and sells the largest range of window films for, commercial, domestic, safety, security, anti-vandal, anti-graffiti and automotive applications. Additionally we lead the way with a selection of decorative and graphics film.
Product Benefits Some of the benefits for your next project include, reducing energy bills, increasing the energy rating and keeping your costs down. Film Pacific’s solar control films prevent up to 83% of solar heat passing through a glazing system ensuring your project harnesses the ultimate in energy conservation. A buildings internal temperature becomes more stable with less heat escaping in winter or entering the building in summer.
Product Type Night Owl 22 is a new generation of architectural film. Nano particles replace traditional reflective layers creating a film with ultra-low interior reflectivity, high heat rejection, guaranteed durability and excellent glare reduction so your clients get the best possible outcome when night vision is required. With all the concerns about global warming, it is also nice to know that Night Owl 22 is a green product.
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FEATURE PRODUCT SHOWCASE AUTOMATIC DOOR OPERATORS
01 Series Automatic Door Operators For over four decades DORMA Automatics Pty Ltd has been manufacturing and supplying the highest quality automatic door operators in the Australian market. Using next generation technology, the 01 Series Automatic Sliding Door Operator delivers infinite control, smoother function and sleeker lines, providing design possibilities that are limited only by the imagination. DORMA’s tradition of reliability, longevity, performance and safety continues to influence its’ product development. The 01 Series is an Australian made product developed specifically for our extreme climatic conditions - from winter frost, through to dry, arid summers. Auburn Hospital, NSW Product Benefits The 01 Series is a high torque, superior performance product, developed to withstand heavy-duty use. It’s powered by DORMA’s purpose designed and built motor and gearbox that is supported by a 10 year warranty (when serviced in accordance with AS5007). The 01 Series electric motor lock locks the doors via the drive train regardless of the position of the door and operates in a failsafe manner compliant with the BCA section D2.21. The locking system incorporates a rechargeable battery reserve to ensure the doors remain locked for up to 20 hours under mains power failure. Taking into consideration feedback from architects and designers, the 01 Series offers an external appearance with lines that are less harsh and obtrusive, allowing it to gently integrate with its environment. A low profile option is also available, as a variation to the standard operator, enabling it to fit in to spaces where operator height is limited and performance requirements are high.
Sydney Airport, NSW Flexible Applications The 01 Series has the flexibility to be used with framed, frameless and solid core doors and forms the platform for the following automatic door operator models: • AL401 _ Heavy duty deluxe model, delivering superior performance and longevity capable of moving door weights up to 650kg. • Ezy-fit EL301 _ Fully compliant to AS5007 and the benchmark for Australian automatic door operators. • Bi Slide _ Telescopic doors that make the most of available space. • Break out _ Automatic sliding doors that break out are ideal for places that require the movement of large numbers of people in emergency situations, such as places of public entertainment and shopping centers. The break out function can also provide a means to maximize the available entrance space for the movement of goods and equipment in and out of a building.
Gallery of Modern Art, QLD
• Power Train _ The flexibility to automate manual sliding door systems, Cool Room doors or upgrade existing automatic door operators.
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Market Analysis By Brooke Barr, BCI Australia
How the building & construction industry faired over the first quarter of 2010.�
State Analysis
According to BCI Australia data, from December 2009 to February 2010, the total value of construction commencements across Australia was $18 billion; which is a considerable increase when compared to the same period last year, when the total value sat at just $13.9 billion. What the period shows in particular is the influence of federal and state funding initiatives on construction commencements, particularly in the education and health sectors. A breakdown of the construction commencements across the country shows us that Queensland led commencements for the period with $6.08 billion worth of projects getting underway, Western Australia was in second with $5.25 billion, New South Wales had $3.20 billion, Victoria $2.06 billion, South Australia $683 million, Tasmania $662 million, the ACT $451 million, and the Northern Territory $115 million. The major projects influencing these construction commencements are: the Northern Pipeline Interconnector Project on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland at $600 million; the Peninsula Link Roadworks at Carrum Downs in Victoria at $759 million; the Koolanooka Iron Ore Steel Plant at Morawa in Western Australia at $540 million; The Concourse (previously known as Civic Place) at Chatswood in New South Wales at $250 million; the Living Carlton Apartments & Public Housing in Carlton, Victoria at $250 million; and $215 million worth of alterations & additions to the Brisbane City Hall.
Sector Analysis
A sector analysis of construction commencements for the period from the 1st December 2009 through to the 28th February 2010 also shows the impact of the government’s stimulus packages. Infrastructure, although significantly decreased from last year (A$6.50 billion), had the highest amount of activity with A$4.32 billion worth of projects commencing construction. However huge boosts to the Utilities (A$3 billion), Health (A$2.81 billion) & Education (A$2.57 billion) sectors saw the total value of commencements rise considerably compared to last year. The Infrastructure sector led the way in construction commencements for the quarter. One of the major projects to begin was the Bruce Highway Cooroy to Curra Southern Deviation. The project, valued at A$613 million, includes the construction of bridges & roadworks, a 2 km southern deviation of the highway between Sankeys Rd and Middle Creek Rd, Federal, QLD. The Utilities sector saw several major projects beginning construction or beginning preliminary site works during this quarter. With the Moranbah Ammonium Nitrate Plant in Moranbah, QLD, valued at A$935 million, beginning engineering procurement and construction works. The major project influencing the Health sector was the Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch, WA. The hospital has a project budget of A$1.76 billion and includes 643 beds. When it opens in 2014, the hospital will be the major tertiary health facility in the south metropolitan area, offering services to communities in Perth's southern suburbs and across the State. 52 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
ASSOCIATION MATTERS
The Living City “Those who are inspired by a model other than Nature, a mistress above all masters, are labouring in vain.” Leonardo Da Vinci In the past, human beings designed buildings in spite of their environment. Today, people are beginning to build in harmony with their environment, and are looking to nature for inspiration. The science of biomimicry is the practice of developing sustainable human technologies inspired by nature. Biomimicry views and values nature based on what we can learn from it rather than how we can exploit it. Biomimicry takes advantage of 3.8 billion years of evolution to determine what works and what lasts. Think of the Wright brothers, who imitated the vulture’s wing, or Alexander Graham Bell’s design for the telephone speaker and receiver, which arose from understanding how the human ear drum works. This is biomimicry at its best. Scientists working in biomimicry predict that nature-based innovations will change the way we harness energy, make materials, grow food, heal ourselves and construct our buildings. Biomicry in building design may result in stronger materials that
are self-assembling and self-healing – just like the spider’s web. Nature only uses the energy and resources it needs. A forest’s ecosystem, for example, is in balance. It receives its energy from the sun, and flora and fauna reuse and recycle the forest’s nutrients in a ‘closed loop system’. Conversely, our cities draw energy from burning fossil fuels, emit pollution, ravage the environment in the hunt for resources and generate mountains of waste materials. Clearly, we still have a lot to learn from Mother Nature – and the first lesson is to see our buildings and our cities as producers, rather than just consumers, of resources. Architect Buckminster Fuller said “the best way to predict the future is to design it.” The member organisations of the Green Building Council of Australia are already designing buildings that are sensitive to their natural environment, and are working towards buildings that are carbon neutral, as well as energy, ecology and water positive. The next step is to create
sustainable cities. At Green Cities 2010 in Melbourne in February, the GBCA released its national Green Star – Communities framework, which establishes five national best practice principles to guide sustainable communities in Australia – liveability, economic prosperity, environmental quality, place making and urban governance. The next stage is to develop a tool that assesses sustainable communities against best practice benchmarks. It’s our vision that cities of the future will function like living organisms, being specifically adapted to their unique ecology and able to extract their energy and water needs from the sun, wind and rain. The Green Star – Communities framework will help to ‘close the loop’ and deliver cities and communities in harmony with their environments.
Romilly Madew Chief Executive, Green Building Council of Australia
Relationship Contracting The Australian Constructors Association (ACA) has been active in promoting improvements in the commercial life of the industry since its inception. It has used its energies to inform, to identify issues and to propose strategies to improve performance. The Association’s first booklet Relationship Contracting, Optimising Project Outcomes, was published in 1998 and sold over 5,000 copies. (it is now available as a free download from the ACA website). Relationship Contracting was in itself the product of an Association project to improve the delivery of major projects following an ACA survey of its major clients. It was the Association’s intention in promoting the Relationship Contracting concept, to provide a better frame-
work for the procurement and delivery of major projects. However we have always sought to provide a balanced view that provides a clear understanding of the responsibilities and obligations of all parties. The outcome we hope is to enhance value for our clients and to reduce the likelihood of commercial disputation. Increasingly we have seen the development of Alliance contracting and other cooperative contracting models that have enhanced the value for money proposition for clients and contractors alike. And notably commercial disputation has diminished remarkably. ACA also recognises that significant improvements that been made to tendering and procurement processes over the past ten years. These improvements have resulted in a robust and
competitive industry built on a foundation of trust and goodwill. We have made great progress over the past decade in moving from a very adversarial commercial environment to one that focuses on the alignment of goals between clients and contractors. It is the responsibility of all parties to ensure that we continue to remain focussed on improving procurement practices to the benefit of all participants.
Jim Barrett Executive Director Australian Constructors Association | 53
ASSOCIATION MATTERS
Consult Australia: Association of Consulting Engineers Australia The Association of Consulting Engineers Australia (ACEA) was formed over fifty years ago with the express intention of the members of that day to represent the business interests of the individual members and their consulting business enterprises. This was in an era when these businesses were much smaller, owned by their Principals and single discipline ventures focused on delivering engineering services to clients. Today, our members are business enterprises ranging in size and structure from single practitioners through to medium sized firms owned largely by their Principals to very large, multidisciplinary, global groups owned by their employees or are publicly listed companies. After an extensive consultation pro-
gram carried out by staff, 96.14% of the ACEA membership voted in favour of changing the Association's name to Consult Australia at the AGM on Saturday 5 December 2010. On Wednesday 17 March 2010, we will officially launch Consult Australia and reveal our new logo, branding and website. This is an exciting change for the organisation which will see our brand and logo better reflecting our current members, many of whom offer multidisciplinary services for their clients. The name change will also help to distinguish ourselves as an industry association that represents business needs of our member firms. Over the last 5 years, the ACEA has established itself as the strongest and most effective representative association amongst its peers in the built and
natural environment market. This has been achieved through the dedicated efforts of the staff and the relevant individuals from our member firms. The change of name to Consult Australia is designed to build on the success of these efforts and to capitalise on the position and reputation that the ACEA has built up over that time. Our goal is to continue to grow our Association, being more relevant, credible, forward thinking and modern - one which will help shape our industry in the years to come.
Megan Motto Chief Executive Consult Australia
Using Precast for Superior Thermal Efficiency Like every other construction input, precast concrete has evolved in recent years to meet the increased mandatory minimum thermal requirements of the BCA. Insulated precast concrete sandwich panels are a walling solution that, because of their high thermal mass and integrated insulation, deliver a comfortable living environment and easily exceed BCA requirements. Insulated sandwich panels are comprised of three layers – a thinner outer skin of non-structural reinforced concrete, an insulation layer, and a thicker internal layer of structural reinforced precast concrete. This thicker internal concrete section provides thermal mass on the building’s inside – something which the lightweight alternatives do not have – allowing huge thermal benefits if solar passive design principles are employed. There are economic benefits of using sandwich panels too. Their long life (up to 100 years) makes sandwich panels a cost effective construction 54 | www.awardmagazine.com.au
solution. And when used for loadbearing wall sections, the panels can act as a beam, column, external wall and insulated internal wall all in one, which significantly shortens the construction cycle. Once erected, the structure is ready for the roof, doors and windows, to complete the structure. Because sandwich panels are factory produced, they minimise wastage of building materials. Cost savings also come from a reduced need for energy usage for heating and cooling. In addition, the minimal external maintenance required equates to cost savings over the life of the building, and savings can be made from not having to line the walls internally with plasterboard. For all of these reasons, sandwich panel buildings can command higher rents from tenants. With concrete both internally and externally, sandwich panels are inherently fire resistant and some systems are fire rated to four hours. Aesthetically, insulated precast sandwich panels tick the boxes
too. Interior surfaces can simply be painted, or skim-coated then painted, which allows maximum benefit from the thermal mass. Externally, panels can be left smooth and off-form and can be left grey, or painted or stained. Alternatively, false joints may be incorporated into the design, or mould liners can be used to create an endless array of patterns. And textures such as acid washing, grit blasting, honing or polishing, often with an integrated colour pigment, can achieve superb results. All together, these benefits make insulated precast concrete sandwich panels a far superior walling system to any other BCA complying product (both light-weight or heavyweight). They are the future to a thermally efficient, comfortable living environment.
Sarah Bachmann National Precast Concrete Association Australia
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Image courtesy CH2MHill (B-W Pantex-HVAC Design)
Image courtesy Thompson, Ventulett, & Associates
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