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July 31, 2012

$1 million to ensure a safer, smoother ride along Chapel Street

Filed under: Civil — Tags: , — tom @ 11:39 pm

The Victorian Coalition Government will invest more than $1 million on bicycle lanes along Chapel Street, Acting Planning Minister Michael O’Brien announced today.

Mr O’Brien said safety and connectivity are priorities for Melbourne’s most popular activities areas.

“These bike lane upgrades are essential to help improve cyclist safety and will improve connections between the Chapel Street Precinct and the wider bike network along the Yarra River.

“There has been significant inconvenience to bike riders due to the rough road surface of part-time bicycle lanes on Chapel Street north of Toorak Road.

“Bluestone gutters and service pits cause significant inconvenience and unsafe situations for cyclists. This funding will provide both cyclists and motorists with a safer road in this popular destination.

“The upgrades will also assist with traffic flow during peak times and will ensure a better ride for cyclists travelling to and from work, school and for recreational purposes,” Mr O’Brien said.

Features of the upgrade include:

  • Bluestone gutter to be treated to create a smoother surface;
  • Intersections will be treated with green surfacing to increase the visibility of cyclists; and
  • Intersection of Chapel Street and Alexandra Avenue to be modified to allow cyclists continuous flow access between the off road path and on road bike lanes.

Member for Prahran Clem Newton-Brown commended today’s funding announcement.

“This is a vital cycling link for Prahran and South Yarra residents.

“The Coalition Government is committed to improving local cycling infrastructure that will build on the liveability of our vibrant local community.”

“I am very pleased that through this announcement the Coalition Government will deliver on the election commitment to improve cycling infrastructure in Prahran and encourage more commuters along our bike routes to the city,” Mr Newton-Brown said.

Places Victoria appoints private sector partners to greenfields panel

Filed under: Civil — Tags: , — tom @ 11:26 pm

Places Victoria has formalised its commitment to providing opportunities to the private sector on its greenfield projects with the appointment of 28 potential partners to a delivery panel.

The panel has been formed following an extensive expression of interest process, which began in December 2011.

Places Victoria CEO Sam Sangster said the successful respondents, ranging in size from small to large, had been appointed to the panel for three years.

“We had strong level of interest from the private sector with 168 parties registering their interest. Ultimately 42 submissions were received and we tested these against a range of assessment criteria to ensure we got the best people for the job.

“The panel now allows us to be flexible in our delivery approach when considering the future development of our landholdings at Aurora, Officer, Craigieburn and Aspect.

“We remain absolutely committed to delivering all previous objectives on these projects but we are now better placed to consider a range of delivery models to ensure outcomes in a timely manner,” Mr Sangster said.

Places Victoria has identified around 680 gross hectares of undeveloped, unsubdivided land amongst its Greenfield landholdings at Aurora, Officer and Craigieburn and is keen to explore a range of delivery models for these, including project development agreements, joint ventures, direct sale and, where appropriate, the retention of the developer role.

“Places Victoria now has an increasing role in facilitating large-scale urban renewal in established areas of Melbourne and regional centres and this new focus creates the opportunity to bring more land to market more quickly in the growth areas of Melbourne,” Mr Sangster said.

The Delivery Partner Panel will be reviewed periodically to enable new market players to participate in the process and to ensure the existing parties continue to satisfy the selection criteria.

Places Victoria is likely to engage the panel in the release of the first parcels of land in the coming months.

Interest to Close Flinders Street Station Design Competition

Filed under: Buildings — Tags: , , — tom @ 2:07 am

flinder street station melbourne

It comes as no surprise that architects would jump at the chance to redevelop one of Melbourne’s most iconic architectural projects – Flinders Street Station.

What may be surprising is the international attention and interest this redevelopment competition has drawn.

The competition, which has been held in order to ‘breathe new life into a Melbourne landmark’ holds a prize pool of $1 million to the winning design.

Upon the competition’s announcement, Premier Ted Baillieu called upon both national and international architects and architecture firms to take up the challenge of rehabilitating a Melbourne icon.

“This precinct calls for creative brilliance from across the globe so a Melbourne landmark site can be restored to its full potential,” said the Premier. “This competition will harness the very best ideas and help bring the precinct back to life.”

Baillieu’s call has most certainly been answered.

While the full extent of the registrations cannot be revealed, Minister for Major Projects Dr. Denis Napthine has said the response to the competition has been incredibly positive.

flinder street station aerial view

“Between the opening of registrations on 29 June and 17 July, the Flinders Street Station Design Competition web page has had more than 31,000 page views,” Napthine says. “The competition Design Brief has been downloaded nearly 3,000 times while more than 1,300 people have downloaded the registration form.”

Napthine explains that while the majority of site visits have come from national users, 601 were from the US, 424 from the UK, 180 from Spain, 161 from Germany and 136 from Italy, with France, China, Canada and Poland viewing the sites 122, 109, 97 and 95 times respectively. He explains that this kind of interest is a clear indication of the competition’s international appeal.

“The bulk of visits are from within Australia where the building has the most interest, but we can assume that most of the people visiting from overseas are doing so because they are considering entering the competition,” says Napthine. “Our aim was to run a competition with international appeal and I think on the basis of these statistics we can say we are well on our way to achieving that goal.”

With the registration for the competition closing on August 1 and its stage 1 submission September 20 date looming, those wishing to throw their hats into the ring for this obviously internationally popular competition will need to do so quickly.

London 2012: Olympic Engineering Feats

Filed under: Civil — Tags: , , — tom @ 2:05 am

london olympics 2012

The London 2012 Olympics are upon us, and an estimated 500,000 specators are expected to visit the Olympic Park to watch 10,000 athletes from 204 nations go for gold.

As usual, the architects behind many of the Olympic venues are basking in glory or at least garnering massive amounts of attention, and while the refined designs of the Olympic Stadium itself,the undulating form of the Aquatics Centre and the recyclable basketball venue may not offer the ‘wow factor’ of similar buildings in Beijing, they are certainly worth a look.

In the background, but certainly no less worthy of notice, is the engineering behind the games.

“To produce such a detailed and visual map of the Olympic Park – Europe’s largest construction site – is a significant achievement in itself,” says Simon Wright, director of infrastructure, utilities and public realm at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). “It is also a testament to the engineering feats of those who have breathed life into the spectacular venues and infrastructure on the 500-acre site. But perhaps more importantly, it is set to become a vital tool which can be used to educate and inform the next generation of civil engineers by inspiring them to study courses in science, technology, engineering and maths.”

The engineering teams working for the ODA have played a critical role in delivering Olympic sites, from preparing the land for construction to demolishing redundant structures and cleaning the contaminated soil to improving the Park’s many waterways, burying the overhead power lines and ensuring that any wildlife and plant species are protected.

The design and construction of stadiums, roads, bridges, waterways and electricity systems would also have been impossible without engineers collaboratively working with their more glamorous architect counterparts as part of multidisciplinary teams.

The 80,000 capacity Olympic Stadium has the flexibility to downsize after the Games – London doesn’t really need a permanent venue of this size – thanks to the specially designed lightweight upper tier, which will enable a large proportion of the seating to be removed. Only 10,000 tonnes of steel were used to build the venue, making it one of the lightest and most sustainable Olympic Stadiums ever engineered and built.

london olympics

The basketball arena will do more than downside in East London following the Games; it will disappear completely, making it the largest-ever temporary venue to be built for any Olympic or Paralympic Games.

The arena is made up of 20 separate 10-storey steel arches and the 115-metre long, 1,000 tonne steel frame is wrapped in 20,000 square metres of white waterproof fabric. The various elements can be easily dismantled and put to use individually after the Games or used as a whole elsewhere.

The Aquatics Centre was the first venue completed in the park and features a spectacular 3,000 tonne wave-like roof that is 160 metres long and up to 80 metres wide.

Thanks to its unique design, the roof sits on three concrete supports – two northern supports and a southern wall. Sustainability was a top concern for the engineers and 100 per cent of the roof covering is made of recycled aluminium.

After the games, the Aquatics Centre will be transformed into a facility for the local community as well as elite swimmers. Two temporary wings will be removed, leaving 2,500 seats, with the possibility of increasing the capacity to 3,500 for major competitions

Finally, there is the Velodrome, which sits on top of a 100-year-old landfill site. This facility challenged the engineers, forcing them to specially design the foundations of the building to provide stability. This was achieved by driving more than 900 piles up to 26 metres into the ground, much deeper than usual for a structure of this size.

Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics has been quick to recognise the role that engineers have played, saying, “civil engineers were pivotal in successfully delivering the iconic structures on the Olympic Park so I am pleased that the Games have helped to raise the wider profile and appreciation of the profession.”

Olympic Park: Fast Facts

■2.5 square kilometres in size – one of the largest urban parks to be built in Europe for 150 years.

■220 buildings demolished.

■four Iron Age skeletons discovered.

■2.3 million cubic metres of soil excavated.

■250 acres of new parklands.

■8.35 km of waterways in and around the Park.

■10 rail lines.

■five permanent venues.

■30 new bridges.

■80,000 seats in the Olympic Stadium.

■11 residential blocks and 2 818 new homes in the Olympic Village.

■30,000 people will have worked on the project by 2012.

July 27, 2012

Vic Govt Paves The Way for Melbourne Developments

Filed under: Civil — Tags: , , — tom @ 1:36 am

Capital City Zone

Two recent announcements by the Victorian Government could dramatically increase opportunities for higher density residential and mixed use development in inner Melbourne and give greater planning certainty for higher density development across other activity centres in Metropolitan Melbourne:

  • The rezoning of Fisherman’s Bend Urban Renewal Precinct – around 240 hectares in the Fishermans Bend Precinct, just south of the Melbourne CBD, has been rezoned to ‘Capital City Zone’ to ‘kick start’ the urban renewal process. The area has been declared a site of ‘State Significance’ and the rezoning is accompanied by strong new state planning policy to support major development of high scale, high density mixed residential and commercial precincts.  The Fisherman’s Bend precinct vision is slated to accommodate 50,000 residents and 25,000 employees.
  • Proposed Reform of Planning Zones, including new planning zones for mixed use retail, commercial and high density residential development – The Victorian government has announced a major reform of planning zones including a new, more flexible ‘Commercial 1 Zone’ which replaces, and consolidates into a single zone, the existing Business 1, 2 and 5 Zones to create vibrant mixed use commercial centres for retail, office business and high density residential development. A new ‘Residential Growth Zone’ is also proposed to allow for medium-density housing at increased densities.  The government is seeking submissions on the new zones and intends to introduce the final zones in October, 2012.

The rezoning at Fisherman’s Bend opens up exciting new opportunities for investors and the property development industry. The rezoning from Industrial 1 Zone Capital City Zone specifically provides for medium to high residential density development and a mix of other high value land uses. In the short term, this can be expected to have an immediate effect on underlying land values and to stimulate market interest in key redevelopment sites or opportunities for site consolidation.

However, the long-term significance of this decision should not be underestimated. The Capital City Zone is a special zone which recognises the role of Melbourne’s Central City as the capital of Victoria and as an area of national and international importance. The scale of the rezoning and elevation of the role and function of this precinct means the Capital City Zone’s long-term future is a further extension of Melbourne’s CBD, as opposed to simply another opportunity for redevelopment of former industrial sites.

Like the Southbank or Docklands urban renewal precincts, the renewal of Fisherman’s Bend hasthe potential to change the whole identity of this part of the city and the way the city functions. Southbank has encouraged Melbourne to re-embrace the river, and Docklands has reconnected Melbourne’s eyes to its harbourside history. Melbourne has also learnt some valuable lessons from these other urban renewal projects; while both projects have had elements of success, they have also highlighted some of the challenges in successfully creating large-scale, high-density precincts that capture the essence of Melbourne and human activity at ground level.  The long-term success of the Fisherman’s Bend precinct will require a bold and imaginative vision. In this regard, Places Victoria will also have a important role to play in ensuring development of the area is properly planned for, supported with physical and community infrastructure, and offers something that is uniquely Melbournian while also recognising its role as part of an international city.

Reform of Planning Zones

Successfully delivering projects in Urban Renewal Precincts requires not only the right planning zones and framework to be in place, but also the ability to imagine and see the vision and to navigate a complex web of physical and practical issues and challenges.

Melbourne has already seen several successful high density development precincts begin to take shape, proving that it can be done. This includes large-scale renewal projects such as Docklands and Southbank, but also smaller scale, but still significant processes of urban renewal in other parts of the city.

At Doncaster Hill, the vision has been to create a high-density, mixed-use sustainable, contemporary urban village with a strong sense of place and civic identity. Central to this was the development of the Activity Centre Zone for the centre, the first of its kind to be applied in a metropolitan area. The result is that Doncaster Hill is now ‘on the rise’ with numerous cranes on the skyline.

Similarly, with the Victoria Street East Urban Renewal Precinct, the urban renewal vision has been to transform a former riverside industrial area into a vibrant, high-density riverfront area with a high-quality built form interface and strong pedestrian links to the river, improved amenities and public open space. Here, the realisation of the vision for the precinct centred on the implementation of the Urban Design Framework and development of new site-specific planning controls which streamlined planning approvals processes, as well as extensive coordination of input from different government agencies. It is now undergoing extensive private sector redevelopment resulting in the transformation of former riverside industrial sites.

This sort of redevelopment is a critical component in ensuring Melbourne is well-positioned to continue to meet demands for new housing and population growth. The rezoning of Fisherman’s Bend is expected to ultimately accommodate around 50,000 new residents, and will make an important contribution to meeting Melbourne’s future demand for housing. It is important that as an industry, we continue to provide high quality higher density apartment living options for new communities in inner Melbourne. However, it is certainly not the whole solution and it is equally important to continue to provide choice and diversity in housing in existing communities across the broader metropolitan region.

Fishermans Bend Urban Renewal Precinct

The Victorian Government’s recently announced ‘Planning Zone Reform’ is an important step forward in ensuring we plan for delivery of additional new housing in areas where people are already living in order to provide options for people to downsize, or buy their first home, close to their families, communities and places where they have lived or grown up. The new ‘Commercial 1 Zone’ seeks to provide for a vibrant mix of commercial, retail, office, and high-density residential uses, and can be expected to be applied in existing activity centres across Melbourne.

The Residential Growth Zone will provide medium density housing at increased densities. Councils will have an important role to play in identifying appropriate locations for more intensive residential growth, for example in areas with good access to public transport or unconstrained by heritage or other physical limitations.

We have recently been undertaking work for a number of Councils in relation to their housing and settlement strategies. The new Residential Growth Zone will provide an important tool to assist in implementing these strategies. Most importantly, it provides clarity and certainty to both developers and local residents regarding likely expected development outcomes, reducing the potential for objections and costly or lengthy planning battles for individual development proposals.

The new zones have the potential to have a significant impact on land use and planning outcomes across the state, so it will be important to get them right. It will be especially important to ensure the new zones provide the right balance of flexibility and certainty so clients can continue to deliver development projects in a feasible and viable way.

July 25, 2012

How Architects of Educational Facilities are Changing Design Rules

Filed under: Buildings — Tags: , , — tom @ 7:06 am

RMIT external

Traditionally, architecture for educational facilities – like that of other functional, public buildings – has been austere and institutional.

While there are examples of aesthetically stunning educational institutions such as Eton in the United Kingdom, the majority of these aesthetically-pleasing schools and universities have incredibly high tuition fees and are highly selective in their intake.

The majority of learning institutions of old were unwelcoming, colourless and incredibly stark.

Now, however, modern architects are asking the question: how does that relate at all to modern education-based design?

Fortunately, there does not appear to be any real reason for austerity in educational facilities, which allows for a welcome change to a city’s built aesthetic.

Brookfield Multiplex has just completed the development of the $200 million Academic Building at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT) on the corner of Swanston and A’Beckett Streets in the city’s CBD.

Designed by architectural firm Lyons, the 11-storey building, which spans 34,350 square metres, has been designed as a community hub and formal learning space that exemplifies modern learning in a metropolitan environment.

RMIT interior

“The Swanston Academic Building has been designed by Lyons to connect to the city with ‘a sense of openness, transparency and energy,’” says RMIT alumnus and Lyons director Adrian Stanic.

Aesthetically, the building features some truly striking elements. From its subtly-coloured, textured façade to its geometrically bold interior sculptural mouldings, the building offers to stand as a complete contradiction to institutional learning, instead offering a space that is invigorating and inspiring and that fits in neatly with the surrounding urban aesthetic.

“In this way we have created a design that not only places the building at the very heart of Melbourne architecturally, but also reflects and embraces the broader architectural legacy of the city,” says Stanic.

However, the building is more than just a pretty face. It boasts a number of ESD features including a power linkage to the university’s central system plant, which is expected to strongly reduce energy consumption; solar panels; rainwater and greywater tanks; double glazing; an intelligent façade and passive window shading; natural ventilation and energy efficient user activated air conditioning and lighting systems.

These features have resulted in the building’s first class certification as a 5 Star Green Star – Education Design v1 rated building by the Green Building Council of Australia.

Developing educational architecture of this nature is a legacy the developers will continue to pursue and promote due to its relevance in modern society and the positive results it garners.

“The education sector has been active for us nationally and we are very excited about the role we can play in shaping education projects,” says Brookfield Multiplex regional managing director of Victoria, Graham Milford-Cottam.

Education design is evolving to cater to a much larger group of individuals under the strong guidance of industry leadership and through information regarding what truly effective learning facility design requires. To create educated people who are creative, bold and cutting edge, it stands to reason that the buildings they learn in should also exemplify these qualities.

Mining Boom Busted? Maybe Not

Filed under: Resources — Tags: , , , , — tom @ 6:56 am

mining trucks

Reg Howard-Smith, Chief Executive of the West Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy, has moved quickly to counter the doom and gloom merchants who say that the mining sector’s golden days are drawing to a close.

Speaking in the Daily Telegraph, Howard-Smith claims that the boom has “got a long way to go.”

A graduate of the University of Western Australia, with a major in Economics, he dismissed the report from leading economic research firm Deloitte Access Economics, which warns of a shrinkage in the number of new projects planned to go ahead amid rising industry costs and increasing global economic uncertainty.

“There are expansions currently under construction and significant new oil and gas projects and mineral projects which haven’t started producing, so the full economic benefits are yet to be felt,” he argued.

Howard-Smith has also been left frustrated by policies that he feels are holding back the growth potential of Western Australia and could damage the image of Australia generally as an attractive place for investment.

He wants State and Federal Governments to focus on policies to improve productivity by making it easier for people to move interstate for work, cutting red tape and tax reform. This is an area he has been championing since 2002 in his previous role with CME, before being made Chief Executive in 2007, where he had responsibility for Human Resources, Education and Training, Immigration and Skill Shortage,

“There are concerns that Australia is becoming a less attractive place to develop projects and investment may be driven to other regions because of additional layers of taxation through the Minerals Resource Rent Tax and the Carbon Tax, coupled with rising costs for doing business and an inability to source skilled labour,” he said.

Thiess wins $2.3bn contract to extend mining operations in Australia

Filed under: Resources — Tags: , , — tom @ 3:38 am

Thiess has received a $2.3bn contract from Jellinbah Group to extend mining operations at its Lake Vermont coal mine located in Queensland, Australia.

The six-year extension is expected to increase the mine’s production from the current four million tonnes to eight million tonnes per annum.

Lake Vermont Mine, owned by the Lake Vermont joint venture, is an open cut mine which produces hard coking coal and PCI coal.

Jellinbah Group holds a 70% stake in the joint venture and other co-partners include Marubeni Coal, Sojitz Coal and AMCI, which each hold a 10% stake.

Thiess’ managing director Bruce Munro said, “Thiess is very proud to continue its involvement at the Lake Vermont mine where we’ve been working with the Jellinbah Group from the very beginning to plan, build and operate the mine.”

Thiess’ Australian Mining executive general manager of Michael Wright added, “We are mobilising ultra-class mining fleets to meet the increased production requirements and we are truly excited by the opportunities this brings to the people of the Dysart area.”

July 20, 2012

Plans for Sydney’s Tallest Tower Released – Are We Aiming Too High?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , — tom @ 5:11 am

Tallest Tower by Kannfinch Architects

High density means upward planning. In order to avoid urban sprawl – something that may very well become a large part of Melbourne’s future – height is key.

Developing the ‘tallest’ also comes with the added bonus of putting architecture into a category all of its own, even if it is only for a hot minute until the next big thing comes along.

Kannfinch’s plans for 115 Bathurst Street in Sydney’s CBD is garnering the kind of attention that comes with the tallest of buildings. The plans for the development outline the construction of a 240 metre mixed-use tower on a site that will take up approximately 4,000 square metres.

115 Bathurst Street Kannfinch Architects

The building is expected to be not only be the tallest, but also the thinnest on the Sydney horizon.

It will feature space for retail and commercial entities, but will also connect to the residential sector, with space for 70 residential levels that will feature 420 apartments. This section of the development integrates the state heritage building at 339 Pitt Street, broadening the building’s impact and encompassing a greater space, which will also include surrounding laneways.

Those laneways will probably be in a constant state of shade due to this towering structure. While this may not be problematic, and certainly doesn’t seem to be in equally dense city spaces, the question does stand: when is ‘tall’ tall enough?

Is the goal to continue to develop strategies, materials and tools that allow us to create record-breaking buildings? Mixing the challenges of extreme height with extreme thinness will prove to be an engineering obstacle, but does that show the real progress of an industry when it is able to overcome issues that would traditionally be insurmountable?

115 Bathurst Street Kannfinch Architects

Futuristic films and books often set the scene way up high in the sky, as if the upward living plan is a given. More and more, buildings seem to be trending that way.

This is the way the industry is moving and has been since the industrial revolution, with the tallest still reaping the greatest amount of attention…for as long as they hold the title.

July 17, 2012

Qld gas project creates 2000 jobs

Filed under: Resources — Tags: , , , , — tom @ 2:31 am

A MASSIVE $23 billion gas project in Queensland is to be expanded, creating an extra 2,000 jobs in rural areas.

The owners of the Australia Pacific liquefied natural gas project yesterday announced they had committed to developing a second stage.

The project was set up by joint venture partners Origin Energy, US giant ConocoPhillips and China’s Sinopec to develop one of Australia’s biggest coal seam gas resources in the Surat and Bowen basins.

The partners will build a major transmission pipeline to deliver CSG to processing plants on Curtis Island off the coast of Gladstone, from where the CSG will be frozen and converted to LNG for export.

A decision to build the first compressor plant was made in mid-2011, but the joint venture partners delayed a commitment to a second.

They have now approved a final investment decision for the second plant after sealing a 20-year supply contract with Japanese power company Kansai.

LNG exports from the first plant are due to begin in 2015, with the second plant coming onstream a year later.

Another 2,000 workers will need to be hired to build the second plant, adding to the 4,000-strong workforce already in place.

About 1,000 workers will run the plants once they are complete, with each facility having a production capacity of 4.5 million tonnes per annum.

“It will be a very, very substantial employer,” Origin managing director and APLNG chairman Grant King said.

The APLNG project has permission to build up to four plants at Curtis Island. But Mr King said there were no current plans to build more than two.

Meanwhile, Sinopec has forked out $US1.4 billion ($A1.37 billion) to increase its stake in the project to 25 per cent from 15 per cent.

As a result, Origin’s shareholding in the joint venture will fall from 42.5 per cent to 37.5 per cent.

Origin and ConocoPhillips, which also holds a 37.5 per cent stake in APLNG, both plan to reduce their holdings even further.

Mr King said he envisaged Origin would end up with about 30 per cent ownership in the long term.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said APLNG’s decision to expand showed that the government’s controversial carbon price would not wipe the city of Gladstone off the map.

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