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BELLEVUE HILL PUBLIC SCHOOL, SYDNEY.

Bellevue Hill Public School

A new four-storey building at Sydney’s Bellevue Hill Public School is leveraging the structural and aesthetic benefits of an offsite precast solution.

The $12 million project includes 24 new classrooms, a library designed for contemporary learning and a refurbished administration area. The redevelopment will enable the school to almost double its student capacity to 1000 students, to meet the growing demand in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Key to the visual impact of the building is a facade constructed using architectural precast concrete created by Brisbane-based precast concrete manufacturer and National Precast member, Precast Concrete Products. The company is a leading supplier of architectural precast, with more than 40 years’ experience in the industry.

“Precast was chosen for the exterior of this redevelopment because being manufactured offsite, it could achieve superior structural properties, a complex design and a high quality of finish,” a spokesperson for the project confirmed.

Key to the visual impact of the building is a facade constructed using architectural precast concrete created by Brisbane-based precast concrete manufacturer and National Precast member, Precast Concrete Products. The company is a leading supplier of architectural precast, with more than 40 years’ experience in the industry.

The project utilises 52 architectural window and wall panels including 36 double- storey ‘window’ wall panels, measuring 7.5 metres tall, 2.8 metres wide and 500 mm thick.

In addition, 16 flat panels were supplied that varied in size. Precast Concrete Products’ General Manager Colin Ginger confirmed the company manufactured two high precision, two-storey moulds for the alternate window patterns.

“This was quite complex because we needed a left hand and a right hand version and there was complex geometry to get the shape just right.”

To improve construction efficiency, Precast Concrete Products recommended changes to the initial design. Originally the window wall panels were designed to be single-storey height, which would have meant more panels and increased installation time on site. By enlarging the panel size to double storey and therefore reducing the number of pieces, on-site savings were secured.

The company also value-added to the larger flat panels. Those panels were originally designed to be erected as cladding but were changed to be structural wall panels, which saved formwork time and costs on site.

PROJECT: Bellevue Hill Public School
PRECASTER: Precast Concrete Products
BUILDER: Richard Crookes Constructions
ARCHITECT: Group GSA Architects
ENGINEER: Northrop Sydney

With precast elements transported relatively easily interstate, the project entailed a journey of almost 1000 kilometres to transport the panels from the precaster’s Carole Park factory in Brisbane to the school in Sydney. The panels were delivered to site two at a time on special transport frames because of their size.

The aesthetics of the wall panels were critical to the success of this project, and a high degree of colour-control of the off-white panels was essential.

“Achieving a high level of consistency in colour requires significant expertise and experience,” said Ginger. “The process is thorough. It starts with a quality check on raw materials and continues as we batch the concrete and clean the moulds before every pour,”

“It’s a complicated process that really demonstrates the skill of a good architectural precaster. The result is modern, stylish and eye-catching.”■


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