Major Project

Ashton Raggatt Mc Dougall - The Innovation Centre

The Innovation Building is the first building from the Digital Harbour masterplan, completed in 2004 and now fully tenanted. It represents stage one of Digital Harbour's technology-based community, an incubator hub with a focus on offices for new enterprises in the IT industry, together with the R & D components of larger organisations such as Telstra.Like its neighbour, the Port 1010 building, the Innovation Building's floorplan has been designed to allow maximum flexibility and collaborative work environments for its tenants.



The design strategy references themes and visual codes of our technological age. Circuit boards, bar codes, morse code and binary numerals can be interpreted in the random striated precast concrete panels.The carefully articulated western facade design provides smart, efficient shade protection while maintaining views to Victoria Harbour. The individually profiled fins are in themselves not unusual, but when read as a whole they create an intriguing visual effect.

Articles

(The Age)
Federation Square Installs Water Tanks
Peter Ker May
14, 2008

The tanks just keep on rolling in around Melbourne.
A bulk order of 63 rainwater tanks has been installed at Federation Square, improving the environmental credentials of Melbourne's major meeting place.
Original plans for tanks to be included at the Square were abandoned in 2002 to save $350,000 in construction costs. The decision was typical of attitudes at the time, with the Southern Cross Station redevelopment across town also overlooking water storage.
Years of severe drought have changed attitudes.
Federation Square's 63 new tanks - which complement the nine installed last year - are in a service trench underneath the Alfred Deakin building, near Flinders Street.
Federation Square chief executive Kate Brennan said the tanks had the capacity to hold 100,000 litres.
"We're hoping that it rains soon and they fill up," she said.
The water collected will flush toilets and Ms Brennan said she hoped the tanks would help reduce water use by more than 12 million litres each year.
Progress has been slower at Southern Cross Station, where planning for tanks is still under way.
Two tanks holding a total of 250,000 litres of rainwater have been planned, with additional run-off to be stored in the Bourke Street main drain.
Station Authority chief executive Jackie Barry said that despite a tender being offered 11 months ago, the $1.2 million water harvesting works were still months away.
Melbourne's new convention centre will also harvest rainwater from the roof into a blackwater (sewage) recycling unit.
Melbourne's water authorities are keen to encourage increased water harvesting into tanks, but insist it is not a viable way to solve Melbourne's overall water supply difficulties.

It would have been better if the water tanks had been installed from the beginning when Federation Square was being built. So much more water could have been saved in this sense. Considering the location and importance of these sites, cant believe the idea of installing water tanks was put aside.

(The Herald Sun)
Construction Activity Strong, Analysts Say
May 28, 2008

CONSTRUCTION activity in Australia rebounded in the March quarter, indicating steady growth in the sector, particularly engineering, economists said today.
Total construction work done in Australia rose 2.3 per cent in the March quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said today.
This rise was after total construction fell by a revised 0.8 per cent in the December quarter of 2007. The median market forecast was for a rise of 2.0 per cent.
The ABS said total building work done in the March quarter fell to $16.45 billion, seasonally adjusted, from an upwardly revised $16.45 billion in the December quarter.
Engineering work done rose to $13.52 billion from $12.85 billion.
St George Bank chief economist Steven Milch said today's data was consistent with steady growth in the construction sector.
"When many indicators are pointing to softer economic growth, this one is continuing to grow," Mr Milch said. "Engineering was very strong."
Mr Milch said today's result meant St George's gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts would not be revised.
Australia's March quarter GDP figures will be released next Wednesday, the day after the RBA's June board meeting.
"There are still many sectors of the economy that has momentum and construction is one of them. This is not an excessively strong number but nor is it weak."

(The Herald Sun)
Steel's no steal!
John Beveridge
May 28, 2008

YOU think petrol is getting expensive - what about steel? A couple of my construction pals were yesterday complaining about a 60 per cent rise from Smorgon for steel reinforcing products.
Driven by rocketing world steel and iron ore prices, the rises are to be applied even to existing contracts that are part fulfilled.
"I haven't seen this ever happen before," said one experienced snout.
"Since the Chinese earthquake, there is a real shortage of imported steel too so this will really hurt."
As Multiplex's Wembley Stadium disaster showed, rapidly rising steel prices can overnight eradicate margins in fixed price construction projects.
That was the problem for Multiplex when its steel supplier simply walked as prices rose -- causing massive losses and delays for the developer.
"I hope they took this into account in the bidding for the $4.8 billion airport link project in Brisbane," was the sage advice from our source.
"Those guys use serious amounts of steel building roads, tunnels and bridges."

The use of steel is rising and now the prices. The slowing importing of steel, looks like it will slow down more important things and leed to bigger losses.

(The Herald Sun)
Rush To Flat Earth
Jill Singer
March 24, 2008

WHAT is it that Geoffrey Rush wants for Melbourne, apart from stopping development?
In the actor's latest spray against those shaping our city, he says we're at a "fairly critical stage" in environmental and urban planning.
On this point, he is spot-on.
A recent sustainability conference held in Melbourne heard that our city had a long way to go in stopping urban sprawl and making more efficient use of limited resources.
The most viable and popular solution was to introduce better regulatory controls.
In contrast, Rush's anti-development "solution" is no solution.
Consider what sort of city we would have if we listened to Geoffrey Rush.
For a start, he lives in Camberwell and doesn't want Camberwell railway station developed to increase the population density of his suburb. Why?
Creating a more environmentally sustainable Melbourne is predicated on us increasing urban density. It doesn't mean destroying heritage buildings, but finding a sustainable way to let more of us share in what our city has to offer.
Increasing urban density means we can be more efficient with our energy, construction costs, water and transport - and is at the core of the State Government's Melbourne 2030 planning policy. What though is at the core of Rush's objections to 2030?
Number one appears to be that he doesn't like high-rise buildings, full stop.
He says: "If I had had the time I was going to go down to the Docklands and ask some residents there what high-rise living was like as a Melbourne experience, but then I remembered that nobody actually lives in those buildings."
This is an appalling approach to criticising urban design -- Rush is too busy to visit Docklands, but not too busy or too ill-informed to condemn it.
In any case, whether you like or loathe Docklands, Camberwell is not at the remotest risk of becoming Docklands 2. The original Camberwell development proposal went to 10 storeys. The latest version goes to seven.
The problem with Rush's approach to picturing Melbourne's future is that he isn't focusing on our desperate need for a better public transport system and affordable housing.
He doesn't seem to care, for example, if there are enough trains running on time to Camberwell or that you need
to be rich to own your own patch of
dirt there.
Just as long as the place looks as it did when Rush was a younger reed, then he's happy.
Rush claims his authority to lecture us about urban sustainability is a product of his residency: "We are Melburnites, we live here, we are citizens, we vote people in, we vote people out."
And here's me thinking we were Melburnians. Of course, Rush himself didn't start off life as a Melburnian, Melburnite or even Melburner, but a young Queenslandianite.
Apparently, this is what gives him the authority to also lecture Brisbane about building matters.
It is only several weeks ago that he lashed out with: "We must challenge and deny these most venal minds that Queensland too regularly puts in charge of our city's character."
We? Our? What happened to Melburnite Geoffrey?
When developers revealed plans to preserve the facade and foyer of Brisbane's Regent Theatre (now a commercially unviable cinema complex) as part of a new multi-storey development, Rush again rushed to protect "his" air space.
Developers were accused of making a "token gesture" in keeping a "few scraps of heritage" as an entrance to their "bland corporate monolith".
For mercy's sake, will someone explain to Geoffrey Rush and his acolytes that heritage and progress don't have to be mutually exclusive concepts? He needs to open his eyes and his mind.
Consider the experience of Parisiennes (or as Geoffrey might say, Parisites) who happily embrace modernity, for example with the conversion of an old railway station into the spectacular Musee d'Orsay.
I suppose we might be thankful that Geoffrey Rush's promiscuous approach to place, identity and heritage didn't see him campaign to restore the old railway station during his temporary residence in Paris during the 1970s.
Then there's New York City, home to the stunning Hearst Tower Project, touted as NYC's first green building.
The 46-storey tower was designed by British architect Norman Foster and bursts forward proudly from the original six-storey heritage-listed building that was completed back in 1928.
Lucky for NYC Geoffrey Rush has never identified as a New Yorker, or New Yorkite. Well, not yet anyway.

Im in complete favour of environmental and urban planning to continue as it is, considering the speed and quality its rising at. You cant go forward by looking backwards, so my opninion would be to further develop todays builidngs for a better environmentally friendly approach, all the while adding to a more attracive and bright melbourne thats to come.

(The Herald Sun)
New York Crane Collapses, At Least One Killed
AFP
May 30, 2008

A CONSTRUCTION crane has crashed onto a building in New York City killing at least one person.It is the second deadly crane accident there in less than three months.The crane collapsed today in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. CBS and Fox television said the accident caused at least two deaths. A New York fire department spokesman told AFP two people had been pulled out of the wreckage but were in an unknown condition. At least a dozen firefighters were picking through piles of rubble and personal belongings at the site which was closed off at ground level. Crowds gathered trying to get a look at the twisted metal of the crane and part of the building that appeared sheared off. Mayor Michael Bloomberg told local radio the accident was "unacceptable". A similar tragedy took place in Manhattan in March when another construction crane fell on top of a small building, killing seven people. A New York City employee later was charged with lying about an inspection he supposedly made of that construction crane. Seven people were killed, six of them construction workers, when that 60-metre crane collapsed and crushed an entire residential building and damaged several other properties. Bloomberg described that accident as "one of the worst the city has had". That building under construction, a 43-storey residential block, had been cited for 13 safety violations, five of which were still outstanding, according to local authorities.

What an unfortunate event, even more tragic as it had happened twice and could have been avoidable. Its at times like this you understand really well why health, safety and security issues are so important and why its made to be such a big deal. Eevry sort of action should be taken to prevent such horrible mistakes from repeating themselvs.

(Herald Sun)
Winds Bring Down City Scaffold
Patrick Horan and Matthew Schulz
October 18, 2007

A GROUP of schoolgirls narrowly escaped the partial collapse of a three-storey high scaffold in Melbourne today.
Police said high winds caused the building scaffolding to collapse on the corner of Collins and Exhibition streets in the city about 2.15pm this afternoon.
The scaffolding from the three-storey townhouse under construction was left as stack of twisted metal, as part of the structure was torn away.
Part of the scaffold collapsed on to a 4WD Toyota Jeep and brought down part of a tree.
A group of schoolgirls from Strathmore Secondary College who were walking below at the time said they were lucky to escape any injuries."We were just walking down the street, when a ladder fell out and nearly hit one of my friends," Emma Brennan said.
"We had a good laugh about that. Then we saw the scaffolding coming down and heard creaking and people yelling, 'run! run!'
"So that's when we got out of the way, it was pretty scary."
Another man was lucky to escape with torn trousers after the drama.A large crowd of office workers from the Reserve Bank gathered at the site.
Police have cordoned of part of Exhibition St and closed traffic at the corners of Spring and Collins streets, Flinders and Exhibition streets, Little Lonsdale and Exhibition streets and the corner of Russell and Collins streets.
Worksafe investigators have begun an investigation into the accident.
Worksafe spokesman Michael Birt said the building was being painted and the scaffolding was apparently disconnected to "enable the painters to finish".
"It appears that high winds caught the scaffolding and brought it down."
"High winds can be anticipated in Victoria at any time of year, but should be especially anticipated in Spring," he said.
"It's amazing good luck that none of the four girls or any other pedestrians or passing motorists were injured or worse," Mr Birt said.
The scaffolding facing Collins St is yet to be secured, leaving the corner of Exhibition and Collins St likely to be blocked until at least this evening.

Nature is not predictable! High winds are scary especially when a building is in constructiona and theres scaffoling everywhere. The thin and light weightedness of the scaffolding look like they could fly off so easily.

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