Project Background
The owner/builder client, Corella Construction (Craig and Ella Brown), along with their architect, Elevation Architecture were involved in developing a childcare centre situated within a high-density residential area centrally located in Corinda.
Their objective was to maximise the value from the small site by providing a modern facility to accommodate up to 92 children, including enough parking for the childcare workers.
Our Brief
It was essential to our client that the childcare centre maximised the site and incorporated the features required for a functional, aesthetic educational facility.
Harmony Early Learning signed a long-term lease with the property owners and were encouraged to provide design input throughout the design and documentation phase.
Our brief included undertaking the structural design and documentation of the childcare, geotechnical investigations, liaison with the client’s architect and Harmony Early Learning as well as the onsite construction certification.
The Challenge
To maximise the small site area, the design comprised of a multi-level building with 18 carparks on the ground floor, as well as outdoor play learning areas on the upper level.
However, during the pre-design phase geotechnical investigation we found that the site consisted of extremely reactive material with weak high level soil levels.
This required a structurally designed foundation to accommodate a large surface soil movement. This was achieved by supporting the structure on a ground level raft slab and a matrix of steel screw piles.
To ensure a modern-type interior, the main structure consisted of concrete columns, a suspended first level concrete floor and light weight steel framing construction within the upper levels.
additional design challenge was accommodating the upper level outdoor play area, which consisted of sandpits and water creeks. Not only did this outdoor space add substantial loads to the design of the suspended concrete floor slab, but this area was also designed as a watertight structure to keep the classrooms dry underneath.
The final challenge was adjusting the design and documentation to accommodate plans changing throughout construction. Our team worked diligently to ensure that our designs were reassessed and updated to suit the required layouts.
The Outcome
A service that the builder appreciated was providing preliminary sketch designs at the initial phase of the project. The builder used these sketch designs to create the construction planning budgets. This ensured that the project was financially viable before the project started.
During the detailed design phase, we worked closely with the architect and the builder to Value Engineer the project. We did this by providing professional advice focused on reducing the construction program and costs. The result was that the project remained on budget and was constructed within the tight time frames stipulated by Harmony Early Learning.
