These are smart structures.

• There are a few fundamental issues in any project that, if solved correctly, fundamentally improves the result of the project.
• Smart structures requires a proactive 'can do' culture.

Find out why: 

» National Australia Bank Headquarters, Melbourne
» Heathrow Airport Terminal Entrance
» Darling Park Stage 2
» Mater Hospital, Newcastle
» Capella Apartments Kensington

National Australia Bank Headquarters
Smart structure advantage: Innovative, low vibration coupling of overhead pedestrian bridges made the impressive atrium design possible.

The success of this development lay in the interior planning of space and access within the floor plate of the building. The internal atriums where the key success items to this project. This required an innovative approach to the design of the bridges, their installation and vibration control.

If the atrium failed the building failed so the ‘Smart Structures’ solution to ensure vibration was maintained to a limit to allow people to use them in comfort was solved through an innovative couple of the bridge to the building and bridge to bridge. Project Director - Paul Davis

Heathrow Airport Terminal Entrance
Smart structure advantage: Review of critical design assumptions eliminated 3000m of in-ground foundation beams
Through a collaborative value management approach more than 3000m of in-ground foundation beams were removed from this structure. This saving was brought about through a challenging review of the critical design assumptions and performance criteria followed by an innovative management approach of delivering those savings through the employ of the original designers.

This resulted in major time and cost savings to the project. Project Director - Paul Davis

Darling Park Stage 2
Smart structure advantage: An innovative positioned portal frame enabled the 5 commercial towers columns of this project to span the Western Dsitributor freeway.
The viability and success of this 27 story commercial project was dependant on the design of the structural system to transfer the five tower columns over the Western Distributor freeway. The depth of the transfer structure was limited to 2000 mm maximum because of the clearance required for the road underneath and a predetermined podium level. An innovative structural solution was achieved by utilising a 2000 mm deep positioned portal frame 23 metres long to span the Western Distributor. Project Director - Raja Rajalingam

Mater Hospital, Newcastle – Re-use of Existing Building
Smart structure advantage: Critical design loads reduced by 50%
It was brought to the attention the Project Team that with re-arrangement of some functions within the building to a more suitable building, it’s Classification under Earthquake would no longer be for Post Disaster Function. This re-classification resulted in a reduction of critical structural loads of 50% and reduced the detailing provisions for code compliance. Co-ordination with Administration resulted in a minimal re-planning cost and minor alteration in Post Disaster plan provisions. Project Director - Steven Nash

Capella Apartments, Kensington
Smart structure advantage: Reduced number and cost of piles on a difficult site.
The original design called for deep heavily loaded piles in deep sand. Following detailed analysis and co-ordination with the Geotechnical Consultant, a solution was designed whereby the piling was minimised by transferring load to the hydrostatic basement slab. A balance had to be reached whereby settlement was still controlled by the piles and still adequate to prevent overloading the the hydrostic slab. This composite of raft slab with settlement control piles was used to reduce the cost of piling by reducing the number and size of piles. Project Director - Steven Nash