Journal: Week Seven

‘Off Campus’This week’s activity involved a guided tour of the Greensquare construction site on Victoria St, Richmond. The site tour involved identification of construction systems, site details and the array of materials used.

There are five buildings in total with five hundred apartments and approximately 430 people on site. The materials used are predominately concrete, steel and timber. There are steel columns and structural steel on the transfer level. Level one is a transfer level the whole way. In terms of materials, they are relatively cheap compared to labour, concrete is around 70% labour and 30% concrete in terms of expense where at steel is 50-50 roughly, making concrete an easier material to work with.

In-situ concrete slabsIn-situ concrete columns

Window and doorframe storage

Material Storage

Four cranes on-site

Cement mixers for in-situ concrete

In the car park construction area we were informed that services for the buildings are transferred though the car parks, and during construction are used for materials

storage. Car parks require a mechanical ventilation system to fight exhaust fumes, through vents. There are also in-situ concrete columns used in the car parks.

Pre-fabricated concrete panels In-situ concrete columns

Material storage and thermal ventilation materials

Services visible through roof of the car park

Mechanical ventilation system

In the Greensquare area of the apartments there is a composite construction/slab. All the exposed steel has to be galvanised. There is a pool area in construction, which can be difficult as the majority of defects are water and leak related. There are extensive precautions taken for pools, in terms of waterproofing. Ipex is an aggregate that has been added to the concrete to allow for expansion when wet.

Galvanised steel columnsI-beams

Supports Pre-fabricated concrete panels

Framework for in-situ concrete to be poured

Inside the actual apartments the balconies and bathrooms are waterproofed through a membrane. The balconies are double mebraned as it is a high-risk area. Any joints are treated then a full coat of membrane is added, then screet, another layer of membrane followed again. Screet is a mixture of cement and water, to a paste. Membranes in the bathrooms are to the extent of the tiling. Throughout the apartment acoustic mattings are beneath the floors above habitable areas, in which a bathroom is not considered a habitable area.

The task for the week further solidifies our abilities to recognise structural systems and materials and understand why each is used. Building site are regulated by enterprise agreements and building codes which shape how the site operates as well as what materials may be used, in collaboration with economical factors such as labour and materials cost.