09 June, 2010

Phase 1 Design Complete - Human Hearing Research Centre

Woolacotts, a professional engineering division of Daly International, has completed first stage civil, structural and hydraulic design and documentation for a complex Human Hearing Research Centre within Sydney's Macquarie University.

The Hearing Hub is a six story building with two additional levels of basement car parking.  The building provides approximately 22,000 sqaure metres of research, laboratory and office area and 10,000 square metres of a car parking.  Within this there is a two storey anechoic chamber constructed from reinforced concrete on special isolation bearings.

Stephen Branch, Woolacotts Operations Director commented on the Hearing Hub project:

"This is a very complex design solution.  The building includes architectual precast blade walls that extend 5 metres beyond the ends of the building and 4 metres above roof level.  It also features post tensioned floor plates which are divided into 3 separate pours.  These are locked together after stressing using routed dowels to maintain floor diaphragm and minimise the number of lateral load resisting members."

The $120 million buildong is now in construction with completion due in 2012.