Ronald McDonald House is a 13 level mixed-use residential building located in the children’s hospital precinct in South Brisbane. It offers temporary accommodation for families with sick children using nearby healthcare services. The development is comprised of retail, car parking, various communal facilities and accommodation.
Project features:
- Using WGE propriety acoustic software allowed the design team to experience and monitor the virtual sound of the spaces before they were built to ensure optimum acoustic performance.
- To construct the new building over the existing Busway Tunnel Substation, detailed design studies were undertaken to address Authority requirements for the design, layout and construction.
- Integrating the existing substation for the new building required upgrading the transformer in order to supply the building with additional power requirements.
- Best-practice fire engineering design was provided to ensure the highest level of fire safety for the occupants of Ronald McDonald House.
Project challenges:
- The development features a visually striking staircase interconnecting four levels of the building. This design feature was made possible through the delivery of performance-based fire engineering alternative solutions:
- A large residential floor plate including the potential for horizontal egress, a fire safety strategy that considers the building’s increased potential for occupants requiring assistance during an evacuation
- Sprinkler protected glazing as part of the performance based design to prevent fire spread particularly in the four-storey staircase void
- Fast-response sprinkler system
- The unique rooftop terrace structural design and implementation of an egress system to negate the requirement for an additional fire isolated stair shaft.
