Iona College’s new Industrial Design and Technology Building is a welcome addition to this outstanding education facility located in Brisbane’s Wynnum West suburb. The Brisbane WGE team have been appointed as structural engineers for the design and construction stage services.

The building comprises an internal floor area of approximately 1600 square metres as well as an external construction yard. Working closely with the project architects, Dovey & Associates, the WGE team designed a structural steel semi portalised frame to house this new facility.

The majority of the structure is founded on pad footings constructed on the insitu material with a jointed slab on ground. A portion of the slab is supported off bored piers where the slab bridges an existing stormwater pipe which was not re-routed. This build over solution was found to be a cost effective solution to mitigate differential settlement risks without rerouting this service. The majority of the top structure is clad in metal sheeting with face block and brick walls adding to the aesthetic appeal of the building.

Due to the footprint of the new building encroaching on an existing facility which would be rehoused in the completed building, the construction of the new building needed to be staged. The first stage reached practical completion late in 2013 in readiness for the start of the 2014 school year. Construction of the second stage of the building commenced late in 2013 and is expected to be ready for students when they return from the Easter 2014 holiday.