Sydney's North Shore has landed in Newcastle with Futurebuild
Merewether Beach is a beachside suburb, which in terms of property, is top of the market in Newcastle. It has an interesting
history and atmosphere, being part of old town Newcastle and a former coal mining area, but on the beach. As a result of new developments and
'urbanisation' it has become a ritzy suburb much like Sydney's North Shore.
A block of three townhouse-style units is one of the newer developments in Merewether and architecturally is an unusual style for the area.
This development known as 'forty two', is prime real estate on a corner only one block away from the water. Todd Blatchford of Todd Blatchford
Constructions based in Newcastle, is a contractor with some 20 years in the industry, but on this project he turned developer. Being a
Merewether resident, with a home near the development, he was keen to do something tasteful and impressive with this ideal site. As he tells
the story:
"The site was purchased at auction for $670,000; there were 150 people at the auction. The block was suitable for a large home or duplex, and
being a corner block, density restrictions applied. We had a cutting edge architect that suggested three units could go on the block, so I got
a group of residents together for their input as well. We tried to be innovative and keep the community's needs at heart."
The architect was Chris Tucker of Herd Architects Newcastle. He came up with the design with clean, straight lines. Tucker teaches architecture
at Newcastle University and is very passionate about his profession. Tucker's students and others kept a keen eye on the project, being such a
prominent site with a design style not typical of the area.
One feature of particular interest was the 'motor vehicle turntable'. The Council is against garage doors visible from the street preferring
the doors to be obscured; the turntable is at the back and services two of the three units, providing access to both.
The building itself utilised innovative engineered building products, such as Hyspan Structural LVL and Hybeam Engineered I-Joists by
futurebuild. The wall frames are prefabricated using Laserframe and the upper floors are clad with Texture 2000 by woodlogic. The roofs are
skillion style but have two different angled sections creating interest. The ceiling is attached to the underside of the rafters providing
extra ceiling height below.
Hyspan made this elevated roof effect possible. Its long lengths of up to 13.2 metres off the shelf were not available in conventional timbers.
The large spans achieved with Hyspan reduced the need for intermittent supports eliminating the need for bulkheads which would have affected
the clean ceiling line. Internally, the wall to ceiling junction had a perfectly clean line, all square set with no cornices. Hyspan helped
achieve the minimalist 'urban' style inside.
Hybeam, used as floor joists, continued the perfectly flat and straight lines with services run through the joists. Using minimal depth Hyspan
and Hybeam, Blatchford found he did not have to sacrifice head height in the ceiling levels. "When you walk in, it feels enormous with high
ceilings, some areas five metres high," says Blatchford.
The exterior Texture 2000 cladding was also turned into a feature. Instead of the typical horizontal butt join between the cladding, the join
between the sheets is highlighted with a gap or recess all around the job. It is an open join but weatherproofed and the effect is distinctive.
Blatchford had heard of futurebuild products and sourced them from McNamara Frame and Truss of Forster in NSW. Blatchford thought the
innovative and engineered building products were ideally suited to the project, especially when considering the clean minimalist lines that
were required.
"I'm a very fussy builder and I wanted to get the job right," he says, "I knew they'd be the perfect type of products. The only way to get a
perfect straight line in the building industry used to be using steel, but because of the danger of corrosion in this environment with the
beach 300 metres away, steel couldn't work. Also steel is too heavy, time consuming, and costly". Hyspan has predictable properties the equal
of steel and a superior strength to weight ratio. "The LVL beams are perfect in all these areas ...Speed on construction sites is vital but this
has to be weighed up with safety. The less time spent up on scaffolding the safer."
For further information contact:
Futurebuild
phone: +61 3 9258 7600
fax: +61 3 9258 7629
web: www.chhfuturebuild.com
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