Hot Dip Galvanizing Construction by Galvanizers Association Australia

Tough digs for Defence
Lavarack Barracks redevelopment (Stage Four), Queensland

Stage Four of the Lavarack Army Barracks upgrade completed in 2010 continued the tradition of award winning designs utilising hot dip galvanizing. The buildings have attracted 14 awards to date including the 2011 RAIA Walter and Oliver Tunbridge Award for Building of the Year for BVN Donovan Hill.

Located on 400 hectares in Townsville, the upgrade involved replacing 1960s era accommodation with modern, well designed facilities to support around 600 Army personnel incorporating more than 80 new and refitted buildings. The region's tropical conditions made it vital to BVN that the buildings were fast and economical to construct. Off-site application of hot dip galvanizing was preferred for speed, quality and less labour onsite than for painted in-situ applications.

Hot dip galvanizing provides a number of unique advantages for the protection of steel, particularly in an environment like Townsville, where nearly 1.2 metres of rain falls every year delaying many construction projects.

Project architect at BVN Donovan Hill, Scott Hardcastle said that the simple robust application, hard wearing, good whole-of-life properties and low maintenance properties made galvanizing the best choice of corrosion protection for this project.

"There were a number of benefits for this specific type of development, including hard wearing for potentially rough use by the Defence force and, in some cases, self-healing where steelwork is scratched/lightly damaged," he said.

"Defence had a mandate on the project to minimise ongoing maintenance and we generally followed hot dip galvanized finish recommendations made locally that require no need for ongoing maintenance or repainting for an extended period.

"It gives a robust finish that resists intense steel rigging onsite where simple paint or powder coat type finishes might be damaged. And the simple, timeless colour pallet of the exposed silver galvanizing matches neatly with the zinc and aluminium wall and roof cladding. Coloured paint systems were likely to date quickly and look tired."

Developer/Owner: Department of Defence
Architects: BVN Donovan Hill, Troppo Architects
Specifier: MPN Consulting
Project Manager: Thiess
Steel Contractor: Cairns Steel Fabrications