Box Hill Central South Co-working Office Development - Baigents Pty Ltd

Project Overview

The Box Hill Central south co-working office development project involved the design of three levels of flexible co-working commercial office space on top of an existing four level retail building.

A key objective of this project was to allow for the construction of the new levels of office structure while minimizing strengthening of the existing structure. Baigents initially provided a variety of lightweight structural framing options including Mass Timber Construction (CLT floors with Gluelam Beams and Columns) and CSR Hebel PowerFloor. Eventually a portalised steel framed structure with composite slabs was chosen.

Due to the lightweight nature of the new floor structures, Finite Element analysis was required to limit human induced floor vibrations.

Baigents worked closely with the client, architect and builder to see this project through from inception to completion.

Key technical challenges

• Strengthening using carbon fiber to provide additional capacity for a supermarket tenancy
• Steel wall bracing to improve the buildings response to earthquake conditions
• Civil and hydraulic upgrades
• Design of a lightweight structure to limit strengthening of the existing building structure below
• FE modelling to identify the structure’s natural frequency and limit floor vibrations
• Collaborated with builders to navigate construction challenges