The building begins to take shape

The last three weeks have seen wonderful progress on site. Lots of things have been going up.

The crane went up two weeks ago and has made a big difference to work on site; making it easier to move materials and pour concrete on most days in the last week. All 1st floor slabs are now completed with the exception of the northern sector of the building that will have just three floors plus the roof top terrace. This slab will be completed soon and when it is the momentum of the project will pick up again as floors go up more quickly.

The suspended slab floor over the basement was poured.


The first walls went up.

A sense of the scale of the New College Village and the progress can be gained from this aerial photo taken by Tim Calpito from the top of the new L5 Building (old bowling alley and later Unisearch) that was also built by Lipman.

The building begins to take shape

The foundation stone is unveiled

About 60 people gathered on the 12th February 2008 to officially launch the construction process for the New College Village. Speakers at the ceremony included:

- The Master (me)
- The UNSW Vice Chancellor, Professor Frederick Hilmer
- Emeritus Professor Edwin Judge representing the founding memebrs of the New University Colleges Council (NUCC)

A cornerstone (or foundation stone) is a ceremonial masonry stone, or facsimile, set in a prominent location on the outside of a building, with an inscription on the stone indicating details such as the construction date. This is an important cultural component of western architecture and is also a key metaphorical symbol in sacred architecture.

Before asking the Vice Chancellor to unveil the foundation stone I indicated that for New College the foundation stone symbolized at least three things:

• The fact that the building has commenced
• That what we do at New College is founded on Christian faith and values.
• The fact that the New College Village is a direct outcome of the vision and energy that drove the founders of New College, and one could well add the founders of UNSW, who understood the power of community to change lives.

It was an exciting event attended by senior University staff, representatives of Lipman (as builder), Allen Jack+Cottier (architects), financiers, residents, staff and board members of New College, heads of other colleges, alumni and friends. The Vice Chancellor commented:

"This is a very important development for UNSW. It is aligned with our strategic directions and we are grateful to New College for its initiative."

The foundation stone is unveiled

The Design of the New College Village

As mentioned in a previous post, the building that is being constructed by Lipman places a high priority on the building of community. It has been designed to help us build a strong postgraduate community.

The Architects who have been responsible for the design are well-known Sydney Architects Allen Jack+Cottier (AJC), with the driver being Andrew Parker. AJC has been careful to be faithful to the original design brief (which I had prepared based on my experience of residential buildings in Australia, USA and the UK), while constantly looking for ways to enhance the appearance, efficiency and functionality of the building. Just one of the special features that has taken considerable design expertise (and has obviously involved Lipman and various consultants) is the Acoustic screen on the Anzac Parade side of the building. This wonderful feature was originally devised as a means to reduce noise on Anzac Parade and to create an additional quiet outdoor recreation area. The idea for the screen came from Lipman in response to my brief. AJC has created an outstanding design. The screen will reduce noise to such an extent that residents of this air conditioned building could still leave their windows open without experiencing significant noise from the street. The screen will also enhance the appearance of the building as well as the general streetscape at the front door to the University.

The Design of the New College Village

Progress on the ground floor

The past week has seen excellent progress on the form work for the key suspended ground floor slab over the basement. This is a critical element in enabling all other ground floor slabs to be completed. Once this happens we will see the construction rising vertically at a much faster rate with the structure expected to reach its full height by June/July. The slab is quite complex due to level changes and the wonderful internal courtyard (see below) that has a combination of open grass, steps, raised seating and gardens. It is exciting to see the shape of the ground floor emerging.

There has also been good progress on the final pier caps and foundations that are necessary before the non-suspended ground floor slabs are poured.

Some key achievements in the last two weeks have included:

• The piers were completed last week.
• The western elevator pit was poured this week.
• The final bridging caps in the basement area were poured.
• Good progress has been made on the pile caps at the ground floor level.
• The ground floor suspended slab has progressed well and the first section was poured this week with more sections to come soon.
• The New College Big Top (see previous post) has largely been removed with the last of back filling taking place and some sand being trucked off site.
  

Progress on the ground floor

Promoting the New College Village

The process of promoting the New College Village as a place to live has begun. The erection of a 12 x 2 metre sign just before Christmas was the first stage in the promotion of the New College Village. The site sheds don't look too flash but the sign that you see as you walk across the Anzac Parade pedestrian crossing from the University Mall can't be missed and looks wonderful.

The College will be appointing a Marketing Coordinator to promote the New College Village this year. Expressions of interest would be welcomed from friends and alumni of New College. To see a detailed outline of the Marketing role, click here».

Promoting the New College Village

The crane tower goes up

Construction recommenced after the Christmas shut-down on Monday 7th January and since then progress has been good. While the project is still a little behind Lipman has made some changes to the construction program designed to catch up some time. Progress in week 1 after the break has included:

• completion of the concrete piles (by today)
• erection of the crane tower
• commencement of underfloor plumbing

Key milestones in coming weeks include:

• completion of all screw piles this week
• completion second elevator shaft pit
• pouring of first section of basement floor by 21/1/08

The photo is taken from the top floor of New College (room 4A6).

The crane tower goes up

Good progress prior to Christmas

I haven't written many posts in recent weeks because there are just so many ways that you can talk about in these early stages of construction. And there are just so many ways that you can make a basement look interesting. Construction has ceased for 2 weeks during the Christmas and New year holiday period but will re-commence on the 7th January.

Progress prior to shut-down was good with the basement nearing completion and the drilling of the remaining piers for the eastern and southern sections of the building under way. The construction programme is about 2 weeks behind but Lipman is confident that this will be picked up when they re-commence in January.

Good progress prior to Christmas