Top Award for Buxton at AIB Awards
The national award for residential construction $10 - $50 million has gone to Buxton Construction for Zinc Apartments Port Melbourne at The Australian Institute of Building 2011 Professional Excellence in Building Awards held in Sydney on Friday 16 September.
The $20 million three-building development, consisting of 83 apartments, incorporates the refurbishment and extension of two, more than 100-year-old heritage listed buildings plus construction of a new structure with six levels of apartments over a three-level basement. "The traditional red brick facades of all three buildings are complemented by zinc cladding on the upper levels to provide a finish that is visually appealing and highly durable but, more importantly, fits in well with the Port Melbourne streetscape." Buxton managing director Andrew Briggs said.
A notable aspect of the six-level structure is the diaphragm walls employed in the three-level basement which is the deepest that has been constructed to date on a Port Melbourne project. Diaphragm walls give lateral support by providing a reaction to horizontal forces from earth and water pressures on sites where excavation descends below the water table. In this instance the basement was more than six metres below the water table of the area.