Riverslea Homes

The Challenges

Creating a contemporary, stylish home that captured spectacular views of East Gippsland’s spectacular Ninety Mile Beach, Lake Tyers and the surrounding mountains, while achieving a mandatory 6 Star Energy Rating and Bushfire Attack building requirements (BAL), was both an opportunity and challenge for Riverslea Homes.

The design brief was for a very modern home that capitalised as much as possible on the sweeping waterfront views of the 90-mile beach. There was a strong appetite for a blend of complementary cladding to further enhance the architecture.

Bushfire attack was another challenging feature at the site, given that the East Gippsland Shire is currently rated at the second highest level in the BAL rating. Water tightness and weatherproof cladding performance was another important factor given the home’s exposed coastal location.

Check out this stunning project, as featured on Open Homes Australia here.

The Solution

Achieving the 6 Star energy rating is always an accomplishment with the region’s southern coastline inviting south facing view windows. The 426m2 Architectural Double Storey Home comprises four bedrooms, two bathrooms, expansive living areas and structurally challenging rooflines.

“The homeowners, the McEntee family, bought their own initial design to the table, from there we did some serious design refinement work, followed by intense engineering,” Riverslea Homes owner Peter Grundy said.

“This is where Bondor’s LuxeWall® cladding really came into its own, especially in the upper story areas. Achieving the 6 Star Energy Rating with the expanse of south facing glass was always going to be a process, every incremental performance gain was going to be critically important.

“Of the five individual claddings selected by the owners LuxeWall® offered the highest thermal performance-rating gain by a considerable margin.”

LuxeWall®’s bushfire attack resistance capabilities are a huge step forward in this environment as well, especially in this region that lived through the recent New Year’s Bushfires. To further combat water tightness and weaterproof cladding performance, LuxeWall®’s concealed fixing method combined with its unique sealed jointing system and most importantly the window trim system, was the easy answer.

Mr Grundy said the biggest game changer from using the LuxeWall® system was the speed of installation, particularly on the home’s upper levels.

“We were able achieve that ever desirable weatherproof lockup in a single process, with no multiple trades required with this system. The support and advice from Bondor prior to installation really made me wonder why other cladding manufacturers don’t offer the same around their products.”

LuxeWall® is a high-performance lightweight walling product with architectural exterior finishes that is raising the bar for upmarket exterior finishes to the modern Australian home. It offers an innovative cladding system all new home buyers should consider given Luxewall® ’s BAL & Thermal qualities, simplicity and speed of installation and superb weather resistance performance.

Red Hill Cinemas

The Challenges

The iconic Red Hill skate arena a was burnt by fire in 2002 and had stood derelict for almost 17 years before it was added to the council’s heritage register in 2016.  

In 2017 a $10 million redevelopment by Five Star Cinemas was set to restore the auditorium to one of its previous incarnations as a cinema. 

One of the key restoration challenges was to retain the different layers of history to the building and keeping some of the original graffiti intact. Existing steel trusses were to be retained, along with the street facade and arches. 

There was a challenge in redeveloping a site that was abandoned for a long time – both structurally and from a design perspective.

The Solution

The developers spent more than six months stabilising the roof, restoring key features of the old skate arena and revealed the century-old archway. 

Many of the timbers from the original structure that survived the fire now make up the ceiling for the lower area of the building. Some original graffiti was kept intact, with additional movie-themed graffiti added to the inside of the building to reflect its latest incarnation. 

The weatherboard walls along each side of the auditorium above the brickwork were replaced with Bondor’s non-combustible and fire-rated walling product FlameGuard®, a product with a Mineral Wool core, encased in BlueScope® Colorbond® Steel. 

FlameGuard® was selected as a key product supplier due to the rigid requirements set out by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission and Australian Building Codes Board regulations. 

FlameGuard® was well suited for the project with long spanning application required for the building, as well as for its high thermal performance and energy efficiency. The panel also offers Non-Combustibility, FRL or FM Approval for insurance purposes and has been tested and certified to achieve up to a 3 Hour Fire Rating.

Panelup

The Challenges

The PanelUp Prefab System combines Bondor’s SolarSpan® roof panels and InsulWall® wall panels with 3D BIM computer technology and custom-made machinery to speed up construction by more than 50 per cent. 

Sasha Veselinovic, the founder of Panelup’s vision was to change the way people approach building homes by challenging traditional construction methods and innovating the way homes are built. 

The system was developed over seven years by Mr Veselinovic, for his offsite manufacturing company ‘Panelup Systems’. He also owns a home construction company, Unique Style Homes that builds around 15 prefab homes a year using the prefab system.

The Solution

The PanelUp Prefab System is the fastest panelised house construction system in Australia and can speed up home construction by more than 50 per cent. A two-storey house can be built to lock-up from the slab up to the roof in just seven days using the system.

The PanelUp Prefab System is a 100 percent Australian innovation using Australian manufactured Bondor SolarSpan® roof panels and InsulWall® wall panels. 

Every house component is manufactured offsite in the PanelUp factory and then trucked to the building site, where it fits together perfectly and can be erected by virtually any carpenter. 

The system also offers a huge return on energy savings over the life of a home, as InsulWall® and SolarSpan® panels form a complete thermal shell to that significantly exceeds current Australian requirements for Energy Ratings. 

“A Panelup Prefab home is built twice as fast, offers twice as much benefits but costs less than a traditional home. We also offer a lockup stage only to owner builders and other trade professionals, Sasha said.

Aquatic Recreation Centre – WA – Equitilt Flameguard

The Solution

Bondor’s Equitilt® FlameGuard® non-combustible walling was recently used extensively on the $109 million Aquatic Recreation Centre and Dockers training facility located in Cockburn, WA. Equitilt® FlameGuard® architectural panels were fabricated using a premium metallic Colorbond® finish and functioned as a non-combustible (AS1530.1) wall cladding combined with high thermal performance achieved through Bondor’s innovative mineral wool cored wall panel. Equitilt® wall cladding created an exceptional architectural feature around all the function areas, offices and six basketball courts and aquatic facilities.

Sustainable Architectural House

The Solution

Leading architectural firm TONIC Design, relished the opportunity to explore the creation of a series of layered spaces with Bondor’s ‘all-in-one’ designer wall and roof systems in this inner city suburban street. Conceptualising spacious open areas with double height continuous walls and high raked ceilings, clean sculptural modern spaces with an easy connection to the external surrounds, delivering superior comfort and energy efficiency but without the additional cost.

Narellan Town Centre

The Challenges

The Narellan Town Centre, located in New South Wales, is the new hot spot for shopping, food, and entertainment in Narellan. With a three-year construction timeline, the Narellan Town Centre had a total size of 72,000 sqm to work with. The final product was designed to provide as a modern meeting place for the community, with a stunning façade to attract locals.

The Solution

MetecnoInspire® panelling was installed on the largescale shopping centre, Narellan Town Centre, with builders noting how much quicker it was to install when compared to corative composite facades. MetecnoInspire® panels provide excellent thermal properties and minimal structural support, with little or no fabrication prior to placement on the wall, leading to faster install times and lower labour costs. The project architect said “The design of the architectural façade is intended to give Narellan Town Centre a modern expression with clean lines and restrained articulation. Selecting the right building product was essential. MetecnoInspire® offered us an inspiring palette of colours that was enduring and respectful to the surrounding urban fabric, yet at the same time rejuvenated and repositioned Narellan as a new town centre”.

381 Macarthur Avenue

The Challenges

FlameGuard® decorative architectural non-combustible wall cladding was chosen for the exterior walls of the corporate office campus, 381 Macarthur Avenue, Hamilton. The three-level building has been purpose-built to maximise light penetration for those seeking an A-grade office space.

The Solution

FlameGuard® was the walling product of choice for this project due to its excellent insulation attributes, but also for its fire-resistant ability. It is ideal for projects such as 381 said that the Non-Combustible Cladding FlameGuard’s® compliance with QBCC requirements made it a strong contender.

But what made FlameGuard® stand out from other options was the aesthetic finish that complemented the other gorgeous architectural features of the project. With the project size of 2700 sqm, Greystone Builders utilised FlameGuard’s® Non-Combustible Cladding to ensure the longevity of the building, where architectural compromise did not have to be made.