Collaborators :
Slavin Architects (Architecture); Buckingham Redevelopment Company (Builder); BlueScope, United Steel, Steelforce (Steel Suppliers); Rovlah Steel (Steel Fabricator); Needle Drafting Services (Steel Detailer); Dulux (Coatings)
AWARDS :
2022 Master Builder’s Association (WA) Excellence in Construction Awards
Best Historic Restoration or Renovations ($1.5 Million to $5 Million; sponsored by Reddifund)
Best Retail Building ($1.5 Million to $5 Million sponsored by AV Trucks AVECCO)
2022 Australian Steel Institute Western Australia Steel Excellence Awards
Winner – Buildings – Small Projects
2022 State Heritage Council Awards
Best Conservation or Adaptive Re-use of a State Registered Place
2022 Fremantle Chamber of Commerce Awards
Excellence in Commercial/Residential Property Development
The 122-year-old limestone Fremantle Courthouse complex operated as Fremantle’s police station and courthouse until 2001, and had been in a state of disrepair until this new commercial redevelopment.
As Architect Murray Slavin explains “The best thing to do with Heritage is to find a way to repurpose it, find a new use for it and by turning it into a bar, public venue, you get to reintroduce the city and the state’s public back into the building.” Airey Taylor Consulting are passionate about adaptive re-use of buildings both historic and contemporary to meet the modern needs of our State’s populace (see, for example, our paper to Concrete2021 on the successful adaptation of a Hay Street Art Deco Heritage building for modern use); and the Courthouse stands as a beautiful example of what can be achieved with expert design and superb building talent.
After a $5 million redevelopment, the Courthouse now features a pair of newly installed bars while championing the original Jarrah fireplaces, the original magistrate’s bench and defendant’s dock and other Heritage features of the limestone structure; while providing spacious exterior family green space adjacent to a new, state-of-the-art structural steel framed pavilion.
The two courtrooms are re-imagined as casual dining spaces featuring impressive six-metre-high ceilings with feature walls displaying pictures of defendants (including celebrities Alan Bond and Bon Scott!) and prosecutors past. The completely modern structural steel pavilion was designed by Slavin Architects to maximise the inside-outside flow from the repurposed courtroom space to the external garden area.
Meticulous attention to detail by Builders, the Buckingham Re-Development Company demonstrated enormous respect for the original structure, while realising the attractive designs of frequent ATC Collaborator Slavin Architects’ beautiful new vision for the facility.
The steelwork at Fremantle Courthouse, Henderson St, Fremantle was designed by ATC Engineers and Scientists (with additional detailing by Needle Drafting Services). Steel was a dominant feature of the new design and used BlueScope, United Steel and Steelforce products with fabrication from Rovlah Steel throughout for the alterations and additions to the courthouse and new pavilion. As part of the courthouse additions a new steel lintel needed to be installed; a process made easy utilising Airey Taylor Consulting’s comprehensive documentation for “new steel lintel to existing wall detail” installation which eliminated the need to rebuild the wall.
Slavin Architects are to be congratulated not only for the project’s stellar results but cementing their status as the foremost designer in Structural Steel in Western Australia with their fifth win in a row at the Australian Steel Institute (WA)’s Building category; one of which was the Sandra Donovan Sound Shell in Manjimup).
(Photos Courtesy of Slavin Architects; all Photography from Joel Barbitta, D-Max Photography)
