Image credits: Hayball
Event Description:
Have you ever wondered what you’d be doing on a project team? Or where your discipline fits in?
Industry panelists from Hayball, WGA and Tract will answer your questions and discuss how the consultant team collaborated to deliver the South Melbourne Primary School project.
Through a Q+A panel discussion, hear how unique project issues were resolved through multi-disciplinary collaboration and learn about the roles and responsibilities of different disciplines in the context of a major education and community project.
Panellist Details:
MARIANO LOPEZ
Principal Landscape Architect, Tract Consultants
Role in the South Melbourne Primary School project:
In collaboration with Hayball; Tract was involved at the early master plan phase of the Ferrars Education and Community Precinct project, allowing us to get a better understanding of the School site requirements and strategic thinking which would underpin the final design. We also undertook detailed design, documentation and construction administration of the outdoor spaces of the School, including courtyards, upper level terraces and street interfaces.
From your perspective as the landscape architect on the South Melbourne Primary School project, how did multidisciplinary collaboration improve the outcomes of the project?
Working within a multidisciplinary team environment was key for the success of the School project. The collaborative process allowed the team to identify shared values, to inform our understanding of key issues and opportunities early on, and to explore and test ideas. It improved the design review and decision-making process, resulting in more appropriate and functional outcome.
From a landscape design perspective this process was vital to develop a shared vision in the creation of the School outdoor spaces that would respond to the needs of the students, but also of the community.
GLENN MAISEY
Senior Structural Engineer, WGA Consulting Engineers
Role in the South Melbourne Primary School project:
I was the leader of the structural design team. We were responsible for the design and documentation of the building’s structural elements as well as coordination and inspection of these elements during construction. These elements included foundations, columns, structural stability system, steel framed floor structure and lightweight steel roof structure.
From your perspective as the Structural Design Team Leader on the South Melbourne Primary School project, how did multidisciplinary collaboration improve the outcomes of the project?
Multidisciplinary collaboration was fundamental to the successful delivery of the project. It was critical for the structural team to understand the architectural design intent and layout requirements when developing our structural solution. We also needed to incorporate the requirements of the other engineering disciplines including the spatial demands and weights of the building services equipment as well as the fire engineering requirements for the steel framed floor structure. Other considerations included the challenging ground conditions of the site located close to the Yarra River and the extremely short construction program needed for the project to be open by the start of the school year.
SARAH SMITH
Interior Designer, Hayball
Role in South Melbourne Primary School:
As interior designer, I came onto this project at the Design Development stage. My role was to assist in developing the planning and conceptual ideas to create a cohesive interior design package. This included testing design ideas and refining the use, character and flow of interior spaces. I produced material, lighting and furniture selections that were workshopped, documented, co-ordinated and realised.
From your perspective as the Interior Designer on the South Melbourne Primary School project, how did multidisciplinary collaboration improve the outcomes of the project?
Synthesising specialist input from the required design disciplines allowed for efficiency and effectiveness of design outcomes; especially in such a complex and multi-layered project. Having the right people at the table to input and test ideas, then make decisions, kept the design process moving. This collaboration enabled a more holistic design result; with both the aesthetic and functional needs of the spaces achieved. It also helped as a sounding board in working with other like-minded people which resulted in shared innovations that would otherwise be “siloed” within another field.
CHRIS TZANLIS
Project Leader, Hayball
Role in South Melbourne Primary School project:
As project leader, I lead the documentation team that developed the concept design into a construction documentation package ready for tender. In associating with Project Managers, we ran the tender process on behalf of the Clients, and administered the Contract onsite assisting with Builder’s queries, requests for further information, review of shop drawings and samples.
From your perspective as the Project Leader on the South Melbourne Primary School project, how did multidisciplinary collaboration improve the outcomes of the project?
The site and ground conditions provided unique challenges that when combined with the tight delivery timeframe, required the team to interrogate, workshop and mitigate as many of these unknown/ unquantifiable risks to the delivery deadline. We relied on the expertise of specialists outside the usual consultant pool (e.g. environmental scientists) that fed advice back to the core design consultant team, allowing certain tasks to be expedited. The team also called on assistance from builders (not associated with the tender process), to seek advice from the ‘other side of the fence’, regarding the optimum number of cranes, their placement and impact to existing surrounding amenities; as well as advice on road closures, disruption to power supply, site establishment, that was all fed back into the design early on, to get maximum efficiencies with minimal disruption to the adjoining properties and services.
OWEN WEST
Senior Associate, Hayball
Role in South Melbourne Primary School project:
As design leader, I was responsible for leading the Hayball team in all planning and design phases of the project. My role involved collaborating with the client and stakeholder groups, the consultant design team; striving to ensure that brief requirements and the design response aligned, were carried through and realised.
From your perspective as the Project and Design Leader on the South Melbourne Primary School project, how did multidisciplinary collaboration improve the outcomes of the project?
The vision of South Melbourne Primary School is, fundamentally a collaborative one; being the integration of a school and community facility in an inner urban area and a partnership between the State and Local Governments. As such, multidisciplinary collaboration with and between the client, stakeholders and the design team were critical and allowed all views to be heard and diverse expertise to be shared and synthesised. A key aspect of the collaborative process was for preconceived views and methodologies to be challenged and tested so that a new frame of thinking emerged which this unique project demanded.