December 2015

Governor Stirling Complex

The Governor Stirling complex which consists of 197 St George’s Terrace, 5 Mill Street and 1 Mill Street on St George’s Terrace is a landmark in Perth amongst its peers. 197 St George’s Terrace is an imposing building and offers offices with outstanding views over the Swan River and city. The building has a very efficient floor plate with a central core and natural light from all four sides. 5 Mill Street is set back from Mill Street with a large surrounding plaza area. The modern office building comprises approximately 7,300 sqm of office and retail space. This building also has central services core providing an easy divisible floor plate with natural light to all sides. 1 Mill Street is located on the corner of Mill Street & Mounts Bay Road, opposite the Convention Centre and has approximately 6,200 sqm of space. The building has two entrances, one off Mill Street and the other from the side of Mill Street courtyard.

Our contract for this project included installation of a new combined fire hydrant/sprinkler, detection & EWIS system in each building inclusive of 1 common set of fire pumps. This was part of the refurbishment of the 3 x high rise office towers within the complex:

  • A fully compliant combined Fire Sprinkler/Fire Hydrant system
  • A fully compliant Hose Reel system
  • 1 set of Fire Pumps
  • A fully compliant Fire Detection system to AS1668.1 and Emergency Warning Intercommunication system to AS1670.4

The fire systems Firesafe installed were required to be provided to the three high rise office towers on the same title being 197 St George’s Terrace (31 storey building), 5 Mill Street (13 storey building) and 1 Mill Street (5 storey building) all situated on one common plaza level and a 500 car basement car park (split over 3 levels). Upon completion of the project Firesafe continue to test and maintain the fire protection systems installed at this complex.

Throughout the project there were various challenges which we had to overcome:

  • Due to the buildings being operational throughout our project, works had to be coordinated with all 3 buildings Centre Management and/or construction team, the live buildings Service and Maintenance companies and our own operatives to ensure smooth transition and completion of works. This was imperative to minimise the amount of any required downtime for completion of works and commissioning.
  • We had to determine if existing pipework could be re-used for the upgrade or replaced. This was achieved by our employees visiting the site and completing an audit of the pipework and determining what was re-useable and what had to be replaced.
  • As some of the fire systems were existing, we had to ensure new installations works in some of the buildings/areas were carried out during designated times to ensure the buildings were never unprotected.
  • It was a requirement to the 3 buildings to the one Fire Pump Set. This was achieved by linking through the carpark by using trunk mains.
  • Each of the 3 towers had their own individual FIP’s, with one FIP being the master due the pump runs attached to this unit. This required co-ordination with our Detection team to ensure the buildings were protection at all times.
  • Works undertaken for this project being located within the centre of Perth CBD presented logistical challenges. Deliveries needed to be scheduled to avoid traffic disruption. Also the lack of on street parking required deliveries to be scheduled with precision, we needed to organise agreed drop points and times to best suit unloading.
  • Equipment needed to be moved from delivery points to the worksites (3 buildings) with minimal interference. We achieved this by booking good lifts and using fire stairwells to reduce our presence. We kept construction noise to minimum by using drilling equipment during designated hours only.
  • Firesafe believe by using experienced Project Managers and professional technicians on this site we were able to complete the project work with minimum disruption to the buildings’ occupants. Any project issues that arose, were dealt with in a professional manner within a quick time frame.
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