Since the shopping centre first opened, it has seen only minor refurbishments undertaken, the last being an upgrade of the food court in 2002. But with the transformation of the Lutwyche area, including the development of nearly two-dozen multi-level apartment blocks nearby, the new owners recognised the centre was well overdue for an upgrade to meet growing demand. It also needed to be modernised to ensure the facilities better matched the change in demographics of the local area residents.

Features of the new centre include:

• public realm and landscaping improvements
• a new food court
• additional office tenancies
• a new supermarket tenant
• childcare centre and health care facilities.

In addition, the façade and exterior of the building will be refreshed with improved street activation provided in concert with Brisbane City Council design aspirations for the local area.

DMA Engineers was engaged to undertake the Mechanical, Electrical, Communications, Fire Protection, Hydraulic and Vertical Transport services for the refurbishment project.

We designed the building services to assist in the expansion and modernisation of the site, including replacing the passive trolley ramp with motorised travelators, and installing new lifts, feature lighting and lighting control systems to both modernise the space and increase patron comfort.

Increased infrastructure demands also required the refurbishment and upgrade of substations, electrical mains and boards, extension of the BMS, improved stormwater drainage, grease traps and the air conditioning central plant.

It was critical  to the client that the staging and construction works were undertaken with minimal impact on existing operational tenants. Extensive site investigation and infrastructure analysis were undertaken to allow planning of services interruptions to be minimised and undertaken in after-hour periods.

The Early works package predominantly addressed the need to establish a new food court and associated services were designed to support development including additional grease traps, switchboards and kitchen ventilations systems.