Following a competitive bid process Buildcorp has won the high profile Forgan Smith building refurbishment at the University of Queensland (UQ).
The Forgan Smith building is the centrepiece of the Great Court at the University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus and is powerfully evocative to many thousands of alumni. Buildcorp has been given the responsibility for delivering an innovative, complex education project which aims to revitalise the iconic heritage building, cementing its reputation as a state-of-the-art teaching and research facility.
The Forgan Smith building is over 70 years old and was originally designed to be ‘ostentatious and expensive, yet practical’, representing the emerging importance of education and research to the Queensland state government of the time.
Construction on the original building started in 1937, with the Great Court vision finally realised in the 1970s. The core building was originally a two-story, concrete framed structure clad in mainly locally sourced sandstone with some granite and marble.
The Forgan Smith project includes the demolition of the existing roof level, waterproofing (for the period of construction) extending the roof level to provide new spaces for occupation, internal demolition works and the creation of a new void area creating a full height atrium down to the main entrance. The works include the construction of new pedestrian cross over bridges internally, extensive glass façade works and internal staircases.
Contributing to Buildcorp’s success in winning the Forgan Smith project was the successful handover of the Goddard building at UQ in February 2014. The Goddard building was a delicate project in another heritage building where an entire level was added to the rooftop.
This important project for UQ joins an extensive portfolio of education and heritage projects Buildcorp has delivered all across Australia’s east coast.
