The Magazine | Australian National Construction Review | Benevolent Living Rockhampton
Benevolent Living Rockhampton
Developer : Benevolent Living
Main Construction Company : Hutchinson Builders
Architect : Deike Richards
Project Manager : Steele Wrobel
Engineer : Edge Consulting Engineers
Construction Value : $47 million
Benevolent Living Rockhampton comprises two buildings; ‘The Terraces’, a 4-storey aged care building with one-bedroom apartments and private suites, and ‘Benevolent on West’, a 5-storey boutique retirement village with 40 two and three-bedroom apartments and basement parking. The project includes ‘The Town Hub Precinct’, offering amenities such as a chapel, theatre, coffee shop, gym, day spa, and learning hub.
Founded in 1866, Benevolent Living is a regional stand-alone provider in Central Queensland and is one of Australia’s oldest not-for-profit organisations.
Their mission was to transform their existing traditional residential aged care facility from a gated nursing home operating on a medical model into a vibrant and connected senior living community.
“Our vision was to inspire and enable people to live a happy life based on health, wellness, purpose and meaning. Not only is this the first vertical retirement village in Central Queensland, but Benevolent Living is also the first aged care provider in Australia with a working art gallery onsite that has a creative arts strategy that focuses on community connection and integration,” said Alison Moss, CEO of Benevolent Living.
Benevolent Living collaborated with architects to help redesign the master plan for the diversification and refurbishment of the current Benevolent Living site, with alleviating social isolation, loneliness, anxiety and depression in the elderly as the central focus.
Other key objectives of the re-design included increasing density on-site, diversifying revenue streams through retirement village accommodation and creating a beautiful inspiring community where people want to live, work and play. The result was a new masterplan that emphasised the importance of greenspace, filtering community engagement, holistic health and wellness and the arts.
The design features a fully functional art gallery and arts workshops, as well as other spaces for community events. A creative arts strategy was specifically developed for this site, and an Exhibition Programmer/Arts Coordinator was employed to activate the site and run programs.
Project works included the development of two multi-storey buildings and refurbishment of existing spaces within the Benevolent Living facilities. Building A consists of 36 residential care suites and apartments, and associated support spaces including lounge, dining, servery, and treatment spaces. Building B features 40 two- or three-bedroom units as well as communal spaces, including a kitchen, dining, library, lounge, bar, consult spaces, and gym.
“This is the largest project that Benevolent Living has committed to, with a total of $47 million spent across both Stages 1 and 2,” said Alison.
“This project presented some unique challenges due to the size and scale of the development within an operating aged care community. This project creates its own complex issues in terms of access, maneuverability, separation and ensuring that the construction works do not interrupt or significantly impact the residents,” said Alison.
Works commenced onsite in 2021 with Building A and in September 2022 for Building B. The works for Building B included some demolition and service relocation works prior to the basement works being undertaken and the slab being poured in November 2022.
Stage 1, which includes the residential care building, art gallery, coffee shop, art workshop and cinema/chapel, has been completed, with work on stage two now complete in April of 2024.
With over 35 subcontractors engaged on this project, the daily site attendance averaged around 70, reaching 350 during peak times.
Throughout its two-year construction programme, the project faced numerous challenges, specifically, COVID and working within the grounds and alongside a high-risk health setting, coordinating works and trades within a live facility whilst minimising the impact on the facility operators and its residents, and the flow on effects of COVID within building industry such as significant price rises.
For more information contact Benevolent Living, phone 07 4837 0300, email communications@benevolent.com.au, website www.benevolent.com.au
Raising Standards with Precision and Expertise
Case StudiesEstablished in 2003, Boland Cranes is now a second-generation family-owned and operated business servicing Queensland and northern New South Wales.
Boland Cranes were contracted to supply and install a tower crane for the Benevolent Living site in Rockhampton. Additionally, Boland Cranes supplied a qualified three-man crew, including an operator and two dogmen, for the duration of the project.
The team transported the tower crane on 10 semi-trailers from their Caboolture site in SEQ to Rockhampton in late 2022 and installed, tested and commissioned the crane all within one day. The base of the tower crane was specifically engineered to suit the ground conditions of the site, and the crane was strategically placed on site to ensure it was in the most economical location to best service the entire site.
“Since 2003, we have been providing professional crane hire for projects of 3-storeys and up, and with lifting capacities between 4 tonnes to 24 tonnes,” said Director, Ciaran Boland. “Our crane hire fleet has grown to 20 cranes plus multiple personnel/material hoists, loading bays and lifting equipment. We also provide qualified and trained operators and dogmen to ensure any lifting project is carried out professionally and safely.”
“To provide the safest, fastest and most economical solutions to our clients with smaller projects, we have recently added two spiering mobile cranes, the only two of their kind in Australia, to our fleet. These cranes are perfect for three to 4-storey walk-up projects,” said Ciaran.
To name a few current projects include retirement villages in Ascot and Carindale in Queensland, health care facilities and high-rise residential buildings in Brisbane and an 8-storey high-rise residential building on the Sunshine Coast.
For more information, contact Boland Cranes, 310 Old Toorbul Point Road, Caboolture QLD, phone 0417 619 140, email admin@bolandcranes.com.au, website www.bolandcranes.com.au
Shaping Environments to Fit the Rhythm of Life
Case StudiesOne of Australia’s leading building services engineers, JHA Consulting Engineers were engaged to provide building services design on the Benevolent Living Rhythm of Life Retirement Village project.
“It has been an exciting project to be a part of. We’ve loved the challenge that comes with an operational site that is also regionally situated,” said JHA Director, Tian Song. “It’s an impressive large-scale project that really stands out from other retirement villages.”
“We provided engineering and documentation, including drawings, reports and specifications for the project’s mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, fire, and ESD and Sustainability components during the course of the project,” explained Tian.
“We experienced complex constraints for this site. Works had to be undertaken in stages as the site is still operational, and we had to address upgrading the infrastructure, including power for new buildings, while considering the existing buildings. It meant we needed to be highly detailed and strategic with our design construction sequencing.”
The JHA team began working with the builder and architects during the initial design stages in early June 2020. The team provided support, documentation, and consultancy through to project completion in late 2023, aiding a smooth transition between construction and occupation.
JHA is a boutique, privately owned and multidisciplinary group of building services engineers who provide a comprehensive technical service offering for all facets of the built environment industry. They team pride themselves on their grassroots approach and deep understanding of local requirements.
Current projects include healthcare facilities in Queensland, including the Logan, Princess Alexandra and Prince Charles hospitals. While nationwide projects include correctional centres, private and public education facilities including tertiary universities, and residential and BTR developments.
For more information contact JHA Engineers, Level 1, 100 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006, phone 07 3257 4890, email brisbane@jhaengineers.com.au, website www.jhaservices.com
Crafting a Community of Care Over Two Decades
Case StudiesMcAlister & Burford are the commercial paint, waterproofing and resin flooring specialists trusted with the interior/exterior painting, wallpapering and exterior rendering for the Benevolent Living Retirement Village.
The team have been the site’s painting and rendering specialists of choice for the last 20 years.
“This project is very special to us as we have been lucky enough to have worked on every building of this site throughout the last two decades,” said McAlister & Burford Managing Director, Matt McAlister.
“It really is a marquee project for us. Not only is this a project that is going up within our own community, it’s one of the largest projects to go up in the region in many years.”
Between the two buildings, we have painted over 27,500m2 of walls and ceilings, rendered over 2,800m2 and painted 3,500m2 of cladding. During peak times, McAlister & Burford had up to 15 Trade Painters, Solid Plasterers and Apprentices on-site working on the various elements of the project.
The team began work on the first of two buildings in November 2020 and were faced with the impact of COVID-19 and the particularly heavy restrictions of working within an aged care facility. The team completed work on the building in mid-2021 before beginning six months of painting and rendering on the second building in June 2023.
Servicing central Queensland, the team pride themselves on their expert knowledge, unparalleled experience and dedication to excellence and quality craftsmanship.
McAlister & Burford recently completed a three-year-long project installing epoxy flooring and painting 22 buildings within the Capricorn Correctional Centre.
Current projects include waterproofing 30 live fire buildings in Shoal Water Bay, multiple residential and NDIS apartment buildings and the Fitzroy Community Hospice project.
For more information contact Directors Matt or Dan McAlister, McAlister & Burford, phone 07 4921 3895, email admin@mcab.com.au, website www.mcab.com.au