Industry-first installation demonstrates versatility of Fielders Boulevard™ cladding
PROJECT SPECIFICS:
Fielders Boulevard™
ROOFING INSTALLERS:
ABS Façade
Short Summary:
Clever architects are finding new and innovative ways to work with the Fielders range. This development in Perth has experimented with Boulevard™ cladding to great success, applying it in a perforated state which has allowed the architects to meet several design and regulatory criteria.
Content:
The $48M Hollywood Consulting Centre in the Perth suburb of Nedlands, is a state-of-the-art cancer care facility that forms part of the Hollywood Private Hospital. The world-class facility brings together a suite of cancer services under the one roof, complementing the existing cancer services available through the hospital.
As well as delivering important patient services and resources, the centre adds further architectural flair to the medical precinct through its contemporary design and aesthetic appeal. A prominent contributor to the Hollywood Consulting Centre’s crisp and modern appearance is the extensive use of Fielders Boulevard™ cladding.
The Boulevard™ express joint wall cladding offers a smooth, streamlined and sophisticated finish and provides architects with the flexibility to be used in either long or short vertical as well as horizontal lengths. At the Hollywood Consulting Centre, Boulevard™ has been applied vertically in shorter runs, complimenting window aperture heights.
Predominantly finished in Surfmist® with Monument® highlight sections, Boulevard™ delivers an impressive visual appeal with the low maintenance qualities that are increasingly being required by owners of civic and institutional buildings.
But as impressive as the use of Boulevard™ has been on the upper levels of the building which house the medical and consulting rooms, it’s the lower areas of the structure that are even more special, in part because it’s the first time Boulevard™ cladding has been used in a perforated specification.
The Hollywood Consulting Centre’s lower floors accommodate 280 car parking bays, providing added patient convenience and easy access to the centre. A requirement for such spaces is to provide adequate ventilation and natural light, and while the easy solution would have been to keep these levels completely open – aside from the necessary safety barriers – the resultant ‘look’ would have significantly detracted from the building’s overall considered architectural appearance.
The solution was to perforate the Boulevard™ cladding which not only delivered the ventilation and light requirements, but brought uniformity to the building’s overall design by seamlessly tying in with the standard Boulevard™ cladding of the upper levels which have the same geometric proportions.
ABS Façade, Australia’s leading façade installation and rectification company, was responsible for the installation of Fielders Boulevard™ at the Hollywood Consulting Centre, with the company’s WA General Manager, Ross Haagman, saying that the Boulevard™ cladding offered the flexibility to meet the project’s architectural intent, while also filling all functional requirements.
“We’ve previously used Fielders Boulevard™ cladding on a number of significant projects but this is the first time to our knowledge that this profile has been perforated,” Ross said.
“Once the pattern was finalised we worked with a local supplier on punching the sheets – aside from a couple of minor hurdles that we had to overcome in the early stages, the process is quite straightforward.
“From an installation perspective, Boulevard™ was also easy to work with; the most time-consuming aspect was modifying the panels for placement around windows and fitting flashings.”
With the facility officially opened in early 2021, Ross said owners Ramsay Health Care were pleased with the outcome.
“The building is certainly meeting the expectations and targets set by the architect and owners, and given Boulevard™ is maintenance-free, it will continue to look sharp for many years to come.”