McNab, one of Queensland’s largest privately-owned companies, has taken home a coveted national award for the landmark Sunshine Coast City Hall project at the Master Builders National Excellence in Building and Construction Awards hosted at Crown Towers in Perth last night.
SC City Hall Credit Willem-Dirk du Toit. Image Credit: McNab
After winning the Queensland Project of the Year for its work on Sunshine Coast Council’s City Hall located in the Maroochydore CBD, the construction company was awarded the National Commercial/Industrial Construction Award ($50 M to $100 M) at yesterday’s national awards ceremony.
McNab Founder and Managing Director Michael McNab said he was immensely proud of the team honoured with this prestigious national award, presented annually in recognition of the country's best builders in housing and construction.
“Sunshine Coast City Hall has established a new benchmark in innovation and sustainability for commercial developments – not only across the Sunshine Coast but throughout Queensland and Australia at large,” said Mr McNab.
“The unique building design meant each floor was configured differently so our team and expert partners worked together to create everything onsite, resulting in exceptional quality that you have to see in person to truly appreciate.
“To meet the Council’s requirements for 5 Star Green Star and NABERS accreditation required innovative building solutions, procurement and assembling a highly skilled delivery team.
“In addition to this, when it came to the 2,000-plus workers who contributed to this project, we heavily targeted local market engagement and procurement. McNab's local presence, valued long-term partnerships and ongoing engagement with the Sunshine Coast community was incredibly beneficial in the delivery of this project.”
Sunshine Coast City Hall was designed by award-winning Cottee Parker Architects with the iconic façade of the building inspired by the forms and colours of the Glass House Mountains, one of the most defining natural landmarks of the Sunshine Coast region.
The building is among the earliest projects to be delivered as part of the Sunshine Coast Council, Walker Corporation and SunCentral Maroochydore Pty Ltd’s historic agreement to deliver Australia’s first ‘greenfield’ CBD in Maroochydore over the next 15 to 20 years.
“Sunshine Coast City Hall forms part of the collective vision to create a first-of-its-kind regional civic, business and commercial heart and McNab is delighted to be part of this promising future for the Sunshine Coast,” Mr McNab said.
Sunshine Coast Council Mayor Mark Jamieson said that he took great pride in the awards that City Hall and its builder had received.
Mayor Jamieson said the outstanding building had been described as ‘a modern masterpiece’ and ‘world-class civic headquarters’.
“Of course, so much work has gone into the design and construction of what is an impressive and fitting asset for the people of the Sunshine Coast,” Mayor Jamieson said.
“City Hall advances our region’s vision of sustainability with a five-star green rating, pays homage to the region’s natural assets and features a clever and forward-thinking internal layout that embraces new ways of working.
“The building was also designed with accessibility in mind. The community can seamlessly access the Council Chamber, located on Level 1, where they can see local government in action.
“A venue on Sunshine Coast City Hall’s top floor, appropriately named Altitude Nine, also is for the people and offers views from the hinterland to the coastline.
“We congratulate McNab on their achievements and this latest award that again puts our City Hall, Maroochydore City Centre and the Sunshine Coast in the spotlight as a leader in innovation.”
Highlights of the Sunshine Coast City Hall project include installation of a fully automated Building Management System to help maximise the use of the building and reduce energy and water consumption, as well as a water recycling irrigation system collecting rainfall from the roof in a 100,000L rainwater tank that, once filtered using UV treatment, is used to flush toilets, urinals and feed thousands of native plants, shrubs and trees, internally and on the façade of the building.
The building’s highly efficient façade system also helps drive overall energy expenditure with a combination of external shading, energy efficient glazing and external solar shading and insulation having the potential to reduce the building’s CO2 emissions by 366.1 tCO2e per annum.
McNab Construction Manager, Luke Martin said one of the City Hall’s most impressive features is the bespoke theatre-style Council Chambers, with a tiered ceiling and timber wall cladding in natural blackbutt, procured and expertly installed by hand to meet the architect and client’s vision for the space.
“The Council Chambers is at the heart of the City Hall and was the most complicated space in the building, taking more than 4.5 months to construct. We are incredibly proud of the outcome and this award is definitely thanks to the tireless work of many dedicated contributors who made this project a reality,” Mr Martin said.
Sunshine Coast Council recently launched Altitude Nine, the event space on the ninth floor of the building, which will be used for a wide range of council-hosted and sponsored events, citizenship ceremonies community engagement workshops and community and business events.