Award-winning facility combines multipurpose hall over two internal swimming pools

The construction of a new Great Hall and Aquatic Centre at Knox Grammar School in Sydney produced a state-of-the-art multipurpose facility that has received wide acclaim, including being honoured with the Master Builders Association Construction Award.

Catering for 2500 people, the facility combines a large multipurpose hall that sits over two internal swimming pools of 50m and 17m lengths. The 39m span steel roof trusses cover a hall area that can be divided up into three separate basketball courts. The concrete floor of the hall is supported on a series of 26m span post tensioned beams.

The success of the project required careful checking of vibrations and structure response for the hall floor and feature entry stair. TTW carried out vibration analysis of the floor slab during design, and also tested on site after construction to confirm the dynamic performance of the structure was within acceptable limits. Half of the 50m pool was supported on steel screw piles that also needed to be electrically isolated from the pool structure due to the nearby rail line and stray currents.

Client: Knox Grammar

Architect: Jones Sonter

Value: $35M

Completion: 2011

Sector: School & Colleges, Sports & Leisure

Services: Timber, Structural, Civil

Awards

  • Master Builders Australia – National Education Facility Award
  • Master Builders Association – Construction $20M and over
  • Timber Awards, Interior Fitout – Commercial Finalist