Striking new central hub features cantilever ends

This new construction for Sydney's Ravenswood School for Girls features 16m long cantilever ends, presenting inherent challenges for the engineering team. The building functions as a central hub that provides circulation and links to different levels of older existing school buildings - addressing a site accessibility issue that has been a longstanding challenge for the school.

TTW engineers provided a unique solution to the cantilever challenges involving pretension of steel trusses to balance the self-weight of the structure. Deflection at the tip of the cantilevers was controlled by hold down ties that restricted the slabs and trusses. The project also features the use of Rodeca Panels in the Façade - the first time this material has been used in a major non-industrial building in Australia.

The modern design of this 4-storey building fits within a campus of mixed structures and required close collaboration between architect, engineer, and contractor to execute a finished result that has become award-winning.

Client: Ravenswood School

Architect: BVN

Builder: Cockram Construction

Value: $18M

Completion: 2012

Sector: School & Colleges

Services: Structural, Civil, Facade

Awards

  • 2013 Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award
  • 2012 Australian Interior Design Award – Interior Design Impact
  • 2012 Think Brick – Horbury Hunt Commercial Award
  • 2012 RAIA Public Building Award
  • 2012 MBA – NSW – Private School Construction Award
  • 2012 AIA – Sir John Sulman Medal for Public Architecture
  • 2012 ASI – NSW/ACT – High Commendation in Buildings – Large Project Steel Design