Engaged By: ARTAS Architects 

Builder: Fairbrother 

Client: Northern Outlet Developments 

Location: Launceston, TAS

Category: Commercial Heritage 

Engineering Services Provided: Structural, Civil, Electrical, Hydraulic, Mechanical

The CH Smith Development is an adaptive reuse project which sought to respect the unique existing built heritage on the site, whilst finding practical and innovative solutions to ensure the viability of the completed project.

The brief requirement was for 5000sqm of open plan office space to be shared by numerous government agencies and respond to government tenancy fit out standards and provide a 5 star Greenstar fit out.

Located on the western edge of the central business district of Launceston, the complex is comprised of multiple buildings on three street frontages. The site represents habitation, commerce, maritime trade and military history in Launceston. The sites colonial and post-colonial history spanning from the 1820’s to today.  The approach of this project was to preserve the existing built fabric and incorporate it into the client brief.

A further key design principle was to use structural innovation to support the existing structures without compromising the historic elements of the building fabric. Extensive consideration was taken to preserve existing construction materials to purposefully expose examples of past building techniques to preserve Launceston’s cultural built heritage. A key element of this success was to create an obvious distinction of old and new materials, design and techniques. The strategic layout of the new project was to provide a link-way between the old and new to create visual separation between the two periods of time.

Adapting the existing buildings on the site from a derelict position into the required 5 star Greenstar office fit-out and retail tenancies has been achieved through a consistent and shared vision from the developer, client, project team and builder.

Service integration to achieve the briefing requirements was challenging for a heritage project, given that the existing buildings were practically in many areas, in ruin, accomplishing this took great determination from the developer and client.