The City of Belmont’s new $38 million multi-purpose civic centre opened its doors earlier this week, the city’s largest project to date.
The City of Belmont’s new $38 million multi-purpose civic centre opened its doors earlier this week, the city’s largest project to date.
The $38 million four-storey centre, located across the road from Belmont Forum, features a recording studio, museum, seniors’ hub, library and commercial space for community service organisations.
“This is the largest construction project the City of Belmont has undertaken to date in its history and it really demonstrates Council’s commitment to its community,” City of Belmont chief executive John Christie said.
“It has come about with the extraordinary good planning to create this centrally located building which includes Ruth Faulkner Library, Belmont Museum, a seniors hub and more - all together within the same footprint.
“This architecturally striking building is a vision created by Bollig Design Group and delivered by PACT Construction who successfully overcame a number of challenges during the construction phase.”
Part of those challenges included following a complex brief, which included protecting the mature trees on site.
PACT Construction general manager Jason Thomson said the aluminium Kingspan shingles on the building’s façade – all slanted at different angles around the building - were a first for the Western Australian construction industry, imported from Europe and installed by a specialist.
Mr Tomson said each shingle had to be set out and fixed individually, which made the installation of the 1,000 shingles a very time-consuming process - on average, only 15 tiles could be fixed in any one day.
Additionally, a mix of in-situ beams, post-tension beams, pre-tension slabs and a polished concrete topping were used for the build, resulting in the standard 10-day process with most traditional suspended slabs, taking 28 days on average, he said.
City of Belmont Mayor Phil Marks said Belmont Hub had been many years in the making, following extensive advocacy and lobbying for funding.
Belmont Hub was partially funded by the federal government with a $9.6 million federal grant.
The city received an additional $540,000 federal grant for security systems and infrastructure, as well as a $196,736 grant for 79 CCTV cameras.
Lotterywest also contributed $3.8 million for the community service providers’ office space.
The museum at Belmont Hub.
“Belmont Hub is a building designed by the community for the community,” Mr Marks said.
“The building achieved a Five-Star Green Star Design Review, and is currently working towards achieving a Six-Star Green Star As-Built certification.
“With its numerous active and passive design elements this will ensure this is a cost effective building to maintain.”
