With its striking visual appearance, the re-developed Spencer Street Station, now known as the Southern Cross Station, creates a distinctive new landmark and world class transport facility in Melbourne, Australia.
One of the most spectacular features of the new station is the innovative Kalzip standing seam wave form roof that utilizes passive ventilation technology to extract exhaust fumes from the enclosed space, reducing the station’s energy consumption and contribution to carbon emissions.
The unusual profile of the roof limited the use of conventional materials and after a team from Leighton Contractors took a trip overseas to investigate similar projects in Europe, which included the award winning Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Kalzip was chosen as the ideal solution.
The 400,000 sq. ft. Kalzip aluminum standing seam roof, which scales 75 feet as its highest point, and spans an entire city block, was installed by Leighton Contractors over and around a fully operational transport interchange which every weekday serviced up to 60,000 commuters travelling on 940 suburban and inter city trains as well as connecting bus services. A 600-tonne crawler crane was used to install the pre-fabricated columns, the 54 main spine trusses along the platform length and pre-assembled segments of the roof domes.
The $600 million redevelopment which incorporates the new and improved transport interchange facility, offices, accommodation, a hotel and retail plaza, brings together the best elements of a modern, international-style station, creating a user-friendly facility that will be comfortable, convenient and safe for passengers. The station will become a functional arrival point for international, inter-state, regional and suburban visitors and will be able to comfortably handle the anticipated peak period passengers.
Kalzip aluminum is a durable and low maintenance roof and wall cladding system that provides superior performance and design flexibility for all environments. Kalzip can be formed into numerous shapes such as curved, tapered, twisted and cork screwed and is available in a range of widths, lengths (up to 500 feet) and gauges. To complement any building design, Kalzip is also offered in other materials including zinc, stainless steel, copper and painted finishes.
For this project, Kalzip 65/400 was used. The .040” aluminum material has a stucco embossed finish.
Completed in 2006, the project architect was Grimshaw Jackson Joint Venture, England and Australia. The main contractor was Leighton Contractors, Australia. The roofing installer was Unison, Australia. The client for this project was Victoria State Government in a partnership with the Civic Nexus Consortium, Australia.