Alfred Street, Fortitude Valley

Inertia is providing the Structural Engineering for the extensions and renovations to an existing heritage-listed building in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. The design for this project is very unique, as the first two levels of the extension will be connected to the existing structure, while the top 2 levels will extend above and hang over the heritage building. It is also taking an environmentally friendly approach by using Wagners new ‘Earth Friendly Concrete’ product which will significantly reduce CO2 emissions from polluting our environment. In fact, it is the first multi-storey building in the world to use a zero cement geopolymer concrete!

Originally built in the 1920s, the existing building will be used as the new Mettle Headquarters, and we were thrilled to be able to retain the majority of this structure with only some interior renovations. The upper levels of the new structure will be used as two new apartments, with a rooftop terrace above.

The complexity of the site has kept our engineers on their toes for a number of reasons. It is on a very tight site with limited access, and in order to extend the existing basement to create a new carpark, we had to excavate underneath the existing structure, requiring elaborate underpinnings to support the building. Additionally, the soil conditions for the additional structure were very challenging as rock was found at differing levels throughout the site, meaning that each footing had to be redesigned to suit.

The client for this project wanted the aesthetics of the building to be a priority in the design, such as creating exposed concrete ceilings in the upper levels of the new building, and this is evident in the final design. We are working closely with Mettle and Trapp Architects to bring this impressive project to life!