TheClayfieldbyAveo

Hutchinson Builders was awarded the new residential development by Aveo Group, situated within the existing Aveo Clayfield Seniors Village located at 469 Sandgate Road, Clayfield. The current development is located within functioning premises, and is situated on the Southern Boundary of two existing seniors-living apartment towers and associated facilities.

The site was formally school grounds, and before this, two privately owned residences were located on the land. The houses and school buildings are largely intact and are heritage listed. Two of these heritage buildings, O’Driscoll and Whytecliffe, have been restored and are currently used for communal use within the village. The other heritage building, Highlands House, is yet to be restored and is currently being negotiated with Aveo as a possible variation to the base-build works. The project consisted of the construction of 66 seniors-living apartments spread across buildings 5 and 6, 85 basement car parks and 270sqm of communal space. The topography of this portion of the site falls away to the south with 180 degree views of Brisbane city and the river.

The tower was built over the podium parking level which houses the 85 car spaces and is veneered to the south by apartments. This level also houses the entry into the buildings, through a large, light-filled entry space overlooking an atrium area framing the views to the south and the city. From here one can access the apartments on each wing, being Molloy (Building 5) to the west and Selwood (Building 6) to the east. The landscape around the building was created using built up planters on the podium deck and utilising deep soil areas around the edges of the building for large vegetation. The equitable movement of the residents has been well considered with shallow ramps allowing easy access for residents around the site.

The roofing to the two buildings was modified to reflect the roofing designs found elsewhere on the site. Building 6 features hipped, metal roofing whilst Building 5 has hipped, arched roofing over the feature balconies plus a parapet and flat roof to allow views over the building from Brookes Building on levels 4 and 5. The building façades were designed to fit in with the existing building to the north, known as Brookes, through the use of arches and simple vertical forms to highlight the balconies.

The scale of the building to the south has been reduced with the inclusion of horizontal shadow and banding lines to the lower levels of the façade. The façades to the north, east and west have been further broken up with the addition of horizontal sun hoods providing much needed relief from the sun.

The façade also steps in and out and changes in height to the north and south, which assists in breaking up the façade and adding variation to the form to create a well-balanced, interesting façade that blends in with the surrounding buildings.