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No Compromise at Essendon

The recently complete Aquatic Centre at the Essendon Recreation Reserve is an excellent example of the principle of asset maintenance and will provide its owners, Essendon Football Club, with a steel structure which will be maintenance free for decades.

Neil Evans, Principal of the Victorian firm Evans and McKernan, architects for the project, visited a number of enclosed municipal swimming complexes and noted that in cases where structural steelwork was protected by paint coatings, corrosion was a major problem requiring regular and costly repainting programs.

In spite of budget constraints, Neil made the decision that as far as corrosion protection was concerned, no compromise would be made and wherever possible, all steelwork was hot-dip galvanized.

An interesting design feature of the Centre is the use of 16.5m Cellform castellated beams as the major roof support trusses, with the aim not only of producing a lighter structure, but also providing an open and visually pleasing effect. The beams, manufactured by National Engineering Pty Ltd, In Young, New South Wales, take advantage of the latest advances in computer numeric controlled manufacturing capability, with cutting profiles able to be customised to suit both engineering and architectural requirements.
The beams are typically lighter and deeper than conventional rolled sections, resulting in material cost savings particularly in large beams where beam deflection is critical to the design.

Apart from providing corrosion protection in a swimming pool environment, the natural colour of the galvanized coating was used as the architectural finish. An added benefit of using hot dip galvanizing was that no on-site repair of the coating was required after erection.