South-Eastern Growth Corridor
The Pakenham Emergency Services Precinct is a new complex that houses the following:
• a 24 hour Police Station
• a ’type 3B’ CFA
• a local SES facility.
The Project is located a green field site on the western edge of the Pakenham township, 55 km southeast of central Melbourne. The site is located next to the Delfin ’Lakeside’ mixed-use development.
In the early design phases, Billard Leece Partnership completed a Masterplan for the co-location of Emergency Services and Justice facilities. The first stage to be constructed is this Emergency Services facility with possible future stages consisting of a Custody Facility and a Magistrates Court Complex. The design principle driving the Masterplan is the division of all on-site circulation paths. This is evident in the site layout, with a Public ‘front yard’ and Private ‘backyard’ to the complex.
In the ultimate realisation of the Masterplan, all buildings will face the Princes Highway in a ‘U’ configuration with the Public entries clearly visible. In time this will be the civic face of the new Pakenham Justice/Emergency Services Precinct. The layout of the Police, CFA and SES buildings is informed by vehicle circulation and the ability to share facilities as a requirement of the State Government's co-location policy for Emergency Services facilities. This co-location policy is reinforced through building design that creates a uniform appearance on the highway frontage through use of a fine metal colonnade and extruded triangular double height spaces in the Public entries.
To aid natural light penetration into the deep floor plan, office areas generally face north; courtyards and skylights are utilised throughout. Materials for the project were selected to provide a complimentary palette of varying textures and colours that express Pakenham’s outer suburban location.
The project has the following environmental initiatives that save energy and water consumption:
• the use of a centralised gas-fired mechanical plant
• the incorporation of a sub-floor thermal labyrinth, to pre-cool and heat air for the fan coil units located in the ceiling space
• the use of underground water tanks for the collection and re-use of rain water on site
• the use of swale drains to distribute surface water run off and to irrigate the soft landscaping.
Completed 2006
