Sarawai Street Structure

Bordering Newmarket and Parnell, Sarawai’s initially gentle fall line quickly gives way to a steep downward gradient. It comes as no surprise therefore that No. 14 is only one of a handful of terraced housing developments. What most of these sections lack in road frontage, they make up for in depth and height. 14 Sarawai St comprises 6x four level units; each unit has internal access to the basement level underground carpark. Steep excavating a mere 1.5m from the neighbour's 3 storey concrete RC building at No.12, required temporary reinforced concrete propping before the extensive ground works could begin. The steep terrain and resulting architectural design, called for out-of-the-box engineering throughout the project. Challenges included wall bracing to accommodate large open plan spaces and designs for a steel transferring beam under the IT wall and above a multi-step basement with limited height. To resolve these a half steel portal design was used to hide the steel portal leg inside the timber wall frames, whilst a composite section capacity design reduced size of the steel floor beams. EDC delivered smart, proactive and well-considered engineering to ensure this challenging site and architectural design became a reality for the developer.