Health translation hub specialist wind engineering advice

Challenge

A large New South Wales Health Translation Hub building is being designed and developed to stand as an exemplar of sustainability achievement and accommodate new health related education, research and administration facilities.

The 15 storey building comprises a double-height ground floor, a podium form and a tower form. The massing strategy seeks to maximise the provision of a public plaza and public open space, which will unite the Precinct.

Solution

SLR provided a range of wind engineering services to prepare various reports to assist on the project. This included Cladding Pressure Wind Tunnel Testing to assist with accurately determining the magnitude and distribution of peak pressures. Environmental Wind Tunnel Testing was also provided to test windbreak concepts and propose cost saving measures on proposed mitigation options, ensuring compliance with Standard Development Application Conditions.

Our team conducted a Wind Generated Noise study, aimed at assessing potential wind-induced noise to include façade protrusions. Recommendations were then provided to mitigate adverse wind conditions, where possible.

In addition, our team completed a Fume Impact Assessment aimed at preventing the impact of polluted air from the helicopter entering the building. The assessment involved performing numerical analysis incorporating Computational Fluid Dynamic to quantitatively predict the levels of wind intensity throughout the site.

Impact

The expert advice provided by SLR assisted the client to improve wind and thermal comfort inside the building and will reduce the impact of helicopter fume emissions on the air intakes to the building.