22 | FACILITY OF THE YEAR
2019
SSAA
ANNUAL AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE
WINNER
2019 FACILITY OF THE YEAR Between 150 and 500 units
U-STORE-IT
MT BARKER, ADELAIDE SOUTH AUSTRALIA
T
he U-Store-It Facility in Mt Barker was purposebuilt in 2017 and took just over twelve months to complete. The unit fit-out was broken into two stages to ensure the facility contained the optimal unit mix for the geographic area. Once it was completed, the facility has a fantastic roadside presence as the bright yellow building sits up on the high side of the road for all passing traffic to see. The build was very complex as it was dug into the side of a hill with a rock bottom. The ground level at the rear of the two-story facility is 6.5m and imbedded into the hill, which means that even on the second floor you have to take a few steps up to gain access to the rear pathway. In total, over 26,000 tonnes of soil/rock was removed. The initial dig at the end of summer meant the soil conditions were arid. Council required the soil to be wetted down and stacked to reduce the dust into local businesses. On the other end of the spectrum, winter construction meant mud was being dragged out onto the road, and surrounding streets as the soil was carted away from the premises. Which resulted in all semi-truck/trailer wheels having to be hosed off before leaving the premises and have a sweeper scrub the street every day. The Council were great and agreed to also run their sweeper through the area every morning before operation hours.
INSIDER 111 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2020
Above: To give some perspective of height, you can drive a semi-trailer under the horizontal steel framework and still have a one-metre height clearance. The total height of the panels in this photo were 8.5 metres. Another panel of 3.5 metres was inserted on top.
Another requirement was to redirect stormwater from the neighbours’ property at the rear which is another four metres above the rear egress path, making their ground level over ten metres higher from the front carpark. With winter setting in during the civil works, it was important that heavy rainfalls weren’t going to cause global failure, i.e. the neighbour’s building collapsing into the property.
SECURITY The Mt Barker premises is precast concrete, 200mm thick with N16 steel formwork which is extremely hard to penetrate. Having 3/4 of the building located into the side of a hill acts as a natural security barrier. Two 42" screens highlighting security cameras are located in the foyer to highlight security to the general public and act as a deterrent. All entrance and exits points
www.selfstorage.org.au
