Albert Park Pit Building displacement works are shaping up

Beyond the lights of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, for most of the year the Albert Park Pit Building is a popular community indoor sporting hub.

It’s also the home of 3 historic local sporting clubs: Power House Rugby Union Football Club, Middle Park Football Club and South Melbourne Women’s Football Club.

With demolition of the pit building underway, these 3 clubs need a home for the next 2 years and that is where SHAPE comes in.

Zarko Milakovic is SHAPE’s General Manager – Modular (Vic) based in Kinglake, one of 2 modular manufacturing facilities the company manages across Australia. He says SHAPE has continued to grow over the past 36 years to what it is today.

‘Over time, it's grown into a national fit out and construction business, delivering projects across our sectors, commercial workspaces, health, education, retail, hospitality, public infrastructure, and more.

‘Our core focus started in fit-outs and refurbishments, and that's still a big part of what we do today.’

More recently SHAPE has expanded their capabilities through their modular construction division Modular by SHAPE. The majority of construction happens at their Kinglake facility before being transported to the site for installation, improving build quality, reducing disruption on site and significantly shortening construction timeframes.

‘SHAPE saw an opportunity in the market where they could bring the high-quality systems, processes and customer relationships to the modular market.

‘We had completed modular projects in the past with other partners in the industry and saw a gap where we could provide benefit.’

For the Albert Park Pit Building redevelopment, this modular approach made SHAPE the ideal candidate to deliver displacement facilities for the building’s tenant clubs.

In April, South Melbourne Women’s and Middle Park will see finalised displacement facilities on site at Albert Park, while Power House will have a new permanent facility.

Zarko says they’ve worked very closely with the 3 clubs to ensure they received exactly what is needed.

‘We start by interpreting the client's project requirements and putting forward a concept that we think will work, then invite stakeholder feedback.

‘That might mean 3, 4 or 5 design iterations until the clubs and stakeholders are happy with the final outcome.’

This even extended to SHAPE becoming an official sponsor of Power House and having members from the club come and visit to inspect construction at SHAPE’s Kinglake manufacturing facility. Zarko says it’s something they always encourage.

‘We love our clients coming up to the facility and seeing their spaces.

‘Those meetings and those catch-ups in our facility are key to keep your stakeholders involved through the process, they're a part of the journey with you.’

SHAPE are experienced producers of sporting clubrooms with it making up around 1/3 of Modular by SHAPE’s output, meaning they were ready for any curly requests from the clubs.

‘Power House in particular needed a very robust facility, and we worked with the club to understand how they're going to be using the space and made sure the building specifications suit the physical demands of rugby.’ Zarko said.

The vast majority of the construction has been completed in Kinglake, where around 40% of SHAPE’s staff live locally. Zarko says the off-site construction means far less disruption to Albert Park.

‘We basically have large sections of the building that are manufactured in our Kinglake facility.

‘The advantage is that most of the building works are already completed before it arrives on site. So, the installation happens a lot quicker when we do get there, and we're adding on our finishing touches.’

With those finishing touches almost ready, it’s going to be an exciting completion and Zarko can’t wait to be there alongside his team to celebrate.

‘With every modular project that we deliver, we’re contributing to spaces like schools or community facilities where the end users really see this space come from nothing.’

The Albert Park Pit Building is being redeveloped to meet the contemporary requirements of hosting the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix and to maximise its use by the community throughout the rest of the year.

For further information on the project, visit Albert Park Pit Building on the Development Victoria website.