Sydney Letter Facility
data, awards, description –
The 1999 redesign of a northwest Sydney mail facility responded to changing times and technologies.
The brief The Sydney Letter Facility redesign was part of Australia Post’s program to increase its letter-handling capacity. The company required a cost-effective building that could operate with minimal energy and readily adapt to change
Creative solutions Allen Jack+Cottier doubled the size of an existing Rydalmere warehouse.This made space for new automated sorting equipment, and allowed all 1,000 staff to work together on one floor. A structural frame of steel columns and beams allowed for swift building of the new 40,000 square metre mail-processing area. Affordable off-the-shelf aluminium shop window glazing was separated at each level by a cantilevered floor slab and horizontal light shelves.
Ecologically sustainable ESD features additional to the warehouse’s adaptive reuse included natural lighting, a temperately cooled atrium and a process-floor displacement air-conditioning system. The project also included a new office building and underground parking.
- Date1999
- ClientAustralia Post
- CostA$40 million
- GFA37,000 m²
