The Master Builders team was lucky enough to tour the $100 million Flinders Street Station refurbishment project, which is slated for completion in mid-2018. Project Manager Mathew Pepper from Built, the company engaged to complete the works, talked us through the challenges, highlights and immense satisfaction in undertaking this unique project.

Some projects are once-in-a-lifetime type stuff. When the Victorian Government called for tenders to the Flinders Street Station refurbishment, Project Manager Mathew Pepper recognised the vast opportunities within this one.

“This is the kind of project Built can really take great pride in,” Mr Pepper said.

Mathew feels he and his team are making a great contribution to the city of Melbourne for many generations to come.

“We’ve been entrusted with what the next 100 years looks like for this iconic building, and staying true to its history and heritage. Everything we’ve done is the same way it was done 100 years ago.”

Built has been contracted with restoring the 111-year-old Flinders Street Station administration building to its former glory. The scope of the works includes restoring structural stability, repairing the ageing façade and providing a clean palette for future stages of redevelopment.

The landmark complex is among the buildings with the highest rates of public access in the state; throughout the course of the project its is anticipated there will be 80 million ‘movements’ occurring beneath the $6 million cantilevered scaffolding erected to support the restoration activity. That’s 150,000 public movements a day. The scaffolding is set above Platform 1, which is the busiest platform in the MTM network.

Due to the number of public movements each day, the importance of safety has been especially ‘drummed into’ the team.

“Our team is heavily motivated around safety – it’s been actively driven into them from the start,” Mr Pepper said.

Built has engaged with the Victorian Government, Heritage Victoria, retail tenants, residential building occupiers, community user groups and rail operator MTM.

“The major challenges with the Flinders Street Station restoration project were understanding, quantifying and executing the detailed heritage scope within Melbourne’s busiest rail precinct,” he explained.

“Many stakeholder groups have an interest in the building and precinct in which it sits.”

Aside from the political, social and logistical challenges, the project also has the unusual challenge of requiring an abundance of specialised trades.

“We had to find the right trades with the relevant experience and attitude to expedite the challenging scope within the busy rail environment,” Mr Pepper explained.

“The project had a history of undocumented existing services, many latent conditions, unprecedented interface with the public, hazardous materials, and security and social issues that required strategic management during both day and nightshift works.”

A site crew of 100 specialist heritage tradesmen have been required for the works. Among them were bespoke metal pressers, tuck-pointers and antique window restorers. A metal press was installed on site to allow for efficient manufacture and installation. Paint analysis was undertaken to create the original heritage colour ‘Flinders St’ and a father-and-son team completed the mammoth job of tuck-pointing the entire façade of brick work by hand.

“Our challenge was knitting modern day building codes with heritage values,” Mr Pepper said.

Modern technology used includes building information modelling (BIM), mainly to track services and hazards including electricity, water and asbestos removal. Other hazards of the project included removing bird guano and repairing fire and water damage, the roof having leaked since the mid-1970s.

The clock tower and other domes have all been reinforced to withstand seismic movement.

To preserve the history of the Melbourne icon, existing fixtures and fittings are being collected and stored in archive rooms. Among the items there are old ticket machines, vintage signage and marble columns and sheet music used in the now-dilapidated ballroom.

When Built complete their contract in mid-2018, this grand Melbourne icon will be revealed as it was in the early 1900s – primed and ready for the next 100 years of serving Melbournians.