Greenway Architects

With the significant change going through the delivery of tertiary vocational education through South Australia, the Mining and Engineering Transport Centre (METC) provides significant and nationally leading facilities for the delivery of training outcomes for key industries both within South Australia and the Nation.

Greenway used an innovative approach to the design and reconfiguration of the facilities, in collaboration with Workshop consultants Manufacturing Focus. The consolidation of key educational programs from 3 other campuses to the Regency Park campus increased asset utilisation, reduced costs, and resulted in a much smaller ecological footprint ensuring the Regency Park campus infrastructure is efficiently and effectively utilised.

Approximately 19,000m2 of existing building infrastructure was significantly repurposed to create flexible, shared and interaction workshop, classroom and office facilities. Works included significant replacement or adaptive reuse of existing building structures and finishes, along with complete building services upgrades to increase energy efficiencies. Incorporated into these existing buildings were complex environments like Spray Painting and Vehicle Preparation Booths, very large welding and fabrication workshops, "clean workshops" for activities such as hydraulics and automotive electrical works, supported with IT rich environments and adaptable spaces.

The new built form, required as part of the automotive relocation, presents an opportunity to make a positive statement about the new direction of TAFE SA as it is located in a highly visible location close to the busy intersection of Regency and South Roads. The mass of the new high-bay vehicle workshop, and its specialist workshop and testing spaces and Dynomometers encloses the new secure store and covered compound, with a large graphic on the eastern facade facing South Road, and a glazed south facade engaging the new heavy vehicle workshop facing Regency Road. The concept for the facade pattern is inspired by the large triangulated tyre tread patterns of the heavy vehicles which was then abstracted into the structure of the cladding, forming openings, sunshades and incorporating the large triangular trusses needed for the large spans.

The project was completed on time in July 2014.