St Barnabas Church, Sydney

INSTALLER: Honestone – www.honestone.com.au/
BUILDER: Buildcorp – www.buildcorp.com.au
ARCHITECT: FJMT Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp – www.fjmt.com.au
PROJECT ADDRESS: Cr. Mountain Street and Broadway, Ultimo

On the morning of May 10th 2006, residents at Broadway in Ultimo were in shock as they stood hopelessly watching a huge fire destroy their famous St Barnabas Church or Barneys as they better knew it. As sixty fire fighters battled the blaze, nothing could be done to save the 150 year old building. Hours later, the disaster was too big to bear by the Church Community, who were immediately determined to rebuild their home Church.

It was a huge challenge for the appointed architect to come up with a design concept for the new St Barnabas Church that would require architecture above and beyond normal trends. The final concept featured a modern design with distinguished use of space and natural light.

“Architecture is not only about accommodating functions and issues of utility; it is also about embodying human values and aspirations. St Barnabas Church is an inspirational project considering its spiritual and historical background. So it was very important for us to reflect the immaterial quality and symbolic attributes of the project and this is where we envisaged the use of PANDOMO® products on the floor and walls in the main auditorium, lower level entrance and lift lobby.” Commented the team of architects from FJMT Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp.

PANDOMO by ARDEX was always the stand out option to achieve the desired outcome.

Working closely with FJMT Architects, Buildcorp and the PANDOMO® installer Honestone, ARDEX Australia recommended a well engineered system designed specifically to solve the many complex situations which appeared during the construction stage. The concrete slab was installed with a setdown of around 50mm, which caused potential issues in relation to the height of the finished floor. ARDEX recommended the use of ARDEX A 38 advanced rapid cure cement screed to fill the gap created by the setdown; ready to be primed and finished with 6mm of PANDOMO® FloorPlus.

Another challenge was the application of the curved Concrete walls using a “shotcrete” spray method. The curved wall had a very rough surface which required smoothing prior to the application of PANDOMO® Wall. ARDEX A 45 patching and repair mortar was used to fill-in surface imperfections.

The colour matching between PANDOMO® FloorPlus and Wall was also an interesting experience. Many colour samples were produced and even site samples were installed in order to assist the Architect to approve the final colour concept.
After the long wait and overcoming many obstacles during the construction process, the project was completed and handed over to the Church Community. PANDOMO® products comprising a total of 600sqm of PANDOMO® FloorPlus and 280sqm of PANDOMO® Wall were applied in the main foyer at the lower level and in the main auditorium at the upper level including the lifts lobby and the feature curved walls. PANDOMO® FloorPlus achieved an R10 slip rating.

The project won 1st place in the American Society of Concrete Contractors cement overlay section and 2nd place in the vertical application section for an international project at the World of Concrete awards in Las Vegas.