First Roof Wetting held in decades, in celebration of Newman College

Image: Newman College on JCU campus, work in progress.

Recently the TPG Architects team joined with the new principal of Newman College and the Diocese of Cairns representatives, together with Bryant Building Contractors, along with consultants, tradesmen, future staff and parents of the school, to celebrate the project milestone of the roof completion for Newman Catholic College.

This building is one of our latest projects under construction on the JCU campus in Smithfield, Cairns.

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So what is a ‘roof wetting’? Let’s look at the meaning and history of a roof wetting.

Otherwise known as “topping out”,  roof wetting is a celebration by the Client as a way to thank all the workers, tradesmen, consultants, and more, who have participated in delivering the project to the point where it has reached its form, height or roof enclosure.

It is also used to indicate the project reaching the halfway milestone. These days with all the complexities of AC electrical and fit-outs the halfway point is reached at so called “lock up“ when the wall claddings and windows are installed.

Roof wetting often included the placement of a pine branch at apex of the roof to celebrate all the timber (or steel from the ground) that has been harvested to create the structure of the building. The tree also reflected the sense of growth and rooting into place.

The origins come from Scandinavia Vikings and has spread throughout the world.

These wettings used to happen with most significant projects and houses too but disappeared in the late 1980s with increased work place safety. The focus was always on it being a big celebration and thanks. We would definitely enjoy the idea of bringing back the notion of celebrating and paying thanks to those involved and the craftmanship and materials that have gone in to the project.

Image: The celebrations started with a tour of the whole building

The afternoon started with a tour of the college, led by one of our Directors, Roger Mainwood. All the visitors were exposed to the various levels and rooms as well as the design intent behind the layout, quality of the materials and construction processes, as well as visions for future expansion.

Did you know that the Multi-Purpose Hall, innovatively located on the second level of the building and accessible by stairs and a lift, will be one of the safest places in Cairns? Designed as a Level 3 importance building, Newman College has been engineered to withstand cyclones and earthquakes and will be available as a community gathering hub and disaster recovery centre.

Every detail of the building has been carefully considered by specialist teams, from designers and builders to tradesmen and construction specialists. Here are some of the building’s details:

The ultra safe Multi-Purpose Hall and some of the very first students that will grace the rooms of the school from 2022:

The tour was followed by some speeches and a barbeque buffet and drinks. It is safe to say, this wetting was not only one of the first held in decades but also one of the most enjoyable afternoons.

Images: Speeches, food and drinks

Targa Racing Team Sponsored by TPG Architects Won First in Class

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Kennedy Racing for the 2021 Targa Great Barrier Reef event

TPG Architects were part of an exciting car racing event held in Far North Queensland, the Targa Great Barrier Reef 2021. We are proud to have sponsored one of the littlest cars, and they came first in the GT (SPA) series in their 3 cylinder, 1.6 lt, 270 hp and that at 7.6 lt/100. Not bad!

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Kennedy Racing for the 2021 Targa Great Barrier Reef event

Kennedy Racing is a husband and wife team: David Kennedy (driver) and Isabella Kennedy (navigator). They have always loved cars (and going fast in them), so when the Targa event came to Cairns, they jumped at the chance. They uniquely participated in Targa Great Barrier Reef 2019 and 2020 in the Tour Category (non-competitive). David also competed in a number of Bitumen events at Springmount Raceway in Mareeba, walking away with a number of trophies. 

They decided to take their love of driving to the next level to race competitively in the GT Sports Trophy Category in Targa Great Barrier Reef 2021. To do this, they bought a rally car, fitted it with a roll cage, race seats, and harnesses and a number of performance modifications. 

With the support of their sponsors, they competed in the 2021 Targa Great Barrier Reef event. Despite some technical issues with the car that plagued them on Day 1, they walked away with a 1st on Bamboo Creek stage, 2nd on Moregatta stage, 3rd on the Sluice Creek and Palmerstone 2 stages, and 4th on Mareeba, Evelyn, Palmerstone 1, and Mungalli stages. They were also presented with the award for being 1st in their class (ST-A).

“We had such a great time competing in Targa, and it is safe to say that we are now hooked. Our next challenge is competing in the 30th Anniversary Targa Tasmania 2022. It is expected that more than 400 entries across TARGA’s range of classes will see TARGA Tasmania 30 feature the largest motorsport competition field in the world. We could not be more excited to compete again.” - The Kennedys

We, at TPG Architects, feel honoured to have played a little part in their racing journey and wish them only success and enjoyment in this endeavour going forward.

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Kennedy Racing for the 2021 Targa Great Barrier Reef event

Kennedy Racing Results Table

TPG Staff with TPG Architects logo proudly displayed on the littlest Kennedy Racing Car

Roger Sketching for a Client

Ever wondered how an architect prepares for a client meeting? Lots of sketching is involved. In this case one of our main architects and directors, Roger Mainwood, creates such a “quick” sketch from start to finish. We wish! Actually there is pile of butter paper sketches resolving each of the relationship of spaces drawn out of several days of client discussions, site visits, climatic, opportunities and constraints analysis, view lines informing where a hierarchy of desire, passion, wishes, scope, function, budget vs cost are massaged to draw the project out in a sketch layout.

These first sketches then became a trigger for detailed discussions helping to explore and test that hierarchy, bringing the project together.

Roger Mainwood creating a quick sketch for a client meeting

Winner of the Master Plan Award by the Minister's Award for Urban Design 2017-2021

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Roger and Team receiving the Master Plan Award

Ravenshoe School

Malanda Design Workshop

Ravenshoe Team

Malanda Show Presentation

Ingham Design Workshop

We are thrilled to announce that Roger Mainwood from TPG Architects has recently received the MASTER PLAN Award for excellence in Queensland Urban Design.

The Minister’s Award for Urban Design has as its sole purpose the identification and celebration of excellent design work across Queensland. It was established five years ago and has supported and acknowledged design work by professional contributors all over the state during this time. This year alone there were 24 nominations for the Urban Design Awards and included projects as influential as shaping cities through to small, neighbourhood-level ones. What they all had in common were two things. Firstly, a uniform commitment to creating great design within a man-made environment and secondly, an encouragement for communities to be connected and play an active role within it. This is especially important in a post-COVID world.

ABOUT the MASTER PLAN Awards

The MASTER PLAN Award was given to the Project entitled “Tropical Design Studio: Strategic Concept Masterplans in Northern Queensland Country Town”, for a location encompassing the Tablelands Regional Council, the Cassowary Coast Regional Council as well as the Hinchinbrook Shire Council. The winning team constitutes the Tropical Urbanism and Design Lab (TUD Lab) at James Cook University (JCU) in cooperation with TPG Architects, CA Architects as well as LA3 Landscape Architecture.

The Jury specifically congratulated the team for their development and methodological approach to strategic concept masterplans that embodies a level of excellence in the education, mentoring and practice of urban design in northern Queensland country towns. Not only do these plans encourage great practice at a community level but also at an individual and industry level.

Undoubtedly, this project is invaluable in Queensland’s future of a novel and authentic approach to urban design that simultaneously delivers strategic, yet affordable advice whilst also building community and enlarges industry capacity.

Furthermore, the Jury recognized this forward-looking master planning process as offering strategic frameworks for each of the country towns as well as their broad view in contributing solutions and improvements of each town’s unique issues spanning short, medium and long terms. The Jury values the quality of each town and community together with the limited opportunities in those communities to build economic resilience. The expectation of this project is that the team’s modus operandi will assist with building community capacity and resilience.

We feel greatly honoured to be part of this project and team and consider it a great responsibility to support the vision of Queensland Urban Design. We recognize that exceptional urban design leads to an improvement in the economy with a resultant enhancement in standards of living. Spaces that are created for people to be enthusiastic about living and working there, spaces where they will feel safe, and have proper access to various facilities and opportunities. We, as well as the Jury, eagerly anticipate the transition of these exciting country town visions into their desired outcomes in the years to follow.

Construction begins!

Left to right:
Dan Fragg - Cairns Manager, Bryant Building Contractors
Lloyd Matheson - Cairns Catholic Education Services Building and Project Manager
Shane Watson – Manager of Project Services for the Catholic Diocese of Cairns
Roger Mainwood – Director, TPG Architects

Stage one of Catholic Newman College is underway after a start-up meeting with TPG Architects, Bryant Contractors and key representatives from Cairns Catholic Education’s planning team.

The four-level building of about 7000 sqm represents half of the final college footprint and will contain five design technology classrooms, four science lab classrooms, a library, administration area and an indoor PE court.

Year 7 enrolments for the 2022 opening are steadily building, with a school admissions office to take enrolments will open at Smithfield Shopping Centre on February 17. According to Cairns Catholic Education Services spokeswoman Dr Andrea O’Brien, the prospect of state-of-the-art facilities to deliver a design focused curriculum, along with the college’s colocation within JCU is stirring up much interest.  “We had projected a total of about 750 students by 2027, but expressions of interest suggest we will exceed those figures” Dr O’Brien said.

It will be a busy year for TPG Architects who will project manage phase 1 due for opening in 2022.

Palm Cove Residence in the News

Palm Cove Residence with Cape Tribulation in the distance.
Photo source: McGrath Real Estate https://www.mcgrath.com.au/9-colonel-cummings-drive-palm-cove-qld-4879-for-sale-449103

A waterfront residence designed by TPG Architects came second in the Courier Mail’s list of ‘Top 50 Houses in Queensland’ last weekend. This luxurious residence in Palm Cove is a cantilevered design over a steep drop, taking advantage of stunning views of the Coral Sea. It’s no wonder the house came out on top, considering Cape Tribulation and Double Island are visible whilst doing laps in the infinity pool.

Read the story here.

Palm Cove Residence - lounge & infinity pool.

Source: Courier Mail / McGrath Real Estate

A New Educational Partnership for Cairns

With funding now approved for the next phase, TPG Architects are excited to announce Newman Catholic College is to proceed to tender documentation. The school will be Australia’s first Catholic secondary college co-located within a university campus.  This tropical take on a contemporary vertical college will emerge alongside JCU from the Captain Cook Highway, ready for its first cohort of secondary students in 2022.

The College is named after the 19th century Saint John Henry Newman, canonised by Pope Francis in 2019. Newman spent half of his life as an Anglican priest and evangelical academic at Oxford University before converting to Catholicism. A prolific and influential writer who advocated for rational enquiry and pursuing objective truth, Newman was the author of The Idea of a University, a philosophical work endorsing a respectful relationship between a university and a church.

Newman Catholic College’s identity will embrace a Franciscan charism, while respecting its location within a secular tertiary institution. St Francis of Assisi was a ‘pioneering ecologist’ some 800 years ago, loved for his openheartedness and reverence for nature.

Tender for stage one will commence at the end of 2020 with construction commencing in 2021, and will see the development of administration, library, indoor multipurpose hall, science rooms and five state-of-the art design technology labs. Breezy undercroft spaces and pedestrian links to the University and rainforest fringed Atika Creek nearby will create a pleasant and connected school campus with ample opportunities for mutual learning and sharing of resources between the institutions. With its focus on design thinking and quick uptake of interest for teaching positions already evident, Newman Catholic College is well placed to emerge as an incubator of tropical innovation in the region.  

Bulmba-ja awarded Building of the Year

It’s been a big few weeks for TPG Architects. We are all back in the office…with social distancing in place and it started with ‘Zooming’ in to the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) Regional Awards in early May when we received the Regional Commendation and the Eddie Oribin Award for Building of the Year.

“Delight and generosity abound in Bulmba-ja.”

-   AIA Regional Jury

“Bulmba-ja thoughtfully reimagines an important Cairns contemporary art space. A collaborative design process brought Indigenous perspectives to the fore, and has repositioned the site’s narrative as a culturally responsive  place. A new LED art screen façade mediates the tropical climate and sits comfortably alongside a palimpsest of original fabric, celebrating the building’s many lives. The much loved ‘cheese grater’ screen has been repurposed to form a green backdrop to a landscaped public verandah space and yarning circle at street level.”

In addition, our project Cairns Hockey Park Stadium gained an honourable mention.

With these achievements under our collective belt, we look forward to imbibing more champagne by year’s end!

Bulmba-ja has been unveiled in Cairns.

“The opening night performances highlighted the unique, diverse stories and extraordinary talents of Far North Queensland artists including those who call Bulmba-ja home.”

TPG Architects are excited to announce this landmark cultural community asset has been unveiled in Cairns.

The Welcome Day on 29 February included performances and presentations by Henrietta Marrie, NorthSite Contemporary Arts (formerly KickArts), Yirrganydji Dancers and many others, showcasing the centre’s focus on visitor engagement with the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island artists and organisations.

We hope all those travelling down Abbott Street enjoy the dynamic digital screen, painting the facade in various moods night and day through the featured Indigenous artwork it showcases. The centre is designed to invite public interaction with its shady colonnades, streetfront cafe and inspiring new retail space for NorthSite leading to the galleries within. Bulmba-ja (in both Yidinji and Yirrganjdji meaning ‘home’ ) is also a hive of activity on the upper level where the arts pracitioners weave their magic. Visit the following link for more pics of the night.