Darlinghurst Road, DARLINGHURST
A beautiful building in a vibrant and buzzing part of Sydney. The facades needed refurbishment to bring the building back to the original splendour. The existing seven layers of external painting had to be removed to the base rendered surface before a protective coating could be applied. The original windows also needed a lot of attention and were restored to their original condition. All external plumbing pipework within the lightwell was replaced. The top two units’ balconies had to be demolished and rebuilt including new balustrading to match the existing ones. The project commenced in early 2011 and was completed on August 2012.
Darlinghurst Road Facade
The 3 facades on Darlinghurst Road, White Lane and Hardie Street, presented a large amount of pealing paint, bulging render and discolouration of the coating. The street awning had to be replaced and the top floor units balcony had extensive concrete deterioration.
Stripping of the existing coating
The existing contaminated painting had to be removed using a PEEL-AWAY system. All coatings had to be removed down to the substrate rendered surface. The substrate had to be neutralized before a textured coating could be applied prior to painting. The contaminated water had to be collected and placed into large drums before disposing in accordance to EPA requirements.
Concrete and rendering repairs
The building was constructed with substantial concrete beams and columns. Several areas on all 3 facades had to be treated for concrete spalling and drummy render. The light well originally was fitted with a fire escape stairs but later removed. All repairs had to be measured and tabulated with respective photos.
Access over Darlinghurst Road
The all 3 facades had to be accessed by way of a steel scaffolding with shade cloth to contain all debris. The scaffolding had to be constructed over a class B Hoarding. On White lane the hoarding had to span the whole width to allow traffic and pedestrian flow.
The remaining facades
The remaining two facades had very much the same problem as the front facade. The lightwell located on White lane was difficult to access due to gas water heating equipment located at the bottom of the lightwell as well as storage for rubbish bins. All plumbing pipework was renewed within the lightwell.
Completed work
The completed work on the facade bought the building back to its original glory. The single colour had to be maintained due to requirements, however some different tone of colours may have accentuated the details of the facade.