Wearne Aged Care Redevelopment

The Wearne Aged Care Redevelopment, currently in the design phase, is in a prime coastal location in Cottesloe. The high-end resort style project will consist of 76 independent living units and 129 residential aged care rooms (including dementia services), as well as associated amenities, cafe and allied health services. The staged delivery of the project caters for staged decant and demolition of a portion of the existing facility on the site.

Pritchard Francis have been engaged by Total Project Management to undertake the structural and civil engineering over the full design and construction programme. A key consideration in the design and construction of the facility is the retention of the heritage-listed components of the Wearne Hostel, particularly Wearne House – which was originally constructed starting in 1897 for use by the Ministering Children’s League, a worldwide organisation founded by the Countess of Meath in England. The retention of this and the connection of the new-to-existing construction has been a key driver for the structural and civil solutions sought throughout design. An extended level of site involvement will be undertaken by Pritchard Francis throughout the build, to lower the risk of damage to the fragile structures during the works.

With the underlying limestone within close proximity to the natural surface, stormwater detention and infiltration was a key design consideration during the schematic design. Ultimately, a pit and pipe network to collect and redirect all stormwater from the proposed structures to the south western corner of the site was undertaken, where sufficient clearance to the underlying limestone could be achieved. A single eco-aid stormwater tank was implemented to contain the 100-year storm event, maximising infiltration whilst minimising the detention volume. With the ground flood carved into the natural limestone, subsoil drainage networks were implemented to all retaining walls to ensure that subsurface stream which may act along the limestone surface following a rainfall event could be captured and appopriately redirected.