Steel Sustains Alpine Habitat

Location:	Crackenback, Thredbo Valley, New South Wales
Country:	Australia
Architect:	Chapman Constructions
Panel Fabricator:	Austec Panel Systems Australia
Products Used:	COLORBOND® steel ZINCALUME® steel LYSAGHT ROOFTRAK® LYSAGHT® Zed & Cee Purlins and Girts
Awards:	Housing Industry Association's (ACT and Southern NSW Housing Awards); GreenSmart Product of The Year award; HIA Industry Innovation award; COLORBOND® steel Best Use of Steel award; Finalist in the HIA's GreenSmart House of The Year; Finalist in the Townhouse Villa Under 140 Square Metres.

Alpine Habitats, an innovative, award winning eco tourism resort in the Australian Alps, demonstrates the possibilities steel is exploring in modern building development.

Consisting of 18 free standing, two bedroom 'Habitats', complete with a manager's quarters and reception building, the entire project was effectively erected using little more than a jackhammer, screw gun and tin snips.

The steel products used throughout ensured the development was completed in a fraction of the time it would take to build a similar, conventional resort, and that it needed few of the building skills normally required.

Alpine Habitats' awards speak for themselves: the Housing Industry Association's (ACT and Southern NSW Housing Awards) GreenSmart Product of The Year award, an HIA Industry Innovation award and a COLORBOND® steel Best Use of Steel award. Alpine Habitats was also a finalist in two other awards, the HIA's GreenSmart House of The Year, and Townhouse Villa Under 140 Square Metres.

According to Rocky Harvey, director of eco-resort designer and developer Chapman Constructions, the project was designed from the ground up to have minimal environmental impact.

The construction system provides very low environmental impact. Neither a site cut nor foundation excavation was required. Grass on the building pad was scraped off before the mini piles were driven in by jackhammer.

All materials (with the exception of the piles) were delivered to site cut to length, ensuring minimal waste was generated during construction.

The resort's construction system used quality prefabricated composite panels supplied by Sydney company Austec Panel Systems Australia as the main structure for floors, walls and roofs. These are pre finished inside and out with COLORBOND® steel.

"While internal walls and ceilings are finished in COLORBOND® steel, similar structures can be sheeted with plasterboard to satisfy an individual's taste," Mr Harvey said.

Floors are supported on LYSAGHT® Zed purlins, themselves supported on the mini steel piles and posts from OneSteel Galtube. Cladding to the base of the buildings is drystacked local stone that does not sit on a foundation.

The decks are built using LYSAGHT ROOFTRAK®, also supported on mini piles and galvanised steel posts. The handrails are all from OneSteel Galtube, with connections done with fencing products.

Other external materials include ZINCALUME® steel, glass and powder coated aluminium fittings.