Steel Trees at Dogwood Crossing

Location:	Miles, Queensland
Country:	Australia
Client:	Murilla Shire Council, Queensland
Architect:	Paul Trotter
Fabricator:	Allied Welding, Toowoomba
Products Used:	XLERPLATE® steel

XLERPLATE® steel plays an integral part in one of Australia's most unusual buildings, Dogwood Crossing at Miles.

Functioning as an integrated library, art gallery, social history museum and IT centre for Queensland's Murilla Shire Council, the redeveloped centre features a series of seven huge Bottle Brush 'trees' fabricated from XLERPLATE® steel.

These 7 metre tall steel trees, positioned in the so called Tree Hall, support the main curved steel roof, forming the centre's most impressive feature. They have been designed to reflect several avenues of Bottle trees throughout the small town of Miles.

Architect, Paul Trotter, wanted to incorporate a number of key elements in the redevelopment, including local flora and fauna, the railway line, Dogwood creek, rural fences, and the intersection of two major highways.

Paul says fabricating the trees was the most challenging part of the construction process. He created some sketches of a range of different trees and worked with the structural engineer to determine how they might work in the design as structural, rather than purely sculptural, elements.

The trees were subsequently created by Allied Welding in Toowoomba with components cut at Allied Welding's premises and assembled on site.

Paul was impressed by how flexible XLERPLATE® steel was to work with.

"Steel is a fantastic material," he says. "There are so many things you can do with it, and it only requires pre planning to ensure the fabrication process runs smoothly."