A former Tramway Depot, this piece of Sydney’s history is located in Rozelle and was perfect for an adaptive re-use, restoration development. The transformation included reinterpreting the depot into a unique food and retail destination for inner city Sydney locals and visitors.

The new food hall sits alongside a community centre, community garden and a flexi-space, dubbed Artisan Lane, which has an industrial sized kitchen and communal sitting area.

BG&E provided structural engineering and materials testing services, specifically:

• assessing the condition and potential re-use of the existing steel roof structure;
• detailing of the refurbishment requirements of existing structural steel beams to be re-used;
• detailing of in-ground services concealed within the structural floor slabs and steel columns;
• future-proofing suspended on-grade slabs for future retail reconfiguration;
• detailing of new steel trusses and columns to match the previous dilapidated heritage steelwork; and
• designing a 20-metre span steel arch pedestrian bridge.

In delivering the scope of works, the facade was temporarily braced/propped during construction while existing steel roof demolished.

Our highly-skilled team also undertook site testing on the existing heritage steel and hardness testing to determine the type of steel, yield and tensile strength. The heavily pitted and corroded sections of the existing heritage steel beams were strengthened and refurbished offsite and transported back to site. The new steelwork was detailed to match old heritage steelwork appearance. The building is located on both bedrock and deep alluvial fill, hence complex underpinning of the heritage masonry walls and footings were required.

Staying true to the heritage buildings roots, Tramsheds has been carefully restored and is a shining example of a sustainable development.