South Australia’s Torresan Estate’s wine / beverage bottling and labelling plant at McLaren Vale has been enjoying much growth of late, leading to their need to expand storage facilities.
Many wineries and local producers utilise Torresan Estate’s bottling and labelling facilities, but struggle to find storage space for their bottled products. Torresan saw an opportunity to also offer storage solutions by expanding their own storage and logistics facilities.
This project took about 18 months from the client’s first concept briefing with Woolcock Construction, through design, costing, approvals and construction, to handover.
Stage 1 Construction – This stage spanned 10 months and was completed in early 2019. It included substantial excavation, large retaining walls; construction of a 5,000m2 warehouse with significant water management provisions, and a separate 1600m2 canopy for empty bottle storage.
Stage 2 – With concepts and development applications pre-approved during Stage 1 planning, future construction of another large warehouse alongside Stage 1 can begin at the client’s request. Additionally, infrastructure for this was put in place during Stage 1 works.
Numerous challenges were identified during discussion with the team at Woolcock Construction.
Neighbours’ Appeal to Maintain the View
Torresan Estate were sympathetic to the neighbouring residents and tourist accommodation business, noting that construction of the proposed warehouse had the potential to obstruct views across the valley to facing hills; views that encouraged patronage to the business.
The Woolcock designers worked closely with planning consultants, and during initial site inspections presented credible solutions to satisfy all needs.
Firstly, the finished height of the warehouse could be lowered by nearly three metres by excavating below natural ground level. This ensured neighbours' views were preserved, as illustrated in the photo gallery.
Secondly, building below ground level leverages on natural cooling and stability of warehouse temperatures. This provides for greater control of the warehouse environment, reduces the need for air‑conditioning, and assists in maintaining ideal conditions for the storage of wine products.
A major win for all.
Reduced Noise
The final design improved vehicle flow throughout the site, lowered road levels where possible and included planting many trees. This reduces overall vehicle movement, and uses ground levels to provide a sound baffle, which helps minimise traffic noise.
The greening commitment by Torresan Estate has also met major goals in their continuing management of land degradation, and reduces their carbon footprint.
Stormwater
Complicated stormwater requirements on this site were identified before starting the project.
Issues included substantial runoff from the roadway and neighbouring properties in addition to water falling on the site, and complexities surrounding future buildings.
A large capacity underground drain was installed diagonally beneath the warehouse following the natural watercourse, to accommodate current and future stormwater demands. The drain is part of a substantial filtration system including a large pond that enables the runoff water to be filtered before it enters the creek system in the valley below.
Rain water from the warehouse roof area is captured and chanelled into five large rainwater tanks with a combined capacity of nearly 350,000 litres. This water is filtered and reused on site.
New Empty Bottle Storage Zone
With repeated expansion and installation of new machinery at this Torresan site, it became necessary to move empty bottle stocks to an outside area.
To address this, Woolcock Construction were asked to design a new storage area, for which a 1,600m2 canopy was constructed with allowance for six-high pallet stacks.
The cantilever canopy was designed to require minimal support columns. This provided cost savings on materials and construction time, maximises the usable storage area, and offers greater flexibility for manoeuvring trucks and forklifts.
The Warehouse
The warehouse structure also employs minimal support columns in order to take full advantage of the space, maximising storage options and minimising forklift obstacles. Additionally, with reduced number of slab joints, the fibre cement slab permits smoother forklift operation and reduced wear and tear.
The defining attribute of the warehouse construction however, is the 100mm thick Kingspan panels on the roof and walls. This provides insulation characteristics similar to a coolroom, enabling superior climate control of the building.
In summary, a combination of clever design, good planning, and the building experience of Woolcock Construction has delivered another successful project on time and within budget.
Our client is very happy with the new facility and grateful for the can-do approach of Woolcock Construction to overcome the challenges that this site presented.
If you have a project in the pipeline, Woolcock’s team would love to hear from you. Sit with us to talk through options (obligation free) to see how our experience can meet your needs and maximise your investment options.
Please give us a call on (08) 8193 9600