Parliament Place is the main avenue leading to
the front entrance of the Parliament House of Western Australia. Such a
significant building requires a suitable ceremonial approach. A significant
amount of work went into creating dignified and formal setting which integrated
the surrounds of Parliament House by the Urban Development department of the
City of Perth. It was decided early on to utilize local granite along with
local flora to give the new streetscape distinctly Western Australian quality.
Works included the construction of a new raised median and footpath along the
length of Parliament Place and creation of a forecourt on Harvest Terrace with
plantings of new trees to frame the view to Parliament House. A combination of
Austral Juparana and Austral Coffee granites from Bruce Rock plus Austral Black
granite was selected and were provided in various formats of paving, sets and
kerbing with a variety of finishes from Sawn to Flamed and Tumbled. Over
2,500m2 of paving was supplied, all of it being 80mm thick with 650 metres of
Austral Black roadside kerbing completing the picture.
The warm tones of the
Bruce Rock material together with the variegated colouring and differing
finishes makes for a stunning end product that compliments the Parliament
building. UrbanStone also supplied a significant amount of engineered stone
paving to the project and used Melocco Stone to process the granite elements. The
80mm thickness of the paving plus the kerbs required the use of 320m3 of
blocks. Recently the City of Perth and the East Perth Redevelopment Authority
(EPRA) have embarked on a significant program of streetscape renewal with
projects such as Northbridge Piazza, Forrest Place, St Georges Terrace,
Parliament Place and Perth City Link all at various stages of development with
other significant developments in the pipeline.
The common thread in all these
projects is the use of Australian materials which is to be commended. Whilst
some of the material has been exported for processing UrbanStone has shown that
local processing can successfully compete on price, quality and timing whilst providing
significant advantages to the community and the local industry.