ATO Box Hill

Built and developed by Grocon, ATO Box Hill, a 13-storey 19,000 sqm office tower, includes 690 sqm of retail space and boasts a 5 Star Green Star® rating and 5 Star NABERS ratings, a first for Box Hill. Key to the faster, safer and more efficient construction of the building was BARMAT® – an innovative InfraBuild Construction Solutions’ product that consists of prefabricated Class N mats which can be customised with variable spacing, and that comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, including a range of 3D designs. As a steelfixing alternative or replacement, BARMAT™ has been specifically engineered to reduce on-site congestion, improve site safety through less handling, and meets or exceeds Australian Standards for welding requirements. 

The inherent adaptability of BARMAT® made it the perfect prefab solution to Grocon’s needs. Compared to cover and lapping issues associated with standard reinforcing mesh, BARMAT® can be manufactured to exact specifications eliminating the time and waste associated with traditional reinforcing products. The ATO Box Hill site required bars at 1200 mm at every shear stud, and since they were already repeat welded on the BARMAT sheet, onsite labour was significantly reduced, improving project productivity. While a comparable conventional slab would have taken 6 men 16 hours per level, the BARMAT® suspended slab halved this time. 

 "BARMAT® is perfectly suited to these types of jobs because of its speed to lay, its cost efficiency by decreasing manpower, and because it has no lapping issues."  Michael Driver, Grocon Structural Foreman 

Beyond time and labour benefits, BARMAT® offers beneficial sustainability outcomes. Together with InfraBuild’s design assistance, BARMAT® can be manufactured to exact specifications limiting cutoffs and wastage and reducing unneeded reinforcing weight, which contributes to Green Star® steel credit points. These points contributed to ATO Box Hill’s outstanding sustainability outcomes.