• Most of the old admin building has been recycled.
ABOUT 95 per cent of the materials from the demolished Fremantle council building in Kings Square will be recycled.
A total of 6443 tonnes of material was removed from the site, including 5841 tonnes of bricks and concrete, 294 tonnes of steel and 83 tonnes of general waste.
While the bulk of the project was carried out using heavy machinery, sections of the building connected to the historic Fremantle Town Hall were taken down by hand.
The project also included the removal of 224 tonnes of asbestos.
The old building was removed to make way for the city’s new civic, administration and library building, which it aims to make one of the most sustainable of its size in Australia.
Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt said recycling the old HQ was a great start.
“The bricks and concrete from our old building will be crushed and recycled as road base or drainage materials, while the steel will be recycled and used in the manufacture of new steel products,” he said.
“Our target is for the new building to be zero carbon, so it will have a sophisticated automated opening façade system designed to capture Fremantle’s famous sea breezes and enable natural ventilation for most of the year.
“It will have high-performance, well-shaded windows to minimise heat loss during cooler periods and minimise heat gain in summer, as well as other sustainability features like a solar PV system, energy-efficient LED lighting and water saving appliances.”
The new building, designed by Kerry Hill Architects, is part of the $270 million Kings Square revamp.
Last month Pindan Constructions was selected as the city’s preferred contractor for the project, with the contract now subject to final negotiations.
Construction is expected to start early next year.
Council watchers were up in arms last week when they discovered the council’s development partner Sirona Capital had already on-sold one of the properties it picked up cheaply as part of the deal.
Sirona had repeatedly asked for extensions to pay for the Spicer site across the road from Queensgate, then immediately offloaded it to mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s company for an unknown price.
Fremantle Society president John Dowson and local commercial advisor Martin Lee both criticised the process, saying the council had effectively been acting as a bank for Sirona and could have received greater benefit by simply putting the land up for sale on the open market.