Client name: BHP

Location: Port Hedland, Western Australia

Duration: 2022 – ongoing

Services provided:

• Architectural design
• Structural engineering
• Heritage restoration
• Council and heritage compliance
• Sub-contractor and vendor management

Esplanade Hotel Remediation Project

The Esplanade Hotel was constructed in 1904 near the original harbour of Port Hedland. The Hotel has Social and Historical Significance as the last of the town’s original 3 hotels and is registered on the State Heritage Office Database.

However, the large number of alterations and additions over the years have reduced the historical significance of the original building and lead to severe structural issues. Tetra Tech Proteus was contracted to provide architectural and structural engineering services in order to remediate pre-existing damage and to re-establish the Hotel’s historical visage.

The Hotel was constructed as a part single-storey and part two-storey stone building with timber floors, flat roof, and timber verandah to both street elevations. In 2013 it underwent refurbishment that included the cladding of the entire building in stone veneer. BHP then purchased the Hotel in 2018, at which point numerous concerns were identified, including:

• Mould build-up due from air-conditioning and lack of continuous sealed vapor barrier
• Delamination of the cladding
• Termite damage
• Boundary encroachment.

With the focus to preserve the sensitive heritage aesthetics of the building and improve the building’s integrity, Tetra Tech Proteus delivered rectification project works including:

• • Removal of all existing stone cladding
  • Development of new Hardies EcoTec cladding solution using fibre cement panels on furring, with both blush and express joints
  • Improved design of substrate
  • Install vapour barrier that is sealed at all junctions to prevent moulding
  • Reinstated stone quoining to all but the 2013 extension openings.