Case study: Waves Fitness and Aquatic Centre

Waves Fitness and Aquatic Centre

Waves Fitness and Aquatic Centre, located in the Western Sydney suburb of Baulkham Hills, underwent a major redevelopment with state-of-the-art upgrades so it could better meet the needs of the growing community. The Hills Shire Council committed $55 million to transform the site, which included a 1,000-sqm gym, several multi-purpose rooms, an entry lobby, recreational water facilities, and a FINA-approved 10-lane Olympic swimming pool that would let the facility host school carnivals and elite sporting events.

Due to the aquatic centre’s humid conditions, the structure was required to meet stringent building performance requirements, with the pool hall needing a single-layer solution to achieve a vapour barrier layer as part of the roof panel. This was essential to enclose the space and meet thermal performance and corrosion resistance standards. The design elements also needed to be modern, comfortable, and community-minded to ensure the facility was delivering an engaging and positive experience for its clientele.

Derek Mah, Architect and NBRS Associate, offered insight on the project, “One of the greatest challenges we experienced on this project was identifying a roofing solution that could be curved over the entire structure, including both panels and traditional purlins, while meeting the required thermal and corrosion resistance. The new 2019 BCA Section J Building Code, which requires roofs to have a greater thermal performance compared to the previous version of the Building Code, was particularly difficult to meet”.

“From a design perspective, we also needed a solution that could be used over roof panel situations and traditional roof build-ups while maintaining a consistent appearance, as we had situations where the roof transitioned continuously from a straight, low pitch roof panel to a curved ridge, and then turned down to form a wall.”

Kingspan proposed a game-changing ‘panel and standing seam’ hybrid roofing solution to meet the design challenges. KS1100 Roofliner panels were installed over the pool hall areas, with the KingZip Standing Seam system installed over both Roofliner panels and traditional roofing on purlins. The KingZip Standing Seam roof sheet was rolled onsite to ensure minimal joints and watertightness, which is a completely unique solution that no other supplier can offer.

KingZip’s full design flexibility created functional and technically perfect convex, concave, and angular architectural roof shapes, with the installation successfully completed without faults in the finished structure.

Waves Aquatic Project is also one of the first projects in Australia to benefit from Kingspan’s new state-of-the-art smooth curving equipment, where a smooth curve radius of 1.5m was achieved without any crimping.

The ease of installation, the design outcome, and the material’s ability to meet specific building requirements impressed the architects, who have since specified the solution for other, similar projects.

“Kingspan provided design and specification support, with design details and code mark certificates. No other product satisfied all our performance requirements and offered a warranty.” - Derek Mah, Associate, NBRS

Download this case study and discover how Kingspan's innovative roofing solution transformed Waves Fitness and Aquatic Centre.