Project
GSA North Terrace
- 36 storeys
- 118 metres high
- 725 Beds
GSA North Terrace is an exemplar project for Adelaide and comprises 352 student apartments housing 725 students and features student services, amenity spaces and a ground floor cafe.
As one of the tallest buildings in Adelaide at 118.6 metres, GSA North Terrace is both architecturally appealing and technically complex.
SYNERGY CONSTRUCT received industry recognition by winning a notable award at the Master Builders Awards South Australia 2022 as well as being a finalist in the National Master Builders Awards, both for the Commercial/Industrial Building $50m to $100m category for their work on GSA North Terrace project.
Simply the best of the best in this competitive category – MBA judging panel
The project also received a high commendation at the SA AIB 2023 Professional Excellence in Building Awards in the Commercial Construction $60m+ category.
The structure is supported by a base consisting of 109 piles each averaging 15m in depth, all connected with a 1.5m contiguous pile cap across the whole site. The pour of the pile cap was conducted during one 12-hour evening/early morning session using 3 pumps, each of them with double truck feed, pouring more than 1,200m³ of concrete. The architectural facade consists of 700 precast columns that are integral to supporting the structural loads of the building and accentuating the contemporary appearance. The glass facade accompanies this vertical building exoskeleton on a second plane up the building.
At ground level and level 12, enormous A-shaped steel structures support a combination of glass and cladding facade, being one of the design features of the tower. GSA is the tallest load-bearing precast concrete building in Australia.
GSA North Terrace has a 20,500m2 gross floor area and was completed across a 25 month program.
Key optimisations include:
- Due to the small footprint and height of the building a tuned mass damper was installed on the roof to minimise swaying of the building due to wind or earthquake impact — a first for South Australia.