Five Rivers Group Office

SARA Holdings sought approval for a new office building for Five Rivers Group, whose construction and real estate business employ about 20 staff. The site is a small corner lot on Mulgrave Road in Westcourt, about 2.5 kilometres from the Cairns CBD, and was previously used as a car yard.

The design by The Design House NQ is a two-storey building of about 8.8 metres with around 390 square metres of office space across two floors. It sits close to both street frontages, with parking behind, a main entry and platform lift from Mulgrave Road, and vehicle access from Hannam Street.

The challenge

• Flooding: the site sits at about RL 2.3 to 2.4 metres AHD in the CBD and Environs flood area, well below the 1% AEP flood level plus freeboard that the planning scheme normally expects for floor levels.
• Low street levels: Hannam Street is low, which limited how high car park could be raised while keeping compliant driveway grades.
• A small corner lot: fitting the building, parking and landscaping on 617 square metres meant departures on car parking, front setbacks, landscaping and awnings.
• State-controlled road: the Mulgrave Road frontage is a State-controlled road, close to an intersection.

Our role

• Obtained formal pre-lodgement advice from the State Assessment and Referral Agency and held informal discussions with Council.
• Coordinated the design plans from The Design House NQ, the civil engineering report from CivilWalker and the landscape plan from Suzan Quigg Landscape Design.
• Prepared and lodged the planning report and application, including assessments against CairnsPlan 2016 and the State Development Assessment Provisions.
• Made a performance-based case for the floor and car park levels, setting out flood mitigation and emergency measures for staff, the building and its contents.
• Justified the minor departures on car parking, setbacks, landscaping and awnings.
• Managed the application through assessment to a decision.

What was approved

• A two-storey office building of about 391 square metres of gross floor area and 8.8 metres high, covering about 43% of the site.
• An internal floor level at the 1% AEP flood level, with the building perimeter built to the flood level plus 300 millimetres and flood barriers for doors and windows.
• Ten on-site car spaces, including one accessible space, plus four on-street spaces.
• A new driveway from Hannam Street, with pedestrian access from Mulgrave Road.
• Landscaping to the street frontages and a screened refuse area.