Year Project Location	2001 2900 sqm corporate offices & 1000 sqm warehouse 8 Cato Street, Hawthorn

Servier is a French based international pharmaceuticals company, which had outgrown its premises. Wolfstep secured land in a joint venture arrangement with the landholder to plan and construct new national headquarters for Servier.

The client’s brief was exacting, with consultants in France overseeing the design process undertaken by Wolfstep and its local consultants.

There were a number of technical difficulties overcome by Wolfstep in producing this innovative development. With the fall of the land from Cato Street to Cato Lane at the rear, a level of offices was constructed above the 7 metre high warehouse. The warehouse had to be clear span and in order to achieve this a huge steel truss was prefabricated in a ‘sky hook’ form to achieve the clear span warehouse notwithstanding the office floor above.

Another totally innovative aspect was the design of a telemetry early warning system to cope with Melbourne Water’s stringent requirements when building in an area subject to the 1934 flood level. Whilst entry to the office building was above the required level, the lower level of Cato Lane meant the warehouse entry is below the 1934 level. Consequently large steel truss lift up doors to the warehouse and a two stage pumping system were installed in case of the 1:100 year flood level. A telemetry station and monitoring device was installed in the bed of Gardiners Creek with a radio frequency signal linked to an alarmed warning system at the building in case of any future flooding.

The aesthetic design of the building with its horizontally banded glazing and mullion system is enhanced by alucabond cladding over the front entry canopy. Natural light from windows on three sides is augmented by large south lights which give wonderful additional natural light to open plan office areas without any heat build up.

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