St. George’s Terrace, Perth

A rational fire engineering approach

Council House, 27 St. George’s Terrace, Perth was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, in March 1963. The design for Council House was chosen in 1959 from more than 60 entries in an Australia-wide competition. Construction was completed at the end of 1962 at a cost of $2.9 million.

Almost 35 years after its official opening, it was decided to refurbish the building to enable it to meet the commercial needs of the new millennium. It was concluded that the use of un-protected steel beams for Council House, in association with an improved sprinkler system and related management protocol, would give a level of life safety well in excess of the existing building and greater than that achieved if the building had been refurbished in accordance with the minimum requirements of the BCA.