St Justin’s Primary School, Oran Park

ThomsonAdsett Architects were engaged by the Catholic Education Office for Wollongong to design this primary school for the new release suburb of Oran Park in south-western Sydney.

The brief required a consideration of sustainability, and as such ThomsonAdsett working with VIM Sustainability, pursued a passive strategy including correct orientation of the buildings, shaded facades, high thermal mass internally, and a layout that allowed good cross-ventilation.

Intrinsic to the ventilation strategy was the selection of ventilation windows. Several options were considered to achieve the required ventilation including casement, double hung, sliding and louvre windows.

Ultimately it was the large openable area of the louvres, the ease of operability and the low impact on surrounding space that made louvre windows the best option for the project.

There were three main reasons Safetyline Jalousie louvre windows were chosen:

• top hung louvre blades with three sides locked in; important as loose glass louvres have often traditionally been perceived as a potential safety issue;
• integral security rod providing excellent security particularly for the low-level windows;
• top-hung (as opposed to centre-pivot) louvres allowed slim-fitting internal flyscreens.

The architect was aware of the premium cost of Safetyline Jalousie louvre windows, and despite being offered alternatives that would have delivered a cost saving during construction, held firm in their belief that Safetyline Jalousie delivered value for money and a solution with unique features and benefits that could not be replicated by the substitution of cheaper alternatives.

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Project Specifications

Quantity Supplied 266 windows across 6 buildings
Height 855mm (5 Blades) – 2574mm (19 Blades)
Width ranging from 700mm – 1000mm
Colour/Finish powdercoat loft satin
Louvres 6.38mm comfortplus clear & 6.38mm comfortplus neutral
Other motorised (> 2700mm) & manual (<2700mm) with flyscreens fitted
Architect Thomson Adsett