Constructing Rain Hail or Shine: The Cairns Institute

Hansen Yuncken Cairns and Townsville offices were managing five projects for James Cook University, including the $24 million state of the art Cairns Institute.

‘At different times we’ve experimented with new materials and construction techniques. The Cairns Institute is a very architectural building and the team had to be very clever with how they prepared and installed materials to ensure the expected architectural standard was achieved.

Cairns has an annual average rainfall of 1992 millimetres, 154 rain days, and wind pressures in excess of 5 kPa in cyclones. It was vital to test and investigate all materials to ensure they could withstand the tropical environment.” — Greg Baumann, Queensland State Manager