End of 2013 Hepburn Shire Council began the process to build the Hepburn Hub - a new multipurpose community and council facility to help deliver improved services shire wide. The proposal sought to consolidate the different council offices and services in to the one location, replacing the current set up where buildings were spread across the shire, non-compliant, unsustainable and operationally inefficient. The building was to provide a community library, community spaces and council offices.

March 2014 - The Hub Needs a Home: Community Consultation 01The search for a site for the Hepburn Hub began. Out of 30 council sites, eight were shortlisted to be presented to the community and then voted on. The favourite was to become the site of the new Hepburn Hub. The community’s preferred site was the Town Hall.

The following timeline shows the journey to The Rex since embarking on the Hepburn Hub project in 2013.

Journey to The Rex ...

December 2014 - Design & Create: Community Consultation 02Once the Town Hall site had been chosen, design began. The concept design was then presented to the community in December 2014 to ascertain community feedback. While some in the community supported the proposal, others were concerned about what impact the new building would have on the existing fabric, with major concerns being raised about the impact on the pool and parking around the town centre.

May 2015 - A Revised Concept: Community Consultation 03Taking on board the community’s response, the design was reviewed, making changes in response to the community’s concerns, and then presented to the community again for feedback.

August 2016 - The Rex is decided uponAn opportunity emerged in August 2016 for Council to acquire The Rex building as a site (in conjunction with the Town Hall) to develop the Hepburn Hub concept.

October 2016 - Acquisition & Design Design commences following acquisition of The Rex.

September 2017 - Current DayDesign has been completed, with construction about to commence.

Left: Location map of the 8 shortlisted sites

Left: View of the Town Hall

Left: Community consultation in progress

Left: View of The Rex

Ground Floor Plan

Mezzanine Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

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Legend1 - Entry 2 - Tenancies3 - Cafe4 - Public Toilets5 - Library6 - Outdoor garden7 - Council reception8 - Office Spaces9 - Lightwell10 - Outdoor terrace11 - Mezzanine & kitchenette12 - Cinema13 - Kiosk14 - Projection room (limited accessibility)15 - Lounge16 - Carpark

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What’s to be Included at The Rex?

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NoteFor more information, refer following plans.Drawings are not to scale.

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On arrival at the Rex, the exterior of the building will remain much the same. There will be a hint of the changes inside with a timber lined portal in to the building. Once through the main entry doors, there will be a compliant and comfortable timber stair and ‘green’ wall leading up to the cinema, and a timber wall with feature notice board drawing people through the entry to the cafe and library.

Entry, Cafe & Public Toilets

View of the main entry from Vincent Street. View of the new comfortable and compliant staircase with feature green wall that leads to the cinema.

View of the main corridor leading to the library with informal seating and noticeboard.

Feature screening to entry

Timber stair

Natural finishes

Upholstered seating

Screening

Expressed materials & colour

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Entry

Cinema Stairs

Main Corridor

Public Toilets

Cafe

KitchenTenancy

Tenancy

Tenancy

Lift

Library

Tenancy

Images are to provide an indication.Disclaimer: Subject to change

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Not to scale

The Rex library seeks to provide more library facilities in a central space, co-locating the library with a cafe, cinema and council offices. This space will be a vibrant, inviting and comfortable place to visit. It will become a central hub of activity for community and council. The current library is too small to cater for the level of visitation it receives. The new library will provide double the amount of space available. Warm, light filled, vibrant and accessible.

Library

Custom recessed joinery with highlighted

colours

Partition shelving units

Magazine bays

View of the magazine bays. View of main library space.

Geometric joinery lining tree in children’s corner

Library entry

Bookbays

Service pod

Youth corner

Kidscorner

Workroom

Magazine baysPC desks

Outdoorgarden

Council reception

Main corridor

Images are to provide an indication.Disclaimer: Subject to change

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PC desks

Clean lines and material palette

Feature lighting

The Rex Cinema and Auditorium will be located on the first floor of the Rex complex, reinstating the first floor use to what it once was. The new cinema seats 73 patrons including wheelchair accessible spaces, and will be an insertion in to the volume of the first floor, sitting back from the original balcony to allow the original space to still be apparent. The material palette is simple and clean to accentuate the new and old forms.

The Rex - Cinema & Auditorium

Simple frame structure

Red seating

Feature signage and texturesCinema &

Auditoriumhall

Sound lock

Lounge

Cinema entry

Ticketing kiosk

Corridor (under seats)

Storage (under seats)

Accessible Toilet

Tenancy

Stairs frombelow

Access to carpark

Void to library below

LIft

Seating

Stairs to carpark

Images are to provide an indication.Disclaimer: Subject to change

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View of the cinema from balcony View of the cinema from library

Council reception

Meetingroom

Meetingroom

Meetingroom

Meetingroom

Meetingroom

Meeting & work pods

Office space

Office space Light

well

Workshop

Lightwell

Lightwell

Lightwell

Lightwell

Collaborative space

Meetingroom

Projection & gathering space

Stair / seating

Staff toilets

Storage & IT support Office

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Office space

Meeting & work pods

Meeting room

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The new Council offices will be located at the rear of The Rex. The new offices will be easily accessed by the public with a one stop shop for all services, locating all council departments in the one building, which will be fully accessible to everyone. The new public interface will be more open, with meeting tables, and spaces for Council staff and public to interact, as well as the new cafe on site. Along with desks for staff, there will be many collaboration spaces throughout, including various meeting pods. New lightwells will be inserted with planting to bring light and ventilation into the council offices, and as many materials as possible will be recycled within the building for reuse.

Council Offices

Sculptural form for meeting places

Light wellsFeature wallpapers Large steps for collaborative spaces

Staff room and kitchen

Stair / seating

Terrace

Terrace

Images are to provide an indication.Disclaimer: Subject to change

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Mezzanine Floor Plan

Ground Floor Plan

Sit to stand desksOpen, accessible reception desk

Sustainability The Rex Sustainability Initiatives

Building Re-use and Integration of Building Form and Volume

• The substantial thermal mass of the building has been adapted to beneficially stabilise the internal temperature of the occupied spaces and present a comfortable working and collaborative environment throughout the year.

• As a result of the ‘office’ portion of the building being earth-banked, access to natural daylight and connectivity to the external environment has been created by the inclusion of lightwells and external green spaces.

• The existing double/triple height volumes have been integrated into the environmental design by allowing hot, stale air to congregate at high level for extraction while the occupied levels are supplied with 100% fresh air to deliver the exemplar standards of a ‘WELL’ building

• The double height lightwells have automated opening portions linked to air-quality (CO2) sensors to ventilate the stale air from the building without the need for a mechanical extract/fan driven system. The same system allows for night-cooling of the thermal mass during summer without the need for a mechanical cooling system.

• Reusing the building structure ensures The Rex maximises the opportunity to reduce unnecessary construction waste and preserve community identity and connectivity to heritage.

Working with an existing building meant that a sound understanding of the existing conditions and how the building behaved had to occur first. This was achieved through modelling the existing conditions. Once this had been ascertained, a thorough analysis could be undertaken to understand how this could be optimised and become as environmentally efficient as possible. The final initiatives are outlined below:

Modelled Improvement Strategies

With the existing conditions modelled, our engineers explored what options would optimise the building comfort with minimal energy output. From this modelling, the following initiatives were decided upon:

• Natural light and north winter sun penetration through lightwells• Fresh-air supply supplemented with natural ventilation• Utilise high volume and heavy thermal mass for passive cooling• Hydronic radiator heating• Enhanced thermal insulation on the roof of the building to minimise heat-loss, gas consumption and energy running

costs throughout the year while improving internal comfort.• High efficiency light fittings have been selected with daylight/motion detection sensors throughout the building with

addressable control systems to provide a ‘soft’ lighting environment• Gas hydronic heating systems deliver efficient heating to the building. As heating is a substantial energy

requirement for the building throughout the year, this philosophy results in a low operational carbon footprint. • High efficiency direct-fired gas boilers, reaching efficiencies greater than 95%• Continuous space heating operation results in better control of internal temperature, heating up of the building’s

substantial thermal mass and results in a significantly smaller boiler plant size and reduced heating costs and carbon emissions

• 15kw solar panel system installation

Proposed lightwells for light and ventilation

Scenario Savings in CO2 Emissions

Scenarios Savings in CO2 Emission (Relative to Baseline Scenario)

Equivalent Hectares of Forest Planted

Baseline N/A 0 HectaresRecommended Upgrades 144,071 kgCO2 55 Hectares15kW PV Integration 171,573 kgCO2 67 Hectares(Future) 35kW Microturbine 258,376 kgCO2 99 Hectares

Utility Energy Demand Savings in CO2 (relative to baseline)

The Rex modelled to understand the building’s behaviour

Solar panels