We are excited to announce that this project has been nominated for both an Institute of Public Works Engineers Australasia Award and an Australian Institute of Architects Small Projects Award.

The marine birdlife is particularly divergent at this location, and there is a keen group of bird watchers living in the area, who wished for a specialised viewing platform to be provided.

We designed the double story steel structure to stand on Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) piles in the water on the edge of the lake, with a board walk linking the structure to the bank. The walls of the building were discreetly defined by hardwood fins to screen viewers from the birdlife. The curved timber bench seating used steam-bent spotted gum battens to create the aesthetically pleasing seating. Specialist Structural Engineering services were offered by BPA Engineering

Challenges were to minimise disruption to the natural Typha plants growing at the water’s edge, as well as to locate the building floor above the seasonal high-water mark, and to obtain geotechnical soil profiles of the soil under the lake.

Construction on this project was completed in December 2025.