The original Brookvale Bus Depot was constructed in 1952 in Pittwater Road to service the transport requirements of the Northern Beaches suburbs. Evidently, the increasing transport demands since the 1950s and growing popularity of the area have required extra buses, additional staff and a larger depot. The State Transit Authority (STA) of NSW decided the dept would benefit from an upgrade and appointed DesignInc Architects, Donnelly Constructions and Coffey Projects to undertake the project, using building material and brickwork facades from Boral Bricks.  

The project consisted of demolition of the existing facility, extensive roadwork, construction of a new administration building and workshop amenities building, increased space for bus movement, expanded parking facilities and new storage areas. Now completed, it provides state of the art facilities for more than 350 staff and 180 buses.  

The concrete and steel framed building consists of 2000m2 of floor area over two levels. It was externally finished with 60,000 Escura Smooth Face Red bricks as external walling for the administration and operation offices (Boral also provided the concrete).  

Architect Ming-Yang Xu from DesignInc says, “The brickword facades treatment was established to visually distinguish the different functionality of the building in relation to its internal planning with two distinct material elements - Escura smooth face brickwork for the administration and operation offices and sandwich panel cladding for the amenities and entertainment areas.  

“We wanted a strong bold colour for the brickwork and liked the quality of finish of the Escura range. The warm brickwork facades echo the construction materials of surrounding building structures while the cladding reflects the STA bus colour schemes. Boral products were perfect for the job,” he says.