Westage Express, Melbourne

Great exposure, but not without its challenges

Situated on the city side of the West Gate Bridge, in between Cook Street and the West Gate Freeway, West Gate Express is a state of the art service station and convenience restaurant complex.  The service station, anchored by Shell, has an internal area of 1,000 m2 with four separate tenancies, a communal dining area and restroom facilities.

With 180,000 vehicles passing the site daily, West Gate Express is one of the highest profile service centres in Australia.

Insight

The outstanding visual exposure of this location was equally matched by the challenging authority conditions of gaining access alongside one of Australia’s busiest roadways.  Originally coined as the Statue of Liberty, the challenge wasn’t being able to see the site but rather access it.  A resilient development mindset was able to succeed with Authorities to subdivide the original 3 ha site and provide access for each individual block.  A signalised intersection to the Service Station ensured permanent access, despite the further complication of the Port of Melbourne’s expansion and the planned redevelopment of the adjoining large Holden site.

With access assured, the value proposition to occupiers was profound.  It delivered a highly competitive selection process and eventually Shell and fast food operators to the site.

The specialist design and construct project required 70 concrete piles inserted 32m deep to overcome challenging ground conditions and make this project a reality. Further, the structural design required a sound engineering solution to hold the empty tanks or “balloons” during installation that were below the water table.