The Australian Red Cross Blood Service Melbourne Processing Centre is the largest blood processing facility in the Southern Hemisphere. It was designed by DesignInc Melbourne and completed in April 2012.
The new Centre has 17,500m2 of accommodation comprised of blood processing and distribution areas, blood testing, with the support of research laboratories, warehousing, office/administration and staff amenities.
Technology
The Processing Centre is a state of the art facility which is to process 30 per cent of Australia's blood supply. The modern facilities will process approximately 1,500 blood donations per day from the states of Victoria and Tasmania.
In order for the building to have an Importance Level 4 rating in an emergency it has been designed to withstand an earthquake of seven on the Richter Scale, and can operate for four days without external water, gas, electricity and sewerage. It contains more than 1000 tonnes of steel - some of it thicker than that on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and it also contains more than 200 kilometres of electrical cabling.
History
The buildings shell was once a 1920s car assembly factory for Morris Minor. The existing brick warehouse building presented a challenge with ceiling heights varying between one to four stories.
The building also uses recycled timber from the existing trusses.