Case Study: Hudson Hub

Six months before the cameras rolled at Williams Landing, the site at Hudson Hub was a blank canvas. What stands there now, a striking multi-level office development wrapped in 2,500 square metres of metallic solid aluminium cladding, is the result of a partnership that has been quietly perfecting this kind of work for nearly a decade.

That partnership, between façade installer Custom Clad and panel manufacturer HVG Facades, has been built on a simple premise: that seamless coordination between supplier and installer, from the drawing board through to the final fixing, is what separates a good outcome from a great one. Hudson Hub is the latest proof of that.

From the outset, Hudson Hub set a formidable pace. The concrete structure went up fast, and Custom Clad had to match it, deploying crews across all four elevations simultaneously just to keep up with the build. There was no room for a staged, methodical approach. The job demanded full commitment from day one.

The scale of the cladding scope added another layer of complexity. At 2,500 square metres, the project required a continuous, uninterrupted flow of material from factory to site. Compounding this was the decision to use 4-metre sheet lengths which maximised efficiency on the wall but placed real demands on the installation crews handling them.

Distance played its part too. With Custom Clad's fabrication facility in Hallam and the site sitting out in Melbourne's west, every delivery had to be carefully timed. There was no margin for error.

Solution

Getting a project like Hudson Hub right starts long before installation. Custom Clad's drafting team worked through the shop drawings carefully, specifying HVG Facades' four-metre sheet length wherever the design allowed, meaning fewer joins, a cleaner finish, and less time on the tools.

Beneath the cladding, stainless steel castings were set into the structure before the concrete was poured, with 90mm engineered lightweight frames fixed off them once cured. Single top hats followed, and the MondoClad Silver Metallic panels were brought in to complete the system.

Supply was managed with equal discipline. HVG Facades delivered the 2,500 square metres across five staged batches, keeping Custom Clad's factory and the site running in step.

"By the time we had the first batch out the door, the next lot was coming from HVG. We were fabricating in our factory and there was a rotation of that, sending them out to site." - Matthew, Custom Clad Project Manager

Crews worked all four elevations concurrently, completing the full scope in four to five months. "It was quite a challenge," recalls Matthew, "but it wasn't a problem for our team." Central to that confidence is MondoClad itself, a solid aluminium cladding solution that is non-combustible by nature, meeting the safety requirements of commercial projects like Hudson Hub. "There's a lot more awareness around non-combustible products these days," says Con from HVG Facades, "and what products are best suited for each application."

What was a blank canvas six months prior now stands as one of Williams Landing's most distinctive commercial addresses, a result that reflects the care taken at every stage, and the strength of a partnership built over nearly a decade.