MELBOURNE’S much-anticipated Federation Square is expected to attract six million visitors a year and employ more than 600 people.

Fantech has supplied 91 fans for the $338 million project. The new Square will link the centre of Melbourne with the Yarra River, a concept proposed many times over 100 years.

 Planners have overcome the stumbling block of the giant Jolimont Railyards between the river and the nearest thoroughfare, Flinders St. The solution was to build a massive deck over the yards and slash train lines from 53 to 12.

The deck is supported by 3000 tonnes of steel beam, 1.4 km of concrete rail “crash walls”, and 4500 vibration-absorbing spring coils and rubber pads.

Fantech supplied product in association with the project’s services consultant, Addicoat, Hogarth & Wilson, and mechanical contractor, Allstaff Airconditioning.

Addicoat director David Worland said the Square had been a “challenging project” since they began four years ago.

“It is a very irregular-shaped building - there is nothing standard or repetitive about it,” he said.

Many areas required an innovative approach to environmental control, particularly the large public areas such as the gallery spaces, said Mr Worland. The knowledge gained would be transferred to new constructions in the future.

Pressure also came from reduction of a “shard” and addition of buildings.

The aim is a living, breathing centre, where people can relax, stroll, meet, and enjoy attractions. Mr Worland said this underlined the need for maintaining a pleasant temperature in the glassed-in arcade and atrium areas. A unique thermal store has been devised, with air cooled by being passed through a huge concrete labyrinth.

The system is high-tech and features evaporative cooling boosters, but is based on natural principals employed in places such as Coober Pedy.

Most of the Fantech fans, both in-line axial and in-line centrifugal in sizes ranging up to 1000mm diameter, are in the Australian Centre for Moving Image’s Cinemedia building.

The design contest, an initiative of Melbourne City and the Victorian Government, was won in 1997 by the Lab Studio of London and Bates Smart of Melbourne.