GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, TREASURY BUILDING

A modern services network run safely through a protected heritage floor.

Location
Brisbane

State
Queensland

Status
Completed 2026

THE PROJECT BACKSTORY

Built in stages between 1886 and 1928, Brisbane’s Treasury Building spent nearly three decades as a casino before Griffith University bought it for a new city campus. The sandstone landmark on Queen Street will hold teaching space for business, law and information technology, with around 7,000 students and 400 staff expected on site.

Turning a state heritage-listed building into a modern campus raises a problem no new build faces. Power and data have to reach hundreds of study positions, yet the original timber floors are protected and cannot be lifted or altered.

ECD was engaged to find the solution.

7000

Students expected

1886

Construction began

3

Solutions

WHAT WE DID

ECD designed and documented a new shallow floor ducting system for the University Treasury Building fit-out. To do this, we:

Kept the assembly shallow enough to run services above the protected structure rather than cutting into it.
Held heavy-duty load performance within that reduced depth, where strength is usually the first thing to go.
Left the heritage timber flooring completely intact, with no removal or alteration to original fabric anywhere across the floor plate.
Drew and documented the system as a new product, taking it from brief to construction inside the program set by the fit-out.
Supplied a large number of shallow Protector Series and Commander Series floor boxes.

A building close to a century old now carries a full modern services network with none of it on show.