Hub in running for prestigious award

Designed to be a “straw-lined bunker” against the forces of dust and heat, the WEB Business Hub in Port Hedland’s West End has been entered in the WA architecture award by its designer.

Perth-based Whitehaus was engaged to create the space as a collaborative office and flexible multi-use space.

Whitehaus director and architect Clancy White said the WEB was nominated because the brief had been a challenge.

“It was about trying to provide an environment for all of those entrepreneurs and small business people — to give them somewhere to kind of grow their business in a more professional environment,” Mr White said.

The WEB features in the commercial category of the award and goes up against Perth’s Yagan Square and the $150 million Perth DFO shopping centre.

“This is only a little job, but at the same time it was a challenging job — we got them a lot of building for their money,” Mr White said of the $2 million project.

The cyclonic and extreme heat requirements, plus the proximity to the export facilities, resulted in Whitehaus visualising the WEB as a “bunker wrapped in armour” against the hostile environment.

Compressed wood-flake lining was installed to help the building feel like a “straw-lined, comfortable, cool space” against the elements and also allowed Whitehaus to engage a local cabinet-maker for installation.

WEB co-ordinator Katie Evans said the building delivered everything the owner, the Port Hedland Chamber of Commerce, had asked for and it continued to impress people when they walked through the door.

In 2017 Whitehaus received a commendation at the WA architecture awards for another Port Hedland project, the Youth Involvement Centre.