RSPCA

The redeveloped RSPCA headquarters in Burwood East provides the not-for-profit organisation with an enhanced public presence on Burwood Highway and state-of-the-art animal welfare facilities. The redevelopment includes a major 4-storey extension, and reconfiguration and re-cladding to an existing two level building. The building houses a broad range of functions ranging from Animal Inspectorate, Animal Welfare Services, Veterinary Clinic for private and shelter patients, Behavioural Training, ‘Doggy Daycare’, Dog Grooming, ‘Canine Cafe’, Retail, Education, Pet Adoption and state-wide RSPCA administrative functions.

Previously the site had been characterised by a campus model in which services were delivered from four separate buildings each with their own entry point. The new building provides a clear single access point to RSPCA services and ties together all RSPCA functional areas.

The interior environments have been designed to be robust yet inviting. Due to the very variable emotional states in which visitors come to the site, strategic circulation paths and interior treatments have been designed to be safe and discrete where appropriate.

The project was shortlisted for the Victorian AIA Public Architecture award in 2014 and won the City of Whitehorse Built Environment Institutional Architecture Award in 2015.