Santos Place Facade Sunscreens

Santos Place is a 36-floor commercial building on Turbot Street in the Brisbane CBD. The architectural sunscreens running across the facade finished in a special gold anodised surface. The finish was specified on both sides of each panel, so the external facade and the internal view from inside the building both carried the same architectural-grade surface quality. Main panels were 3mm aluminium, laser cut and folded, with 6mm aluminium fixing brackets powder coated in different colours.

A finish of this kind sets the standard for the whole job. The aluminium ran through fabrication in its raw state, with the gold anodised finish applied at the end - meaning every surface had to arrive at the anodiser in pristine condition. Any handling mark, scratch, or contamination picked up along the way shows permanently on the finished panel, on both sides. That set the brief from day one: protect the raw metal through every step, from laser cutting to packing, so what reached the anodiser was unmarked.

Santos Place was a nine-month commitment that ran across every part of the workshop. The main panels were laser cut from 3mm aluminium on our CNC fibre lasers, folded on the press brakes, and built alongside the 6mm aluminium fixing brackets that carry them on the facade. The brackets were powder coated in different colours to suit the install detailing. The panels went out to a special gold anodised finish, applied both sides, to meet the architectural quality required for the external facade and the internal building view.

To protect the raw aluminium through fabrication, the team built custom holders and fixtures - purpose-made supports designed around these specific panels, used through both the machines and the transport stages. The panels were held and moved on these fixtures rather than being handled directly, so the raw surface stayed off any contact point that could leave a mark. Standard handling wasn't going to be enough on a job where the finish was applied last and showed everything underneath it.

Extra precautions ran through every stage. Specialist techniques were implemented across the whole construction process - the way panels were lifted, moved, stored, stacked, and transferred between stations. Extra labouring staff were brought on for the duration, and additional machine tooling was bought in to handle the volume and the handling requirements. The point of all of it was simple: keep the aluminium unmarked and contamination-free through fabrication, so the raw finish arrived at the anodiser in the condition the specification demanded.

Packing was part of the fabrication, not an afterthought. Panels were packed into containers with extra packaging and protection between layers, ready for anodising and the next stage of the build. The same care carried through every handover.

Across nine months and 36 floors the brief was held: a gold anodised architectural facade on a Brisbane CBD tower, finished to the standard required on both sides of every panel.