Aspect Treetop School
Originally constructed in 1838, Ashford House is one of South Australia’s oldest buildings, dating back to the early years of European settlement. Today, it forms part of Aspect Treetop School, Adelaide’s only dedicated autism-specific education facility, serving as the school’s administrative hub.
G-Force Building & Consulting was engaged to deliver a comprehensive heritage restoration of the building following a competitive tender process. Delivered under a Design & Construct model, the project was carefully staged to balance heritage conservation with budget considerations, while ensuring minimal disruption to the day-to-day operations of the school.
The project included interior restoration of the highly detailed original plaster entry ceiling, conservation of plaster walls and reconstruction of a highly decorated plaster archway. Externally, the original verandah was brought back to its former glory including import of tesselated tiles to replace damaged areas, repointing of bluestone walling and conservation to cast iron elements.
The works were carried out on an operational autism-specific education facility requiring careful coordination, staging and a high level of communication.
The building’s historic plaster arch detailing was carefully restored, including intricate ornamental plasterwork. To preserve these original features, an innovative engineering solution was developed to retain the ornate arch. A retrofitted steel lintel was discreetly installed beneath the existing structure and seamlessly integrated into surrounding surfaces. This approach, proposed by G-Force Building & Consulting as a refinement to the original design, ensured the heritage character of the space was maintained without compromise.
The internal works were delivered to a high standard, with all restoration guided by heritage conservation principles. The interiors showcase finely detailed features, including ornate plasterwork to ceilings and archways, as well as traditional tessellated tiling at the entry. Specialised heritage tradespeople were engaged to complete detailed conservation works to an extremely high standard.
“Lindsay, Hayden and Grant were fantastic to work with on this project. They understood the challenges of working in a live environment, and particularly the sensitive needs of our students. No request was too hard, they anticipated problems ahead of time and really cared about finding the best outcome. Their heritage expertise was hugely beneficial, workmanship was excellent, and they’re just generally great people – highly recommend and hope to work with them again soon.”
