Mt Hotham Police Station

Mt Hotham Police Station is Australia’s highest altitude public building, operating in the most extreme weather conditions on the Australian mainland. The 255sqm building provides for operational policing and search and rescue functions for the alpine resort of Mt Hotham and surrounding country of the Gunaikurnai and Taungrung peoples.

Working within a tight budget and time frame, the project had to be designed, documented and built during the warmer months outside the ski season.

Due to the extreme climatic variations, selected external cladding materials are robust and include zinc cladding and Colorbond steel. The sculptural composition is evocative of the brutal landscape whilst the angled façade reduces the glazed areas to a minimum, reducing heat loss.

The building is designed to be extremely low maintenance with no need to touch the outside of the building for an estimated 20 years. The building features pedestrian and vehicular slab heating, roof heating to prevent excessive snow and ice build-up and self-cleaning glass to reduce maintenance costs. It can also operate for long periods without connection to mains power.

Photographer: Mark Munro Photography