Taronga Wildlife Retreat

Client :Taronga Conservation Sociaety
Location: Mosman, NSW
Services: Fire Engineering

We were engaged by Taronga Conservation Society Australia to deliver the fire engineering for the Taronga Wildlife Retreat, an overnight retreat set within Taronga Zoo at Mosman.

Stage 1 brings together a guest lodge, a restaurant and five cross-laminated timber accommodation pods, linked by external stairways and walkways and set between the existing Taronga Centre and the zoo’s animal exhibits

Timber accommodation, open-air circulation and a bushfire-prone setting bordering Sydney Harbour National Park all sat outside what a prescriptive Deemed-to-Satisfy (DtS) approach could accommodate. CORE developed a suite of Performance Solutions covering rationalised fire-resistance levels for the timber pods and guest lodge, extended travel along open, naturally ventilated walkways, a partially glazed lift shaft, protection of the external stairs, and fire-protected timber details where no fire test data existed. CORE carried the strategy through design team and Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) review to final issue.

For the bushfire risk, CORE paired BAL-29 cladding with sprinkler and drencher protection to the pod façades in place of BAL-40 construction. This was backed by 24-hour bushfire monitoring of the surrounding national park, linked to trigger the building’s emergency warning system automatically. The approach let the retreat keep its timber, indoor–outdoor character while demonstrating compliance with the NCC Performance Requirements.