1996 DVA engaged HPA (then Hewitt Design Associates) to consult in the development of the site as a visitor destination. The anticipated annual visitation was 20,000 people. HPA developed the brief and master plan. Woods Bagot Bangkok designed the building. HPA designed, built, shipped and installed the fit out. The facility opened in 1998. This comprised a modest Museum building and fit out, car parking, observation deck, toilets, signage and site interpretation. HPA has had involvement at Hellfire Pass since this first stage spanning almost twenty years.
2006 we designed and built the walkway that takes visitors from the Museum down to the rail bed. Constructed from concrete, prefabricated steel and timber, the walkway was designed to Australian Standards as a prefabricated bolt together kit, allowing visitors relatively easy access to the rail bed. The walkway was fabricated in Sydney and shipped to site in Thailand. Construction and installation was undertaken by a combination of HPA tradesmen and Thai labour.
2007 HPA were engaged to upgrade all interpretive signage to fully bilingual Thai/English. This is largely what is on site today.
2009 we demolished and removed a number of non-original features including a 90 tonne concrete stair. This was achieved with minimal impact on public operations and with limited fabric damage to the rail bed itself.
2010 Lookout platforms overlooking the main cutting were constructed due to safety concerns of the original platforms, again these elements were fabricated by HPA in Sydney and shipped to site.
From 2013 to 2016 HPA was engaged to manage installation of scaffold seating at the Memorial site for the ANZAC Day dawn service. The task itself is not major construction however the scaffolding is located in a creek bed, susceptible to flooding and 600 metres from the nearest road access point. Total constructed weight of the array was 54 tonne.
ProjectHellfire Pass MemorialClientMuseum and Historic Site Australian GovernmentLocationThailand- 3 hours west of Bangkok.Date1996 - 2016ValuePrivate
