Full-height Webnet barriers for a vertical learning community.
Green Square Public School is a landmark education and community project in the heart of one of Sydney’s fastest-growing urban precincts. Designed by BVN and delivered by Hutchinson Builders, the school reimagines what learning environments can be in dense city contexts — offering a series of stacked terraces, open-air circulation, and shared spaces that encourage social connection. To support this architecture, Tensile designed and installed full-height Webnet barrier systems across the school’s upper levels, ensuring safety without compromising the openness and visual continuity that define the project.
BVN’s design treats the school as a civic platform: layered spaces, voids, and outdoor rooms that dissolve the boundary between learning and community. This openness required a barrier system that achieves:
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Uninterrupted views across multiple levels
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High transparency for passive supervision
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Full-height fall protection and climb-resistance
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Robust performance under educational C5 loading
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Minimal visual impact on the refined structural expression
Webnet was the material that allowed all of this to coexist. In total 2300m² of full-height Webnet barriers across all upper-level balconies, learning terraces, external walkways, and circulation edges.
Tensile’s Solution
Across the entire elevated circulation network, Tensile installed 40mm aperture, 2.0mm wire Jakob Webnet, engineered to meet C5 loading requirements. The mesh delivers fall protection, non-climbability, and exceptional visibility — aligning with BVN’s commitment to openness and lightness.
To maintain the purity of the architecture, Tensile detailed the system so no secondary structure was required.
Perimeter cables lace directly back to the primary steel and concrete, allowing the mesh to act as a slender, continuous skin rather than a framed insertion.
This approach was especially important at the ground-floor multi-purpose/basketball court, where removing solid structure preserved permeability, ventilation, and a strong sense of connection between the school and the surrounding neighbourhood.
Tensile worked closely with BVN and Hutchies to ensure each interface aligned with the exposed structure, complex geometries, and required clearances. Engineering accounted for:
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C5 crowd loads and fall-protection standards
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Cable pre-tensioning and anchorage into primary structure
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Differential movement between building elements
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Avoiding footholds within the NCC non-climbability zone
Fabrication and installation were delivered within tight program windows and active construction staging, with careful coordination to maintain site safety and ensure the mesh aligned perfectly with finished surfaces.
The result is a barrier system that is almost invisible — yet structurally rigorous and built to handle decades of use in a high-traffic school environment.
The completed Webnet installation contributes to the school’s spatial clarity, safety, and identity. Instead of heavy rails or visually intrusive framing, the mesh enables BVN’s vertical campus to remain airy, transparent, and connected — a genuine extension of the architectural language rather than a compromise imposed by compliance.
Thinking about safety barriers for an education or public project?
Tensile works with architects, builders and government clients to design barrier systems that are compliant, durable and visually unobtrusive.
Get in touch to discuss your project.
