118 | Passive house pioneers Stunning vertical cedar cladding. Ecobuild Developments Multibuild Gymmakeover a triumph for local firm T T Russell Fredric T T from page 117 BUILDING As a nimble business with the capacity to tackle a broad range of projects, Multibuild has a lot to offer, especially when working with tight budgets. Headed by directors Tim Evison and Craig Reilly and based in Paraparaumu, Multibuild employs eight trade staff, and in recent years has developed a track record of successfully completing builds weighted towards the education and commercial sectors. Its work for schools typically involves liaising with a professional project manager appointed by a board of trustees, and working with tight budgets where every dollar either saved or used effectively makes a difference, Tim says. “There’s always ministry [of education] funding behind those projects, but primarily we have a contract with the board of trustees. One of the backbone projects we have done in the last year or so is the old gymnasium at Kapiti College.” Described by a local newspaper as “a stunning makeover”, the new gym features a junior-sized court for sports such as basketball, handball, netball, volleyball and badminton, with additional facilities including a weights room, cardio room and changing rooms. “Whether we’re targeting certification or not, every eHaus utilises the passive house planning package (PHPP) for energy modelling, ensuring health, comfort and optimal performance.” One such award-winning eHaus project is the Ranfurly, non-certified eHaus Euro, PHI low- energy home in Feilding designed by Monika Puri of 242am Architects, and built by eHaus Manawatu’s Anna Wilson, who took over the regional owner’s role from Warren Dunn. This 355sqm, three-bedroom home incorporates stunning design features such as Otago schist and vertical cedar cladding. Internally, meticulous detailing includes sleek, 6mm negative detailing for skirting and architraves. The Ranfurly won nine accolades in the National & Regional Registered Master Builder 2021 House of the Year competition, reflecting its innovative design and superior construction. eHaus continues to innovate in energy-efficient construction, having already completed a number of fully off-grid projects, the company is exploring the continuous advancement in energy generation, storage and distribution technology, to evaluate its benefits in relieving rising energy prices and fuel poverty. “It’s about understanding that the same people that build an eHaus are often also interested in generating their own electricity,” says Jon. “If we’re able to still be grid-tied, it means that if we generate excess electricity, we’re able to share that back into the grid. “Imagine if communities could share excess electricity they generate with designated people and households,” says Jon, “that could be the interesting next step in combatting energy hardship.” “It’s about understanding that the same people that build an eHaus are often also interested in generating their own electricity,” As with other budget-sensitive projects, Multibuild’s expertise came to the fore. “What we are quite good at doing – certainly on this project was a good example of it – we really critiqued that design and we ended up taking out what we thought to be some superfluous design features that were quite costly, and delivered the project under budget.” By eliminating these superfluous features, some of the funds for the $1.2 million project were able to be diverted into other areas that were not in the original scope of the build. Tim describes the original building as “pretty tired” and the scope of the project extensive. “They were able to modernise all the changing rooms, which was never part of the original scope; we were essentially only doing the gymnasium and creating a full-size basketball court from an old building that wasn’t [originally] big enough to do that. By us having the ability to pull the design apart a bit, the college directly and with the project managers, we rationalised it and delivered, we think, a much better result.” Work included removing one end of the building, pouring a new section of concrete floor slab, adding steel portals for the extension, infill timber framing and completely recladding the roof, replacing sections of weatherboard and installing a mechanical ventilation system. Multibuild Schwass Ltd For Their Commercial & Residential Projects
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