12 | State of the art facility The Hamilton build is the first to be completed, with future developments in Wellington and Christchurch planned. T T from page 10 NIWA - Hamilton: Tane Te Waiora REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Experts from Fosters Construction, project manager TBIG, specialist lab designers Labworks, all contributed to the final design. Consulation with stakeholders to inform design decisions extended over two years. Construction took 18 months, spanning the Covid years and Michael says given this, to deliver the project on time and to budget was testament to how well the build team worked together. There’s a lot that goes into great lab Michael says. ”It’s a dynamic environment with a lot of movement and our labs have been specifically designed for broad use.” While Tane te Wairoa is one of several NIWA facilities nationwide, Michael say the Hamilton facility undertakes a considerable variety of field work. The main research building contains a variety of spaces, ranging from temperature-controlled rooms for experimental work with fresh or saltwater fish and shellfish, aquatic plants, pollution mitigation, analytical and water quality labs. The store building is home to two workshop-style laboratories for 3D printers, electronic and instrument calibration. “We have storage for three types of speciality waters – sea, spring and raw water which are supplied to various laboratories from the ‘tank farm’ outdoors. We can adjust and control the temperature, through a heat-exchange process, depending on the purpose of the research undertaken.” One of the key benefits, Michael says, that came from the $45 million dollar project was it gave staff the opportunity to really think through ways to become much more efficient and collaborative. “As scientists, collaboration and discussion are incredibly important, so our open plan design had to support meaningful staff engagement and camaraderie. Although I was involved throughout the design process, and knew what we were going to get, I was still surprised how nice the office environment actually is, due in no small way to the excellent acoustic control, achieved with simple but effective materials and layout.” Designed very much with the future in mind, Tane te Wairoa promises to inspire future generations of scientists and underpin NIWA’s ability to continue to deliver the excellent science needed for the foreseeable future. Photo Credit: Courtesy of NIWA Proudly Supporting NIWA - Hamilton SPECIALISTS IN STRUCTURAL STEEL, FABRICATION & STEEL ERECTION 25 Langley Road, Wiri, Auckland | Ph: +64 9 2783366 Fax: +64 2788595 E-Mail: davidm@grayson-eng.co.nz
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