80 | Top Notch Construction: Parade Apartments T T Kelly Deeks Top quality workmanship for Top Notch Parade Apartments are a step up in density for this developer, with Top Notch Construction having completed previous duplex projects for the same developer. BUILDING Professional Steel Fixers. 027 324 7143 www.olympicsteel.nz olympicsteel.info@gmail.com Providing only the best in quality workmanship and customer service, Top Notch Construction has been delivering first-rate residential construction projects throughout the Greater Wellington region for more than 15 years. Specialising in new homes, renovations, and developments, Top Notch Construction is currently back working with a regular client to deliver eight new apartments and one commercial space with the Parade Apartments at Island Bay. Top Notch Construction co-owner Cameron Ginnane says the Parade Apartments are a step up in density for this developer, with Top Notch Construction having completed previous duplex projects for the same developer. It is also a step up in scale for Top Notch Construction, which has built apartment buildings before with up to five dwellings. “It’s on the high end of what we’ve done ourselves,” he says. “This is three three-storey buildings in a line on a deep but narrow site, only 10m across.” Building one is now under construction and sits at the site’s street frontage. It contains a commercial unit on the ground floor with a two-storey apartment above. Building two sits behind building one and contains two single-storey apartments and two two-storey apartments, and building three is at the rear of the site with three one-storey apartments. Buildings two and three are already complete and tenanted. “It’s very bespoke and very complex, every apartment is slightly different and every building is going together differently from the last,” Cameron says. “But it’s the complex and tricky projects that we enjoy doing.” The site presented challenges for Top Notch Construction and the project’s civil contractor Halverson Civil right from the start. With the groundings for the foundations needing to be placed below the water table, pumping out started on day one and still continues. “We ended up with 15m concrete piles, and the length of these is an issue in itself. Halverson Civil used their continuous flight auger to excavate and then inject concrete as the auger was removed.” The tight width of the site also presented challenges, which Top Notch Construction has managed to work around by staging this project in the manner they did, building from “It’s very bespoke and very complex, every apartment is slightly different and every building is going together differently from the last.” the rear to the front of the site. Now they are working right on the footpath with building one, they have commandeered the footpath as well as the carparks in front, moving pedestrians and traffic to the far side of The Parade. Cameron says this traffic management solution is going to be in place for a further five to six months, but the locals have been very understanding about it. “I think they are happy for this building to be coming to their neighbourhood,” he says. “About 50% of the Island Bay shops are closing for earthquake strengthening, so they are quite keen on any new commercial space.” Challenges aside, Top Notch Construction is feeling pretty fortunate to have three special highlights to this project. “It’s always a good time to celebrate when you get a building closed in, and the fact we’re building three buildings gives us the opportunity to have three separate roof shouts every time we get a roof on!” Top Notch Construction is working with concrete block for the left and right boundary walls and Nu-Wall aluminium weatherboards on the other faces, chosen for their low maintenance and high durability. Bespoke features include light wells and a Kaynemaile architectural mesh facade.
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