Business Central September 2020

42 | Volume 5 | Issue 3 Good things take time at College Community asset: the new Performing Arts Centre at Kapiti College. Kelly Deeks REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT » Kapiti - Multibuild NEBULITE WELLINGTON LTD 5 Manchester Street, Paraparaumu Ph: 04 298 3736 | E: info@nwltd.co.nz www.nebulite.co.nz Proud history of supplying our customers with high quality aluminium windows and doors. “Serious Electrical Contractors” KAPITI - 04 296 1727 | WELLINGTON - 04 568 2323 Domestic | Commercial | Industrial Are pleased to have played a leading role in association with Multibuild In the completion of the Kapiti Performing Arts Centre Stones Electrical Contractors Ltd 04 939 2868 / 021 929 983 Trevor@AMSNZ.com PO Box 13715, Johnsonville Churton Park, Wellington W ith strong ties to the Kapiti region, local construction firm Multibuild is proud to have delivered a stunning new Performing Arts Centre and classroom development at Kapiti College. “We believe the facility will be a huge asset to the Kapiti region and are proud that the years of work put in to making this building a reality have paid off,” says Multibuild director Tim Evison. “It is without doubt the longest project gestation period we have ever experienced, but the results are well worth it.” A strong relationship between Kapiti College and Multibuild formed over many years of working together led to an invitation for the construction firm to present a pitch to the Board of Trustees for the construction of the new development. Multibuild approached McKenzie Higham Architects and together in 2013 they presented a proposal for a slightly more modest facility than ended up being constructed. The design and build team learned they were successful in March 2014. “Between 2013 and May 2017 when the work commenced on site, a number of things changed - the project procurement method, the building size, and the project staging,” says Tim. “We got through four years of estimates, plan- ning, and meetings before we finally broke ground.” Multibuild was engaged to complete Stage 1 – foundations and floor slab only – on the basis of an open book tender and started pouring concrete during May 2017. The plan was to have a developed design for Stage 2 – basically everything above slab level – finished, priced, and the contract value agreed in sufficient time to continue with the build in a sequential manner, but that was not achievable for a number of reasons, and the finished slab sat dormant for many months. “Community interest in the project was high, and without being privy to the massive amount of work the project team was putting in behind closed doors to get Stage 2 started, it must have appeared to a number of outside interests that the project had ground to a halt.” So it was a great relief to commence the erection of precast concrete panels in August 2018. Once underway, Tim says the project itself presented no more challenges than would usually be expected on a project of this size and complex- ity, and it was successfully delivered just prior to Christmas 2019. Multibuild directors Craig Reilly and Tim Evison are a qualified carpenter and a quantity surveyor with a degree in construction management, both with strong ties to the Kapiti region. Craig and Tim are very aware of the need for the industry to become more professional and to develop better systems for managing construction projects. They are equally cognisant of the fact they are not interested in being a construction management firm that subcontracts every aspect of a project out to other firms. Part of Multibuild’s success is its foremen are working foremen. The company has brought staff through carpen- try apprenticeships and retained them as part of the team.