38 | Icon Construction NZ DEVELOPMENT AUT project a towering success Kim Newth Interior & Exterior Seismic Joints Plate and consealed floor joints • Wall and ceiling joints Exterior wall and roof joints • Fire rated joints (1 to 4 hour) NATION-WIDE SUPPLY & INSTALL 09 280 0041 • 0800 4 SEISMIC sales@seismicguys.co.nz www.seismicguys.co.nz Two new 16-storey towers in Wakefield St, Auckland have provided a tremendous boost for Auckland University of Technology’s student accommodation, facilities and services since project completion in February 2021 this year. Icon Co Pty (NZ) Ltd is proud of its role in delivering a practical design and construction proposal that achieved the client’s requirements. The two towers provide 697 student beds, each with ensuite and kitchenette. A six-storey interconnected steel-framed podium building houses a recreation centre, including a basketball court, academic staff space, retail space and a student common floor. A link bridge on the Level 6 student common floor connects the towers. Faced with budget and programme pressures after a competitive tender process with others, the development’s owner Cedar Pacific engaged Icon under an intensive eight-week ECI process to comprehensively analyse the project’s design. An alternative structural design solution was developed, enabling Icon to successfully deliver the design and build in line with cost and programme constraints. Constructed using reinforced concrete walls and columns with post-tensioned slabs, the AUT towers were finished with precast façade panels featuring punch windows, and with curtain walls to the podium. With both towers built at the same time, double the normal plant was deployed on site and two complete sets of perimeter safety screens were also required. The two towers and podium allowed separate resourcing of multiple work fronts, resulting in a massive team of over 400 workers on site daily for an extended period. Given the large number of studio apartments, modularisation and off-site manufacturing was pivotal to the success of this project. Fully finished bathroom pods were delivered from Australia, precast panels were to page 40 manufactured in Pokeno (where they were also painted and windows installed), reinforcement was largely prefabricated off-site and internal joinery was modularised. A web-based logistics booking tool was commissioned to enable effective scheduling of all deliveries, hoisting and crane lifting requirements. Being bounded by roads on all four sides, the site was very constrained. Site logistics were carefully managed to ensure work could proceed safely, with perimeter screens also closely monitored. A big effort was put into maintaining a clean, orderly site.
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