10 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT NZ Strong T T to page 12 Auckland Zoo’s South East Asia Jungle Track has proved an instant hit with visitors. NZ Strong director Lyndon Evans says that the company is driven by high aspirations and values: “We continually challenge the status quo to ensure that we remain at the leading edge of the New Zealand building industry. Our objective is to gain recognition for delivering the more interesting and challenging projects that add to a better community and built environment.” A case in point is the multi award-winning Auckland Zoo South East Asia Jungle Track (SEAJT) project, which clearly demonstrated NZ Strong’s ability to deliver technically challenging projects. NZ Strong was engaged in 2017 via a competitive tender process and began Early Contractor Involvement (ECI); particularly around how to manage the public interface and ensure visitors’ experience was still maintained while it was working in the heart of the zoo. Lyndon says that rather than trying to hide it away NZ Strong decided to make the build a part of the visitor experience. “It was about understanding the zoo and where visitors could be channelled in the right way and so they could see what was coming in terms of the future zoo. “Our plan was to cut new pathways through the zoo so people could see animal habitats and at the same time look through glazed panels in the hoardings to check out what was happening behind to make it an adventure in terms of construction and the zoo.” T T Karen Phelps Award-winning Zoo project a big hit Working collaboratively with the team at NZ Strong helped to make the Auckland Zoo South East Asian Precinct project easier and more cost e ective overall, says Janani Grant, contracts director for George Grant Engineering (GGE). Structural steel experts GGE manufactured and erected this aspect of the new café and shared shelters, aerial pathways and climbers for the orangutans and siamangs. Janani says the project presented unique challenges, particularly the small footprints the GGE team had to work through to build the enclosures. Innovation and thinking outside the square, hallmarks of GGE, became vital. For example methodology was devised to pre-assemble the roof structure on the ground then place it on top of the columns. With regards to the climbers the GGE team built a prototype from the engineers’ drawings and re ined it further to make it one fabricated piece so it could be shipped to site complete and ready to be placed in position. GGE worked closely with the designers to enable the O-lines to be preassembled on the ground including the mesh cladding. This was important as it meant the team didn’t have to work for long periods high o the ground and signi icantly reduced crane time and sca olding saving the client time and money while making the job safer for the team. The café included a complex curved roof shape – a combination of Delivering success for over 30 years block wall and structural steel. Janani says the GGE team had to design and build it in such a way to allow for a lot of tolerance and limited access due to the proximity of a pond nearby. The project was a inalist in the 2020 Steel Construction New Zealand (SCNZ) awards. “This project demonstrates we think outside the box, are innovative in our approach and assist with the design from the shop drawing phase to make the project smarter and quicker,” says Janani. “Nothing is out of the ordinary for our team.” The GGE team has since completed additions to the precinct adding a new climbing frame for the orangutans once again working to strict time frames and coming up with clever ways to install it. GGE are specialists in the fabrication and installation of structural steel for commercial, industrial, civil construction and infrastructure projects. The company has been supplying high quality structural steel to the construction industry for over 30 years in New Zealand and across the South Paci ic. Certi ied to CC3 under the SCNZ’s Steel Fabricator Certi ication scheme, it is recognised for its stringent approach to health and safety, quality and doing whatever it takes to inish projects safely and on time. “Our business exists to deliver success for our customers and our sta alike.”
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