26 | DEVELOPMENT Real Living - Kalmar Construction: Remuera Gardens T T Sue Russell Expansion driven by growing demand The new build will bring a further 58 units of various configurations into the Remuera Gardens Retirement Village. The expansion of the Remuera Gardens Retirement Village will enable the central Auckland city village to meet growing demand. The two-block addition, which will provide 58 new apartments, has been 10 years in the planning. Village operator, Real Living Villages’ chief executive Martin Oettli, says the expansion has been driven by the growing elderley popu lation. “Driving it is the demographic forecasts which see a significant increase in people aged over 75 years, so when changes were made to Auckland’s unitary plan we put in a resource consent,” Martin says. The new build will bring a further 58 units of various configurations into the village, one of four retirement villages within the Real Living group. Other villages are located at Pakuranga, Epsom and at Warkworth, north of Auckland. At Remuera Gardens, there are several choices of apartment/unit size, from one and two bedroom serviced and independent apartments, three bedroom stand-alone villas, a care facility, along with shared social and recreational facilities for residents to enjoy, including a 45-seat cinema. Martin says adding significant new buildings on to an existing retirement village comes with challenges. “The key is, of course, to start talking with residents early, to allay their concerns and explain to them what the building pathway will be and what to expect during that time. Every two months we have a full residents meeting with our contractor Kalmar there as well.” When Business North spoke with Martin, all the ground works were complete and a crane assembled ready to begin the buildings’ vertical development. Fortunately, Remuera Gardens Retirement Village is right on the boundary with College Rifles Rugby Club, which has provided some additional space for contractors to park vehicles. The relationship with Kalmar Construction stems back some way now. The company also built the 62 apartment Warkworth Oaks Village and Martin says, there are good understandings in place between developer and builder. “We had Kalmar involved early in terms of the buildability of the new blocks at Remuera Gardens Village. Being a brown field site we needed extra planning and consideration, all with the aim of reducing and mitigating any disruption for residents.” The village currently has 103 apartments, so the expansion at Remuera Gardens is significant. It heralds in a significant redevelopment of the site in ensuing years. Kalmar Construction spokesperson and project manager on the build Luke Kus says progress on construction is going along well. As is often the case though, the most challenging part all happened under the ground, as Luke explains. “A couple of significant challenges had to be overcome before the build could progress as directly under the footprint of the twinblock complex sat significant public services, including a major hub for management of sewerage in the district. We had to divert all this infrastructure around the outside of the building footprint. I’m pleased to say that most difficult part is now behind us.” Laying out the new services beneath also provided an opportunity for a major upgrade of the sewer pipe, future-proofing it for a significant period ahead. When Business North spoke with Luke a tower crane had been erected, signalling the project was now ready to progress up from the basement resident carpark to a combined podium area shared by the two buildings and four apartment block levels above. Luke says now the build will progress well and is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2025. At an impressive 3500m2 basement floor area, the project has gone very well. Given that its a significant build on an existing retirement village both Kalmar and the developers have made sure residents have opportunities to be updated on progress and to ask any questions they may have. “We’ve worked very hard to communicate with residents throughout the build, so they have a good understanding of where things are at. We are also very careful about the transporting of building materials, traffic flow and ensuring the everyone’s health and safety is maintained,” says Luke. Remuera Gardens Retirement Village is a beautiful site, full of trees and gardens for residents to enjoy. As part of the project a bowling green will be built directly adjacent to the new buildings, providing residents with additional opportunities to remain active and engaged. PipeWorks is one of the largest trenchless pipe lining and rehabilitation companies in New Zealand with the majority of our specialised CIPP lining and CCTV projects delivered in regional locations throughout the country. We offer a cost effective and less carbon-intensive means of maintaining network integrity as ageing water and wastewater infrastructure reaches the end of its useful life. We offer pragmatic solutions to client’s problems, based on the experience and the design expertise of our team. BRIAN PERRY CIVIL LTD T/A PIPEWORKS 18 Gabador Pl, Mt Wellington 027 801 0165 info@pipeworks.co.nz
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=