| 127 T T Richard Loader Extolling the virtues of concrete Residential projects include a mix of developers along with private home owners. NZ Concrete Structures / NZ Concrete Homes BUILDING Concrete may not seem the typical thing to be deeply passionate about, but for Doug Tuhoro it is about leaving an enduring intergenerational legacy in the buildings constructed by his companies NZ Concrete Structures and NZ Concrete Homes. And he has no doubt about the virtues and benefits of concrete. “I want to give people a structure that will be there for their families, not just for themselves. The benefit of concrete is that you’re getting a building that will stand the test of time. There’s minimal to no risk of the concrete structures leaking and with increasing storm events and cyclones the benefit of concrete really speaks for itself. To be perfectly honest, the build cost on a concrete home compared to a wooden structure is now a lot more favourable, particularly with larger structures.” Doug founded NZ Concrete Structures in 2016 when he was based in Auckland and engaged to build Kumeu Film Studios. Many other commercial builds in Auckland followed, and three years ago it made sense to complement that work with residential projects, giving rise to NZ Concrete Homes. A Hamilton boy at heart, Doug and his family have returned to the place of his birth and the businesses now operate throughout the golden triangle with a diverse range of commercial and residential projects keeping his teams busy. Doug says that with changes in the town plans, people can now build four duplex homes on an 800sqm section, and many smaller and larger developers are leaning towards that. “With the dynamics of building evolving to increasing numbers of three and four storey medium to large density projects, along with the effects of climate change, concrete presents clients with a perfect and safe building material. “Most of our work is still in Auckland and Hamilton, but we have an increasing volume in Tauranga. In recent times we have been approached by a number of private home owners with leaky homes that have been condemned. They don’t want to have a repeat of that going forward and come to us to build a standalone concrete home.” Over the last four years NZ Concrete Structures has completed a lot of large commercial warehouses including 5000sqm builds, typically building directly for developers. Residential projects include a mix of developers along with private home owners. “We provide a full turn-key design and build offering, including earthworks. Different builds have different requirements, and whether commercial or residential we help the client through the whole process from concept to design, consenting through to construction and handing the keys over at completion. The bigger homes we are doing are architectural, but people are really wanting concrete because they want security and a sense of permanence in the homes — especially if they are building on a hill.” While 75% of projects are in-situ concrete structures, Doug says tilt-slab is also offered as an option and has the advantage of off-site prefabrication and reducing build lead times, but with additional costs including cranage, transport, joins and scaffolding, which you don’t have with in-situ.
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