| 123 Dobbyn Builders: Kowhai Falls Retail Centre at Kowhai Falls Dobbyn Builders is progressing through the second stage of Warkworth’s four-stage Kowhai Falls retail development. BUILDING The nature of the site meant there was considerable engineering required for its floor. “At nine metres deep there’s basically a big swamp, so that building’s got 300 11 metre long timber piles driven underneath all the footings. We did that in about three weeks.” The piles were Northland pine, milled at Topuni Timber while, at the suggestion of Glen Inger, 5000 cubic metres of pumice and scoria was used for fill under the slab instead of polystyrene “because the building was trying to be the lowest carbon footprint we possibly could, no one liked the idea of polystyrene.” “Compaction was tested all the way through, the geotech’s were testing all of that, that all passed no problem at all.” Dobbyn Builders carefully assesses materials specified in any project and the source of the timber in Kowhai Falls’ buildings is an important element of this process. “It’s about searching the market to make sure you are getting the best value for money, but also making sure structurally you are getting the strongest, most dense timber as well. We make sure that once something has been spec’d that the homework has been done on it.” Because the beefed-up insulation regulations introduced last year applies to retail buildings as well as residential, meeting this requirement included the need to install 100mm thick PIR roof and wall panels with an R4.8 insulation value as well as double glazed aluminium joinery. Solar panels on the roof and LED lighting has further contributed to the overall energy efficiency. The positive effect on the building’s energy requirements from this design is huge. “The heating and air-conditioning systems are only running at 30% of their capacity which significantly reduces the energy consumption and total carbon footprint, and that’s just from having such high insulation in the building.” Stage two of Kowhai Falls will also be a low energy building and was designed by Auckland studio Aqua Architecture which has considerable experience in multi-million dollar commercial and industrial projects. As the main contractor, Dobbyn Builders is also providing all of Kowhai Falls civil works and concrete car park in-house. “We pride ourselves on a complete package from start to finish so everything is all in-house from civil earthworks right through to putting the roof on and even the signs up in the car park.” Stage three is planned to incorporate a multi-story café and restaurant complex across from the retail stores and will include about 2500 square metres of space for an assortment of smaller businesses, while the forth and final stage will provide a final 2,500 square metre retail space to complete the complex. “We’ve completed high-end residentials which have been more labour intensive and a longer build, but this [development] would be the biggest square metre build that we’ve done. The build side of it has been all local sub-contractors and suppliers that we use in our team. “It has also generated a huge amount of work for locals which has been the bonus of it not being outsourced to other larger contractors who tend to bring their own subcontractors from Auckland.” The building is expected to have seven tenancies comprising well-known national chains. “It is programmed for completion late November this year which, after receiving building consent on the 7th of May, will make this a milestone for the fastest 5,000 square meters of retail space to be completed by Dobbyn Builders, if not in the wider Auckland region.” Proud to be supporting Dobbyn Builders Congratulations to Dobbyn Builders on a great build. We are proud to have supplied products and services for this project. Haulage • Hiab • Metal & Drainage Supplies New Zealand’s largest supplier of Certified Concrete, Masonry, Paving, Concrete Retaining wall systems and Dricon® bagged concrete. 100% proud to supply Dobbyn Builders 09 423 6044 FIRTH.CO.NZ CONCRETE THE TRUSTED NAME IN
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