112 | COMMUNITY Papakura School & Naylor Love BEST AT STEEL Building Excellence in New Zealand Welcome to Qualico Construction Ltd, your trusted partner in delivering high-quality construction solutions. ∙ Concrete Structure ∙ Mass Timber Installation ∙ Carpentry ∙ Renovation/Fit-Outs 021 193 1818 www.qualico.co.nz jason@qualico.co.nz Qualico Builds For Growth Four years ago Auckland-based Qualico Construction came to life, partly, as co-Director Jason Li says, to tap into a favourable market but also with a sense of giving the new enterprise a try. He’s pleased to report that they’ve been good years which has seen the company gain a good foothold in the construction sector, delivering arange of services. Qualico Construction specialises in concrete structures, mass timber installations, general carpentry, renovations and fit-outs and the team of 40, based our of Mt Wellington, are highly skilled at their trades. “In the past four years we’ve worked for five schools, mainly for Naylor Love.” “We’ve also been involved with projects for Kainga Ora, library builds and apartments, warehouses, so there’s been a good level of variety for the team.” One project with Naylor Love is supporting their work at Papakura Normal School, a project Jason says has been progressing very well. “We are doing the formwork and slab and it is 80% finished. We only have a little way to go,” says Jason, when Business North spoke with him late July. He recalls their first major job, where they proved themselves highly capable in the concrete construction space. “We were concrete structure sub-contractor at Lynfield College where we really demonstrated great capabilities, especially with our flexibility, with our health and safety practices and overall quality expected of professional operators.” This first positive experience led to more school work. Jason says the confidence he and fellow director Bing Loh felt at the time they made the decision to set up Qualico Construction, has been rewarded. And with such a positive start, when asked about future plans Jason says there is a commitment to growing the business, however, only as the market allows. “We’re at a scale where we can take on a wide array of projects. We’re currently working on a hotel in Queenstown, but we’re also determined to grow organically and take meaningful calculated steps to secure our continued success.” New block marks new era The multi-level block will feature individual classrooms, integrated bathrooms and accessible pathways. T T Sue Russell It’s an exciting year of new development at Papakura Normal School and Deputy Principal, Kevin Moorhouse, says the whole school community is very much looking forward to the doors opening on the two-storey 12 classroom block. Spurred on by Ministry of Education projections that forecast a mushrooming of the school’s roll over the next ten years, the Naylor Love build promises to bring many benefits to kaiako (teachers) and ākonga (learners) alike. “Our school roll is currently sitting at around 800, and we will continue to experience considerable growth. Planning for new classrooms to meet this roll growth started three years ago. It’s great to see the new classroom block now in construction.” On 16 April, a special dawn ceremony to bless and lay to rest a kōhatu mauri (mauri stone) took place, marking the start of construction. The stone needs to be buried at dawn when the first digging of the whenua happens. It’s placement is significant — laid directly underneath where a kōhatu mata (surface stone) will sit at the building’s entrance — linking the completed structure and its occupants to the land. “This was a very special moment, blessing the build that would follow, and embedding the mauri (life force) of tangata whenua into the building. In this way, the physical structure remains spiritually and culturally connected to the local environment and its ancestral guardians,” Kevin says. Once completed, ten of the twelve classrooms will be places of learning for ākonga from Papakura Normal School, with the remaining two classrooms set aside for Rosehill School to occupy. The build is progressing well. Kevin says that every available metre of space inside, including its corridors as outbreak areas, will be devoted to teaching and learning. “The corridors were originally outside the building but have been enclosed inside now, effectively increasing the teaching space,” he says. The project champions the Ministry of Education’s new property strategy which focuses on delivering cost-effective repeatable designs, reducing on-site construction time while minimising disruptions to the school community. Work is proceeding very well, framing and scaffolding is up, and the build is about to be wrapped. “We’ve been very pleased with progress. Currently, everything is on schedule and we’re planning on being in the building at the start of 2027. We’re not certain which classes will be in the new block but once our roll is confirmed in the last term, we’ll make those decisions.” David McKinlay from Naylor Love says one of the key features of the project has been the use of a modern engineered timber structural system in place of a more traditional steel and concrete solution. The multi-level block will feature individual classrooms, integrated bathrooms and accessible pathways. “This new block will mark a new era for our school, providing ākonga with an inclusive, highly functional and future-ready educational hub, preparing us well for future generations in our school population,” says Kevin. Work is proceeding very well, framing and scaffolding is up, and the build is about to be wrapped.”
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