Business South August 2021

24 | T and A Construction New Harley Chambers leads the way T Kim Newth New Harley Chambers is set to become a home for medical and advanced technology excellence in the Christchurch’s Health Precinct. DEVELOPMENT C hristchurch’s former police headquar- ters in St Asaph Street have reopened with a new name and a new purpose. New Harley Chambers is now home to high tech tenant Syft Technologies and is poised for further growth as a centre for medical research and technology. Box 112 purchased the old police station for $25 million in 2019. It had been used by police as a transitional base before relocating to the city’s justice and emergency services precinct. The name ‘New Harley Chambers’ reflects a new vision for the building as a home for med- ical and advanced technology excellence in the heart of the Christchurch Health Precinct. Christchurch-based company T&A Con- struction Limited has worked alongside Box 112 on a number of iconic inner city projects, including the MUSE Art Hotel in Manchester St, the restored art deco Christchurch Public Trust Office in Oxford Terrace and The Welder in Welles St. The company has considerable experience in restoration projects, working with recycled timbers and old structures to bring strength, beauty and functionality back to anchor heritage buildings. For this latest Box 112 project, no struc- tural strengthening work was required. T&A Construction’s role this time was to update services and deliver the fit-out for Syft Tech- nologies, whose smart SIFT-MS machines are transforming the world of trace analysis. Syft has taken up approximately half of the availa- ble space in New Harley Chambers. “Our first task was to strip out the old police fit-out – walls, kitchens, IT services and so on,” says Aaron Walker, founder of T&A Construc- tion. Aaron and his team then completed the new fit-out for Syft Technologies to a design by Three Sixty Architecture. The new IT, elec- trical and HVAC services were designed for a very high level of performance and had to be fit for purpose for this particular tenant. From initial design, the project took 11 months. “We did the office portion first with staff able to move in there last December. We then completed the production facility in the south-east corner of the building.” New Harley Chambers has an exciting future ahead. Space is available for medi- cal researchers, clinicians and technology innovators to join Syft Technologies as tenants over coming months. The campus will evolve alongside their needs. Since T&A Construction was founded in 2012, the company has grown to a team of 21 full-time staff from all over the world, sharing a diverse range of skills from project and site management through to carpentry and joinery. New projects for T&A Construction include another with Box 112, to strengthen and re- furbish Our City O-Tautahi, also known as the Old Municipal Chambers. This is a prominent heritage landmark along the Ōtakaro Avon River Corridor and one of the city’s most im- portant remaining heritage buildings. “We specialise in restoring old buildings. I personally love these projects because they are challenging and fun, and the end result is invariably so unique.” Also coming up for the T&A team later this year is a spruce up of the New City Hotel in Colombo St and a new fit-out of the old MED building on Armagh St. “We specialise in restoring old buildings. I personally love these projects because they are challenging and fun, and the end result is invariably so unique.” Proud to work alongside T and A Construction EASYPAINT Wayne 027 216 1877 wayne.blackburn@easypaint.co.nz Ltd MarleyGlass woodla.co.nz Public Trust 2021 Landscapes. We understand We design We build