Business South March 2021

| 115 The Bellevue Retirement Village The first stage consists of a multi-storey building encompassing 71 care suites, 22 independent living apartments and communal facilities. LIFESTYLE Thinking about your next project? Talk to us today 03 339 7000 w w w . h f c . c o . n z HFC are proud to have provided structural engineering services for The Bellevue redevelopment Since its foundation in 1996, HFC Group’s innovative approach to structural engineering has established it as a leading engineering design consultancy operating throughout New Zealand and the Paci ic. At the heart of HFC Group’s success has been employing and developing the best talent, taking a collaborative approach to solving clients’ structural and design challenges and a commitment to inding solutions that express the right balance between budget, function and design. The foundation of a great team is the culture that resides within, and HFC Group has forged a culture of learning and mastery, promoting a sense of empowerment, pride, responsibility and recognition—but most importantly fun and a sense of family. Formed by senior engineers, Rob Foster and Maurice Harris, HFC Group has steadily grown to be a successful practice operating from o ices in Auckland and Christchurch and employing a team of 45 sta , including structural engineers, draughting technicians and support sta . Associate Director Shane Simmonds says HFC Group has established teams dedicated to industrial and commercial work, and another team focused on residential structures including the foundations to group housing/multi units and low-rise townhouse buildings. The commercial teams work ranges from high-end architectural housing through large apartment buildings, The foundation of a great team educational buildings and aged care facilities throughout New Zealand.” The team at HFC respects the creative aspect of architecture and the resulting architectural form and function of a building. HFC team members are trained to work closely with the Architect and Client to ensure that their vision is realized while designing the structural design to the highest standards of e iciency and buildability. Shane says while the methodology for good engineering design has not altered signi icantly over the years, technology has evolved in the way engineers approach design. “We can create very accurate three-dimensional models of the structures and how they will behave. Likewise with our drawings and documentation—a lot of it is three-dimensional modeling, which helps with clash detection between di erent surfaces. Our structural three-D model can be inserted into the architect’s three-D model.” Looking to the future, Shane says while HFC does a very good job servicing the depth and breadth of the country, there is always the possibility of establishing another branch in other regions. “Central Otago is an area where we have a number of projects in progress. At the moment we can service that from here but that is not to say in the future we won’t grow and establish something more local in that area.”