| 25 Ravenscar an extraordinary project T T Karen Phelps Ravenscar House won the Supreme Award at the 2022 New Zealand Master Builders Commercial Project of the Year Awards. HRS Construction: Ravenscar House DEVELOPMENT Director of HRS Construction, Andrew Marshall says the Ravenscar House project at 52 Rolleston Avenue in Christchurch was extraordinary for many reasons. “The design of the building was extremely complex – particularly considering its size – and the attention to detail required to realise the vision of the design team was significantly higher than most construction projects of this scale,” he says. The house was the vision of Susan and Jim Wakefield who lost their home on Scarborough Hill to the Canterbury earthquakes. They had always wanted to share their wonderful art collection with the public and planned to donate their home to Christchurch. With the Scarborough house damaged beyond repair they made plans for a new building in Christchurch’s cultural precinct. Andrew says that the new purpose-built house museum, designed by Patterson Associates, is a re-imagining of the Wakefield’s Scarborough house. Features include rooms reminiscent of the four main rooms in the original house set around an impluvium water feature, which was influenced by planting from the original home. In another nod to history, the concrete of the new building is made from crushed granite from the original Ravenscar House, bricks from another earthquake-damaged house as well as rubble from the Arts Centre. Ravenscar Trust Chairman Steve Wakefield, Jim and Susan’s son, led the client team and says that the project conception, funding and delivery were the result of an extremely high level of collaboration, trust, effort and goodwill between numerous parties. He says this excellent collaborative environment was maintained throughout the construction process and one result was approximately $1.2m of savings realised. Andrew adds, from a builder’s perspective, coordination of the design and fabrication of the main building elements required a highly detailed and collaborative effort to identify and mitigate potential clashes. “The cooperation between the designers, HRS and various sub contractors was exceptional. “This collaboration was aided by the use of the latest computer modelling and collaboration software,” explains Andrew. “The precast concrete wall panels in particular were extremely complicated and challenging to design and construct. The accuracy of the geometry and level of finish were very high.” Another extremely challenging aspect of the construction was the basement car park. It was situated in highly permeable gravel well within the local aquifer necessitating a retention and dewatering system to deal with the high volumes of water from the excavation. “Installing and extracting the sheet piles while minimising vibration felt by the neighbours was also very challenging, and required multi-faceted solution involving, stakeholder engagement, instrument monitoring and vibration-less methods for extraction of sheet piles,” says Andrew. Likewise the concrete works to the basement was very technical and included comprehensive tanking. Andrew says that the basement has entered service with zero leaks, which is relatively rare achievement in Christchurch. The ground floor slab was another very demanding aspect of the project due to multi-levelled soffit, base isolation and in-slab services. The house museum has been gifted by the family trust and is now owned and operated by the Canterbury Museum on behalf of the people of Christchurch and Canterbury. The Ravenscar Trust maintains ownership of the extensive art collection, considered to be one of the most notable private collections of New Zealand art. Ravenscar House won the Supreme Award at the 2022 New Zealand Master Builders Commercial Project of the Year Awards. Andrew says the win is testament to the entire team that delivered this outstanding project to the people of Christchurch. “The accuracy of the geometry and level of finish were very high.” Working alongside HRS on another successful project
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