STRUCTURALLY SPEAKING THE NEWSLETTER OF MSC CONSULTING GROUP OCTOBER 2006
New Director and Associate MSC are pleased to announce the appointment of a new Director and Associate. Kevin Wyborn was appointed a Director in April this year. Anil Krishnan (August) has been appointed Associate. Kevin Wyborn joined MSC in July 2003. He was a shareholder with a large multinational company where he ran their Fiji operation for seven years before returning to Auckland. “I liked the idea of a smaller company rather than one which had 300 staff in NZ and 4000 worldwide,” explained Kevin when asked why he decided to join MSC. “MSC is a friendly and social place to work and I enjoy the feeling of ownership of individual projects because of the smaller design teams and the fact that as a Director I have an input and responsibility for the future direction of the business.”
From left, Kevin Wyborn and Anil Krishnan.
Kevin’s area of expertise is road design and commercial and residential site development. When he’s not on MSC business he spends his time trying to finish the house that he started building four years ago, plays golf when time allows, enjoys travelling and gets a kick out of encouraging his two children in their interests. Newest Associate Anil Krishnan joined MSC in May 1999 as a Structural Engineer. He is a graduate from Canterbury University with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil). At MSC Anil specialises in the structural design of warehouses, shopping malls, schools, apartments and residential homes. He loves the variety of work at MSC and the friendly team environment. His interests include golf, running, spending time with his kids and is a DIY home renovator.
Level 1, 12-14 Como Street, Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand PO Box 33 426, Takapuna. Telephone 09-486-2210. Email: msc@msc.co.nz
WELCOME
Welcome to our first issue of Structurally Speaking, the newsletter of MSC Consulting. We trust you will enjoy reading about all the latest MSC project and people news.
Westfield A
Our business revolves around the quality of our people. They are dedicated to providing a high level of personal service and technical expertise based on principles of quality, efficiency and integrity to ensure programs and budgets are met and developments are completed to the highest standards. The aim of this newsletter is to provide our valued customers and business associates with an update on the people and projects that make MSC special. We have the experience and capacity to plan, design and document a wide variety of projects including those that are being developed on a larger scale. As you can see in the project profiles in this issue these range from multi-storey high-rise buildings to residential properties. In this issue we also congratulate Kevin Wyborn (Director), and Anil Krishnan (Associate) on their appointments. Congratulations must also go to Paul Culley who has been with us for 20 years and continues to contribute in a big way. It was also a thrill for us to see projects we have worked on receive awards at the recent Property Council Awards dinner. It is excellent recognition for these customers who share our values. We hope you enjoy reading this first issue of MSC Structurally Speaking. We plan to make it a regular communication tool.
Kind regards Bob McGuigan Geoff Chilcott Tom Donald Kevin Wyborn
(bob@msc.co.nz) (geoff@msc.co.nz) (tom.d@msc.co.nz) (kevin.w@msc.co.nz)
- Directors, MSC Consulting Group Limited.
MSC are the structural engineer Centre being built on the North S
Stage one comprises 10 cinemas a
As structural engineer for the proje canopies and signage. Geoff Chilc Krishnan is the MSC Project Manag of the project and structural desig level centre management and reta responsible for the cinema design a
Russ Osborne is the Project Desig was chosen for Westfield Albany. the Westfield Albany structural doc area.”
“Westfield Albany is a “Greenfield” issues,” added Russ Osborne when including a ten screen cinema with requirements.”
Preliminary design on the Westfield first of the earthworks at Westfield 2007.
JCY Architects and Woodhams Miek
On the draw
Despite the much talked about dow work. Some of the current projects
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We will feature the above projects i
MSC PROJECTS
Westfield Albany
MSC are the structural engineers on stage one of the massive Westfield Albany Shopping Centre being built on the North Shore. Stage one comprises 10 cinemas and 66,087 square metres of retail space over three levels. As structural engineer for the project MSC is responsible for structural design of the buildings, canopies and signage. Geoff Chilcott is the MSC Director responsible for the project. Anil Krishnan is the MSC Project Manager & Senior Design Engineer undertaking all administration of the project and structural design of the single level eastern retail area as well as the two level centre management and retail building. MSC Senior Design Engineer Bassim Aliloom is responsible for the cinema design and the two level retail western wing. Russ Osborne is the Project Design Manager for the project for Westfield. He explains why MSC was chosen for Westfield Albany. “MSC were the successful tenderer and were chosen to deliver the Westfield Albany structural documentation due to their established track record and knowledge of the area.� “Westfield Albany is a “Greenfield� site which has been subject to a balanced cut-to-fill exercise which has resulted in inherent design issues,� added Russ Osborne when quizzed about the challenges at Albany. “The project accommodates three levels of development including a ten screen cinema within the site. The cinema will have additional levels above the main three for plant and operational requirements.� Preliminary design on the Westfield Albany project started for MSC in July 2005. Detailed design commenced in February 2006. The first of the earthworks at Westfield Albany started in January 2006 and construction started in August 2006. Completion will be in late 2007. JCY Architects and Woodhams Miekle Zhan are the Architects working for Westfield on the Albany project.
On the drawing board‌ Despite the much talked about downturn in the construction sector the team at MSC Consulting have a significant amount of forward work. Some of the current projects on the drawing boards include: s 7ASTE WATER UPGRADE 4HREE SUBDIVISIONS COMPRISING A TOTAL RESIDENTIAL LOTS AT 2UAKAKA s 0UKEKOHE -EGA CENTRE ! TWO STAGE LARGE FORMAT RETAIL DEVELOPMENT INCLUDING A SIGNIl CANT SITE WORKS COMPONENT s 3HELL 3ERVICE 3TATIONS .EW SERVICE STATIONS AT VARIOUS .ORTH )SLAND LOCATIONS s 2ETIREMENT 6ILLAGES !T 4AURANGA -ANUREWA AND ON THE (IBISCUS #OAST s (ORSHAM $OWNS AND (ILLCREST 3HOPPING #ENTRES IN (AMILTON s 3EVERAL )NDUSTRIAL PROJECTS IN THE .ORTH (ARBOUR )NTERPLEX SUBDIVISION FOR +EA 0ROPERTIES AND .ORTHPOINT We will feature the above projects in future issues of MSC Structually Speaking.
Exel Building at Highbrook MSC were the structural engineers on the recently completed Exel building at the new Highbrook Business Park in Auckland. MSC were engaged by Highbrook Developments who are developing Highbrook in partnership with Macquarie Goodman. The Exel building consists of 700 square metres of high quality offices on two levels, a stage one warehouse of 15,000 square metres and a stage two warehouse of 8,000 square metres. Director Bob McGuigan lead the MSC design team on the Exel project. All elements were drawn by Young Kim. The project started for MSC in October 2004 and was signed off with final inspections early in 2006. Haydn & Rollett were the main contractors with Construction Techniques and Confloor providing the expertise for the post tensioned floor slabs. Simon Williams from Williams Architects was the architect. The building features huge canopies for undercover loading in and out by the occupant Exel and tall concrete wall panels with very interesting motif style patterns on the walls. The building won the Excellence award for Industrial buildings at the recent Property Council Awards dinner. Macquarie Goodman Infrastructure Manager Peter Yendell says that Exel are thrilled with the building which is about to be extended for the third time. “Bob and the MSC crew formed a key part of a well integrated team on this big project,” said Peter. “There were minimal problems with the design development which meant the project finished on time and within the budget.”
Addison Parkside Residential Development, Takanini MSC are currently engaged to provide resource consent documentation, detailed design and contract supervision for all infrastructure works at the new Addison Parkside project in Takanini. This infrastructure work includes earthworks, stormwater/wastewater drainage, services, water supply and roading. The project is for Addison Developments which is wholly owned by McConnell Properties Limited. It started for MSC in September 2004 and involves the staged development of 1200 residential lots and includes a community retail centre and the upgrading of existing road, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. Stormwater Solution Consultants Ltd were MSC’s sub-consultant for the stormwater design. “The development itself is not a standard subdivision as there is a large component of urban design and landscaping,” explains Civil Engineering Director Kevin Wyborn who is leading the project for MSC. “Usually subdivisions are engineering-led but in this instance the layout of the houses is the driver and the engineering fits around this.” Residents who have already moved in to completed parts of the project say that living at Addison Parkside is “like having 40 acres of land 75 metres from the front door”.
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MSC PROJECTS
25 metre High, Recall Building,The Gate When you are driving along Church Street in Penrose you won’t miss the Recall building at The Gate industrial complex. This is a massive 4800 square metres of high stud storage warehouse with stud of 25 metre which are among the highest industrial portals in New Zealand. MSC were engaged as structural engineers for this project by owners Macquarie Goodman. MSC worked with Brett Schofield from the Macquarie Goodman Australian office and Brett Watson from Auckland. Work by MSC included structural design, siteworks design and monitoring construction on site. Steltech welded steel portal frames were used for the 25 metre portals. The tall steel portals required tricky detailing for the lateral bracing. “Recall required very high racks for stacking archive material which dictated the requirement for heavily reinforced floor slabs,” explains Bob McGuigan of MSC. “This was fortunately onto the bedrock of the old Onehunga Quarry and the rock bolts drilled into the bedrock will ensure that the building doesn’t blow away. The high racking required super strict tolerance of floor slab surfaces and the builders Haydn & Rollett made sure that this happened.” Haydn & Rollett were the main contractors and Allied Concrete did the very important floor slabs. The architects were Woodhams Meikle Zhan led by Mike Woodhams. The project started for MSC in early 2003 and the roof shout was late in 2004. The Recall project won a Merit award at the recent Property Council Awards dinner.
Quba Apartments Quay Street, Auckland City MSC has carried out all structural design and documentation for the $50 million Quba apartment complex being built in Quay Street in central Auckland for Coltrane Limited. Quba includes an eight storey carpark and a nine story apartment building with a common suspended ground floor podium. There is over 30,000 square metres of floor space. The structural design has been led by Geoff Chilcott with detailed design carried out by Bruce McNaughton and Ramon Villarias. For MSC the project started in late 2004. Construction started in November 2005 and Quba is due for completion in October 2007. The foundations to the western boundary are founded on a secant pile wall, utilising reinforced bored piles embedded between unreinforced soft piles with Bentonite. It is believed that this is only the second time that this technology has been used in New Zealand. The main contractor is Dominion Construction and the architects are Woodhams Meikle Zhan.
A House off the Edge! MSC Director Tom Donald has recently been working on what he describes as one of the more challenging residential projects. A very large concrete house built on the side of a cliff at St Heliers. “The previous owner started building a house in early 1990’s but stopped work with only some pile foundations in the ground and part of a garage excavated into the cliff face at the back of the site,” explains Tom. “We have been engaged as structural engineers for the three level plus basement project. As this issue went to press the design and drawings were in progress. Project Director Tom Donald is being assisted by Design Engineer Ross McKenzie and Draughtsman Ramon Villarias. All floors and walls are to have a concrete structure and most walls are curved. The centre of the house forms the circular core from basement to the ground, first and second floors with mostly symmetrical wings on the east and west sides. The west wing has a basement underneath including an underground squash court under the entry and second floor deck as the roof. The east wing is on ground level and the second floor deck includes a 12 x 5 metre swimming pool which will be 1.5 metres deep. In addition the north side features another 14 x 3.5 metres swimming pool which hangs over the cliff face. The MSC team started work on the St Heliers house during June and they were scheduled to be completed by the end of August. Construction is scheduled from December through to June 2007.
Visit the MSC website at ww.msc.co.nz where you will find a comprehensive details of the business. Included is the company profile, range of services, animated concepts, further project news, the drawing room.
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MSC PROJECTS
A House on the Edge MSC provided the structural engineering for this impressive 4500 square foot cliff-top property at Gulf Harbour north of Auckland. The house was designed by architect Paul Higgins for owner Des Dass. It has been described as a house on the edge – in more ways than one. Magnificently nestled on the edge of a cliff face, it possesses amazing sea views, and is surrounded by spectacular scenery, backed by the elegant Gulf Harbour golf course. Internally, the house itself is also on the edge – the cutting edge of design, technology and quality, containing features of newage systems and opulent accessories. Des Dass is the founder of Intellisys, an Integration company that designs and implements sophisticated automation control (lighting and any electrically controlled appliances), security and access control, multi-room AV (including home theatres), voice and data networks, controls for irrigation systems, pool equipment etc. so that the operation is seamless and uncomplicated. And this house has it all. Des and his son Rohan managed and planned the house project personally, spending two long years researching and designing their new home, which then took another two years to build. The house is of masonry construction and required a great deal of engineering by the MSC team led by John Syme. There was a good deal of piling and both the pool and double height kitchen were challenges that MSC provided solutions for.
The Hub bulk retail, Whakatane MSC has provided the structural and civil design for The Hub $27 million/20 hectare large format retail development in Whakatane. The Hub is being developed by Willis Bond & Co. Auckland. Haydn & Rollett is the main contractor. The development includes large format retail buildings and associated carparking accessways and a one kilometre upgrade of State Highway 30 that runs parallel with the site. The State Highway includes two new roundabouts. “The project was very challenging as it is located on an old Carter Holt timber mill site that is considered to be contaminated,” says MSC Civil Engineer Paul Culley. “The site is adjacent to the Whakatane River and lies in a flood plain. So the main challenges for the MSC team were to prepare a building platform clear of the flood plain, design the buildings foundations to avoid the effects of liquifaction in an earthquake, design a new public stormwater infrastructure including two new pump stations to drain the 20 hectare catchment, and design a new public wastewater infrastructure including a new pump station to drain the 20 hectare catchment. Other aspects were to plan the upgrade of State Highway 30 to Transit standards including the two new roundabouts and design a methodology that allowed the construction to take place on the contaminated site and deal with the very high ground water tables
while working within the approved Resource Consent conditions.” The MSC structural design team was lead by Bob McGuigan and included Daniel Moore and Andrew McCabe. The structural design for the large format retail buildings included precast concrete panels, steel roof frames and concrete floor slabs supported on stone columns. The MSC civil team was lead by Paul Culley and included Chris Jennins who designed the State Highway upgrade and documented the civil design for the whole project. A specialist stormwater Design Engineer, Bronwyn Rhynd, was used to help design the stormwater reticulation and pump stations. Prior to commencing the civil engineering design several Environment Bay of Plenty environmental consents were prepared for the site. These included earthworks consents, stormwater discharge consents and dewatering consents. The civil design also included two large stormwater pumps stations ($1 million each) that were required to pump the surface water from the site over the Whakatane River embankment to the river. The design and consent application work was started November 2003. Work commenced on site September 2005 and works are expected to be completed by November 2006.
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MSC PEOPLE
Paul Culley,
who runs the site development team at MSC, recently celebrated 20 years with the company. We asked him a couple of questions about the two decades...
20 Years…
Paul, you have recently completed 20 years of service with MSC, you must love the place? Yes I have been here 20 years!! I did have an OE with my partner Nicole 1989-1994. I do enjoy working here. I have become friends with the directors and other staff. The directors are accommodating and help to provide a good work environment. The work we do is challenging and demanding as we are always working to tight deadlines and work as a team, not only in house, but with other consultants, architects etc. How did you get into the business? I started pretty much straight after I left school. I worked full time and studied part time at Carrington Tech (now Unitec) for a New Zealand Certificate of Engineering. When I first started it was Bob, John, Tom and myself. I spent a great deal of my first years draughting under the watchful eye of Tom. It was all manual draughting and printing off plans using an ammonia printer (one sheet at a time!). The company was always growing in numbers. After the crash (of 1987) work was slow so I went to London and worked for a similar sized consultancy firm draughting. By the end of my five years there I was project managing the design of a new underground line in London called Crossrail.
Bassim Aliloom
MSC Senior Structural Engineer is a specialist in providing structural/seismic analysis and computer modelling for large construction projects. He joined MSC in 2005 and brought with him a wealth of experience of stadiums, shopping malls and high rise buildings. In the last few years Bassim has worked on projects such as Wembley Stadium in London, Ascot Racecourse (England), Benfica Stadium (Lisbon, Portugal), the new stand at Mt Smart (formerly Ericsson) Stadium in Auckland and also the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre at Manukau. He is currently working on the massive Westfield Albany project (see story in this issue) and the renovation of the old Heards factory in Parnell.
Paul Culley
Loving the big jobs… Bassim Aliloom
“Westfield Albany is a big project and the Heards building is proving to be very interesting and challenging,” says Bassim. “The old Heards confectionery factory in Parnell is being completely renovated for a mixture of high quality commercial and residential space. It was built in the 1930’s and there was no documentation available from the initial construction.” Bassim was seconded from New Zealand for the Wembley and Ascot projects in the UK. He explains that this was largely due to his seismic analysis capabilities. “The English don’t have a great deal of seismic experience so I went over for these projects and ended up bringing most of the work back to New Zealand to complete. New Zealand is a much better place to work from. Wembley required a great deal of computer modelling. It was a challenging project to work on and I am very keen to be there at the official opening to see the end result.” Bassim was born in Baghdad (Iraq) and completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Science and Structural) before emigrating to New Zealand 11 years ago. He has completed a Masters degree at Auckland University. He and his wife Ghada – who is a qualified vet and medical laboratory scientist – have three children aged 16, 11 and four. His sport is soccer – he was a goalkeeper, although he says he is struggling to come to grips with his role in the MSC indoor soccer team!
MSC provides quality technical and economical solutions to projects within agreed time frames for Structural Engineering, Civil Engineering and Resource Engineering Services
MSC NEWS
MSC in the heart of Takapuna… In September 2005 MSC moved from their home of eight years in Fred Thomas Drive – just off Barry’s Point Road in Takapuna – to a completely purpose-fitted 650 square metres office in Como Street in the heart of Takapuna. “When we first moved to our old building we had 13 people and we now have 37 in Como Street,” said MSC Director Geoff Chilcott. “We certainly needed the extra space. We chose to buy in the heart of Takapuna as it’s an interesting place for our team to work. Everything is close at hand and having the Westfield Shore City Shopping Centre as our neighbour is very convenient. Once we had solved the carparking issue for staff (see story below) everybody was happy. A year on we couldn’t be more pleased with the decision although by the end of the project I could see why people value project managers.” FCR were the architects for the MSC Como Street fit-out and refurbishment. Design Architectural were also involved in the external design and lunchroom. Haydn & Rollett undertook the fit-out project for MSC.
... and parking’s not a problem A talking point for most who visit the new MSC offices in the heart of Takapuna is the Car Stacker at the rear of the building that has provided an innovative solution for the lack of parking in the area. “The down side of moving from Barry’s Point Road to the middle of Takapuna was the parking,” explains MSC Director Tom Donald. “We were spoilt for parking at the old office. So when we made the decision to move this was a key problem to solve. So we looked around at the options. Eventually a stacker was suggested as a possible solution so we set about finding one.”
Tom Donald
And as Tom Donald explains the parking project eventually turned into a business opportunity for MSC. “We found a solution in a parking stacker marketed locally by Hercules New Zealand. We believe that these type of stackers are going to become very popular and every one installed will need engineering so we suggested to Hercules that this one could be a prototype for the country.” The Hercules stackers are manufactured in China and the MSC stacker was installed by Auckland Steel Limited. The total solution was around $170,000. “We feel sure that the investment will pay off for us in the long run,” adds Tom Donald. “The staff have parking and we are hopeful of playing a part in other stackers that are installed around the country.” For more information contact Tom Donald (tom.d@msc.co.nz).
Level 1, 12-14 Como Street, Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand. PO Box 33 426, Takapuna. Telephone 09-486-2210. Email: msc@msc.co.nz