PIVOT TO PARADISE

Pivot toparadise

By Claire Wright Photos kindly provided and taken by Sarah Rowlands.

The Pivot House, designed by Borrmeister Architects director Wulf Borrmeister, showcases the best of urban living when paired with breathtaking outdoor spaces.

As one of the four projects winners of the 2021 Nelson & Marlborough Architecture Awards in the ‘housing’ category, the Pivot House is a stand-out due to the contemporary design that seamlessly interconnects with the greenery of the neighbourhood and the broader Blenheim area. The contractors and landscape designers on the project – T&D Construction and Vavasour Landscapes – showcased their expertise and local-know how throughout the project, with skillful implementation of the brief. This small inner-city dwelling exudes light, from the open design that captures the sun to a simple palette of natural, low-maintenance materials and finishes. With the kitchen as the heart of the home, it also serves as the pivot point for the three courtyards. The three courtyards offer protected outdoor living areas all year-round, with high visual interest, architectural surprises and endless connections throughout the landscaped garden surroundings. Sustainability was at the forefront of design, with a well-thoughtout economic footprint to avoid unnecessary circulations and other wasted space. The courtyards on three sides support natural cross-ventilation, solar gain, and protection from the prevailing winds. Cedar screens and pergolas frame all sides of the house to provide additional shade and visual continuity between the indoor and outdoor living areas. The tranquil atmosphere in the gorgeous Marlborough region is a place where the homeowners can feel they’re on holiday all year around.

??? GENIECLEAN TM

Walking into the auditorium of the Christchurch Town Hall for the first time after the earthquakes, the scene was dusty, dirty, and incredibly intimidating.

Complex foundation and relevelling work had been underway for more than a year, requiring the stage and auditorium floor to be ripped up. Where concertos were once performed, diggers and trucks had been at work – and it showed.

Every surface of the auditorium, from the hundreds of seats to the soaring walls and architectural features were coated in a thick layer of dust and grime.

Soaring above us, eight huge white acoustic panels hung suspended from the ceiling, about 15m from the auditorium floor. But even at that distance, it was obvious the dust and dirt they had collected was turning them grey.

There was one question on our minds: How on earth could we clean this?

20 years ago, Genie Clean (1998) LTD was started from humble beginnings – just a couple of staff armed with squeegees and buckets.

Now with 15 staff, nine vehicles on the road and the experience and equipment to take on even the most complex work, we are always ready to take on a challenge.

But although our equipment has changed over the years, the foundations of our services have not changed: Attention to detail, going the extra mile to deliver our best for every customer, and guaranteeing all the work we do.

That’s because our goal is to be here for another 20 years, so we work not only to provide great service for our customers today, but to build a strong relationship for the future.

Those principles are especially important on a construction site, where mistakes or inexperience can cause huge delays or expensive problems.

At the Christchurch Town Hall, the work was not only huge in scale, but complicated by some very tricky heritage restoration work, tight deadlines, complex high work and absolutely vital health and safety planning for work around the public.

It took two years to complete, but eventually we packed up our cleaning tools and locked the door for the last time with the job done: marble columns sparkling, soaring timbers gleaming, and the rows of auditorium seats once again ready to welcome an audience.

Even those high, swinging acoustic panels were sparkling clean.

They proved one of our greatest challenges: Access for a scissor lift wasn’t possible and building a scaffold tall enough was likely to damage the floor, so cleaning had previously only been possible by abseiling onto the panels, which was high risk and very expensive.

We believed we could find a better way. We designed and built a harness rig vacuum system which we controlled from the ground with a GoPro camera, which proved safer, faster and saved our client a big expense.

That kind of innovation was only possible because our team are experienced, creative thinkers and really care about the work they do.

Many people view cleaning as low skill, low value work, but we don’t see it that way.

We believe the best way to keep our quality standards high is to value, train and invest in our team. Our staff are all permanent, and most have worked with us for years. They’re proud of what they do.

For our customers, that means all the Genie Clean staff you deal with have the experience and training to answer your questions, solve any problems, and let you know about any issues they spot before they ever become a problem.

We are confident that every site manager we have worked with on a construction project would not hesitate to recommend us – because if we’ve ever had a problem, we have gone above and beyond to fix it immediately.

And we’re always ready to take on the next challenge.

Genie Clean offers:

• A huge range of cleaning services to meet all your needs • An experienced and highly- trained team

• An excellent health and safety record, with proactive procedures and training, Site Safe training for all our staff, and a Site Wise green rating • Full insurance for your protection • Extra-mile service to make your home, workplace or project really shine

We are specialists in

Construction cleaning

After months or years of work on a construction site, the final clean can be an afterthought – but it shouldn’t be. Construction cleaning is often complex, and requires experience to get every surface looking its best and avoid damage, missed deadlines or other costly mistakes.

We have a very experienced team, so you won’t get temps or untrained casual workers turning up on your site, and we have the manpower to meet tight deadlines. Our team are Site Safe qualified and Site Wise green rated, we’re fully insured, and we offer a full range of services including any work at heights needed.

Floor resurfacing and polishing

We are specialists in hard floor stripping, resurfacing and polishing – so we know a great polish is more than surface deep. As well as restoring the shine to your floor, an application of quality polish should make it easier to keep clean, is more hygienic, and can protect and lengthen the life of your floor.

We offer a full strip, deep scrub, resurface with 3-5 coats of high-gloss polish, and final burnishing – ideal for vinyl or concrete floors, especially in high traffic areas, medical environments or commercial kitchens and bathrooms

Building wash downs and waterblasting

From high pressure waterblasting to soft brush cleaning, we can offer it all when it comes to cleaning your home or commercial building.

We have carbon fibre equipment which allows us to wash buildings up to six storeys high from the ground, which can often save our clients the costs and safety risks of setting up elevated work platforms or using abseiling techniques.

Spiderproofing

As well as reducing the number of spiders inside your home, a spiderproofing treatment discourages building of webs and makes maintaining your home or business easier – and once dry, sprayed surfaces are non-toxic and safe for children or pets.

There are plenty of advantages of using our service over a traditional pest control company. The treatment can last longer if it is applied to a clean wall, so we can wash your home in advance, and can also wash your windows afterward to remove any residue before it bakes onto your glass.

Other services we offer include:

• Window cleaning, including multistorey buildings • Regular office or commercial cleans • Spouting and drain cleaning • Commercial kitchen cleaning • Work at heights and EWP certified staff for high work • Sanitation cleaning, including

Covid-19 decontamination cleans