November 2012
www.waterfordpress.co.nz
Wind energy powering ahead Page 6
Latest Wynyard plans unveiled Chris Hutching Auckland’s waterfront will see more developments around the Wynyard Quarter, with Arrow International and Sanford building a boat servicing facility on a 2391sqm site. The joint-venture also includes councilcontrolled Waterfront Auckland, owner of the property. They have commissioned Colliers to seek investors to purchase the facility in Hamer St in the wharf area known as the tank farm. Ferry operator, Fullers, will become the first anchor tenant, relocating its maintenance and storage there. The completion date is late 2013. The project includes a four-level, 4000sqm building, designed by Ashton Mitchell Architects, for marine industry businesses, a double slipway with capacity to haul out vessels of up to 200 tonnes, and a marina to accommodate large commercial vessels and private boats up to 75m. Sanford and Fullers will occupy the ground floor service centre and showroom areas. Around 1000sqm of offices on the upper levels are for lease. Integrated Marine Group, a service provider to large commercial and international super yachts, will lease six of the marina berths and set up its headquarters there. “The fact that leases to major marine industry companies have already been signed up off the plans proves the high demand which exists for such a facility in Auckland,” Colliers agent, Roger Seavill, said. The facility is expected to generate a total gross rent roll of more than $2 million a year. The former industrial Wynyard Quarter opened to the public a year ago with fishing industry, residential, entertainment and community facilities, including the Viaduct Events Centre. Over the next 20 years, Waterfront Auckland is redeveloping 18.5ha of the formerly industrial land that sits between Viaduct Harbour and Westhaven Marina, into a mixed-use urban environment. As part of its arrangement with Sanford, Waterfront Auckland will restore the historic Vos and Brijs boatyard on the edge of the site and manage it as a shared space for the public and craft boat community.
INSIDE
The new Auckland Art Gallery - Toi O Tamaki won the Commercial Architectural Excellence Award in the New Zealand Timber Design Awards.
Rediscovering the wood in the trees.... This year’s New Zealand Timber Design Awards have signalled an increase of interest in the use of timber in building and construction. The NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards, announced this month, attracted 93 entries across nine categories - a record in the more than 30-year history of the awards. NZ Wood Council chief executive Jane Arnott says the numbers signal a breakthrough of new interest in timber. “We have three times the number of entries over last year’s awards which is also more than the number in this year’s Australian awards. “The evidence today, is that architects and engineers are starting to see the wood among our trees.” “While New Zealand has a world leading reputation in growing and managing renewable forests, we still have some way to go to embrace its full potential as a building material.” However she said engineering and biological sciences were creating new methods and materials for the design and construction industries. One of the four judges this year, architect Pip Cheshire, said this year’s awards show the growing influence of science in timber design and construction “What we are seeing is traditional ground where a skill saw and a hammer still prevail but science is growing in influence,” he said. “Architects are also attracted to the sustainability of timber.
New facility for product testing - PAGE 3
Refining NZ investment plans - PAGE 8
“The Canterbury earthquake also proved that some other building materials might not be so flexible and this seems to have triggered more thinking about timber.” Fellow judge, Ross Davison, said the use of timber in New Zealand is starting to cross a gap from being an alternative solution to entering mainstream standards. “Timber has been traditionally seen as a choice for housing and some recreational buildings, but I think a knowledge transfer from universities has now created a toolbox for engineers to offer architects for the design of design larger buildings.” These new technologies include laminated veneer timbers, cross laminates and post-tensioned systems. “The awards this year are a great display of what is possible and they are undoubtedly world-leading examples.” The new Auckland Art Gallery - Toi O Tamaki, which was designed by FJMT & Archimedia architects in association, won the Commercial Architectural category. The gallery, which is characterised by a series of five tree-like canopies made from carefully selected kauri, was described by the judges as “visually stunning”. The gallery building, which involves 2000sqm of precise geometric patterns, also won the Indigenous Timber category.
Print Awards celebrate excellence - PAGE 26
Auckland Zoo’s winning landscape - PAGE 44