Te Pae Christchurch, the Garden City’s impressive new convention centre, has risen from the rubble of its predecessor. For Graham Hill Roofing, its roof presented an immense challenge and an opportunity to showcase their skills and experience.
For the future of Canterbury, perhaps one of the most significant is Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre – a new, state-of-the-art facility that will serve not only the region but the whole of the country. Te Pae Christchurch replaces the original Christchurch Convention Centre, demolished in 2012, having been irreparably damaged in the earthquakes. And as if the rebuild itself wasn’t enough to grapple with, along came COVID-19. It was initially scheduled to take 1.5 years to install the roofing and related systems, a year into the roofing project, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. This saw the complexities of the project mount and the timeline blow out to three years. But, as of the start of 2022, the centre is now open for business. Te Pae Christchurch is estimated to bring in $60 million a year for the region. With an investment of $450 million, the return outlook so far seems promising with a busy events schedule booked for 2022 – including hosting this year’s RANZ Conference in June.
The finished product is impressive, perhaps looking more like a giant sculpture than a building. Inspired by the rivers of the Canterbury Plains with patterns and colours in the tradition of Ngāi Tahu, the design was co-created by architects Woods Bagot and Warren & Mahoney, with close consultation with Matapopore Charitable Trust. The striking façade, consisting of steel framing and concrete-based tile, was installed by Alufix. Behind that and on top, however, is where the team’s work at Graham Hill Roofing (GHR) sits – “the important stuff,” quips GHR operations manager, Zach McKay. Zach oversaw the demanding project, which required numerous design solutions from the GHR team. The project ended up having 85 variations in total, “[variations] documentation was coming through daily”, says Zach.
Before getting to site to commence installation, Zach, along with Glenn Milroy, GHR Business Development Manager, engaged in an extensive series of meetings over 12 months in preparation. The team met with project managers CPB contractors in conjunction with key supplier RoofLogic. RoofLogic has an experienced in-house design and engineering team, which enabled them to design a bespoke warm roof system solution for the project. “One of the key performance requirements related to the acoustic performance of the roof system,” explains Graham Tennent from Rooflogic.
“Managing sound reverberation within the auditorium spaces required the use of our deep-section, perforated liner tray, and targeting a rating around STC 60 required a build-up with multiple layers of Rooflogic’s high-density Stonewool and Acoustic Board.” The extensive facilities include a 1000-seat banquet hall, 1400-seat auditorium, vast exhibition space, and 24 meeting rooms.
Kicking off from October 2018, the roofing, cladding, flashing and installation of the internal gutter systems of Te Pae Christchurch was a full-time job for three years for key project team members from GHR. This included foreman Tyson Wormington and site manager Dylan Frapwell, along with their membrane specialist for the internal gutters, Ernesto Mandoza, and Tyson’s Leading Hand, Karl Tritt. Tyson credits Karl, who he says “helped big time and made my job a lot easier.” At any one time, GHR had up to 20 people onsite through the roof installation period, with the internal gutters, in particular, taking the most extended amount of time.
Dylan was ‘on the tools’ for one month as an original foreman from the project’s outset. Then, due to the demanding scale of the build, Tyson was brought on board, with Dylan taking on the site manager role full time. After working for GHR for ten years (six years as an employee and four years before that as a contractor), Te Pae Christchurch was an opportunity for Dylan to step up. It was also a great learning opportunity for Tyson to work on a project of this scale. He moved down from Wellington to join the GHR team with 17 years of roofing under his belt.
Source: https://www.ranz.co.nz/news/ranz-commercial-roof-of-the-year-2022/
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