Master Builders awards for commercial and arts projects

Monday, 21 May 2018

Skellerup's new Dairy Rubberware factory in Christchurch has been awarded the Supreme Commercial Project of the Year at a SkyCity event in Auckland.

The rubber manufacturer's Project Viking won the 2018 New Zealand Commercial Project Awards owned and run by the Registered Master Builders Association.

Part of the He Hohu exhibition at the National Library in Wellington where two visitors, Esther Stephens and Geoffrey Dolan, admire the Kate Sheppard sculpture.

Other gold and additional category winners included a commercial fitout for Maori Television in Auckland, Manaaki By Mercy in Dunedin for the Altus Health Project, the He Tohu Exhibition in Wellington, and Rydges Restaurant and Bar Refurbishment in Queenstown.

The big challenge for the Skellerup team was the time pressure to get the new factory operational, and constant structural changes through-out the design phase, the judges said.

* Skellerup to close Woolston factory**

Developer Calder Stewart Construction ran the project which took more than 182,000 man-hours in the five-stage project, and a massive 18,900 square metre building that was functional, with room for future growth.

The $25 million venture required an innovative design, particularly in constructing the 1000-tonne tower to an 'Importance Level 3' seismic strength.

The lead contractor, client, consultants, sub-contractors, and off-shore plant manufactures created one of the world's leading dairy rubberware vulcanisation plants' to manufactures rubber on-site, judges said.

As well as the Supreme Award, the factory also won the Industrial Project Award, and the Value Award for a project over $15m.

The development was managed through 'building information modelling' (BIM), a software tool that can be used by several people as the project evolves.

More than 25 per cent of entrants used BIM to manage their projects, Registered Master Builders chief executive David Kelly said.

Leighs Construction won gold, silver and bronze medals - gold in the Commercial Projects Category in recognition of its work on the ANZ Centre in Christchurch's CBD, and silver for ChristchurchNZ's new offices in the BNZ Centre in the Commercial Fit out category.

Leighs also took a silver medal for its Mars Airbridge project at Christchurch International Airport, and bronze for its Speight's Ale House Tour in Dunedin.

Registered Master Builders' New Zealand Commercial Project Awards are sponsored by PlaceMakers, Altus, GIB, Allied Concrete, Construction Marketing Services and Carters.