With approximately 6 million passengers visiting Christchurch every year - with this number on the increase - and 2000 fewer beds available since the 2010 earthquakes, the city is dealing with a serious accommodation shortage.
To help alleviate the problem the Christchurch International Airport (CIAL) has commissioned a new $80 million, 4.5 star hotel at the airport campus. Designed by Warren & Mahoney, the seven-storey, 200 room hotel will be operated by Novotel and is due to open in December 2017.
With a very tight budget and schedule (with the hotel already receiving bookings for December this year) Fletcher Construction (FCC), who was awarded the contract to build the new hotel, has used every means at their disposal to reduce costs for the client. This has meant using a variety of new concepts in the procurement and supply of the various stages of the build.
The project team have value-engineered aggressively across the build, maximising the use of relationships within Fletcher Building (FB) to identify areas where savings could be made.
“Our role in projects like this is normally as a building products supplier,” says Grant Close, JV Operator of PlaceMakers Riccarton. “What we did in this case, as FCC was trying to re think and improve the supply process, was ask ourselves how we could do this better and differently. We decided if we coordinated everything for the foundations and worked closely with other FB businesses we could deliver. So we convened a sub-trade consortium for the foundations. This meant working alongside the likes of Fletcher Steel and Firth as partners - as opposed to suppliers - to improve on the process and to be able to deliver the solution to budget and schedule.”
Grant says that, although this is a relatively new concept, they have now created a ‘Supply Fix and Install’ division for PlaceMakers in Canterbury. “This collaborative approach in the building industry procurement process is working well in that we view Firth in this case as a partner,” adds Grant. “This way it's a win, win for everyone - but most of all for the customer, who gets what they want.”
“We often consult with customers, designers and engineers to cover off mix designs, delivery schedules, site conditions and access on large or difficult pours to avoid delays and issues,” says Dominic Sutton, Head of Certified Southern for Firth. “But in this relationship it has been a lot more open. We worked out how we could make it work for everyone and it has.”
“With the base of the building at 1.8m deep our first challenge was to supply a low heat mix that would not get too hot - due to the thickness of the slab - and therefore not crack,” says Rob Uffindell, Area Operations Manager (Christchurch) for Firth. “The next challenge was to supply a consistent mix at a consistent delivery rate so that the placers could manage the pressure on the 1.8m high form work.”
Firth supplied more than 2700m3 of concrete over three separate pours for the massively thick foundation slab.
“We have since then also supplied concrete for the shear walls,” adds Rob. “This was with Self Consolidating Concrete which was pumped into the base of the 8m high walls until we had about 4.2m of height. Then the invert for the concrete was moved up to around 5m and a second pour was carried out, pushing the concrete up to full height.”
“Dom and the Firth teams, and our other partners in this project, have done an amazing job,” says Grant. “Although it was a relatively new model we are very happy with the overall process and the finished result. We look forward to working with Firth as our partner on future projects of this nature.”
“We will continue to supply concrete to the rest of the build, but our part of the foundation consortium is now complete,” adds Dominic. “The result was a very efficient, cost effective result for quite a difficult job.”
Project Details:
Principal: Christchurch International Airport
Customer: Fletcher Construction
Consortium: Firth, Canterbury Concrete, PlaceMakers and Fletcher Steel
Location: Christchurch International Airport
Product: High heat Certified Concrete® mixes and Self-Compacting Concrete
