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New Zealand’s tallest residential tower takes shape

What will be the tallest residential tower in New Zealand, the 55-storey ‘Seascape’ luxury apartment building is already prominently featured amongst Auckland’s spectacular skyline, with construction now reaching the 41st floor and this new icon set to tower an impressive 187m when complete.
Situated at 101 Customs Street East, in the heart of downtown Auckland, it’s a very tight space for main contractor China Construction NZ, concrete works sub-contractor Livefirm and their chosen sub-contractors - including preferred concrete supplier Firth, with high levels of coordination and communication proving key to the progression and success of this project.

“We have been supplying concrete to Livefirm for Seascape since 2019 on what is a pretty challenging site,” says Jamie Frew, National Commercial Account Manager for Firth. “However it has been made easier by the very good working relationship we have with Livefirm and their team of people.”

Since August 2019 there has been approximately 10,000m3 of concrete supplied to the site where there is barely enough room for two concrete trucks to be parked side by side. It has been challenging for the onsite Livefirm team which includes key contacts of Lim Chez Boon - Senior Manager on the site, Tim Liang - Project Manager, Daric Zhao - Site Manager and Ariel Ho who handles the concrete bookings.

 “Firth supplies us from two of their plants, Penrose and Hamer Street in downtown Auckland,” says Daric Zhao.  “It's not easy to manage a concrete pour in downtown Auckland, even a small pour of 15m3. Teamwork is the key to making it happen. All the parts are important - from our concrete supplier Firth, the concrete pump, the concrete layers, traffic control, and the crane crew - they all have a big role to play.”

“Being a high-rise building, what makes the supply of concrete to Seascape special is how we pump the concrete up to 100m+ every time,” he adds. “That's why we need a slump test on site for each pour. That's the key to making sure the concrete is flowable enough to reach the top. Leo Jovero, Technician for Firth Hamer Street, is the main technical contact on this project for us.  He is an experienced technician and has enough understanding of the project to be available for us whenever we require him. He fits perfectly into our team.”

 

Livefirm and Firth team members show that a great working relationship makes for a great project.

Complicated concrete science is at work on this project with some of the mixes prescribed by Leo including retarders from one to two hours depending on the temperature of the day and the timing of the delivery!

Daric says that the largest pour happened in the basement (B5) of the building for a raft foundation with a total supply of 310 m3. “We have also had four other large pours of 200m3 plus which required the combined efforts of all the teams to coordinate perfectly.”

“A big thank you to the Firth teams at Hamer Street and Leonard Road, Penrose and a special thank you to Charlotte Goh, from our sales team, for her excellent work in supporting Livefirm with all their requirements,” adds Jamie “She is a shining light in customer management.”

Daric says they will reach the top floor of the building by the end of the year. Hats off to the teams from Livefirm and Firth for constructing, on a tricky site, what will surely be another iconic building on Auckland’s skyline.