Inside Risland Albany - sans decks, axed from the first design. Photo / CMP
Inside Risland Albany - sans decks, axed from the first design. Photo / CMP
One of Auckland's largest new apartment buildings has been finished five months early, earning the main constructor contractor a "significant" financial bonus from Chinese developers.
Andrew Moore, commercial manager of the Victoria Park-headquartered CMP Construction, said that contractor had completed the $110 million 134-unit three-tower 12-level Risland Albany nearly halfa year ahead of the original schedule.
"We negotiated a significant early-completion bonus clause which incentivised an early completion," Moore said on Friday. How much he could not disclose.
Practical completion of the building with two basement levels was achieved on June 30 when it wasn't due till November 30, Moore said.
"Planning, planning, planning" - Andrew Moore of CMP. Photo / Jason Oxenham
That was a major achievement given product shortages, shipping delays, the Gib crisis, labour and trade squeeze and many other factors, he said.
The job was able to continue in last year's 107-day Auckland lockdown.
CMP only started work on the block at 2 Munroe Lane around the middle of 2020.
"Risland Albany was a success because CMP took control of the project. Our approach is simple: stay out of the tender market. We are not interested in tendering because that typically leads to projects being awarded to those who make the biggest mistake, something we cannot and have elected not to compete with," Moore said.
Early contract involvement ensured cost and time efficiencies embedded from day one, resulting in no repetitive or abortive design or reconsenting costs or time losses, he said.
Andrew Moore, CMP Construction commercial manager. Photo / Jason Oxenham
"This in itself presented time and cost savings ahead of a traditional design and tender scenario which has now become quite an outdated process," he said.
"We entered into a design-and-build contract where all consultants were engaged and paid directly by CMP. The concept design was value-engineered so time and cost efficiencies were incorporated into the design," he said.
There are no decks but "winter gardens" saved time and money at Risland Albany. Photo / CMP
CMP bought materials and contracted sub-trades early as possible which cut price fluctuations. Storage costs were lower than having to pay spiralling material, goods and service prices, he said.
"We brought in truck-and-trailer loads of Gib two days after pouring the floor and loaded them into the building via the tower crane. We secured the stock to save time and money - planning, planning, planning," Moore said.
Risland Albany when construction was part-way completed. Photo / Supplied
CMP in-house engineers took original plans for the blocks and changed those, redesigning and simplifying them to make them better and save money and time.
"We imported a unitised facade from China and enclosed decks which had previously been designed to be open. We created 'winter gardens'," Moore said.
Those are spaces that extend living areas into the fresh air via glazing. Windows can be opened horizontally for ventilation but no external deck is created. Instead, this area is part of the internal space of the apartment.
Doing that increased apartment floor areas but significantly lowered construction costs per square metre, he said. Decks are expensive to build.
The block when it was being marketed. Photo / Supplied
"We bought a heavy-lifting tower crane which meant only one crane was needed at the site instead of the traditional two. This then meant we could lift bigger and heavier precast concrete components that then required less joints and less labour," Moore said.
CMP had started on Risland Albany around the same time as Icon began building the new Auckland Council northern service centre for NZX listed Asset Plus, Moore said.
"We were building a complicated 134-apartment, three-tower 12-level project with two levels of basement and they are building a rectangular office building, half the number of levels. We have fully completed our project and they are still installing the roof," Moore said.
How's this for five months early? Photo / CMP
CMP is one of New Zealand's largest commercial high-rise contractors, in business for more than 30 years.
Risland Albany's developer is connected to Sunny Development New Zealand, which is part of the larger Risland, owned by Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed Country Garden Holdings.
Foreigners can circumvent New Zealand's ban on buying residential property at Risland Albany. The Overseas Investment Office granted an exemption to Sunny Munroe Joint Development.
That allowed Risland Albany units to be bought by foreigners.
