Project professionalism rewarded

By Bob Dey

New Zealand's building industry is becoming more innovative and co-operative, says the national president of the Institute of Building, Nigel Ainley.

He says the 13 winners of the institute and James Hardie national awards, announced in Auckland on Friday night, were typified by smart thinking and partnering.

The awards mark professional performance by individuals, whereas most other property industry awards focus on the project. The Institute of Building runs across the professions, including architects, surveyors, consulting engineers and construction managers.

The winners of the innovation category show the way ahead for the industry, says Ainley. A team of four men - Peter Bailey from Transit NZ, Croydon Lowcay from TranzRail, Rob Jury from Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner and Philip Armitage from McKee Fehl Constructors - worked under a formal partnering agreement on the seismic retrofit of the Thorndon overbridge in Wellington.

"They worked hard to maintain good relationships and actively sought alternative solutions that would minimise disruption to landowners and overcome hazardous working conditions."

Ainley says the job was done well within budget, 40 weeks ahead of schedule and without any dispute.

Ainley is general manager of a prominent Auckland apartment builder, Hartner Construction, which had a strong entry in the institute's award. Its project manager on the 20-storey Connaught apartment project on Waterloo Quadrant, Kevin Meiklejohn, won the residential category and Nigel Cooper, Hartner's project manager on a Glen Innes redevelopment for Housing New Zealand, was highly commended.

Meiklejohn had to manage many obstacles and restrictions on a site with a narrow entry, surrounded by the Hyatt Hotel, Auckland University law school and the Catholic Church's Newman Hall.

The new alternative solutions category was won by Christchurch engineer Brady Cosgrove for novel fire protection solutions during the upgrading of the St Nicolas hospital for the elderly in Riccarton.

Christchurch consultant Carol Caldwell was highly commended in both the innovation and alternative solutions categories while Dale De Penning of Aspec Construction, Auckland, was highly commended for innovation.

De Penning's award was for managing construction of the 31,500 sq m Farmers Deka national logistics centre at East Tamaki and for the research to achieve the flattest big floor slab in the country, which took 39 pours over 13 weeks.

It joins an international elite of "very flat floors" with a tolerance average of FF65 compared to the norm of FF18, which is a measure of tolerance of plus or minus 3mm in three metres.

McMillan & Lockwood managers won both the under and over $5 million categories, Garry Dyer for the Carterton School redevelopment and Matthew McKinnon for the Regent Theatre redevelopment in Palmerston North. Mike Morgan of Fletcher Construction, Wellington, was highly commended in the cheaper category and Colin Messent of Arrow International, Ben Mitchell of Carson Group and Andrew MacGregor of C. Lund & Son, all in Christchurch, were commended in the bigger category.