By Bob Dey
When the concrete starts pouring on permanent formwork over the basement of a small site at the top of Myers Park in central Auckland today, Nigel McKenna's clock starts ticking.
He wants the structure of a 14-storey apartment block up in 14 weeks - one 400 sq m floorplate
every two-and-a-half days, two floors a week.
The speed of construction comes from careful design and from using structural steel. But there are other complications to come - more precise acoustical detailing was required because of the steel structure and timber frame, and a full mock-up was put together at Auckland University for engineers Marshall Day to establish that all would work properly.
Steel has become more prevalent in Auckland construction, at first accompanying concrete and now frequently replacing it.
McKenna's firm Promanco Kenman is project manager and he is a partner in the joint venture building the Sebel Hotel next to the Loaded Hog at the city end of the Viaduct Basin.
McKenna also owns the neighbouring apartment block, The Quays.
Both blocks have a mixture of concrete and steel in their structure, but Sebel's builder, Hartner Construction, is quickly raising a steel-formed parking building nearby on Sturdee St and The Quays' builder, Goodall ABL, will erect the Scotia Pl apartment block.
Only 10 of The Quays' 64 units remain unsold, its roof is about to go on and the apartments should be completed in November.
Half the Sebel's 144 hotel suites are sold, sales are running at two or three a week and it will get its roof next month, says McKenna.
His development company, Melview, has only 10 units left in a three-stage, 112-unit project, Quay Park Terraces, on former railway land facing The Strand at the foot of Parnell.
One of McKenna's secrets is careful pricing to meet the market. For Scotia Pl, he started with a top sales price of $111,000, but got valuations up to $148,000, carparks excluded, and indications of rents between $220 and $240 a week, which could give an investor a return up to 13 per cent.
Speed and price are important factors, but McKenna says Auckland needs to move on from its many basic developments and create sophistication in inner-city living.
The Scotia Pl building will have an external staircase clad with a circular steel balustrade on the Queen St side, with horizontal vertical timber cladding above Myers Park.
McKenna has also bought an adjoining site, where he will extend the basement (the only area to contain concrete) and build eight terraced units.
By Bob Dey
When the concrete starts pouring on permanent formwork over the basement of a small site at the top of Myers Park in central Auckland today, Nigel McKenna's clock starts ticking.
He wants the structure of a 14-storey apartment block up in 14 weeks - one 400 sq m floorplate
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.