Kawerau earthquake refit earns high praise

A project to earthquake strengthen a boiler at the Carter Holt Harvey Tasman pulp and paper mill at Kawerau has been hailed as one of the best seismic strengthening projects in New Zealand.

The world-first seismic retrofit of the Carter Holt Harvey No2 Recovery Boiler won the Judges' Commendation - Industrial in the Earthquake Strengthening Awards 2013.

It was among seven winners of the awards, launched by the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering to showcase the best examples of seismic upgrade projects.

The project by engineers Beca was the first time in the world lead-rubber bearings had been retrofitted to effectively cocoon an existing boiler within its supporting structure to protect it during an earthquake.

NZSEE awards convenor Luke Allen said a considerable number of interesting and, in many cases, innovative earthquake strengthening projects were being undertaken in New Zealand.

"The aim of the awards is to showcase examples of seismic upgrade projects, to promote a positive and inspirational message to building owners and the public."

The awards were judged by a panel of engineers and architects and were assessed according to both engineering and architectural standards.

There were 31 entries and these were all displayed at the "Wellington Rocks" Earthquake Building Safety Expo and the NZSEE Conference in April.

Overall winner and Best Engineering Solution honours went to the Royal Society of New Zealand building in Wellington by Studio Pacific Architecture and engineers Dunning Thornton.

For more details see www.nzsee.org.nz.