In mid-November, construction professionals and property developers will be able to attend site visits to the Clearwater Quays Apartments, a model building for low carbon construction in Christchurch, New Zealand. Source: Timberbiz
Earlier this year, open days to this mass timber project proved very popular. The free event has been set up specifically for architects, engineers, quantity surveyors and construction and project management professionals.
Four sessions of two hours each are planned on 10 and 11 November. Visitors will be guided through leading wood design features on the site. Following the site visit, project team members will highlight specific aspects of the new methods used in the building.
The Clearwater Quays Apartments displays the biophilic, seismic and low-carbon benefits of using engineered wood in construction. The 5-storey all-wood building is nearing completion adjacent to the Clearwater Golf Club.
The open day sessions will be led by a group of design and engineering innovators.
Construction professionals are invited to touch, look, and listen to see how wood in mid-rise buildings brings a wide range of constructability benefits as well as longterm improvements for the occupants.
Site visit speakers include Phillip Howard of Pacific Environments, Barry Lynch from Logic Group, Marty Verry from Red Stag Investments and Phil Tomkins from Construction Solutions Central.
“For architects, the attraction of working with timber goes beyond the clear environmental benefits of net-zero carbon buildings. There is a sensory connection to timber, a tactile experience of enduring appeal that we’ve incorporated in this project,” Project architect, Philip Howard said.
Site construction manager Phil Tomkins said that for this demonstration project, both his architectural and engineering teams worked closely to bring benefits to the look and feel of the apartments they created, while ensuring seismic strength.
Building Information Modelling (BIM) and virtual design construction was used to develop a parametric digital twin BIM model for Clearwater. This quantity surveying cost model is a new innovative approach to cost estimation.
“Once people see our Clearwater demonstration building, we invite them to apply for funding for their own demonstration projects. We are looking for other building types to showcase wood including aged-care facilities, public housing, healthcare buildings, mid-rise office buildings, large format retail, industrial or warehouse projects. We also expect keen interest from those with educational and cultural projects planned for construction in the next two years,” says Marty Verry.
The open days are hosted by jointly by the Ministry for Primary Industries and Red Stag Wood Solutions. Funding for the program is part of the ‘Mid-Rise Wood Construction’ partnership between Red Stag and MPI. The scheme complements the government’s initiatives to deliver a zero-carbon construction sector by designing to increase low carbon materials used in construction.
Click here to book your place for the Clearwater Open Days. Visitors will be expected to adhere to social distancing rules for events under the prevailing Covid-19 rules at the time.
