In July 2015, construction commenced on the new BNZ Bank building in Kaikohe. NPM Construction won the tender to complete the works as a subcontractor to Alaska, where we were responsible for the construction of the building. The construction of this project included site excavation, reinforced concrete foundations, fabrication and standing of 10m long precast panels, structural steel work, insitu stitch joints and concrete columns, roofing, cladding and façade & canopy with roof membrane.
The major challenge on the project was the tight constraints of the site with there being approximately 500mm between the exterior walls of the bank and the neighbouring buildings. By building a strong relationship with the neighbouring property owners we were able to facilitate access from behind the building (by facilitating the removal and re-instatement of a neighbour’s fence) to allow us to erect the precast panels and structural steel without having to close the main street of Kaikohe, which resulted in minimised disruption along with reduced safety risk to the public.
The project was completed to a very high standard with specific requirements to match other BNZ stores around the country.
NPM Construction showed innovative thinking by suggesting to the client and engineer that we break the floor slab concrete pour into two pours so that the first pour could be used as an anchor to brace the precast panels off. This was very helpful in ensuring there was no movement in the precast panels due to the proximity to the neighboring buildings. Facilitating the access to the rear of the site was also innovative and resulted in less health and safety risk, less disruption to the public and savings to the main contractor on traffic management.
The client was extremely happy with the outcome of the project which was completed on time, with no major cost variations.