PROJECTS
1 Whitmore Street
Featuring innovative, modern design with a 5 Star Green Star rating, 1 Whitmore Street will occupy a whole city block with four street frontages.
The 12 storey base-isolated office building with extensive views of the Wellington waterfront will provide 17,000 m2 of premium office space for the sole occupant BNZ.
Typcial floor areas of 1,420m2 with 3m high ceilings create a spacious and versatile work environment.
The structural steel work includes a diagrid structure with technically challenging geometry due to the asymmetrical shape of the site.
The MJH detailing team won the Australasian Tekla BIM award 2021 for the commercial sector for our 3D model creation on the Whitmore Street project. The judging criteria included innovative use of Tekla detailing software (including challenges solved and the complexity of the geometry) as well as building information modelling (BIM) collaboration using the IFC model.
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Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre
The 18,000 m2 Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre, Tākina, will be the capital’s first purpose-build conference and exhibition facility.
The three-storey iconic landmark complex, adjacent to Te Papa on Wellington’s waterfront, is due to open in 2023 and is designed to achieve a five-star NZ Greenstar rating upon completion using 60-70% less energy than similar buildings.
The design has a unique sculptural form that includes unique canopies and shapes. The resulting building is an interesting and soft flowing form wrapped in a primarily shimmering glass skin.
The sequence of works and the interface between the architectural, engineering and buildability elements of the design was integral to the build.
Victoria Street Apartments
Victoria Lane Apartments rise above the vibrant Cuba Precinct and set a benchmark for design, both inside and out.
The 16 storey apartments are Wellington’s first base-isolated apartment development and offers earthquake resilience designed to withstand a one in 1000 year seismic event.
The building is wrapped in a steel diagrid structure and features a dramatic cantilever which extends one more bay over the neighbouring commercial building from Level 10 upwards.
Construction is expected be finished by early 2023
Queensgate Mall & Cinema Complex
The $110m Queensgate Shopping Centre redevelopment, following the Kaikoura earthquake, sees the north-eastern corner of the centre reinstated and includes the rebuild of the cinema complex and associated carpark building with vast improvements to the external façade, pedestrian experience and vehicle access.
The shopping centre has been re-designed to future proof the building against future seismic events.
Queensgate’s critical design feature is the buckling restrained braces (BRB’s). BRB’s provide stable, predictable dissipation of seismic energy by utilising the ductility of steel. The BRB's for this project needed to be custom designed and manufactured in the USA.
MJH Engineering played an integral role by managing the BRB design process, along with procuring and installing them.
20 Customhouse Quay
Our outstanding work on 20 Customhouse Quay awarded MJH the 2018 SCNZ Excellence in Steel Award Overall Supreme Winner and the Over $3m category awards. The judges voted unanimously and applauded the project’s outstanding execution and noted it is one of the best projects they’ve seen for a long time.
The 14-level NZGBC 5 Star Green Star rated building features a diagonally-braced steel diagrid perimeter structure with base isolation, representing a new generation of safety and resilience.
The distinctive diagrid steel structure is stronger than conventional tower frames but uses approximately 20 percent less steel than conventional building designs. The perimeter diagrid design eliminates all bracing elements from the floorplate, an efficiency that allowed large, open floor areas internally.
Each part of the diagrid structure is unique - every detail required precision due to the complex and unique design angles of the steel diagrid structure.
Victoria University Gateway
Now the most visible building at Victoria University and right in the public eye, the Gateway building houses the new School of Biological Science.
The five storey building is 140m long and encompasses 12,500 square metres of teaching, research and laboratory facilities. Design features include the use of steel trusses and the installation of 800 dampers which act like shock absorbers. The Dampers are each uniquely numbered and can be swapped out and replaced after a significant earthquake with the primary structure remaining unaffected by damage. Another feature are the “floating” columns that are not fixed to the slab. The columns have a 130mm hole in their baseplates which slip over a solid steel spigot welded to the steel column in the basement below. The columns are simply held down by gravity and the shear weight of the massive structure.
The building took place in two halves, which are now joined to form a “gateway” or tunnel which Culliford Drive runs through. This road needed to remain operational throughout the build as it is a critical access way between Kelburn Parade and student accommodation at Te Puni Village.
Construction took place while the university operated as per normal. Extensive planning was required to reduce the impact on staff, students and neighbouring residents.
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Wellington Airport Control Tower
The iconic new Control Tower at Wellington International Airport leans into the prevailing northerly wind at a 12.5 degree angle (considerably more than Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa, which leans 4 degrees).
The structure is 32 metres high and provides optimal controller sight lines and visibility. The top floor lookout area provides air traffic controllers with a 360 degree view of the airfield.
The key steel components are very large 1000mm and 800mm diameter fabricated pipes with splice welded seams.
The foundation incorporates 13 base isolators which will absorb most of the movement during an earthquake.
MIT Auckland
The $100 million dollar Manukau Institute of Technology Tertiary Centre and Transport Exchange consists of three separate structures rising to six storeys high and linked by an impressive enclosed atrium. It is situated above the Manukau railway station, which remained operational throughout construction.
The construction process was unusual because it was built from the roof down (due to the existing rail trench).
The north and south elements of the building are connected by six 25m-long bridges which are suspended from the atrium roof trusses.
6m wide cantilevered lift lobbies overhang the train station below.
MJH were awarded an SCNZ Excellence in Steel Construction Judges Merit award for our contribution in constructing this landmark building.