Taking pride of place on the corner of Ghuznee and Victoria Streets, Wellington’s Victoria Street Apartment building has been built to 140% of NBS (New Building Standard).
Completed in November 2017, the northern tower stands 13 levels high, while the 12-storey southern tower was completed in October the following year.
In total the building accommodates 140 individual luxury apartments with retail space and car parking in the lower levels, right in the heart of the Wellington City Council’s transformation of Victoria Street.
Adjacent to St Peters church, the south tower includes an area occupied by the historic church for weekly activities.
Experienced mid-tier construction company Redican Allwood was engaged as main contractors for the project by property developers Stratum Management Group.
Stratum Management’s mission is to change the face of Wellington City by creating unique projects that answer the needs of the market.
Over the last 10 years, Redican Allwood has constructed numerous high-rise and low-rise apartment buildings for Stratum Management in the Wellington area.
Redican Allwood managing director Calum Finlayson says the northern tower was constructed in a record time of 13 months and the South tower construction time was 12 months.
Attributing Redican Allwood’s senior project manager Wayne Cornelius’ commitment, leadership and experience for delivering the project on time and within budget, Calum adds that the entire team was committed to constructing the towers to a very high standard.
Construction of both towers began with large piles being bored to enable the buildings to achieve 140 % of NBS.
“The average size of the piles was 32 meters deep with diameters ranging from 1200mm to 1600mm. A raft slab was connected to the piles through a web of reinforcing.
“Each tower had 1000 cubic meters of concrete poured into the raft slab, locking the piling and ground floor raft slab together.”
The central core of the building containing the buildings lifts, stairwells and service risers, was constructed off the raft slab, continuing to the top of the building.
In total the building accommodates 140 individual luxury apartments with retail space and car parking in the lower levels.
Typically the core walls are 800 to 900mm thick and contain large amounts of specialised couplers and reinforcing.
Connected to the core, structural steel reaches out to the perimeter walls where infill framing was installed inside and around structural steel posts and beams.
Pre-stressed concrete ribs were placed on the structural steel beams with timber infill boards placed between the ribs to complete the floors of the building.
Calum explains that reinforcing was placed over the infill boards and a 120mm concrete slab poured over the reinforcing.
“Once all floors were poured and the structural steel in place on the top floor the roof was installed. A solid fibre cement pre-cladding RAB board was fixed to the external framing.”
The striking visual appeal of the twin tower building is achieved through the use of a maintenance free natural clay based tile called Terracade.
Beautifully appointed, the apartments include high-end fixtures, fitting and appliances.
All apartments were sold off the plans. “Stratum Management has shown that they’re prepared to invest significantly in the design and construction process to ensure that the buildings they construct are of an extremely high quality and durability,” says Calum.
Forging a reputation for innovation and project management skills over the last 33 years, Redican Allwood has undertaken projects from Wellington to Katikati and from Hawke’s Bay across to Taupo and Wanganui.
“We undertake a range of construction activities from programmed and emergency maintenance right through to major commercial construction projects,” says Calum.
This article was brought to you in association with the following businesses…
- Mico Plumbing
- KCC Ltd
- Higgins Concrete
- Ross Alcock Plumbers
- Hansen Interiors
- JMA Decorators
