AgResearch Lincoln

AgResearch’s Lincoln science facility, Tuhiraki, is a two-storey building with an office wing, laboratory wing and a large plant room. The 7,600m² complex is the principal research campus and corporate headquarters of AgResearch in the South Island, accommodating almost 300 scientists and support staff.

Clad in red corrugated iron to reference a woolshed, the open-plan office wing is a high-tech engineered timber structure with a regular grid of LVL columns and beams, paired with a prefabricated timber cassette floor system and glulam roof members. The laboratory wing is a more traditional precast concrete structure to meet the stringent compliance requirements for PC2 accreditation.

We were involved on an ECI basis for the project, collaborating with the wider project team to ensure the project could meet programme and budget milestones despite the challenges of Covid-related supply chain and labour issues. We proposed alternatives to provide greater certainty in delivery, such as using our in-house trade team to complete much of the structural work.

With a complex services setup, particularly in the laboratory wing, we got the specialist subcontractors involved during the ECI stage to leverage their expertise. We used a BIM model to review and coordinate the services designs throughout the ECI stage to ensure a smooth installation process and allow enough time for quality control and commissioning procedures.

A decade in development and designed with extensive end-user consultation, expectations for Tuhiraki were high. Meticulous preparation, millimetre-perfect construction and a dash of innovation to bring the many elements together seamlessly have delivered a beautiful, state-of-the-art building.