Client

Kiwi Property

Completion Date

October 2020

AWARDS

NZ Commercial Project Awards 2021 – Gold Award, Retail category

An expansive new level built right on top of an existing shopping centre, which stayed open throughout.

The Galleria is an 18,000m² new level built right on top of Sylvia Park shopping centre while the lower level kept trading. It boasts space for 65 food and retail tenancies, an impressive skylight, high-end finishes, sweeping bulkheads and feature lighting.

The structure is a steel system clad in Kingspan and ACM panels. Additional strengthening was required to support the new level, which we completed by installing additional piles and shear walls within operational tenancies on the ground floor. Much of the existing structure was unknown until areas were opened up, requiring a nimble approach and tight collaboration with the design team to agree and implement solutions. We completed most of the strengthening work at night, with the areas cleaned, inspected and ready for business each morning.

The existing top deck was a bitumen carpark, sections of which needed to be opened for surveying and for the landing of the portal frames on top of the existing concrete columns. Prior planning proved critical in completing these tasks on a carpark-with-falls while keeping the rain out the shops below.

The central concourse features a fibrous moulded ceiling which we built using a huge mobile birdcage scaffold. We moved it along as we completed each area so we could work quickly and safely.

Once the structure, cladding and skylights we complete, we started opening the voids and installing the escalators and lifts. Works were again completed at night, with a combination of protective hoarding and flameproof scrim used to cover the voids for daytime operation.

The health, safety and wellbeing of the public and tenancy staff were at the forefront at all times in this high-stakes live environment, with our early engagement with the client under a negotiated ECI agreement critical to the success of the project. The massive space opened to great fanfare along with the new Farmers Department store that we built concurrently.

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Categories: Auckland, Pre-Construction, Retail