Parawai Crescent

Entrant: 
RM Designs and Engco

Category: 
2. Residential design award for multi-unit residential buildings (up to 3 levels)

This project was important for lessons learned.

The site of 1198 m2 was previously occupied by one dwelling. It was difficult in topography and especially challenging geotechnically. The client had considered traditional methods of construction and had not been able to achieve a suitable feasible outcome.

The design team knew a lightweight option was required but first turned their mind to the difficulty of bridging existing services on the sloping site. A steel sub floor solved this with screw piles and a block foundation.

This provided a platform, on a CLT panel to the ground floor for three levels of CLT to follow for three levels of CLT structure, the ground floor panel being CLT.

The speed was extraordinary.

In eight months including Christmas the two buildings were complete to take civil and landscape works. This included. enabling works, foundations, ground services to water retention with the two buildings complete ready for finishing siteworks

Parawai Crescent was very influential in the refining of the projects that followed for the design and build team from a fantastic starting point. The CLT panels provided 60-minute fire rating to the apartments which were intended for unit titling. Carbon sequestering was achieved. Raw date is available. The fixings and hold downs worked pragmatically but further provided a base to improve on speed and efficiency in latter models. Trusses and a diaphragm were used at level three and faster solutions, which was a CLT panel, was used in latter projects for both speed and further improved health and safety.

The result was 15 apartments over the two buildings. The spaces themselves all met the clients’ internal standards to daylight levels, circulation spaces and specifications. Rapid!