RMB Awards 2007

GOLD AWARD                             LOCAL CATEGORY WINNER

NATIONAL GOLD RESERVE AWARD / FINALIST

Premium New Homes                              $600,000 - $1 million

The design brief for this home stipulated modern, warm and inviting to meet the needs of a busy family with teenagers. This two story home features four bedrooms, two living areas, an office and two bathrooms. Neutral pallet's dominate the interior colour scheme which is complemented by the open-tread Jarra staircase. The open plan kitchen flows across to the dining area with tiles, granite bench tops, stainless steel appliances, a breakfast bar and butlers pantry. All bedrooms in this home are double with the master having an impressive ensuite and dressing room.

At the back of the house is a fabulous tiled courtyard and barbecue area. Steps from the courtyard lead down to a sizeable grass area. This home has underfloor heating throughout, argon-filled double glazing, two feature gas fireplaces and floor to ceiling north facing windows and doors.

A combination of great concept and design, and top quality construction and finishing has resulted in this being an exceptional executive home.

GOLD AWARD

James Hargest Junior Campas – Technology Suite

(QBE Insurance Education Project)

This structure is composed of two wings linking at the corner of Layard St and Queens Drive, Invercargill. One wing is brick clad and ‘notionally domestic’, containing the art and food areas. The other wing is ‘technical’ and contains resistant materials pertaining to the science and media studies areas. At the apex of the ‘v’ is a glazed ‘hinge’ which houses the fabrics and electronics workshop. Dark colour coated steel cladding was used with the roof and walls creating wrap. Heat pumps and dust extraction units are shielded behind an iconic wall. The ‘iconic’ wall was conceived as a vehicle for the school logo that would be visible from Queens Drive. The ‘v’ shaped wings enclose a covered, naturally ventilated internal courtyard.

The practicality of the design of this complex provides a school quad at the front entry of the atrium. The canopy is composed of translucent twin skin Alsynite cladding. This unique twin skin roofing system provides some thermal insulation, light and shelter to the courtyard and is designed to provide an opalescent glow externally when lit, giving dramatic night time effect. Good internal acoustic performance is achieved by the configuration of internal surface planes and some use of perforated corrugate. The architectural design of this building created a very complex built to achieve this structure.

The design resulted in an integral layout. This meant the structure was built on obtrude angles, the placement of framing, interior and exterior linings, even right down to the fixing of joinery had to fit the design and was an extremely important part of this build to achieve the desired asthetic effect.

Many materials had to be imported from overseas and this played a big part in keeping to schedule. Despite the challenging design, it was an extremely rewarding final result for all involved in this project.

SILVER AWARD

Southern Automobiles

(Halls Brothers Transport Ltd Retail & Business Project Award)

Southern Automobiles modern new premises in Invercargill evolved from the merger of two buildings and provided the ultimate challenge for builders.

The business continued trading throughout the construction period, an element that utilized to the max the skills and expertise of our talented team of tradesmen. The construction sequence had to be staged to allow minimum disruption to the day to day running of business. One building was demolished and stripped on the interior and completely remodeled into a sales office, showroom and cafeteria.

A 16.00m x 29.00m workshop was constructed in the east car park and later connected though to the existing workshop and to a modern and vibrant office and boardroom facility which was built in front of the existing workshop to house administration and the sales offices.

All areas have been linked with new siteworks to include asphalt and decorative cobblestone paving. Construction included concrete floors, foundations, structural steel framework, curtain wall glazing, alucabond panel facades, cedar weatherboards, James Hardie Titan board, floor tiling to showrooms, specialist lighting and finishes that suited the specific franchise requirements. The end result is an exceptional new facility in the heart of Invercargill which is a credit to all those involved.