Geyser Development - Highrise

Client:          Samson Corporation

Project Brief

Geyser is lifting the bar on office building design in New Zealand. Mainzeal’s team is making the project a reality and it is full-steam-ahead on all fronts.
In May 2010, Mainzeal was selected as main contractor to construct New Zealand’s first NZGBC 6 Star Office Design certified building. The 6 Star rating was awarded in late 2009 and represents ‘world leadership’ in the New Zealand Green Building Council’s Green Star rating system.
The Geyser development is located in a prime Auckland location on Parnell Road and includes a commercial community of five individual buildings set around an arrangement of open walkways, elevators and stairwells.
The complex has retail on the ground floor and three upper levels totalling 5040m2 of primarily office space. Five lower basement levels accommodate 165 vehicle spaces which are serviced by an automated car park stacker machine.
Obviously a 6-star building will have some outstanding features, and this one has a fully active openable double skin façade, it requires no air-conditioning and minimal heating, to name just a few.
The construction of the Geyser Building is receiving attention from multiple sectors within Mainzeal.
First and foremost is Mainzeal’s on-site construction team. The eleven person site team is operating on multiple work faces which cover the tight confined site. Construction activity is done simultaneously above and below the ground level slab. Excavation of the five levels of basement is underway while we are also erecting the four level structural steel for the buildings above ground.
The site is situated in a busy street with neighbouring businesses and residential dwellings. This places additional planning and logistical challenges on the site team to ensure they operate effectively and efficiently while maintaining minimal day to day disruption.
King Façade New Zealand, our joint venture with one of the world’s foremost façade engineering and manufacturing companies, is working with Patterson Associates to develop the innovative façade for the Geyser Building. King Façade will use their specialist supply chain to procure the extensive stainless steel, low-iron and low-E glass used on this project, and they will ultimately install the complete façade.
Mainzeal’s Project Definition team has expert in-house Building Information Modeling (BIM) capability. BIM takes material from all the design consultants and creates a smart combination of 3D-model and database information. By providing full BIM modeling showing the integration of the building structure with the double skin facade, Mainzeal can sort out issues early within the virtual world, which makes for a smooth and efficient construction phase.
Another area where Mainzeal is using BIM to assist with planning the build process is around the components critical to the automated car park stacker. This sophisticated piece of machinery relies on small tolerances so sorting out any design conflicts or element clashes early makes good sense.
The on-site implementation of the designed NZGBC Green Star features is a further field where Mainzeal’s in-house expertise is being applied to Geyser. There is a high administrative element to the Green Star process and getting systems in place early is crucial. Mainzeal have an on-site Green Star Accredited Professional at Geyser and our Sustainability Manager provides support to the team as required. Including Green Star in the inductions for all on-site staff also ensures everyone is on-board to deliver the Green Star rating.
As with all projects, focused, methodical and detailed planning leads to the most efficient and effective building work. The bar is being raised in terms of building performance and so too must our planning tools become more sophisticated. Mainzeal’s expanded platform of expertise is being used to benefit the work at the coalface on Geyser and will result in a more fully coordinated build process and greater surety of outcome.