Recent Retail & Hospitality Projects
Project Cost: $3.5M
Architect: Architects Plus Ltd
Project Director: Cameron MacPherson
Project Description:
This two-storey retail complex is a welcome addition to the site on the corner of Creyke and Ilam Roads that had remained vacant since the 1980s. Its construction is of precast concrete shear walls, a concrete first floor, a complex structural steel roof and canopies and shallow concrete foundations.
Project Cost: $5M
Architect: The Buchan Group Christchurch
Project Director: Cameron MacPherson
Project Description:
This large two-storey retail building is located at the entry to the Tower Junction shopping centre on Blenheim Road. Its construction is of precast concrete shear walls, a concrete mezzanine floor and shallow concrete foundations on a reinforced compacted hardfill raft. The project was completed successfully on programme and to budget.
Project Cost: $16M
Architect: Architects Plus Ltd
Project Director: Cameron MacPherson
Project Description:
The new building on 351 Lincoln Road is a state-of-the-art new commercial building and is one of the largest buildings in the vibrant and developing city fringe area of Addington. Featuring a 5,500 square metre five-storey office building and 2,400 square metre two-storey carpark building.
The Importance Level 3 (IL3) building comprises insitu concrete core shear walls and steel composite suspended floor construction, all supported by a large reinforced concrete raft and steel screw-piles.
Project Cost: $30M
Architect: Jasmax
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
Following the recent Canterbury earthquake sequence, these buildings were designed to meet the demand from the owners to have a building that can be re-occupied with minimal delay following an earthquake.
With 11,000 square metres of floor area, this award winning development incorporates two large office buildings and a carpark building. It is the first use in the world of replaceable-link Eccentric-braced frames (EBF's). This technology, which is based on 2010 Canadian Research, limits earthquake damage to "fuses" that protect the building from earthquake damage and can be replaced easily following earthquakes to allow occupancy to resume with minimal delay.
The work carried out by Ruamoko Solutions has helped pave the way for the use of the technology in New Zealand, and Steel Construction New Zealand has published design guidelines for this system partially based on the experience with this project.
Ruamoko Solutions won a 2014 ACENZ Innovate NZ Award of Excellence and were finalists for the 2014 IPENZ Engineering Excellence Awards for their work on these buildings.
In addition this project won a Silver Award at the 2016 NZ Commercial Project Awards, won a 2015 NZIA Canterbury Architecture Award for Commercial Architecture, won a Bronze Pin (Built Environment) at the 2014 Best Awards, and won a 2014 Property Council NZ Commercial Office Property Award.
Click here for the 2013 SCNZ Steel Innovations Conference Paper.
Project Cost: $25M
Architect: Peddle Thorp
Project Director: Cameron MacPherson
Project Description:
Nine-storey carparking building with ground floor retail. The total building floor area is 22,500 square metres, providing 576 carparks in total.
Structural features include steel frame construction with innovative Buckling Restrained Brace (BRB) seismic resisting system, and a composite steel deck floor system. The layout has been refined to ensure maximum structural efficiency considering ten different options of floor configurations.
Project Cost: $12M (combined)
Architect: Wilkie + Bruce Architects Ltd, Dalman Architects
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
Three-storey mixed-use building to the west, and single storey retail building to the east. Both buildings feature insitu and precast concrete shearwalls, textured concrete, GRC facades, and innovative re-levelable slab with no additional foundations over a gravel raft.
Three-storey building is designed to Importance Level 3 (IL3) for increased seismic resilience.
Foundation system offered considerable cost savings over piled type foundations commonly used in the area.
Project Cost: $3M
Architect: Architects Plus Ltd
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
This mixed use building which features restaurant, hospitality, health and gymnasium facilities was built before the earthquakes in an area known to be prone to liquefaction. As the building is immediately adjacent to the Christchurch Estuary, Ruamoko elected to found this precast wall and rib & infill floor building on a gravel raft, which proved a great solution as it remained occupied and functional in an area where many buildings were demolished following the devastating Lyttelton earthquake which had its epicentre not more than 3km from the buildings location. This project features a floor designed for gymnasium purposes and various copper feature walls.
Project Cost: $2M
Architect: Warren & Mahoney
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
This three-storey mixed-use building makes maximum use of its 6m plan dimension by utilising 150mm precast panels and taking advantage of its splayed plan layout to utilise shearwalls in two-dimensions to resist seismic load. Construction comprises rib & infill flooring and steel moment-resisting frames at the upper level. It is founded on steel screw-piles to the intermediate Springston gravel layer and has a suspended ground-floor.
Project Cost: $20M
Architect: Peddle Thorp
Project Director: Cameron MacPherson
Project Description:
Ballantynes is an icon in of the retail sector in Christchurch, and was one of the first landmark businesses to open in the CBD following the Christchurch earthquakes.
Only four levels have been built of this 7,500 square metre retail and carpark project, but the building has been designed for another two levels on top.
Some of the engineering challenges involved a title split running through the building requiring a full seismic joint of this moment resisting frame IL3 structure, and some challenging issues around adjacent basements and underpinning.
This development won a National Category Award and Gold Award at the 2021 NZ Commercial Project Awards.
Project Cost: $3M
Architect: Richard Proko Ltd
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
This mixed use building was built pre-quakes in an area notorious for liquefaction. As the site was on liquefiable soil immediately adjacent to the Christchurch Estuary, Ruamoko elected to found this precast wall and rib & infill floor building on a gravel raft, which proved a great solution, remaining occupied and functional in an area where many buildings were demolished following the devastating Lyttelton earthquake which had its epicentre not more than 2km from the buildings location. This project features a Bondor panel roof which is also used as a bracing diaphragm for the roof, eliminating the need for steel purlins, cross-bracing, and other supports, to provide an insulated finished ceiling with minimal complication.
Project Cost: $3M
Architect: The Buchan Group Christchurch
Project Director: Cameron MacPherson
Project Description:
The new mixed-use building on the corner of Colombo and Peterborough Streets makes good use of very limited site area. The three-storey building features steel moment resisting frames, precast concrete walls and piled foundations.
This project won a Silver Award at the 2016 NZ Commercial Project Awards.
Project Cost: $4M
Architect: Richard Proko Ltd
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
This three-storey mixed-use building features concrete moment resisting frames in the longitudinal direction, and insitu-concrete shear walls in the transverse direction.
Concrete perimeter panels to the lift shaft have been specially detailed to be non-participatory in the seismic load resisting system by way of rocking base details and vertical sliding allowance at panel joints.
Long-span hollowcore floors ensure a flexible and multi-use column free floor plate at all levels.
Project Cost: $5.5M
Architect: Krush Architecture Ltd
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
Single and two-storey commercial and hospitality buildings located in a new Christchurch subdivision retail area. Featuring curved facades, steel screw-piles, textured concrete shearwalls, long-span precast concrete flooring and steel moment-resisting frames.
Designer: F3 Design Ltd, Field Architecture
Project Director: Grant Wilkinson
Project Description:
Ruamoko Solutions has worked closely with F3 Design Ltd and Field Architecture to develop a series of re-usable, modular spaces that can be configured for a large range of various uses. These modules have been installed for various art, music, hospitality and office functions in the Christchurch CBD. The modules have provided temporary spaces that have been an essential part of maintaining activities in Christchurch city following the Canterbury earthquakes. They have allowed useful spaces to be quickly installed on sites where buildings have been demolished.
The image above shows an variation of the modules that provides a unique sound chamber. This innovative structure consists of a two-way catenary steel grid supporting plywood anechoic baffles which also provide permanent formwork for a concrete roof.
Project Cost: $3M
Architect: Krush Architecture Ltd
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
Retail and office/warehouse structure on site prone to static consolidation and seismic settlement. Innovative foundation system consisting of steel screwpiles and a sacrificial floor slab that may be re-leveled following a strong seismic event. Building structure features conventional precast wall panel and steel portal frames.
Project Cost: $3M
Architect: Wilkie + Bruce Architects Ltd
Project Director: Grant Wilkinson
Project Description:
Four-storey, multi-tenancy development with floor plates of approximately 250 square metres for retail, office space and apartments.
Structural features include eccentrically braced frames, precast shear walls with coupled steel beams, precast concrete floor system and steel/concrete composite floor beams.
Project Cost: $15M
Architect: Richard Proko Ltd
Project Director: Grant Wilkinson
Project Description:
Wynn Williams House is a pioneering new central Christchurch office building that uses a combination of structural seismic technology never used before anywhere in the world. While the structural elements in the building have been used before, it is the specific combination of methods chosen for the six-storey building that make it unique. The multiple layers of innovation include the use of lead-rubber base isolators, novel tension tie downs at the building corners and use of a post-tensioned frame structure with LVL timber beams and precast concrete columns.
The building replaces the former St Elmo Courts building on the corner of Hereford and Montreal Streets which was badly damaged in the September 2010 and February 2011 earthquakes. For the owner, a resilient a building was a must. The combined use of the structural elements means that the building will survive a 100% code earthquake (1-in-500 year event) with little or no structural damage and will remain safe and stable in a 1-in-2,500 year earthquake event. Despite the innovation present in the building, it remains a very cost-effective building.
Ruamoko Solutions was a winner in the Engineering Excellence category at the 2015 NZ Wood Design Awards, and a Finalist in the Excellence in Engineered Wood Products at those awards also for this project. In addition, Ruamoko Solutions was a finalist in the 2015 ACENZ Innovate NZ Awards of Excellence for their work on this building (click here for more details).
Project Cost: $20M
Architect: F3 Design Ltd, Field Architecture
Project Director: Grant Wilkinson
Project Description:
The complex of buildings on this site offer multiple types of tenancies and provides space for retail, office and residential apartments. The site is made up of nine multi-storey structures, a handful of single-storey structures along with a few linking bridges and walkways and exposed decks.
At the heart of the construction are the modular steel ‘box’ structures which rely on vierendeel truss actions to resist gravity and seismic forces. The buildings have custom engineered Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) floor panels at the upper floors and two-way span precast concrete floors at ground floor.
The project is split up into several phases with phase 1 construction complete, phase two construction ongoing and future phases ready for design. Three of the nine multi-storey buildings are complete and tenanted, with another two buildings currently under construction.
Architect: Three Sixty Architecture
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
New restaurant facility for this iconic NZ hospitality brand, set in the new Welles Street residential area of the rapidly expanding post-quake Christchurch CBD.
Building features exposed frames and structure, use of existing building structure and strengthening, and raft type concrete floor slab.
Project Cost: $3M
Architect: Wilkie + Bruce Architects Ltd
Project Director: Cameron MacPherson
Project Description:
Three-storey building on the prominent corner of Armagh and New Regent Street, with a small footprint, and mixed ground floor retail and hospitality use, and upper level apartment.
Construction comprises of steel screw-piled foundations, precast and insitu concrete shear walls, steel deck flooring on structural steel supporting structure.
Project Cost: $5M
Architect: Krush Architecture Ltd
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
3,500 square metre commercial development in new commercial subdivision in Christchurch. The development comprises two commercial warehouse/office buildings with internal offices and mezzanine floors.
Project Cost: $4.5M
Architect: Ikon Architects
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
Retail development with a footprint area covering 2,700 square metres of single-storey building.
Construction features precast concrete perimeter walls, steel frames, screw pile foundations along with a loading bay and back of house facilities.
Project Cost: $4.5M
Architect: Ikon Architects
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
Large warehouse and factory building with attached offices with a footprint area covering 2,500 square metres.
Construction features insulated panel walls, steel frames.
Project Cost: $2M
Architect: Gravitas
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
$7M retail development with a footprint area covering 5,500 square metres of predominantly single-storey buildings.
Construction features precast concrete perimeter walls, steel frames, as well as loading bay and back of house facilities.
Project Cost: $10M
Architect: Walker Architecture
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
This 1905 heritage brick façade has been given a new lease on life by Duncans Lane Ltd. The original two storey brick building suffered severe damage and partial collapse in the Canterbury earthquakes, and needed demolition. The façade was temporarily secured to allow the building behind to be demolished and the construction of a new building behind to modern standards. The renewed development now provides over 1,700 square metres of retail and office space adjacent the thriving Little High Eatery across Duncans Lane.
Health and safety requirements dictated an innovative propping system as the facade was required to be propped in a fashion that did not require access under the facade itself.
Construction includes concrete wall panels and floors, and a relevelable concrete raft foundation.
Project Cost: $2.5M
Architect: Gravity Architecture
Project Director: Julian Ramsay
Project Description:
Two-storey mixed-use building features retail on ground floor and offices on first floor.
Structural features of this building include an innovative re-levelable slab system with cast-in services on top of a gravel raft. This system precludes the need for formal foundations, which resulted in considerable cost savings.
Project Cost: $9M
Architect: Woodhams Meikle Zhan
Project Director: Cameron MacPherson
Project Description:
Opened in April 2014, the new Countdown supermarket building replaced the previous supermarket building which was badly damaged in the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes, primarily due to liquefaction. The new 4,200 square metre building is a state-of-the-art supermarket.
The construction is of precast concrete perimeter walls, steel portal frames and spine beams, concrete mezzanine structures and an economical reinforced compacted hardfill raft solution with drainage at its base.