Work on Whangārei's Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery will start again today.
Work on Whangārei's Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery will start again today.
Work on Whangarei's Hundertwasser Art Centre is set to resume today as the country wakes up to Covid-19 alert level 3 restrictions.
The Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery is being built at Whangārei's Town Basin, but work had stopped during the level 4 lockdown. But under level3 building work can resume, with conditions.
Late last year it was announced that construction costs of $26 million have ballooned by $4m. The shortfall has been put down to law changes requiring higher safety standards, the discovery of unidentified asbestos and technical difficulties met during construction of the distinctive building.
It's now expected to open in late 2021, about five months later than planned.
The lead contractor, Trigg Construction, said it had created plans that provide a safe and accountable work environment under level 3.
The detailed plans would allow work on the new building to progress, despite the difficulties Covid-19 restrictions would pose, Trigg Construction site manager Bronson Brown said.
"We have split the building site into six separate zones and our intention is to place the various teams within those zones effectively into their own 'site bubbles' for the day.
"Break and lunch times will be staggered so that there is no cross pollination of people on site and tracking is made more effective," Brown said.
If work assigned for a day is complete - and a change of zone required - workers would be required to report to the site office for reassignment. Brown said the main intention was to keep people safe, but also to ensure that the project had a robust system to allow tracking of personnel movements and contact on site.
"We'll be operating at around 75 per cent efficiency," he said.
Whangārei Town Basin showing what the Hundertwasser Art Centre will look like in situ.
The project would have up to 30 people on site each day and the company expects to increase these numbers as restriction levels ease.
"The new requirements will obviously slow us down but by rethinking the programme and how we construct the building we're able to make sure we get people working again, keep our teams effective and keep the project moving forward," Brown said.
Plans had been adjusted so that certain areas of the build could now be completed earlier.
This would allow other trades to commence work earlier than planned which would in turn open more employment opportunities.
"As builders, we must show the ability to adapt and find ways to keep productive," Brown said.
"Operating under these new requirements is just another problem we have to solve."
