"It is a considerable sized project which we started in February this year and will take till May 2012 to complete," said Allan Greig, Manager for Mainzeal Palmerston North. "The largest of the new buildings is known as the MSB, Maintenance Support Building, and will be the first building to obtain a Green Star* rating in the Manawatu and the first Industrial Building to achieve a 5 star, Green Star rating in the country."
"We started concrete supply to this project for Mainzeal in February," said Graeme Cooley, Supply Manager for Firth Palmerston North. "To obtain a Green Star rating the mixes are required to have 20% flyash and 25% recycled aggregates. We are supplying mixes from 15 - 40MPa depending on what Mainzeal require."
Although supply to the base has been steady, the Firth team recently had an exceptionally busy day when more than 350m3 of concrete was required for a raft floor - the base of a 14m high parachute drying tower. Graeme explains "we started at 3am to batch the concrete to enable the first loads to reach the site for a 4am start. It's a 35 minute drive from our plant and we needed to be sure there was a steady supply of concrete arriving at the base."
"We are in the early stages of construction of this project with a fair bit still left to do," said Allan. "Next month we have an interesting task when we will be pouring in situ concrete between pre-cast concrete columns for 12m high walls for the AFS building. Firth will be assisting us with supplying their self-compacting mix for these walls which will be 150mm thick."
Over the next year approximately 6,500m3 of concrete is expected to be delivered to the Air Force Base which will mean a few more early starts yet for the Palmerston North Firth team.
* What is Green Star?
Green Star New Zealand is the country's first comprehensive environmental rating system for buildings and was created to:
- Establish a common language and standard of measurement for green buildings.
- Promote integrated, whole-building design.
- Raise awareness of green building benefits.
- Recognise environmental leadership.
- Reduce the environmental impact of development.
For more information on the Green Star rating system go to the Green Building Council website or click here.
