"Firth are smashing it" ... says LiveFirm in Tauranga
Construction is well underway on the major redevelopment of Tauranga’s courthouse, with Firth Tauranga supplying concrete for the foundations on behalf of customer LiveFirm. The $206 million project will increase High Court capacity in the city and deliver a modern new judicial facility.
“Our company uses Firth in Auckland, where we use them for everything,” explains ChezBoon Lim (Boon), Construction Manager for LiveFirm North Island, the concrete works sub-contractor building the new facility for Hawkins.
“When we were bidding for this work in Tauranga, we weren’t sure whether Firth had the same capability there as they do in Auckland, as we had never worked with Firth Tauranga before. But we have been pleasantly surprised by how well they have been able to supply what is needed for this project.”
KC, Project Manager for LiveFirm on the courthouse project, says, “We have completed some big pours with Firth and they are doing really well. Actually, they are smashing it! We had a large pour (313m³) using Firth on the 10th of June. We started at 5.30am and it was all done by 1pm. It went very smoothly.”
“There’s not much to see at the moment, as the project only began late last year and it’s all foundation work at this stage,” explains Dave Owen, Sales Representative (Bay of Plenty) for Firth.
“We have supplied about 2,500m³ of the approximately 8,000m³ of concrete that will be required for the project. A couple of the pours have been between 300m³ and 400m³ and were completed without any issues."
Tim Bulmer, Regional Materials Manager (Bay of Plenty) for Firth, explains the technical aspects of the concrete supply. “Managing heat during curing has been a key focus of the project, with strict maximum temperature limits in place. With the raft slabs being up to 1 metre thick, it required calculations and modelling to manage this. This meant we need to use 35% fly ash, which helps reduce heat during curing. Due to the project specifications, LiveFirm is required to conduct temperature monitoring (as per specification) on raft slabs and so far, we have remained below the 70°C maximum.”
“LiveFirm is a longstanding customer for Firth, with an extensive relationship in Auckland,” adds Tim. “They tendered for this work outside the Auckland market and felt we were the only supplier they could trust for a project of this scale. They’ve been absolutely blown away by the speed at which we’ve been able to supply concrete-thanks in part to our relatively new plant-and have been singing our praises for making the job seamless for them.”
“There’s still a long way to go, but hopefully things continue tracking the way they have been.”
| The completed Tauranga High and District Court complex will be a four-storey facility, replacing two ageing buildings, including the leaky Cameron Road courthouse. The redevelopment will increase the number of courtrooms from 10 to 13 across the two sites and provide new spaces for jury trials and judge-alone hearings. The new courthouse is scheduled for completion in 2028. |