The Westhaven Marine Village is a purpose-built space within Westhaven Marina for marine businesses, restaurants and cafes. Argon provided input into cost, programme, quality, environmental, health and safety, procurement and methodology elements of this project during the ECI phase, before starting construction.
The distinctive roof references the Village’s marine location, with a repeating sawtooth form reminiscent of the Devonport Naval Shipyards and many industrial buildings. The long line of white triangles along the eastern and western façades resembles boats clustered at the start of a race. The sawtooth roof profile provided the opportunity to make use of deep steel trusses, spanning up to 24 metres across the full width of the building. This, along with steel frames in the other direction, allows clear spans to be achieved in both directions. The form is expressed internally, with parts of the trusses, columns and the rafters to be left exposed in the completed building.
The site was reclaimed land, which provided some challenges in the ground. It required 24-metre-long piles embedded into the sandstone to support the structure, and coordination around existing marina services and infrastructure.
A combined services trench and sewer pump station were constructed within the site in parallel with the building construction, and significant landscaping and an extension to the Westhaven promenade were included to tie the development into the existing public space.
Working in the marine and public environment required specific attention to detail with regard to environmental controls, health and safety and methodology, and Argon worked collaboratively with other marina projects and stakeholders to complete this job successfully on time and on budget.
The site sat on reclaimed land which required some additional piling for the boardwalk, and discovery of an abandoned fuel depot within the site added some costs to the project, however this was accommodated within the original programme and did not lead to an extension.
The site bordered the busy Westhaven Promenade, so care was needed to manage the pedestrian/ public interface with the site. There were also some challenges around installation of services within the reclaimed soil, however through robust planning and application of our H&S system a very high level of H&S performance was achieved.
Completion of earthworks on the edge of the Waitemata Harbour, including alterations to the existing stormwater outfalls, meant that Argon had to apply the strictest possible environmental controls to this project, including monitoring and adjusting works as required, to ensure that environmental performance was impeccable.
In addition to silt and sediment control the site was in a highly public area with multi-million-dollar boats within metres of the site, so noise and dust control had to be exemplary.
The site previously included approximately 30 mature Pohutakawa trees which needed to be protected, or in some case relocated under arborist supervision, during construction. Some of these trees were over 10m tall, and were successfully transplanted to other parts of the Westhaven precinct, and the protected and transplanted trees are all thriving today.
