Foundations set in concrete - Firth Concrete | Concrete ... · Stadium contract,” said Hugh Madden, Director of blocklaying contractors Hugh Madden Ltd of Dunedin. “They are doing

Winter

2010

Form and function at Eastport service centre

Far from ordinary retaining walls

Firth covers all bases for designer living

Firth’s contribution to the RWC2011

“Just recently one of the Directors from the London Olympic Stadium Project visited the site and the first question he asked me was ‘How did you get such a good finish on the concrete?”

New Zealand’s largest stadiumEden Park has been in existence as a sports ground since 1910. Extensive redevelopment of Eden Park into a venue suitable to host the finals for RWC2011 is almost complete.

The $240.5 million redevelopment will see the current stadium’s capacity increase from 45,000 to 50,000 with an additional 10,000 seats being temporarily installed for RWC2011.

Winter 2010Page 2 – 3

The game of rugby has been a part of New Zealand culture since 1870 when the first game was played in Nelson between Nelson College and Nelson Football Club. From the moment the announcement was made in November 2005 that New Zealand would host the Rugby World Cup 2011 (RWC2011), the country has been readying itself for one of the largest sporting events to ever take place on New Zealand soil.

Millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours have been spent preparing New Zealand for this event. Along with new bridges, an event centre, motorways and tunnels, significant investment has gone into increasing the facilities and capacity of the arenas that will host the games themselves.

Foundations set in concrete

The redevelopment involves construction of:

• A new permanent three-tier, 22,000 seat South Stand with 50 new corporate boxes

• A new, unroofed, two-tier East Stand with 8,600 capacity

• Extension of the ASB Stand with a 2,000 seat lower bowl

• An external western concourse which will link with the internal concourses, connecting all stands

• A transport hub in the south west of the park with parking for 12 coaches

Firth has supplied more than 19,000m3 of Certified Concrete® and another 1,000m3 to the offsite precast suppliers for the redevelopment project.

“The combination of mixes have certainly kept our team on their toes,” said Ray Boyd, Customer Development, Firth – Auckland Key Accounts. “From high dose oxide mixes to specific design for chiller rooms and self compacting ... we’ve had it all!”

“The combination of the steel form systems supplied by Dominion Constructors and Firth’s self compacting concrete has created an extremely good finish to the concrete at the stadium,” said Alan Gray, Project Manager – Fletcher Construction. “Just recently one of the Directors from the London Olympic Stadium Project visited the

site and the first question he asked me was ‘How did you get such a good finish on the concrete?’ I was happy to explain the good work done by Firth and Dominion.”

The stadium is ahead of schedule and, although completion is not until the end of October this year, Fletchers will be progressively handing over areas from mid July, three and a half months ahead of schedule.

With local residents and rugby fans alike in favour of the changes being made at Eden Park, anticipation is building. The kick off of the RWC2011 at Eden Park on 9 September between Tonga and the All Blacks is just around the corner.

Tight schedule for Southland stadiumCarisbrook, Dunedin is synonymous with rugby. However a review on an upgrade to Carisbrook to ensure its suitability for RWC2011 matches and future rugby tests revealed this wasn’t economical and a decision was made to build a new stadium.

The Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza will be New Zealand’s largest indoor arena and have a capacity of more than 30,000. The stadium is planned to be ready for the RWC2011, although the schedule is tight.

“We have been involved in supplying both concrete and masonry to contractors working on the stadium as sub contractors to Hawkins Construction,” said Aaron Charteris, Certified and Masonry Supply Manager – Firth Coastal Otago. “To date we have supplied 80,000 masonry blocks to Hugh Madden Brick & Block Layer and 1,600m3 of concrete to Concrete Tech for the grandstands.”

“We are very happy with Firth’s performance in supplying us with masonry products for our Otago Stadium contract,” said Hugh Madden, Director of blocklaying contractors Hugh Madden Ltd of Dunedin. “They are doing a good job and we are always happy to work with them.”

The Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza will be New Zealand’s largest indoor arena and have

a capacity of more than 30,000.

AMI Stadium first finishedAfter two years and $60 million, New Zealand has the first of its major stadiums ready for the RWC2011 with the completion of the Deans Stand at AMI Stadium in Christchurch. The stand, officially opened in January, seats 14,700 and has increased the permanent capacity of the stadium to 43,000.

“We worked hard with Fletcher Construction to meet the tight deadlines required,” said Dominic Sutton, Area Manager – Firth Canterbury/ West Coast. “The Christchurch delivery team was amazing, delivering about 8,000m3 of concrete in total. It was a very large project for Firth Canterbury and we are very proud to see it finished.”

“Firth did a great job for us on this project,” said Gordon Murdoch, Project Manager – Fletcher Construction. “The concrete and the concrete products kept coming without a problem. Their service was professional.”

Five pool matches will be hosted in the city, building up to the excitement of the two Christchurch quarterfinals in early October.

“The Christchurch delivery team was amazing, delivering about 8,000m3 of concrete in total. It was a very large

project and we are very proud to see it finished.”

Our C0 2 TargetFletcher Building’s CO2 emissions reduction target is 5% between 2008 and 2012. Achievement of this target will require total reductions of approximately 80,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum across the Fletcher Building Group.

“Firth’s aim is to be New Zealand’s leading sustainable concrete and concrete products manufacturer and our C02 emissions reduction target is part of this strategy,” said Peter Rooney, Commercial Manager –

Firth. “We have several initiatives underway to help achieve our target:

• A reduction of diesel consumption by focusing on:

- Truck idling time - Smooth driving - Bowl speed - Engine tuning and performance• Investigating the use of bio-fuel • Energy audits for plants• Waste audits for plants

The Firth team has supplied two specialised CFA mixes containing flyash for this project

• A 35MPa strength for the hard piles and

• 10MPa mix for soft piles

NB: The CFA mix was designed for use in BPC’s Continuous Flight Auger – a piling machine that pumps in the concrete for the pile as it draws out the excavated material.

The steel cage reinforcing is then sunk into position.

“Great to have a fellow Fletchers company involved in this high profile landmark project. Firth were very obliging with the concrete supply with a high demand on flexibility due to the nature of the CFA piling process.

I look forward to their support in the future and continuing an excellent relationship.”Damon Winter, Project Manager – Brian Perry Civil.

Specialised piles for stream rehabilitationWaiwhetu Stream, labelled as ‘one of New Zealand’s most

contaminated’, is now undergoing a $21 million transformation to

return it to its former glory. The clean up will remove the contaminated

sediment, a legacy of untreated industrial discharges that have

been pumped into the stream for decades, and will include channel

widening and deepening which will provide more effective flood

protection for the area.

Brian Perry Civil (BPC) is the main contractor for the project along with Firth Certified Wellington who are supplying the concrete.

“The specialised ‘Secant Piling’ system used by BPC will strengthen and aid in flood protection,” says Cameron Lee, Regional Manager, Firth Wellington. “We delivered an average of 70m3 a day, using five 8 wheelers on rotation – a total in excess of 4,000m3 of concrete. It was a challenging task as we were working in close proximity to the sea so had to coordinate the pump with the piling rig taking into account the tides.”

In March, 60 local residents looked over the stream clean up process, shared stories of fishing in the lower Waiwhetu Stream and expressed excitement about its environmental prospects.

Winter 2010Page 4 – 5

“We have also completed an upgrade to the technology in our trucks that gathers customer service, Health & Safety, volumes and mileage information.

Analysing this data will help when trying to cut back on excess idling time and time spent on site. Education and enrolment of our drivers is the first step to achieving our target,” said Peter.

Tradition etched in the stoneRapaki is a small settlement on the eastern shoreline of Whakaraupo (Lyttelton Harbour). Rapaki was named by the Ngai Tahu chief, Te Rakiwhakaputa, who, on arriving at Whakaraupo symbolically placed his Rapaki (waist mat) on the ground laying claim to the land. The full name of Rapaki is Te Rapaki o Te Rakiwhakaputa, meaning the waist mat of Te Rakiwhakaputa.

The Runaka Hall in Rapaki opened in 1901 and was named after Te Wheke, the son of Te Rakiwhakaputa. Plans to replace the hall began in 1999 with construction commencing in 2009.

The structure of the new whare (meeting house) is complete with work continuing on the many internal and external carvings that will adorn it.

“The Marae Atea (open area in front of the whare) needs to be a very functional and hardy space and must cater to many people during the many cultural events that will be staged there.”said Nik Kneale, Landscape Architect for Boffa Miskell – Christchurch.

“I worked with Doe Parata, a renowned weaver, to develop a paving design which provided reference to the Rapaki that chief Te Rakiwhakaputa first laid down for his people when they arrived at Whakaraupo. We have used three types of Firth paver to create the desired effect, using the bush-hammered and honed surface finishes to provide the patterning.”

• Standard Holland paver – Cream Sands

• Bush Hammered Holland paver – Black Sands

• Honed Holland ‘Sett’ paver – Black Sands

Work continues on the new whare with the official opening scheduled for November this year.

The clean lines of the Firth Holland® Paver offer a flexible, stylish paving solution that is ideal for domestic driveways and parking areas.

• Built-in spacer nib for easy and accurate laying

• Chamfered upper edges to help water run-off and prevent chipping

• Requires only fifty pavers per m2

• Available in 4 thicknesses: 50mm, 60mm, 80mm and in 7 colours

• 100mm made to order

• Dimensions: 197mm x 97mm x 50mm

New productFirth Ezi Wall® is a light segmental wall system that can be easily constructed with minimal foundation preparation due to a unique interlocking system. This creates a tight interlock between the blocks which allows them to be stacked vertically for straight, concave or convex curved walls.

The natural split-faced texture of the block makes Firth Ezi Wall® extremely versatile. It is suitable for low freestanding or retaining walls, garden edging or beds, tree wells and outdoor decorative features and is available in three colours – Rockface, Sandstone and Granite.

Firth Holland® Paver

Te Wheke was first opened in 1901.

The concrete that can be seen at the end of the paving are the original foundation stones of the old hall and spiritually important to the marae.

Winter 2010Page 6 – 7

Firth covers all bases…

Firth’s Devonstone® Tranquility Rumbled was chosen for the exterior cladding of the house, with Firth 20 Series Split Face, in the colour Blacksands, used for both the curved wall and the fireplace.

Firth Devonstone® will create a visually appealing home with the strength only concrete bricks can offer. It is available in the creamy, earth coloured tones of – Highlander, Serenity and Tranquility – that complement both traditional and modern styles.

• A highly durable, attractive outer layer

• The security and protection of a veneer cavity system

• Can be finished with contrasting Dricon mortars

When Adam Pollard, Director of Morgan & Pollard Landscapes Ltd in Christchurch was looking to create the perfect home for himself and his family, he looked no further than the Firth range of products.

“We were looking for an innovative product range that we could use on both the house and landscaping. I am really happy how all the products complemented each other and created some interest within the house and landscaping,” said Adam.

Firth Classic Cobblestone™ provides the look and feel of a traditional old world cobblestone suitable for a variety of residential applications.

• Ideal for domestic driveways, residential patios and pathways

• Chamfered upper edges to help water run off and prevent chipping

• Suitable for commercial pavements and municipal applications

• Requiring only twenty-two pavers per m2

• Dimensions 230mm x 190mm x 60mm

Firth Devonstone® Split Face in Rockface – were

made to order for this project.

Call now on 0800 800 576,

email [email protected] or

go to www.firth.co.nz for more information.

Far from ordinary retaining walls…

“Our team have had many years of experience building Mechanically Stabilised Earth – type walls and we strongly recommended the use of Firth Diamond Pro for this project. It was the ideal solution from a structural, aesthetic and financial viewpoint and really shows how well the Diamond Pro product performs for large scale infrastructure type applications. We are leaving the site with a happy client – MHX Alliance.”Ron Williams, Managing Director – Gibbons Contractors Ltd

SH20 Manukau Harbour Crossing, AucklandApplication: Motorway infrastructure

Contractor: Gibbons Contractors Ltd

Product: Diamond Pro™ – Bevelled, Colour – Rockface

Suitability: Diamond Pro has been a cost effective solution for the wall supporting a motorway off ramp on Auckland’s Manukau Harbour Crossing. Ranging in height up to 4m, it was constructed without specialist lifting equipment as the blocks are light enough to be lifted manually. Diamond Pro’s patented ‘rear- lip’ technology automatically delivers a uniform setback, making construction quick and easy. The durable face also offers a long life for this structure.

“These blocks were chosen for their strength, ease of laying and their attractive finished effect. Several options were considered but the Firth blocks proved to be the best. We are very pleased with the result, and the service and assistance Firth has provided.”Alan Smith, Manager – Tetleys Quarry

Tetley’s Quarry, Waitakaruru, WaikatoApplication: Quarry rock tipping platform

Contractor: Hauraki District Council Construction & Maintenance Unit

Product: Diamond Pro, Bevelled, Colour – Rockface

Suitability: Diamond Pro was the ideal choice for Hauraki District Council for this 8m high wall with heavy duty loadings (fully laden trucks) of up to 60 tonne. The acute 7 degree verticality of the wall facing is imperative in the confined space between the crushing plant and the edge of the tipping platform. A durable solution for a wall was required as it will be subjected to hard knocks over its lifetime.

Winter 2010Page 8 – 9

Redwood Crescent Extension, New PlymouthApplication: Residential subdivision

development

Contractor: AJ Cowley Ltd

Product: Diamond Pro™ – Stonecut, Colour – Rockface

Suitability: Aesthetic appeal was a key factor when choosing the retaining wall product for a high quality subdivision in New Plymouth. Diamond Pro lends itself to curved, sweeping walls, in this case making an impressive statement. Compared to timber, Diamond Pro was a cost effective solution for the wall, which extends up to 2.8m in height.

Glenfield Road Widening Stage 3, North Shore CityApplication: Main arterial road infrastructure

Contractor: ICB Construction Ltd

Product: Diamond Pro™, Straight Face, Colour – Rockface

Suitability: Diamond Pro was a cost effective, good looking solution for a wall extending up to 4.5m in height in an established residential setting in the Auckland suburb of Glenfield. The wall supports a main arterial road, footpath and handrail and was constructed without disrupting traffic flow as the blocks were manually lifted into place without the need for a crane or other lifting equipment.

Diamond Pro™ Face style: Bevelled, Stonecut or Straight Face

Colours: Rockface, Sandstone and Granite

Nominal dimensions: 200mm x 450mm x 300mm

Coverage: .09m2 or 11 units per m2

Approx weight: 32kg

Set back: 25mm

Maximum wall height: 1.2m, depending on ground conditions, and up to 10m with appropriate engineering.

For more information on Diamond Pro™ phone 0800 800 576 or go to www.firth.co.nz

Firth’s engineered segmental retaining wallsRetaining walls over 1.2m in height require specific engineering design. Firth offers a preliminary design service (free of charge).

For further information or assistance on engineering design call 0800 800 576.

Winter 2010Page 10 – 11

The Guide to Concrete ConstructionThe revised edition of CCANZ’s The Guide to Concrete Construction

is now available.

It is a popular New Zealand text covering the constituents of

concrete, its manufacture and supply, concreting and related site

practices – along with concrete properties, specifying, ordering

and testing. Find out why procedures such as compacting and

curing are important.

To request a free copy email: [email protected]

Designing Comfortable HomesThe 2nd edition of CCANZ’s Designing Comfortable Homes updates design considerations for enhanced energy efficiency and comfort in New Zealand homes. It provides readers with an understanding of the basic principles of passive solar design – the key to thermal comfort and reduced energy demands.

The book’s premise is that homes can be naturally warm in winter and cool in summer – provided appropriate combinations of glass, thermal mass and insulation are used.

To request a free copy of Designing Comfortable Homes

email: [email protected]

Preserve life and minimise damageIt is imperative that buildings and structures are created to protect people and property from threats – including fire.

Legislation and design codes exist for this reason and are updated to reflect international research and development in concrete’s fire safety. As a non-combustible material, concrete and concrete masonry rarely require additional fire protection and during a fire event will not add to the fire load or produce harmful emissions.

Concrete’s slow rate of heat transfer prevents fire spread within structures while providing protection to evacuees and fire fighters.

Following a fire a concrete structure generally remains intact, allowing for relatively quick repair and reoccupation, saving time and money.

This range of properties ensures concrete provides an impressive level of fire resistance that ultimately assists in preserving life and minimising damage.

For more on the fire performance of concrete visit: www.cca.org.nz/fire

The drive to improve safetyFletcher Building recognises outstanding health and safety initiatives and successes across its business at an annual awards event.

In 2009 the “Site Award for Most Effective Site and Safety Initiative” was awarded to Firth Industries for the “G” Force Sensors fitted in 2008 to the GPS Status Automator units in Firth’s trucks.

The sensor detects when the force on the truck exceeds set thresholds and the driver is alerted by a speaker of:

– “Harsh braking”; or

– “Tilt detected”; or

– “Overspeed” (if exceeding 95 kph).

The overall trend since installing the system nationwide has been a 90% drop in warnings per delivery since December 2008.

Firth is leading the way in managing safer driving on the road.

STOP PRESSAs we go to press, Firth’s drive to improve safety has received further recognition, now on an international scale. Firth’s video “A Day in the Life of Firth” has received the highest honour, a Silver Telly, in the Health & Safety category of the 31st Annual Telly Awards held in New York. With over 11,000 videos entered into this prestigious festival from around the world every year, the Telly award is highly sought after. The winning video is part of Firth’s ongoing campaign to improve Health & Safety awareness and performance across the business.

Image courtesy of: BCITOKevin Hawkins Photography ©

Form and function from concreteGolden Bay Cement’s architecturally designed $45 million Eastport service centre opened earlier this year and is the largest and most modern cement facility in the country. State of the art technology at the new central Auckland site will more than double the storage and discharge capacity at the current Wynyard Wharf site.

“The building was absolutely designed for structural support and integrity but it also has a lot of architectural merit. It has its own inherent beauty,” says Andrew Moss, General Manager – Golden Bay Cement. “As a structure it fits very well into the port environment and was designed specifically to keep within the allowable building envelope.”

The Eastport service centre is arguably one of the more attractive structures in the area. In a first of its kind to be used in the southern hemisphere, “flat-store” technology replaces the traditional 50 metre silos seen at Wynyard Wharf, with a lower profile 18m structure.

“This was a very interesting project due to the shape of the concrete fins and the form work used to create them,” said Rob McKinnon, Materials Manager – Firth Northern. “Initially it was thought that standard concrete would suffice, but due to the considerable amount of steel work congestion within the fins we changed to a self-compacting mix. We had to design a new self-compacting mix with a 10mm stone which worked successfully and created the desired affect.”

New Zealand Standard NZS3122 under reviewCurrently the New Zealand specification for Portland and blended cements (NZS3122) is under review. The revision is exploring the potential of increasing the approved mineral additions in general purpose cement up to 10% (presently at 5%). The drive behind this is to align New Zealand cement production with trends in world production with the aim of reducing green house gases from cement manufacture. The revised standard could see the percentage of mineral additions in cement increase by 5%. Dene Cook, Technical Manager, Firth, is the IPENZ representative on the Standards Committee and will keep us updated on the potential changes to the cement Standard in the next issue of ELEMENT.

Investment in CBD plant helps secure contractAuckland’s new Victoria Park Tunnel (VPT) aims to ease the congestion for more than 100,000 commuters using the viaduct each day. The 460m, three-lane, one-way northbound tunnel will be constructed using a ‘cut and cover’ method utilised by Fletcher Construction on the New Lynn Rail Trench.

Firth were awarded an initial contract of approximately 2,000m3 earlier in the year and have also recently gained the largest portion of the contract to supply the main tunnel structure concrete – in excess of 30,000m3.

The pressure is on the VPT alliance team members to deliver the project with an ambitious target of completion for the start of the RWC2011.

Fast facts• Estimated cost including land purchases around $400 million• 460 metre long cut and cover tunnel beneath Victoria Park• Length of project 2.2km• Retaining existing use of the viaduct over Victoria Park providing

four lanes for south bound traffic• Dedicated bus lanes• Pedestrian/cyclist footbridge will be built over the motorway

linking St Mary’s Bay to Westhaven• New concrete median and edge barriers• Transport noise wall in St Marys Bay area and solid noise wall in

Freemans Bay area

Cover image courtesy of Ibau Hamburg

Fast facts• 18 months to build

(Fletcher Construction)• 766 piles driven 12m to 20m • 6,000m3 of concrete • 1,500 tonnes of reinforcing steel • 15km of cables • 20 dust collectors • 2.5km of piping

Strategic and safeFirth’s improved Hamer Street plant now resides 300m north of the old site – just a few hundred metres from the VPT workzone. The revamped site has been a key contributor in securing this very large contract for Firth. The new plant sits on nearly twice as much land as the old plant, which meant Firth

was able to redesign the plant to improve

traffic flow, safety and efficiency.

Firth is the only concrete company with the

ability to batch concrete in the Auckland

CBD, making the relocation and redesign of

Hamer Street essential for Firth to be able to

offer customers prompt, reliable concrete

supply in the heart of Auckland City.

For more information call 0800 800 576, email [email protected] or go to www.firth.co.nz

Cathedral Square boasts two new hotels Two new hotels have opened in Cathedral Square, Christchurch in the last three months – the Warners Novotel Hotel and the C1 Tower to which Firth has supplied around 5,000m3 of concrete. Pouring concrete to the C1 Tower required a concrete pump to be craned up to the highest available floor to be able to pump the concrete to the topmost reaches of the building.

Herringbone pattern for Visy Recycling plant5,000m2 of Firth’s Stockholm 80mm paver is being laid by Pavecraft as an extension to Visy Recycling New Zealand’s facility in Onehunga. The pallets of pavers have been specially stacked by Firth in a herringbone pattern so the specialised laying machine can lay 1m2 per layer directly off the pallet.

Winter pours at ClaudelandsWork on the roof of the Claudelands Convention Centre arena in Hamilton in the last few months has enabled Firth to under take some large pours for the floor during May regardless of weather conditions.

Remote Stockton plant keeps busyFirth’s semi–mobile plant at Stockton has had a very busy first quarter supplying 2,500m3 of concrete for a new coal processing plant at Solid Energy’s remote opencast mine in Buller. The plant is manned, on an “as required” basis, by staff from Firth’s Canterbury plants.

New Telecom base emergesProgress is steady on Telecom’s new $100 million environmentally friendly base in Wellington. Firth is making deliveries to Willis and Boulcott Street on a daily basis. “Up until now we have been filling up a big hole. It’s good to see the building emerge from the ground,” said Cameron Lee, Regional Manager, Firth Wellington.

A Green Star concrete firstThe redevelopment at Waikato University has seen the supply of 750m3 of ‘Green Star’ rated concrete (which contains recycled aggregates) for the floor of a new wing. The footings for this new building contained the first Green Star rated concrete to be poured in New Zealand. Green Star rated concrete must adhere to strict requirements and standards.

For more go to www.nzgbc.org.nz.

A continuous wall of concrete8,000m3 of concrete was supplied to Brian Perry Civil to construct the walls of a 300m trench, part of the new 2km Manukau Rail Link. A ‘Secant Piling’ process was used to construct the walls using Firth’s proprietary ‘soft pile’ mix to create a row of piles. Where the piles touch, the concrete is bored out and a high strength 40MPa pile is poured to create a continuous ‘wall’ of concrete.

Firth’s products help build Pegasus Although still under construction, Pegasus Township in North Canterbury was opened in December and will eventually house more than 7,000 residents. To date Firth has delivered 1,400m3 of concrete to water treatment works, footpaths and driveways, 1,000m2 of decorative paving and “Manorstone” cladding for the Stonewood Homes show home.

Firth tally reaches 76Last year Firth built a new concrete plant in Edendale, Southland to supply the rural communities of Edendale, Gore and Mataura. The plant is manned, as required, by staff from Firth’s Invercargill plant. Edendale brings Firth’s tally of plants countrywide to 76.

Product updateDricon PaveLock® and PaveSand™ have traditionally been available in 40kg bags but with Health & Safety concerns over safe lifting practices and requests from Firth’s customers, they are now available in the smaller bag size of 20kgs which can easily be lifted by one person.

Winter 2010Page 12