Papamoa college is the latest project in a series of “next generation education campuses” delivered by Hawkins Construction using the design and build procurement model. The brief was to have a fully functioning Year 7-13 school campus designed, consented and constructed in 18 months utilising the new open-plan ‘learning commons’ layout and with an extremely
high earthquake performance rating due to local seismic risks and the sand based ground conditions. The new buildings include learning commons, science rooms, a theatre, tech rooms, an administration block, a gym and a library. The works also included the construction of sports fields, covered ways and extensive siteworks. The new buildings feature concrete
ground and mid floors with structural steel frames and an innovative aluminium joinery façade system which had the insulation and linings already fitted prior to installation.

With the school built on sand in an area of high seismic activity, signifcant ground work was required to ensure the stability of the foundations. The ‘belts and braces’ foundation system called for a virtual forest of timber 550 piles, each 300mm in diameter and six metres long. The piles were driven through a top layer of sandy soil, through a loose layer and into solid a base layer. Four piles under each pile cap, married to the footings, resulted in tremendously strong foundations. The buildings are designed to protect lives in the event of a one in one thousand year earthquake and remain functional afterwards. The project achieved it’s goal of a 5 Star ‘Greenstar’ rating and included a grey water waste system and solar power generation. With the size of the project, tight construction programme and strict deadline, it was important that Hawkins fostered a team culture to ensure that potential problems did not result in major delays.

Hawkins were tasked with delivering a fully operational school campus in just 18 months. The result is the fastest secondary school delivered in the history of New Zealand. At times, construction ran ahead of ahead of the plans to ensure continuity of the project and that the scheduled completion deadline was Achieved. The design achieved the client’s expectations in terms of sustainability, durability, cost, future flexibility and usability. Even with the tight construction timeframe, Hawkins ensured that the quality of the finished product was not compromised.

More details on Hawkins website…