Canoe Racing takes pride of place in custom design building at Lake Karapiro.
CHALLENGING SITE AND BUILD DELIVERED ON TIME FOR CANOE RACING NEW ZEALAND TO COMMENCE THEIR TRAINING SEASON.
When Sport New Zealand wanted to centralise their training facilities and key infrastructure, Canoe Racing New Zealand were asked to look at Lake Karapiro as a potential site for their high-performance training centre. Rowing was already making its mark on the lake and cycling had moved into the nearby Cambridge Velodrome.
Once Lake Karapiro was identified and confirmed as being suitable for canoe racing, Sport NZ made known their list of requirements for a building of the right size and type. One of the major criteria was the requirement for the site to have direct access for canoes onto the lake using pontoons as well as a boat ramp for the launching of support craft.
In searching for the location of the building, architect Dominic Bucknell says, "we had to work closely with the Waipa District Council and local Iwi in identifying and deciding on the location of the new Canoe Racing NZ High Performance Centre. It was important that all parties were listened to, and their needs considered. We ended up with a terrific location."
"Lobell have the expertise of a bigger construction company without the bureaucracy you can often find within the construction sector."
Dominic Bucknell
As part of the consideration in designing the building, Dominic says that his firm, Chibnall Bucknell Marovic Team Architects, were asked to consider the landowners request that the buiIding included a strong community component which ensured the use of the building by local community organisations such as the Kayak Club and Yacht club.
"Once we had completed the design, we put the contract out to market. We had worked with Lobell on a number of projects over ten years and had a good understanding of their capabilities and we knew the people involved at a senior level." Part of the selection criteria for the tender was that there were severaI people involved in the decision making process. Additionally, a representative for Sport NZ made an independent assessment of the quotes.
"Lobell provide a really nice balance between ownership of the company versus being sizable enough to have the necessary skills and people involved."
The project presented a number of challenges on the management front with numerous stakeholders having an interest in the construction of the building. Sport NZ and Canoe Racing NZ were the obvious two along with the Waipa District Council and local Iwi.
"The quality of a company and the people involved really comes through when challenges arise, and we had a couple of significant challenges. One of those was managing the stakeholders. Lobell were very responsive with Sport NZ and the Waipa Council navigating the council rules and working with the Iwi members overseeing the project and facilitating their visits."
"Our second challenge was a geo-technical challenge on the foundations of the building. These challenges led to extensive site excavation and associated costs, but Lobell worked really hard to overcome these and save money in other areas in order to claw back some of the unforeseen expenses."
Overall, Dominic says that they were very satisfied with the project. "The final build was delivered on time for the client to ensure they could use the building for their coming training season. The small budget overrun, caused by the unstable subsoil, was mitigated by the hard work Lobell put in to save money in other areas."