Overview
Designed to accommodate APL’s 50+ year strategy, this was an approximately 50,000sqm industrial facility, purpose-built to house a state-of-the-art glass manufacturing plant. The project achieved a 5-star Green Star industrial design rating.
Measuring 437m long, 144m wide, 17m high, the facility was designed around end-to-end manufacturing, efficient delivery, and dispatch by a fleet of 40 trucks and B-trains.
About the project
Attached to the manufacturing building are three office blocks with an overall floor area of 4,500m² including meeting rooms, conference rooms, a two-storey commercial kitchen, observation decks and offices.
Built from mid-2019 through to early 2021, this was the largest construction project done in the country at the time. The onsite construction team surpassed 500 workers at the peak of the construction period.
To gain Green Star certification, the project team influenced every part of the supply chain, thinking differently for the benefit of the environment, community, employees, and future economic benefit. Every material was specifically selected to meet Green Star criteria.
The design/build process maximised efficiency. For example:
- Construction began at the northern end of the building, with stages built to suit the client’s plant fitout (which began within 6 months of project commencement and continued stage by stage).
- The deliberate modular design was specifically calculated to accommodate ‘off-the-shelf’ materials – sized for glass, aluminium lengths, roof panel layouts, crane spans, structural steel, each component of the building was considered to create efficiencies, lower wastage and increase productivity on site.
COVID-19 restrictions provided the teams with unique challenges – delaying work and materials, restricting people on site, increasing documentation requirements – and impacting the schedule and budget.
The facility was still delivered on time and on budget. When completed, the facility was ‘state-of-the-art’ with the latest technologies in construction, hybrid mechanical services, electronic LED lighting, and manufacturing plant.
2021
47,000m2
$50M+
Client testimonial
APL Hautapu was a flagship project, for both Profile Group Limited (PGL) and Fosters, as well as for architects Jasmax, and engineers BCD. Approximately 50,000sqm, it was ambitious, innovative, unique and it was built to achieve a 5-star Green Star certification.
“We knew the team we wanted to work with” says PGL CEO Craig Vincent. “Fosters did such a great job when we first started with them back in 1993, and on every project since. From Graham Mallet, Colin Wade and David Beard, right through to Leonard Gardner, Fosters have worked with the same philosophy as we do.
“Every time we go on these build journeys, they are happy to take on the challenge. This wasn’t an easy build and we had high expectations - Fosters get that.”
The sustainable aspect of the project was new territory for everyone. “For us to take this leap of faith in achieving a Greenstar build, we needed to trust that our construction company would be committed to sustainable development, too” says Craig. “Naturally, we had that faith in Fosters.”
To accommodate APL’s 50-plus year strategy, this purpose-built industrial facility was designed to house a state-of-the-art glass manufacturing plant for AGP, and some of Profile Group’s existing manufacturing facilities.
Designing the glass manufacturing plant in Austria took a year. It was then just 100 days from engaging with Jasmax to the start of earthworks.
“Fosters were heavily involved in the design process, overviewing build engineering and buildability with Jasmax and BCD” continues Craig. “We very much enjoyed the enthusiasm and commitment that everyone had to achieving the result we wanted.”
Construction was a modular process; so that the manufacturing plant machinery could be installed as each section of the building was completed. With 200 to 400 people on site every day, delivery took a huge level of coordination.
“Fosters project management was exceptional. It cannot be underestimated what the Green Star challenge took for this team. It’s incredible to think that Fosters achieved 90% recycling on the project – construction waste was recycled, re-purposed and diverted from landfill - and they know where every piece of that material ended up.”
Does the final product match APL’s initial concept?
“I’m not sure we knew quite how it would turn out” Craig admits. “However, it has delivered what we thought could be created, in spades.”
Since completion in early 2021, APL Hautapu has won several awards – Gold and Sustainability in the 2023 New Zealand Commercial Project Awards, as well as the Resene Green Building Award, a CBRE Industrial Property Award and a Merit in the RCP Commercial Office Property Award category in the 2022 New Zealand Property Council Awards.
“It’s incredible to think that Fosters achieved 90% recycling on the project – construction waste was recycled, re-purposed and diverted from landfill - and they know where every piece of that material ended up.”
Craig Vincent, CEO Profile Group Limited