Steel and Tube Hamilton

Overview

Steel and Tube Hamilton relocated to Te Rapa Gateway – a Chalmers’ Property Development delivered by Foster Construction in February 2024.

A design and build for Chalmers Properties, the project included construction of two warehouse spaces, one with large overhead cranes and a single-storey office space.

The second, a two-storey office space with adjoining warehouse. To finish, each of the warehouses was secured with fenced concrete yards and separate parking facilities.

About the project

Started in May 2023, the project programme was 10 months.

Overall project management and compliance management was handled by Fosters, meaning challenges that arose were easily mitigated, materials and resources readily available, project adjustments for tenants were pushed through to avoid any delays, and the fitout for Steel and Tube (warehouse and office) could be integrated within the basebuild programme period.

With multiple joined buildings on a single site, and multiple access points, the main challenge was managing everything happening on site at any one time. The project team did an excellent job in managing the coordination of multiple subtrades on multiple work faces, while maintaining Fosters' high level of health and safety, and environmental controls.

The project was delivered on time and on budget.

2024

6,700m²

$7.3M

Client testimonial

Chalmers Properties is once again enjoying the sweet taste of success after cooking up another smoothly executed design and build project with Fosters.

“It’s cookie-cutter stuff now,” said General Manager David Chafer. “We’ve had the same project manager now across five consecutive builds, and we’ve got to know some of the Fosters’ quantity surveyors, construction teams and site managers well.

“It’s like making a cake; they know us and our expectations and just get on with it.”

Once again, Fosters contributed all the right ingredients to Chalmers Properties’ latest development at Hamilton’s Te Rapa Gateway.

“They have a large team of well-qualified, experienced people with the skills to nail builds like this – and they’re easy to work with from a relationship perspective,” David said.

Fosters was hired to design and build two warehouses incorporating offices, secure concrete yards and separate parking facilities within a 6700sqm footprint.

“We were keen to integrate sustainable features – low-carbon concrete, permeable concrete in the carpark areas, full LED lighting, and designing the roof to hold solar panels in the future. Fosters rolled with these requirements very easily because they are Green Star Accredited professionals,” David said.

Fosters’ flexibility in being able to integrate a client fitout for national business Steel and Tube, which signed an early lease agreement on one warehouse before it was built, was appreciated.

“They were very accommodating around adding extra items into the client fitout,” David said.

“We also decided to increase the size of the offices, which required a building consent variation, but they worked hard to ensure our project was still finished on time.

“We were able to hand over the building when we were due to, as per the lease agreement, and that’s pretty key for our customers.”

Chalmers Properties owns more than $600 million worth of real estate across New Zealand and is already working with Fosters on its next project for RML Engineering.

“The best endorsement is that our tenants are really happy and pleased with what they’re leasing,” David said. “For us, working with Fosters has been a recipe for success.”