Proud to be involved with Te Pae Christchurch

Following is extract from an article published by Stephanie Fill, Marketing Manager of Roofing Association of New Zealand (RANZ), of which Safety Nets NZ Limited is a proud blue ribbon sponsor.

We worked every closely with all of the site based management teams to ensure that they could carry out their works safe in the knowledge that the Safety Nets NZ Limited certified fall protection systems were in place .

RANZ Commercial Roof of the Year 2022

Te Pae Christchurch

Te Pae Christchurch, the Garden City’s impressive new convention centre, has risen from the rubble of its predecessor. For Graham Hill Roofing, its roof presented an immense challenge and an opportunity to showcase their skills and experience.

Many non-Cantabrians look to the region’s folk with admiration, awe and respect for their resilience in surviving the catastrophic 2011 earthquakes. For the most part, though, Cantabrians seem eager to move the conversation on and look to their future. RANZ members have made significant contributions to the roofing rebuild efforts.

For the future of Canterbury, perhaps one of the most significant is Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre – a new, state-of-the-art facility that will serve not only the region but the whole of the country. Te Pae Christchurch
replaces the original Christchurch Convention Centre, demolished in 2012, having been irreparably damaged in the earthquakes. And as if the rebuild itself wasn’t enough to grapple with, along came COVID-19. It was initially scheduled to take 1.5 years to install the roofing and related systems, a year into the roofing project, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. This saw the complexities of the project mount and the timeline blow out to three years. But, as of the start of 2022, the centre is now open for business. Te Pae Christchurch is estimated to bring in $60 million a year for the region. With an investment of $450 million, the return outlook so far seems promising with a busy events schedule booked for 2022 – including hosting this year’s RANZ Conference in June.

The finished product is impressive, perhaps looking more like a giant sculpture than a building. Inspired by the rivers of the Canterbury Plains with patterns and colours in the tradition of Ngāi Tahu, the design was co-created by architects Woods Bagot and Warren & Mahoney, with close consultation with Matapopore Charitable Trust.

Health and Safety

During the project’s three years, there was only one injury, occurring while safety procedures were correctly adhered to. One guy reached down to get something that had fallen into the safety nets and popped his shoulder out. The onsite crane could easily reach him with the rescue cage, and he was back at work the following week.

As expected, head contractors CPB had strict safety requirements in place. The GHR team weren’t allowed to get on any roof until both edge-protection was around the perimeter and drop nets from Safety Nets NZ were all in place. Where the scaffold couldn’t reach, a man-cage off the crane while being harnessed on was required, coupled with a drop-net system in place also.