Offsite building manufacture reduces waste

When BPC planned construction of the Snells Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant on a very constrained site north of Auckland, waste reduction and programme savings were achieved through offsite manufacture of the Control Building.

Onsite construction would have taken up valuable space on the tight site, so a range of options were explored. Local supplier A-Line was the only offsite fabricator able to meet the modular requirements, overcoming the challenge of the building size being greater than can be transported by road in a single unit. The design challenges included integrating the Control Building with an adjacent workshop structure and integration into the sitewide fire, security and control systems, and the client’s corporate IT network.

The building uses 1000mm thick cross laminated timber. Twenty metres in length, it is designed with a tolerance of +/-3mm.

The offsite option saved material waste through precision cutting and optimised the use of timber. The factory production was energy efficient and ensured high quality. Transportation emissions were also reduced without having all materials and labour come to site.