Stepping Out
There’s nothing simple about the stainless finish on this upmarket condomimium
Not so long ago we were called in to revitalise an up-market condominium project in the Bay of Islands. Given it’s location near the sea, and its upmarket status, the façade of the building, was to be machine crafted from stainless steel in our Auckland factory and shipped to the site for installation by our trained engineers.
The job called for an intricate exterior plumbing system in stainless steel adorning the angled and stepped façade. It was the defining feature of the multi-tiered building, and had to be perfect.
What sounds like a simple plumbing job is in fact incredibly complex.
The curved balconies each had a stainless steel fascia plate arcing from side to side. And mounted to this were the balustrades and twin-sized or single sized rainheads (depending on proximity to other balconies), venting into the latticework of downpipes which step down the sloping pillars. To ensure that finished product was perfect the angles, lengths, depths and radii of each join had to be precisely machined. There was not a right angle to be seen, and this called for some complex mathematics.
Armed with architects illustrations and a theodolite, R&H visited the site and took meticulous measurements down to the last millimeter. Then, with pages of notes, we returned to the factory to render 3-D drawings for each and every angle and seam.
This job was complicated enough due to the site’s isolation. We were three hours from Auckland, and at least an hour and a half from the nearest building supplies outlet. Every last nail had to be provided for and packed before we left the factory. There was simply ZERO room for error.
But to complicate the job further, we reported to four site managers, representing the council, individual property owners, the body corporate and the architects. So planning went back and forth for 3-4 weeks before agreement was reached and construction could begin. What we expected to be around 30 hours work had ballooned out to 200 hours as almost every fitting and component was separately scrutinized.
Bearing in mind the first rule of construction… “measure twice, cut once” we made one last trip up north to double check our drawings before the R&H pilgrimage of engineers could begin.
The rest of the story is pretty mundane, Our experienced staff had indeed done their homework, and the installation went without a hitch. The finished job looks fantastic.
It’s bittersweet knowing that only a few will ever stand back and admire the hours of craftsmanship that went into the stainless fascia. For the vast majority it’s merely a rather attractive way of keeping their balconies dry.
R&H Engineering are general engineers with substantial capacity and the ability to design and produce engineering projects on time and budget. Our sophisticated plant coupled with our extensive manufacturing experience in agriculture, architecture, construction, stainless steel and even outdoor furniture, we are confident that we can deliver superior engineering projects, of any size.
