Combined assets

Great civic architecture has the ability to inspire, yet it is the unseen components that mark a building's true success. For CPG, structural engineers for the development at Telecom Place, ensuring it could withstand the forces exerted upon it began below ground.

"The four buildings share a basement, which acts as structural support to the whole development under lateral loading," says CPG structural group manager John McCurran. "While the vertical loads are transferred to the underlying rock through a combination of pad footings and piled foundations, the lateral loads are transferred by shear walls around the services cores via the top and bottom basement slabs, which act as horizontal diaphragms. These and the perimeter walls of the basement resist the earthquake and wind loads."

Because the four buildings are connected by bridges, canopies and the atrium roof, special design and detailing was required to ensure these elements of the structure would accommodate seismic movements, says McCurran.

"Under the critical lateral load of an earthquake, the towers are estimated to have a relative movement of up to ±150mm. This movement is allowed for by fixing the connecting structures at one end only and leaving them free to move at the other end. Because there are four towers, this means that for some of the structures, we had to design for multiple degrees of freedom. As a result, the atrium structure has only one fixed leg the other three are free to move in various combinations."

CPG also assisted with the Construction Management Plan and the infrastructure report that reviewed the adequacy of water discharge points, as they pertained to resource consent.

For more details, contact CPG, PO Box 11119, Ellerslie, Auckland 1542, phone (09) 525 9770, fax (09) 525 2241. Email: auckland@nz.cpg-global.com. Website: www.cpg-global.com.

Story by: Trendsideas