The urban chic Habitat Apartments, located in the heart of Wellington City are nearing completion. Eight levels of one and two bedroom apartments, tucked in amongst the city's dining and entertainment hub, are going to have high appeal for Wellingtonians who love to work, live and play in the city.

Brevity were excited to be contracted by Kingstons to provide the designs for the ceilings and partitions in this apartment complex. Following the initiation of the project, Brevity were additionally invited to manage the Construction Monitoring. Suryaraj Salunkhe (Sury) is the lead engineer for this on-going project and is thoroughly enjoying working with all the contractors and subcontractors involved.

Remote Inspections

Like many projects over the last 2 years, Covid-19 has impacted Brevity’s ability to get on site, especially during the period the Auckland border was in place. However, having established processes for remote inspections in the early Covid days, Brevity have refined these to the point they are easy to do, and recognised officially. Sury has been able to keep the Habitat Apartments project running to schedule through weekly remote inspections, carried out with the efficiency that comes with teamwork, and both sides being clear on what is expected.

The Eighth Floor

As the project reached the eighth floor, the requirements became more complex, the lead contractor requested Sury visit in person for the final inspection. They also wanted help solving a design specific issue on the final level. The partition and ceiling installation did not have enough fixings to the purlin roof structure, this needed to be resolved whilst maintaining the fire rating. Sury took part in a team meeting and was able to help resolve the design issue. The redesign was such a success, Sury has since been on-site a further two times to add his expertise as and when challenges arose.

Delivering Solutions Quickly

Sury recognises the importance of solving issues quickly, so as not to interrupt the scheduling and progress of the build. Whenever requests come through, the BD team has been able to write the brief and deliver the design within 3-4 days of receiving the call. This is made easier through good client relationships, and a high degree of trust and respect between both parties. As Sury says, ‘The contractors are pretty cool guys’, and this easy going relationship helps to keep the work moving smoothly as well.

Thinking Beyond Design

Sury is also aware that his designs need to be implemented. He explains “I always keep the installers in mind when I’m designing. I want to make it as easy as possible for them to install.” This level of consideration goes a long way and helps build high levels of trust between the engineers and the clients.

If you have a project that needs Brevity’s seismic expertise, please get in touch. We’d love to tell you more about the way we work with clients to exceed your expectations.