Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities engaged Maycroft to repair and upgrade 23 units (six blocks) of social housing in Newtown, to comply with current building regulations and provide safe, warm, dry, and healthy homes for their tenants.

Our work included removing the existing membrane butterfly roof and replacing this with a new mono pitch roof, comprising structural steel, wall infills and extensions, new timber roof framing and long-run iron. We also removed the existing membrane deck and solid timber balustrade, before reframing the deck to new falls and laying a new membrane with an aluminium decking system and composite decking. A new castaway aluminium balustrade system with perforated aluminium panels was also installed. All water damaged materials were removed and replaced.

Maycroft has been granted several significant variations to the original contract, to replace gas infinity units with electric HWC, install lighting and fire alarms, improve access and security, and upgrade the passive fire rating for internals walls and ceilings.

The project has presented plenty of challenges and our team has had to continually think outside the square to develop workable solutions. Access is a constant challenge, with materials needing to be delivered and moved around multiples levels of the site, and the only access via a steep driveway, with the maximum head room available under the units only 2.1m.

Due to a lack of existing architectural and structural drawings, the existing building construction varied from the contract drawings. As work progressed, it became clear that a significant redesign – both structural and architectural – was required, so Maycroft worked closely with consultants to reimagine the design.

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