Tauranga Harbour Link wins 2010 Supreme Award

Tauranga Harbour Link wins 2010 Supreme Concrete3 Sustainability Award

A special concrete mix designed by Fletcher Construction as part of the Tauranga Harbour Link has won the 2010 Supreme Concrete³ Sustainability Award, presented at the New Zealand Concrete Conference.

Designated “Mix M”, the resulting concrete is designed to survive 100 years in harsh marine conditions, and was employed extensively in Stage 2 of the Harbour Link project to form beams used in the off-ramps, bridges and land spans.

Mix M achieved top honours in concrete sustainability for its specially blended and extensively trialled mix of Golden Bay cement, fly ash (a waste product from coal burnt at Huntly Power Station), and microsilica 600, which enabled demanding durability, high early strength, and high workability requirements to be met.

The use of fly ash and microsilica resulted in a significant reduction in cement requirements and a corresponding reduction in the carbon footprint of the concrete beams.

Announced in Wellington last Thursday (October 7) the awards, part of the Concrete3 initiative launched in 2007 by the Cement and Concrete Association of New Zealand (CCANZ), acknowledge projects, products and initiatives which demonstrate excellence in environmental, economic and/or social sustainability for the built environment.

On their way to the top prize, the team behind Mix M also received the Excellence in Civil Concrete Construction Award.

CCANZ chief executive Rob Gaimster said Mix M was a significant step forward in concrete mix design and durability modelling, one which combined enhanced environmental credentials with superior performance.

“Not only was the mix design sophisticated in optimising cement replacement, but by sourcing its fly ash from within New Zealand, and using microsilica slurry rather than more energy intensive powder, Mix M scored additional sustainability marks.”

Other category winners

The awards also produced winners in four other categories, for projects which excelled in different areas of sustainable concrete construction.

Excellence in Concrete for the Community was won by Dunning Thornton Consultants for moving Auckland’s Rob Roy (Birdcage) Hotel; a technically challenging project which used a precisely levelled concrete beam runway to relocate a heritage icon for future generations to enjoy.

Excellence in Concrete Innovation went to Mainzeal Property and Construction Limited for the Alan MacDiarmid Building at Victoria University in Wellington, which for the first time in a New Zealand multi-storey building employed the PRESS system, a new technology in seismic and component-based concrete construction.

Excellence in Residential Concrete Construction was jointly awarded to Powered Living (North Island) and Buck + Associates, Architects for two stylish and modern residential properties that offer energy efficient, healthy and comfortable living environments by utilising concrete’s mass as part of a passive solar design.

Excellence in Commercial Concrete Construction was awarded to Dunning Thornton Consultants for The Customhouse at CentrePort, Wellington's newest five-star Greenstar building, in which concrete helped create an open and flexible office space, with reduced operational energy demands.

For more information about the Awards, go to www.sustainableconcrete.org.nz.

ENDS

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