March 2015
Work is well underway on LynnMall’s $36 million development to create a cinema complex and a new dining precinct, ‘The Brickworks’. We want to keep our community informed of the latest developments so we sent our reporter, site safe in hard hat, steelcapped boots and flouro jacket, to find out what’s happening.
“On the outside it looks like a fairly simple structure but the complexity of the project lies in the planning which is critical if we are to get this job completed on time,” he said.
Film-goers to LynnMall’s new multiplex Reading Cinema can be assured of sitting comfortably – and safely – when the complex opens at the end of the year.
”It’s Duplo more than Lego, it’s big blocks. The key is in the speed. The weather has given us a good start and enabled us to progress as we planned.
Currently being constructed by NZ Strong, the cinema building is one of the first in Auckland to incorporate a new piling system designed to help make it earthquake-proof.
“We had to bank on good weather and we got it.”
The system, where foundation pads float on top of the ground remediation piles instead of being fixed, has been used extensively in the Christchurch re-build. In the event of an earthquake, it allows the building to wiggle or shake above ground independent of the piles, all 200 of them. During its installation, which was completed in nine working days, the site was visited by engineers from across Auckland keen to see the seismic modifications which allow the building to move. Above ground, the building will be seismically-strengthened by eccentrically braced steel frames. Site Manager, James Corric, said the project had got off to a flying start thanks to the dry summer and was on track for a November completion.
A 50 metre crane on site, which can be seen for miles around, is a beast that can lift five tonnes and is being used to erect the building’s steel structure. The first of 100 or so precast concrete beams will be going up this month. Currently about 50 people are working six days a week on the project but this number is expected to triple as it progresses. “We are working from south to north and will complete the cinema before moving onto the dining lane. “As we are building on a former flat car park it’s been fairly straight forward apart from the soft ground which necessitated the large number of piles. “People like to share their memories of the area with us. One man said he used to live in a house on the site and several have talked about the days when New Lynn had its own picture house.”
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