34 |
BUILDING » Hawes Building Solutions
Volume 16 | Issue 4
Business North
Construction of the new Certified Builders National Support office in Tauranga was a ‘feather in the cap’ for Hawes Building Solutions, says Mark Hawes, director of the Tauranga-based company.
Head office build an ‘honour’ for firm Sue Russell Being responsible for construction of a new home for the Tauranga-based Certified Builders headquarters feels like a feather in the cap for Mark Hawes, founder, project manager and director of Hawes Building Solutions, founded in 2000. The project, valued at over $1,500,000 involved firstly demolition of an existing building on Marsh Street Tauranga and presented some challenges at the outset when initial geotech assessments of the site proved to not be entirely correct, resulting in the buildings foundations having to be redesigned. “The design we initially priced off was based on the initial ground assessments but when the demolition had ended the ground presented issues that impacted on the design and caused delay,” Mark explains. The now completed building has a ribraft floor slab which sits on the ground - not in it - creating a seismically strong foundation using polystyrene pods and steel reinforcing rods. The design also incorporated some innovative processes including craning in of the level one 150mm laminated floor in one operation and in under day. Feature glulam beams were salvaged from another building and used as columns to support the front section of the two storey building. Structural steel was used to form the main structural support of the building, claddings included Dimond DP 955 Magnaflow roofing and Dimond BB 900 Magnaflow wall cladding. Double glazed joinery was installed throughout the building to meet H1 requirements.
Hawes Building Solutions has the construction and project management skills for residential and commercial construction work. “New Zealand Certified Builders brief to the architect was to present a modern and aesthetic appealing building that would reflect the professional standards the Association demands of its members,” sasy Mark. “As proud members of NZ Certified Builders we were delighted to be awarded the contract to construct their headquarters.” Since founding the company 16 years ago Mark and his brother, fellow director Anthony Hawes have retained a practical hands-on approach to doing business. “Hawes Building Solutions’ mission statement – ‘To establish lasting employee and business relationships by continually exceeding expectations and gaining trust and industry recognition through exceptional performance, professionalism,
integrity, honesty and fairness’ is at the core of the company’s success,” Mark says. “It’s a mission that is lived and breathed throughout the company.” Mark is a qualified carpenter with 25 years in total who has worked across a wide range of building modalities including leaky building remediation’s, significant high-end residential projects, industrial, retail and commercial projects. At any one time, he says there is a good mix of builds on the books but a focus for the future is to concentrate more on developing the high-end residential portfolio. “We’ve successfully built using traditional timber framed construction and metal partitioning through to larger steel frame, precast and in-situ concrete projects.”
Anthony is a qualified Quantity Surveyor with nearly thirty years’ experience. Through their work involving remediation of leaky buildings both Mark and Anthony carry a thorough, practically focussed understanding of the requirements of Acceptable Solution E2/AS1 with regard to diagnosis and repair. Hawes Building Solutions employs 24 full time staff, including one other quantity surveyor/ project manager along with construction and site managers/foremen, carpenters, hammer hands, two apprentice carpenters and an office manager. “We have the capacity with this number in the team to take on a number of projects simultaneously with projects up to $5-6 million in value,” Mark says. When larger projects come along Mark says they call on a team of dedicated contractors supplemented with hire staff when needed. While the Tauranga/Mt Maunganui area accounts for up to 80 per cent of its projects, Hawes Building Solutions has undertaken builds within a 120 km radius of home-base. Mark says he and Anthony are happy with the size and structure of the company, big enough to take on significant commercial and industrial, local authority and government contracts, while ensuring that the two directors maintain a personal involvement with clients. “We think that’s incredibly important and a reason why we have garnered the reputation we have. “It’s a very buoyant building scene here in the Bay of Plenty and we enjoy the variety of projects we have underway at any one time.”
Auckland Office Ph: 09-279 8509 Fax: 09-278 6364
auckland@towerscaffolding.co.nz
Tauranga Office Ph: 07-575 8670 Fax: 07-575 8367
tauranga@towerscaffolding.co.nz
Christchurch Office Ph: 03-385 7962 Fax: 03-385 7984
christchurch@towerscaffolding.co.nz