Site carefully chosen

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 23

Site carefully chosen

Designing and building a workable, attractive office and warehouse complex for Dominion Breweries Christchurch staff was, probably the easiest part of the operation.

Actually finding a suitable site -- with access to the railway line, on a major road, close to the centre of Christchurch — proved more difficult.

A number of sites were investigated before the Opawa location was settled on. The site —

next to the Big Apple iceskating rink — had been the old Gough, Gough and Hamer property. Set above road level, it offers excellent views to the south-west across Opawa to the Port Hills, and convenient road access on the expressway for trucks carrying goods in and out. On the northern side is the railway line, and cen-. tral Christchurch is only a few minutes away. The building design was kept simple and func-

tional, using interlocking forms, says architect MrBob Jamieson, of the Jamand Group.

The office road frontage features bronze mirror glass on the upper and ground floors which creates privacy, insulates the area, and reflects the sky, trees and Port Hills. Planted strips along the top balcony have been designed to soften the edge between the reflective glass and the balcony wall.

The whole operation —

from the on-site go-ahead in February 1986 to staff moving in on October 17, 1986 — took the project management team and co-ordinator, Arrow International, eight months. The consulting engineers for the project were Tyndall and Hanham.

Some interior decoration and external planting is still to be finalised. A tennis and netball court is also being constructed for staff recreational facilities.