Friday 15th September, 9:30am & 1:30pm
Friday 22nd September, 9:30am & 1:30pm
SESOC’s Wellington Structural Group and NZSEE invites you to a site visit the Wellington Town
Hall, located at 101 Wakefield Street hosted by Holmes Consulting and Naylor Love.
Please RSVP at the link here to secure your place.
The 120-year-old unreinforced masonry Wellington Town Hall is being re-founded on new
foundations and base isolated, as well as strengthened in other ways and redeveloped for use as
a performance venue. The project has been under construction since 2019 and is currently in a
very exciting phase, with lots of exposed structure to admire. Most of the 148 lead rubber
bearings have been installed, with the loads from the existing structure transferred through them
to the new foundation. Currently a new basement has been excavated under the three-storey
high auditorium in preparation for a state-of-the-art recording suite. Overlay walls are being
installed to strengthen unreinforced masonry, and original roof structure is being strengthened to
act as a structural diaphragm. Once completed, the building will achieve a 100%NBS IL3 rating
and be a venue for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the New Zealand School of Music,
and Wellington City Council.
The site visit will be conducted by an engineer from Holmes, who are the structural engineers for
the project. The host will have discussed the current site conditions with the contractors (Naylor
Love) before the start of the visit and will lead the tour accordingly to avoid dangerous/congested
areas. Note that the site is very active and there are the usual site hazards posed by moving
machinery, uneven ground, scaffolds, etc. Visitors should stay with the host at all times and
follow any instructions from the host. Before starting the visit, the host will conduct a safety
briefing for the site. All visitors will need to sign into the Naylor Love site register. In the event of
an emergency, visitors should follow the instructions of the host or Naylor Love personnel.
Visitors are asked to be mindful of the ongoing construction and to avoid impeding the work of
the contractors.
Event details:
· Attendees must bring the following PPE: Hard hat, steel caps, protective glasses, and hi-vis
· Please arrive 10 minutes prior to your session start time
· Assemble at site entrance at the glass doors to MOB (101 Wakefield Street) on the Civic
Square side.
· The visit will last approximately 1 hour, with a 30-minute briefing (safety and project
information) before (90 min total)
· No pictures or video may be taken by visitors.
· Limited to 9 attendees per session, who are either a member of:
o SESOC Wellington Structural Group &/or Emerging Structural Engineers.
o NZSEE.
Visitors should confirm that they can visit the site safely. This includes:
· Physically fit with no injuries or issues that could impede safe visiting.
· Eyesight suitable for light changes and uneven ground.
· No medical conditions that could prevent safe exit in an event.
· Able to walk across uneven ground among obstacles.
· Able to move through restricted pathways of 700mm.
Visitors are responsible for their own safety. No liability for injury is taken by Holmes, NZSEE, or
SESOC.
To RSVP click here
