Aurora Centre
LOCATION Christchurch
COMPLETED Underway
SERVICES Building Surveying, Quantity Surveying, Design, Structural Engineering, Project Management
The task
Hampton Jones worked on the regeneration of the Aurora Centre, a performing arts venue auditorium. The 2 storey 2,000m² building has a seating capacity of 700 and ancillary facilities including a greenroom, dressing rooms, backstage area, storage rooms, reception and ticketing office. We initially assessed the building for weather-tightness defects, general wear-and-tear and damage from the Canterbury Earthquakes. This assessment was developed into a scope of works and remedial design.
We have also created a BIM model of the auditorium using point cloud data generated by a 3D building scan to address weather-tightness and seismic strengthening issues. This point-cloud data has enabled us to identify changes in the building from the original plans including undocumented add-ons, check the measurements from the original plans and check variances in the tilt of the panels caused by the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence.
Our thinking
This project was challenging as it involved a series of stakeholders with varying objectives and constricted time scales. The building remained in use during construction works to minimise disruption and revenue loss to the client. Health and Safety was also paramount and the project was constricted to a limited budget.
The result
Following design, construction and remediation works, the auditorium was a safer environment, with a far greater thermal performance and reduced running costs. Increased insulation to the concrete roof and a fresh HVAC system installation was far more efficient than the existing system reduced the running costs of the building. This in turn reduced CO² emissions as a result of heating and cooling.
