BRIEF
To design and manage the wide-sweeping upgrade of the site as the newspaper moved from two publications (Daily Telegraph, Napier and HB Herald Tribune, Hastings) to one single regional publication in 1999.  The site was fully operational during the entire redevelopment project.

COMMERCIAL BUILDING DESIGN PROJECT OUTLINE

• The main element of the revamped production site was the installation of a new printing press.  This necessitated the construction of a large highly-specialised building including piled machine foundations, special drainage and noise-absorbing materials and construction techniques.
• A large space with load-out canopy for collation and distribution of the newspaper was required adjacent to the Press Hall.
• As part of the total site re-planning, the existing office space and staff facilities was altered and refurbished.
• The street frontage of the new and existing building was given a ,face lift, to match the new paper's modernised image.

LHTDESIGN'S SCOPE OF WORKS
LHTDesign worked with the newspaper's technical team to plan the total site redevelopment, to prepare cost estimates, and to programme the necessary timeline.

Expressions of interest and preliminary tenders were obtained for the construction work and from this a contractor selected.  LHTDesign worked closely with the contractor, Mackersey Construction, and the Council to complete the project in numerous stages within very tight and precise time constraints.

All design work for the project was undertaken by LHTDesign with support from Judd Dougan Team Architecture for the conceptual design of the street frontage and from Marshall Day for the acoustic design of the Press Hall

OUTCOME
LHTDesign, with its support firms, met the various time constraints with minimal disruption to the newspaper production process.  The project was completed within budget although a slight cost overrun arose from successfully addressing a noise problem affecting a neighbouring property.

Further work has been undertaken by LHTDesign in the intervening years to continually upgrade the paper storage areas and the various office spaces.

REFERENCE
For a client's perspective on this project, please contact Ashley Hartley, formerly of Mackersey Construction and now with Gemco Construction.  Phone: (06) 877 1148.