New Plymouth Courthouse
Client: Ministry of Justice
The New Plymouth District High Court was constructed in the 1970s, with an extension added during the 1990s. In 2012 it was deemed the building needed re-roofing and the original steel framed windows replacing. The 1990s extension required a complete re-clad and re-roof to make it weather tight. Inside the building, work needed to be undertaken to improve the ventilation and to upgrade the audio visual facilities in the courtrooms. The challenge was completing all of this construction work while the building remained fully operational.
The main aim of the project was to achieve a weathertight building with the durability to stay weathertight over the long term in what can be a harsh environment close to the coast. The selection of quality materials and products, robust design detailing and thorough quality control during construction meant that this was able to be achieved. The ventilation and audio visual upgrades were also completed successfully.
Multiple construction phases and careful planning enabled the building to remain fully functional while construction work took place. The safety of building users was of prime importance. Isolating the working areas from building users meant that a successful outcome was able to be achieved without incident.