Built in the 1920s, this office building near the shores of the Manukau Harbour in Mt Wellington was in need of a major external revamp and a new roof when Haydn & Rollett took on the project. The demolition of a neighbouring building had exposed some fairly rough looking services at the rear; water had got in behind the drummy plaster façade system and caused issues; the timber joinery was in a poor state, with several sills needing replacing to help make the building watertight; and the brickwork needed repointing. While the roof wasn’t quite as bad, it had also seen better days.

Some of the project’s challenges were obvious and easily dealt with: the building was tenanted, for example, so any really noisy work had to be left for Saturdays. Other challenges proved more of a handful. In particular, the state of one beam responsible for holding up part of the building was below par – a tap with a hammer would result in concrete chipping away.