Introducing the Liebherr 355 HC-L

For any one who has been regularly checking the web cam, you will know that for the past few weeks Hawkins has been busy excavating the ground between the heritage buildings. They have about 3 metres more to go, and once this has been finished they will have dug out about 20,000 cubic metres which is around 2,000 truckloads.

The development project is now at an exciting stage - particularly for people like me who love machines! If the weather is okay this coming weekend (14 March) - and we hope we don't get our third wet weekend in a row! - work will start on erecting a huge crane on site. Some of the tower sections have already been delivered to the site and those will start being assembled Friday afternoon. On Saturday the A frames and counter weights will be added and then, probably on Sunday the gib (the big arm) will go on. The crane will be on site for between 15-18 months and there will be two crane drivers for most of that time - one to drive and the other to work on the ground overseeing the loads to be lifted and positioned.

The yellow crane (it's a Liebherr 355 HC-L), could lift 6 elephants and not only that, it could swing them 60 metres in any direction! While we have no intention of doing that, its 32T capacity and 60 metre radius will be used to move large, heavy material on site - things like precast concrete panels, flooring and structural steel framework and assemblies which are made off site then trucked in. These will need be erected between the heritage buildings, the Wellesley/Kitchener wings and the East gallery and at the northern end where the new glass clad atrium will be built.

It will be hard to miss the big yellow crane - as it will stand 36 metres high - and it will be close to Kitchener Street at the end of the heritage building. It's actual location is where the new forecourt and entry to the gallery will be.

December on the gallery development site

Well, it's the 2nd of December and the pace of 'deconstruction' has not slowed down! Now that all of the 'non-heritage' parts of the building have been removed - the middle section and the 'wedge' (as the gallery staff call it!) to the rear of the building - you can get a very clear understanding of how the buildings must have looked back in the late 1800's and early 1900's!

The Wellesley and Kitchener wings soar along Wellesley and Kitchener Street. Built at a time when the Park and trees were not as well-established as today - this building, which housed the council's municipal offices, a library and art gallery - must have dramatically changed the city landscape.

The now temporarily free-standing building adjacent to the park - the East Gallery - was built in 1916 to address the need for more gallery space. It is one of only two day lit galleries of its kind in New Zealand - where the light is admitted through a roof-based monitor and diffused through a lay-light. It's exciting to think we are going to be able to enjoy the gallery in a way that our forebears did when we re-open in 2011. Then, though we will enter at a slighter higher level than before, so that visitors do not need to negotiate stairs to get into this gallery.

By removing the 'wedge' which used to contain the goods lift and various back of house necessities, you can glimpse the outside of the original Wellesley wing on its northern side. It is easy to see the outlines of windows on this wall if you look at the images on the gallery's webcam. The intention is to make reference to this in the new building - in the south atrium which replaces the wedge at the south eastern end of the building.

At the moment work is focusing on ensuring that the heritage buildings are secure. Obviously in a project of this kind, you don't just pull down the bits of the building you don't want! The six buildings that comprised the art gallery as we knew it, were so closely packed, that enormous care has been taken when removing the more recent additions.

Once everything is satisfactorily secured, attention will turn to the next stage of the building project - which will be excavation to create a lower basement and a basement in the middle area between the two historic buildings. It reminds me a little of the Auckland Museum project. I remember being invited to a tour to look at the enormous hole that had been excavated! I can also remember the excavations for the Sky Tower - I was working in a building that overlooked the site. Our digging will probably seem insignificant in comparison! Still exciting though!

image credits (top to bottom):

1st December 2008
Auckland Art Gallery webcam

Henry Winklemann
W39
Date: 1903
Special Collections, Auckland City Libraries

Detail of webcam image

Gallery Development - work begins

The development project seems to be moving along really quickly at the moment. Odd to see the staff room and below that the office that I occupied for six years being removed

Experienced Hawkins staff tell me that this part of a project - setting up for construction, clearing the site, putting up the hoardings and generally getting established is part of the busiest time from the public's point of view. So much seems to be changing each day. Looking at today's photos it seems hard to believe that it was only last week that we attended the plaque unveiling ceremony to mark the commencement of the project!

Rt Hon, Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand and His Worship, John Banks QSO Mayor of Auckland City at the plaque unveiling ceremony on 2 October 2008

It is good to see that some trees have already been planted along the boundary of the site on the Albert Park side. Watching trees be removed from the site by crane was one of the more dramatic sights to date!

Once the Edmiston wing, that is currently being demolished has been cleared, we will all be able to understand much more clearly the layout of the heritage buildings along Wellesley and Kitchener Street, and exactly where the new building will be constructed.