Wynyard Precinct Holdings, a joint venture between Goodman Property Trust and Singapore government-owned GIC, has agreed to buy an office tower in Auckland's Wynyard Quarter from Fletcher Building for $86.2 million.

Fletcher Construction expects to complete the office building, which is substantially leased to Datacom, in March 2017.

As well as being part of the group that has conditionally agreed to buy the building, Goodman has agreed to fund the cost of the development until settlement, it said.

Fletcher has separately retained Goodman to provide development management services on the project.

The Overseas Investment Office approved GIC's investment in the joint venture in January.

It owns 49 per cent of a property portfolio initially valued at $313m and with a target to grow to $500m.

GIC is a global investment firm with over $US100 billion ($NZ131.67b) of assets under management.

John Dakin, chief executive of Goodman Property's manager, said the deal with Fletcher "was facilitated through Goodman's relationship with Fletcher Building".

They also worked together to develop Fonterra's corporate headquarters on the same site and are developing the six-level VXV3 building directly behind the Fonterra building.

"Neighbouring our existing Viaduct assets and in an area of substantial private and public development, it's a compelling investment opportunity," he said.

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Goodman Property JV to Auckland tower

Britco's Agassiz office building won an award at a prestigious modular building awards night recently.

image credit: Courtesy Britco

Britcos Agassiz office building won a prestigious award at the recent Modular Building Institute Awards.

The beautifully-designed office earned top honours in the Permanent Modular Office category at the awards night, held in Las Vegas March 16. The office building, which was in full operation by last August, features vaulted boardroom ceilings and modern finishes as well as expanded office space for the growing company. The six modules were built right at the Agassiz plant and was designed so it can be easily expanded as more space is needed.

Britco also won an award for a bank building in High Level, Alberta, recognized in the category of permanent Modular Retail or Hospitality.

These projects truly show the innovation and flexibility that modular construction offers, said Mike Ridley, president of Britco. Were very pleased that the Modular Building Institute recognized the hard work of Britcos design and construction teams.

The Modular Building Institute is a non-profit trade association representing companies in Canada, the United States and 14 other countries involved in the construction and distribution of commercial modular buildings.

Entries were reviewed by an impartial panel of industry and non-industry construction and code experts, architects and engineers, and marketing professionals. Building entries were judged on architectural excellence, technical innovation and sustainability, cost effectiveness, energy efficiency and calendar days to complete.

Britco is a Langley-based company, with modular construction facilities in Agassiz, Penticton and Edmonton as well as in the United States. Britco is one of the largest commercial modular construction companies in North America, providing temporary and permanent residential and commercial modular buildings. The company has had operations in Agassiz since 1988.

These two latest awards add to a long list of accomplishments for Britco, including best in show for the Whistler Athletes Village and best modular building in North America for the Chilliwack Olympic Legacy Housing. For more, see http://britco.com/about-us/company-awards

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Britco wins top industry award

By Jonathan Underhill

March 27 (BusinessDesk) - Wynyard Precinct Holdings, a joint venture between Goodman Property Trust and Singapore government-owned GIC, has agreed to buy an office tower in Auckland's Wynyard Quarter from Fletcher Building for $86.2 million.

Fletcher Construction expects to complete the office building on the corner of Gaunt and Daldy Streets, which is substantially leased to Datacom, in March 2017. As well as being part of the group that has conditionally agreed to buy the building, Goodman Property has agreed to fund the cost of the development until settlement, it said. Fletcher has separately retained Goodman Group to provide development management services on the project.

The Overseas Investment Office approved GIC's investment in the joint venture in January. It owns 49 percent of a property portfolio initially valued at $313 million and with a target to grow to $500 million. GIC is a global investment firm with over US$100 billion of assets under management.

John Dakin, chief executive of Goodman Property's manager, said the deal with Fletcher "was facilitated through Goodmans relationship with Fletcher Building." They also worked together to develop Fonterra's corporate headquarters on the same site and are developing the six-level VXV3 building directly behind the Fonterra building.

"Neighbouring our existing Viaduct assets and in an area of substantial private and public development, its a compelling investment opportunity," Dakin said.

Since announcing the JV in November, GIC has quickly extended its property interests in New Zealand, buying into five shopping centres via a joint venture with Australia's Scentre Group, which owns Westfield malls in Australia and New Zealand.

Goodman Property shares fell 0.4 percent to $1.185 and have gained 23 percent in the past 12 months.

(BusinessDesk)

Scoop Media

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GIC-Goodman Property JV to extend Auckland CBD footprint

On the outside, the building that Design Innovation Architects, Inc. resides in looks like you've stepped back in time.

The inside still retains the steel beams and brick walls from 1910. And though some of the office space is modernized, it still has that historic charm.

This is what DIA does restore and renovate.

DIA, a company that has been around since 1989, has done this to many buildings in the Downtown Knoxville area including the Phoenix Building, 29 Market Square and the Patrick Sullivan's Building.

President of DIA and UT graduate, Faris Eid, said historic preservation is crucial to a city like Knoxville.

"You always notice that there's something special about the historic character of buildings," Eid said. "Those are the ones that define what a city looks like."

Restoring the buildings has its challenges, Eid said, but no two buildings are alike in their restoration. Over the years, many of Knoxville's historic buildings have been renovated. They've had pieces torn off, added on and built into them.

"So the magic is how do we restore while preserving the historical components," Eid said.

One of the first things in the construction process is ridding the buildings of the unwanted, non-historical additions. DIA also looks at archival photos of the buildings original design and tries to stay true to the original concept of the building, while still making it functional for modern day use. On occasion, DIA is able to reach out to the namesakes of a building and get floor plans.

The DIA team tries to save the majority of downtown Knoxville's old historic buildings,by stabilizing and coming up with creative ways to keep the buildings standing.

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Company restores, renovates historic buildings | Arts & Culture

Troy

A crane lifted drywall into the historic Quackenbush building on Tuesday, as workers were busy transforming the four-story structure into a high-tech workshop and office space.

Construction crews are working toward a June ribbon-cutting at the Third Street building, which will house the Tech Valley Center of Gravity and several other private tenants, building owner David Bryce said during a tour.

The 55,000-square-foot building, which had been vacant for more than a dozen years, is about 80 percent leased, Bryce said, pointing out the 1850s-era cast-iron columns from the building's beginning as Quackenbush Department Store.

Bryce said workers found a portrait of store founder Gerrit Van Schaick Quackenbush tucked inside a wall of a 1930s addition to the building, likely done as the store was being changed over to W.T. Grant. He said he has had the portrait restored at Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass.

Another oddity surfaced during the renovation, Bryce said a U.S. flag with 39 stars, a version that never became an official flag. The banner was created by some flag makers in 1889 who gambled that the Dakota territory now the states of North and South Dakota would be admitted to the U.S. as a single state. That gamble failed: The territory was divided in two, and Montana, Washington and Idaho were granted statehood at the same time. Such flags are now collectors' items.

For all its history, the venerable building which Bryce said was the first steel-framed structure in the state north of Manhattan at the time is being reborn from its Victorian heyday as a 21st-century technology hub.

The building became, after it was a W.T. Grant store, a Rite Aid drugstore. But it has been vacant since 2001.

As workers put up framing for interior walls, Bryce showed off floors being rewired to carry high-speed Internet connections.

Views from the upper floors, which now have insulated 10-foot glass windows, are dramatic and look out on downtown, the Hudson River and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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June reopening possible for revived Quackenbush building in Troy

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -

An aged state building on prime real estate just a block away from the State Capitol that's been vacant for 12 years is finally getting renovated.

The Princess Victoria Kamamalu Building, at the corner of King and Richards streets, was built in 1957 and needed renovations in 2003 when 300 state employees moved out.

It's been empty so long a tree has grown in front of its main sign and another tree has sprouted on the roof.

"I think we've been working to get this building up and operational for over 12 years and we're excited to finally start construction," said Doug Murdock, the state comptroller who is director of the state's Department of Accounting and General Services, which oversees state facilities and purchasing.

In 2005, the state set aside $12.6 million for renovations to the building but when it discovered pervasive asbestos and deteriorated building systems, repair estimates more than doubled.

Removal of asbestos, as well as old air conditioning, plumbing and electrical systems cost about $1.4 million.

"The original funding that we had was good for removing asbestos and doing some other remediation work that we had to do to turn it into an empty shell as it is now," Murdock said.

But during the recession, the project languished without the money to complete it while the state explored selling or swapping the property.

"We've just within the past few years, gotten the full funding to rebuild the entire building," Murdock said.

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EXCLUSIVE: State office building vacant for 12 years finally getting fixed

Construction Time Lapse -- JAMF Software Office in Eau Claire, WI
When JAMF Software, creator of enterprise management software for the Apple platform, decided to establish a new office building in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, it turned to Ayres Associates for...

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Construction Time Lapse -- JAMF Software Office in Eau Claire, WI - Video

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Three workers have been killed and a fourth was injured when the scaffolding on a high-rise building site collapsed in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Three construction workers were killed and another seriously injured late Monday morning when an exterior lift system tore from the side of an office building under construction in downtown Raleigh in North Carolina.

A witness, LeRoy Kelley, said workers were dismantling a "mast climber" on the 11-storey Charter Square building on Fayetteville Street when the elevator-like system collapsed, sending a mobile scaffolding platform to the ground.

Kelley, of Raleigh, was working with concrete under the scaffolding when he heard a popping sound and someone shouting "Run!" As he ran beneath the building, he heard an enormous crash.

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Three workers killed in scaffolding collapse in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. Three construction workers were killed and another seriously injured late Monday morning when an exterior lift system tore from the side of an office building under construction in downtown Raleigh.

A witness, LeRoy Kelley, said workers were dismantling a "mast climber" on the 11-story Charter Square building on Fayetteville Street when the elevator-like system collapsed, sending a mobile scaffolding platform to the ground.

Kelley, of Raleigh, was working with concrete under the scaffolding when he heard a popping sound and someone shouting "Run!" As he ran beneath the building, he heard an enormous crash.

Kelley said one worker was in a portable toilet that was crushed by the falling platform. Kelley had just exited the restroom, holding the door open for the next man just moments before the collapse, he said.

Authorities identified the dead workers as Jose Erasmo Hernandez, 41, of Durham; Jose Luis Lopez-Ramirez, 33, of Clinton; and Anderson Almeida, 33, of Durham. The injured worker, who was taken to WakeMed, was Elmer Guevara, 53. Authorities said they were not sure where Guevara lives.

A person who called 911 indicated that some of the workers were aboard the platform when it fell, according to a recording of the call.

Raleigh-based Dominion Realty Partners is developing the 243,000-square-foot building. Choate Construction is the general contractor.

Mike Hampton, Choate's chief operating officer, said a subcontractor, Associated Scaffolding, was in the process of dismantling the mast climbers, which transport crews and materials to different positions on a building's facade.

"Today was the day they were supposed to start dismantling them," Hampton said from Atlanta. "That process had begun. We don't know what happened, but it occurred in the process of dismantling the climbers."

"That's what they do," Hampton said of Associated Scaffolding, which has offices in Durham and Raleigh. "It wasn't a glass company that was doing scaffolding. ... They're a very large company, very well-versed, with a good track record."

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Raleigh scaffolding collapse kills 3 construction workers

RALEIGH, N.C. Three construction workers were killed and another seriously injured when a frame that supported a scaffolding system on the outside of a downtown office building collapsed Monday morning.

A witness, LeRoy Kelley, said workers were dismantling the scaffolding frame on the 11-story Charter Square building on Fayetteville Street and were descending the side of the building when something went wrong. Kelley thought at least four workers were on the scaffolding when it hit the ground.

Kelley, of Raleigh, was under the scaffolding doing concrete work when he heard a popping sound and someone shout, "Run!" As he did, he heard an enormous crash.

Kelley said he thought another worker was in a portable toilet that was crushed by the falling platform.

Authorities have not released the names of the dead and injured workers. The injured worker was taken to WakeMed Health & Hospitals.

Wake County EMS spokesman Jeff Hammerstein said authorities don't yet know where the workers were at the time of the accident.

"We don't know where they were or what they were doing," Hammerstein said.

The accident happened shortly before 11 a.m. Police blocked access around Charter Square, which is being built across from the Marriott City Center hotel. Dozens of construction workers were evacuated from the building and were standing on the lawn in front of the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts a block south.

A support structure of the scaffolding system failed at the fifth floor and fell into the performing arts center parking lot across Lenoir Street. A piece of the frame pierced the glass wall of the building at the fifth floor and was sticking out of the building.

Raleigh-based Dominion Realty Partners is developing the 243,000-square-foot building. Choate Construction is the general contractor.

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3 construction workers killed in accident at downtown Raleigh building