Mainzeal was pleased to accept the prestigious IPENZ Arthur Mead Award for the Environment and Sustainability recently, along with other Project Partners.
The Arthur Mead Environment Award is a premier award and one of the most recognised awards for significant contributions to preserving, conserving and improving the environment addressing sustainability, potential adverse environmental effects, waste management and community involvement.
The award honours Arthur Mead, Auckland City’s Chief Engineer for water supply from 1929 to 1953, who was one of the earliest proponents of environmental engineering in the Auckland region.
“On June 30 2008, the first recycling collection truck rumbled onto the weighbridge at Auckland’s first purpose-built Material Recovery Facility (MRF). That there was a weighbridge, or indeed a sophisticated and highly automated recycling facility ready to process the load, was nothing short of exceptional (Steve Raeo, Institute of Professional Engineers NZ, e.nz magazine, Sep/Oct 2008, Vol 9/5)
The Visy Material Recovery Facility, (technologically advanced and state-of-the-art 4,000m2 waste material recycling facility) is the first of its kind in New Zealand. This world-class solution to managing recyclable materials currently processes waste material from Auckland and Manukau City Council households, but has the capacity to process material from the whole of the North Island.
Waste recycling volumes in the serviced areas have increased by over 25%. Within this operating facility 96% of all materials are recycled, making this Recovery Facility one of the most efficient operations in the world. It’s no wonder that the recent entry prepared by Tonkin & Taylor for the IPENZ Awards won the Arthur Mead Award for the Environment and Sustainability.
The Visy Material Recovery Facility was constructed on an old landfill site, which generates landfill gases and subsidence. The building was constructed on steel piles founding in basalt with gas proof membrane under a post tensioned slab. This design allowed for heavy machinery to be located anywhere in the building. The building was surrounded by 8,000m2 of interlocking paving and some asphalt to the car park and rain gardens. With black oxide precast panels, solar and heat pump hot water supplies and rain water harvest tanks, this design and construction certainly took into account the environment and sustainability.
Mainzeal takes pride in construction work of this type and is committed to sustainable buildings.
The collaborative approach taken by all stakeholders and by Auckland & Manukau City Councils ensured that the construction programme had minimal delays, was delivered on budget and on time. That’s the Building Certainty that Mainzeal provides.