Delivering New Zealand’s largest student accommodation

The Waipārūrū Hall of Residence at 35 Whitaker Place Auckland, is New Zealand’s largest student accommodation facility, delivering 786 new accommodation rooms for University of Auckland students.

A striking structure, Waipārūrū Hall is spread across two towers - 12 storeys and 14 storeys tall, connected by a three-level podium with study areas, music rooms, gyms, two commercial kitchens and a large dining area for over 1,400 students.

Beca provided the design deliverables for tender, consent and construction, including civil and building services engineering for this project. Challenges included working within a tight inner-city site footprint, close to major public infrastructure (requiring strong acoustic design to minimise motorway noise) and integrating services with existing utilities infrastructure.

Modular pre-fabricated bathroom pods were used for all tower bathrooms and toilets. These were manufactured in Christchurch, shipped to the site and lifted into each level as construction progressed. Early coordination of the building services elements within the pods enabled clear connections to prefabricated pods on-site.

Mechanical services have made use of prefabricated duct/pipe risers, and pre-fabricated typical air conditioning units assemblies – both manufactured and assembled in Australia.

Beca also designed a two-pipe heating and cooling system (in lieu of a traditional four pipe system), to halve air conditioning pipework reticulation to the accommodation units, without compromising comfort.

Now open to students, COVID-19 disruptions notwithstanding, Waipārūrū Hall serves as an award-winning model of future campus design!

Awards

• 2020 NZiOB Awards - GIB Supreme Award (With James Reed from Dominion Construction)
• 2020 NZiOB Awards - BBD Excellence Award (With James Reed from Dominion Construction)

Image credit: Warren and Mahoney