Kaikoura District Council Building

When the Kaikoura District Council wanted a new building to base themselves out of, they wanted a sustainable, economic, seismically safe building that was also a tourist attraction in its own right. Nelson Timber Solutions Consortium (a collaboration between Gavin Robertson, Dave King, and Andy Reid) was established to provide the engineering design. Potius™ was approached early in the design stages to provide the diaphragm floor and roof panels, while NelsonPine provided the LVL beams and columns and Xlam provided the shear walls. There is no concrete in the building apart from the foundation and floor slab, which has kept the seismic loads to a minimum.

The Council building was opened days before the Kaikoura earthquake sequence in November 2016. The building was inspected following the earthquake, which showed no damage, and was subsequently used for the Civil Defence Head Quarters during the recovery period. Needless to say that the Kaikoura District Council was happy with their decision to build in timber.