Shopping Centre | Retail | Location: Albany, Auckland | Client: Westfield NZ | Architects: Woodhams Meikle Zhan
MSC Consulting Group was the structural engineer for the Westfield Albany shopping centre, which won the Supreme Award and RCG Retail Property Award in the Property Council Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards 2008.
The award-winning Westfield Albany shopping centre was the first of a new generation of retail centres, with a mix of leisure and entertainment as well as substantial retail space. It opened in 2007 and was Westfield’s first and largest Greenfields development in New Zealand
Westfield New Zealand engaged MSC Consulting Group as the structural engineer for the $210 million development, which consists of 53,000m2 of retail space and houses three major retailers, 147 retail stores, a 550 seat food court, a 10 screen Cinema complex and parking for 2300 cars.
The project required the full-time on-site presence of MSC‘s design engineer and a senior technician to observe construction and make on-the-spot changes as necessary, while keeping to Westfield’s tight timeline.
MSC Director Geoff Chilcott notes: “This was one of the largest retail projects undertaken in New Zealand at that time, and required us to not only work to a tight time frame, but also to consider the size of the development and its multi-level nature, as well as the slope that ran across the full extent of the site.”