Riddiford Medical Centre

Client:

Riddiford Medical

Location:

Riddiford St, Newtown, Wellington

Project value:

$2.1M

Date completed:

28 February 2014

The Riddiford Medical Centre was developed by a group of medical specialists to provide a modern facility for patient consultations and surgical procedures. Located in the heritage character area of Newtown, adjacent to the entrance to Wellington Hospital the building has been designed to mimic the existing street texture. Built over three levels of timber framed construction the building is an attractive addition to the area. Designed and documented by Melling Morse Architects and one of the last projects from the well renowned Wellington architect Gerald Melling before his passing.

A particular challenge of this project was the tight building site located on an extremely busy main road. Access to the site, traffic and pedestrian management and close neighbouring properties had to be carefully considered and managed. The adjacent lane serviced a number of neighbouring businesses and residences and had to be kept accessible at all times. An existing earthquake prone building had to be demolished on the site requiring a surgical like precision by the digger operator to keep the debris from falling onto the street or the adjacent buildings. A gantry scaffold was specifically designed to provide access to the upper levels of the building whilst maintaining safe pedestrian access to the footpath and vehicle access to the lane. The timing of the loading in of materials had to be planned around peak traffic flows whilst not causing inconvenience to nearby residents.

Clear macrocarpa is used extensively throughout the project both internally and externally and is a strong feature of the design. Freear Philip Ltd went to great efforts to source good quality macrocarpa and worked closely with the project architect to ensure the detailing met expectations. A great deal of attention was also applied to the detailing of the upper level decks. These were identified as high risk areas with regard to potential leaking and it was imperative that they were constructed and waterproofed correctly.

As a medical centre with procedure rooms the building contains the full spectrum of building services including medical gases and a solar hot water system. These were carefully co-ordinated and seamlessly integrated into the building. The building also has a passenger lift.

Freear Philip is particularly proud of the build quality and attention to detailing displayed in this project.