Christchurch Hospital

KNAUF STEEL FRAMING SOLUTION MEETS SEISMIC REQUIREMENTS

Constructed by CPB Contractors, the Acute Services Building at Christchurch Public Hospital is the largest New Zealand government project of the Canterbury rebuild. The 62,000m² building will house 12 new operating theatres and procedure rooms, an expanded intensive care unit and emergency department, a state-of-the-art radiology department and inpatient ward blocks for 400 beds — including purpose-designed spaces for children.

Involved in the project from its early design stages, Knauf was tasked with working with CPB and Jacobs Engineering to develop a steel-framed alternative to the specified timber-framed walls — a move which will eliminate moisture issues and help reduce construction time.

BILL HILL, PROJECT MANAGER, CPD CONTRACTORS

“It’s a challenge to come up with a steel-framed solution that meets [Importance Level 4] seismic requirements.”

SEISMIC PERFORMANCE ESSENTIAL

As the building has been designed to Importance Level 4 (IL4) standards, seismic performance was also key. The walls of the Acute Services Building had to be designed to deal with an out-of-plane movement of 50mm, so a specifically designed deflection head/ seismic joint was developed and tested to deal with this. The testing was carried out with the Project Engineers present, so they could see the performance of the wall’s design.

“It’s a challenge to come up with a steel-framed solution that meets those seismic requirements,” explains Bill Hill, Project Manager, CPB Contractors. The solution Knauf developed uses 100,000 linear metres of Knauf Metal Wall Studs and Track, using a G550 grade steel to provide exceptional strength.

BILL HILL, PROJECT MANAGER, CPD CONTRACTORS

“Over 200 different wall types were originally specified. We went to Knauf to come up with a way of simplifying that as they have a number of different board types with multiple functions.”

SIMPLIFYING PARTITION TYPES

 

In addition, a range of Knauf plasterboard solutions were specified for the project. “A simplification of the partition types is what we were trying to achieve,” explains Bill. “Over 200 different wall types were originally specified. We went to Knauf to come up with a way of simplifying that as they have a number of different board types with multiple functions.”

The final specification featured just three plasterboard types supplied by Knauf: SHEETROCK®, Multistop™ 4 and Firestop® Boards. Multistop™ 4 Technical Board will be the most extensively used, with 110,000m² specified for wall linings due to its exceptional moisture, fire and impact resistance and good acoustic properties. “With the one board we can cover a lot of different scenarios,” says Bill.

With installation of both framing and plasterboard well underway, CPB are pleased with how the project is progressing. The Acute Services Building is due for completion in late 2018.