This project consolidated Bluebird Food’s warehouse operations into one facility, saving money, providing surety of supply and utilising a “state of the art” Automated Storage and Retrieval System to efficiently manage high storage racks and reduce the need for employees in the warehouse. The building, with its 38m apex, is within the flight path of Auckland Airport, which required new thinking regarding building and fire codes.
Bluebird Foods Automated Warehouse.
Auckland, New Zealand
An innovative engineering solution for the steel structure in construction reduced embodied carbon on this project.
Client
Calder Stewart
Owner
Pepsico Ltd
Awards
- NZ Property Awards 2024, Merit Award
- Excellence in Steel Construction 2023
Key Figures.
38mapex
in flight path of Auckland Airport
85m in length
posing challenge to build
400mmseismic gap
to the adjacent building to prevent impact and pounding damage.
The Challenge.
Imagine.
Meeting the Challenge
Egis developed an innovative solution for the temporary works engineering using 18m props and with 4 x “Earthbolts” in parallel on site rather than precast concrete ballast. The bolts were reused as temporary full-width cross bracing was installed as the bays progressed, allowing props to be removed and reinstalled as construction progressed.
The first bay of erected steel had temp bracing installed to provide longitudinal stability until the main braces were installed. Cladding couldn’t be installed until the full bracing structure was in place, to prevent overloading temp braces and connections. Splice details were used allowing adjustment on site. The re-use of innovative temporary works saved the cost of requiring a lot of expensive props at the same time, and the construction methodology meant the whole building didn’t require scaffolding.
Create.
Design and Construction
Early planning and design collaboration between the contractor and structural engineer allowed the fabricated I-beams to be procured early during post-Covid supply disruption. While the completed project is impressive (close to 40m tall, 40m wide and more than 85m long), the real challenge was building it. Both the columns and the roof rafters came in three sections, with stock lengths utilised where possible to minimise wastage.
The design team worked collaboratively with the contractor modelling and producing the steel drawings for consent (reviewed and signed off by the engineers) and then was able to immediately use the same model to produce shop drawings. The fire engineer developed a solution, considering the building and in-rack sprinklers, to justify partial-height fire rating to the boundary, provided by precast concrete cladding panels. The design also met FM Global design requirements and the NZ Building Code. A 400mm seismic gap is provided to the adjacent building to prevent impact and pounding damage.
Achieve.
This vertical construction approach led to increased efficiencies for Bluebird Foods. This project delivered lower carbon footprint, a reduction in labour inputs with increased automation, smarter use of land and streamlining of production, storage and logistics. The maintenance solution implemented included access stairs up the height to the roof, and a handrail around the perimeter of the building at roof level, allowing the roof to be safely accessed and maintained.
Sustainability & Efficiency.
In addition to the temporary works innovation detailed above, a sustainable solution was required for the warehouse racks which have very tight long-term deflection criteria. This was achieved with soil-structure modelling from the geotechnical and structural engineers and input from the piling contractor and the concrete slab steel fibre supplier. Ground conditions were soft and the building was constructed in one of the wettest periods in recent Auckland history providing challenging conditions to overcome.
Stormwater was attenuated (and treated) on site to reduce mitigate the risk of downstream flooding and advice was given for the future provision of solar panels. The fire engineer developed a solution, considering the building and in-rack sprinklers, to justify partial-height fire rating to the boundary, provided by precast concrete cladding panels. For future efficiencies the building has space for the provision for another crane and row of racks.