Petone Engineering make the finals of SCNZ 2020 Awards

Petone Engineering was proud to be nominated, and to reach the finals for the SCNZ Excellence in Steel Awards 2020, in the $500,000 to $1,500,000 project category for our part in the seismic upgrade of the Chinese Embassy here in Wellington.

As with most seismic strengthening projects, the Chinese Embassy job wasn’t straightforward. With the 11 storey building not straight or square, old steelwork in place that didn’t match original drawings, ground unsuitable for a tower crane, and forty K-frames needing to be installed, we had our work cut out for us.

Working closely with the main contractor we came up with solutions that avoided any delays on-site, and the inevitable cost over-runs that go with late-running projects.

The project eventually involved clever use of road cranes, some retrofitting of new steel to the existing structure in the basement, and milling over 1,500 large slots in the fixing brackets to compensate for the building not being plumb.

To get the full story about the work we did at the Chinese Embassy, have a look at the project page here.