Northland Waste Facility
- Location:
- Silverdale
- Length:
- 30m
- Width:
- 44m
- Knee Height:
- 12m
- Floor Area:
- 1320m2
- Building Use:
- Workshop or Factory
- Cladding:
- Trimrib & Precast Panels
- Portal System:
- DonoBeam
- Time to Build:
- 5 months
- Features:
- The waste management facility features 14m ridge height and roller doors 8m high.
Strategic planning and ‘thinking outside the box’ might best describe the business ethos of Coresteel North Harbour. At the helm of North Harbour’s team are Andrew and Julie Boyd, who are leading the way when it comes to implementing eco-friendly initiatives within their construction business and local community. So when Northland Waste approached Andrew and Julie to custom-design a new waste facility, the collaboration was a no-brainer.
This isn’t North Harbour’s first time working with Northland Waste either. The new facility will make this the fifth project the two local businesses have done together, demonstrating Andrew and Julie’s proven track record of delivering great building solutions.
The project brief
North Harbour was commissioned to design and build a brand new transfer station for Northland Waste, otherwise known as a Re:Sort Centre. These centres provide local communities with a space to drop off general waste, as well as green waste and recycling. With a number of Re:Sort Centres located around the country, the new facility in Silverdale has been highly anticipated.
This project is a true design and build, designed around the need to accommodate a large materials handling machine. Northland Waste required large clear spans, an apex at a specific point, as well as entrance points along two sides of the building to ensure a streamlined sorting process and promote safe vehicle and foot- traffic management.
The DonoBeam effect
Coresteel’s patented DonoBeam system was the obvious solution for this. This portal system is manufactured by folding two halves of steel plate and welding them together to form a box. This means we can construct spans ranging from 20m to 75m without compromising structural integrity. Even better, because the box is tapered in its length, we only ever use the amount of steel required and nothing more. It’s fitting that no steel went to waste during the making of this new recycling centre.
Reducing waste one skip at a time
When it comes to reducing on-site construction waste, Andrew and Julie’s attitude is anything but cavalier. From cardboard to soft-plastic wrap and dunnage, everything is separated on the spot and carefully recycled. Andrew says that it’s important to sort rubbish at the source rather than piled together into skips. Once waste is contaminated it becomes impossible to recycle, which is why they establish separate waste collection areas on site.
As on-site waste is one of the biggest challenges within the construction industry, this approach is refreshing. But Andrew believes that there is still so much that they, and local businesses, need to do.
“Until disincentives are in place to reduce waste, most businesses won’t think outside the skip. It’s frustrating to see an easy answer to landfill reduction yet businesses producing the soft plastic waste mostly look at the financial cost of disposal,” Andrew says.
“It’s cheaper and easier to throw everything together in a skip, but mixing adds another layer of work to enable recycling at the other end so it becomes too hard. The volume going to waste would make your eyes water.”
To build for the future, construction companies need to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Andrew and Julie.
