The Pacifica

Hilti worked with designers and installers to meet the heightened project requirements

One of the tallest building in Auckland City at 57 stories in height, the Pacifica will be a defining part of the central city skyline.

These luxury apartments were designed and constructed with added attention to detail. Through this process Hilti was able to help achieve a higher level of safety for future building occupants by working with the engineers and contractors involved in both the curtain wall façade, and internal partition walls.

Curtain Wall Facade

Hilti jobsite reference Polyclinic Catania Italy

The Challenge

In light of recent developments in the ever-evolving conversation on the fire safety of building elements in construction, the main contractor Icon Co was determined to follow the latest recommendations from the government in their façade design.

Icon Co reached out to Hilti to check if it was possible to a fire tested and movement rated fire protection system between the edge of slab and curtain wall façade. This concept is new to New Zealand as traditionally, builders used a rigid system consisting of mineral wool and a smoke sealed aluminium flashing .

The Solution

Design

Hilti were able to leverage our global technical expertise in this application. We worked with façade engineering firm, King Façade International, in reviewing the façade system. This resulted in a specification for a system which complies with the latest best practice which is to include a fully fire tested system which allows for movement. Hilti’s CFS-SP SIL speed spray system fit the bill completely.

Install

As this was a new system for both the installer and the New Zealand construction industry, Hilti conducted training at the contractor’s workshop on the use of the spray applicator. Hilti also provided ongoing support throughout the construction phase of the project to ensure a smooth process.

Afterwards

Due to the added safety in the event of a fire achieved by using the CFS SP SIL system and comparative ease of installation, the speed spray system has already been used on a number of projects since.

Partition Walls

The Challenge

New Zealand has a high level of seismic activity. Therefore, all structures need to be designed with a potential earthquake in mind.

As such, even non-structural elements such as internal partitions require seismic design to ensure the safety of the building occupants, as well as reducing the cost of post-earthquake damage.

The Solution

Design

Non-structural consulting engineering consultancy BVT Engineering was brought in to tackle the design of the interior partitions. A critical part of this design is how the walls are actually connected to the rest of the building. As the partitions were designed to perform in seismic events, a suitable qualified seismic fixing was needed.

BTV engineers worked with the Hilti engineering team and came to the HUS3 6mm screw anchor as the seismic solution. What makes the HUS3 6mm special is that is comes with tested cyclic seismic performance while also being an economical small diameter anchor.

Install

The interiors sub-contractor, Alpha Interiors, elected to use the TE-4 A22 cordless rotary hammer in conjunction with the TE DRS-4-A on-board vacuum system ensured a dust-free environment when drilling. Afterward, to ensure the correct installation torque every time, the SIW 22-A cordless impact wrench was used to complete the installation.