New development with impressive coastal views.

The client

Wellington development

A local luxury townhouse developer needed durable windows and doors for their coastal residential project. Requiring highly durable yet stylish joinery the team at UNO needed to go the extra mile to ensure the presented solutions exceeded the client's requirements.

Working alongside architectural specialist Novak + Middleton, as well as the Bonnaci Group, those plans were made a reality with particular mention to David Hale Building for their on-site expertise, which proved essential for the challenging site.

Scope

Luxury townhouses exposed to the elements

Because Wellington is located between the North and South Islands of New Zealand, when the wind blows strongly, it squeezes through the gap at Cook Strait and gets faster – thus Wellington is known for higher wind speeds than some other areas of New Zealand. 

It is important that the windows & doors in a building can manage the water and wind, especially in an area known for ultra-high winds. We were involved with Novak + Middleton and Bonnaci Group at the design stage to ensure that the windows and doors would be suited to the specific design wind requirements where these luxury apartments were to be built.

Our products had already been tested to the Extra High (2130 Pa) Wind pressure New Zealand Standard 4211, but we were now required to test the performance of our 40mm sliding doors at over 30% above extra high wind pressure to the specific design conditions for a specified size sliding door. So we manufactured a test unit and took it to an IANZ accredited laboratory for testing windows and doors, to see how it performed in simulated wind and rain conditions.

Requirements:

• Suitable for the coastal area
• Specific design wind pressures 30% above extra high wind zone
• Design support at the early stages of the project
• Certification to show the units were fit for purpose

Solution

Testing proved product a perfect fit

The aluminium door test was a resounding success and proved that the unit met all the structural and water resistance requirements when tested at the required ultimate wind pressure. This provided clear evidence that this product was suitable for the High Street project and gave the specifiers, façade engineer, & developer confidence that it would perform in the extreme weather conditions.

This test result was also verified by independent onsite field testing by a façade engineer after the windows and doors were installed.

The next step in the project for us was manufacturing the windows and doors for the 17 townhouses and delivering them to site. The route to the site was also challenging with a narrow winding road and little space to turn around, but our delivery team took it all in their stride and we were able to manufacture and deliver all units within the project timeframe to meet the developer's tight schedule. It was a pleasure working alongside the team from David Hale Building on this project — they had a challenging site, but were excellent to work with!

After independent evaluation, the products were deemed fit for purpose for the extreme coastal conditions.

Explore more projects