Due to the Christchurch Town Hall being a listed heritage building, it created a challenge for The Connect Group team as we had to maintain all heritage aspects of the building and keep it true to its original form and function. This meant that visible concrete elements, including floors, walls and beams could not have any mechanical or aggressive grinding on them. It also means that we could not apply any coatings to disguise the repairs. To solve this, we had to use extensive sampling methods using various repair techniques. We also had to repair badly damaged concrete spalling throughout the building, we had to develop new methods to restore the integrity and the texture of the heritage finish.
Due to the scale of the project that stood before us, the application of carbon fibre was one of the largest carbon fibre projects undertaken in New Zealand. This presented challenges due to the size, shape, height and roof pitch. We also had to determine natural factors such as wind, heat and moisture. The nature of this meant that a high level of Quality Assurance was required with custom documentation, extensive daily testing and photographic records, all supplied throughout the 36 months we worked on this repair.
