Witnessing history:

Cromwell community sees the build of their new hall from the ground up

If you live in Cromwell or been anywhere near it of late, you might have noticed some significant changes to the townscape, as a result of the Cromwell memorial hall project.

The precast slab installation is well underway, and the appearance of those tall slim concrete monoliths that have been going up since early December is beginning to radically change the Cromwell skyline and the landscape along the historic banks of Kawarau and Clutha/Matau Au rivers.

“The hall project is in progressing as planned pre-Christmas,” Central Otago District Council Acting Group Manager - Planning and Infrastructure Lee Webster said.

“The completion of the concrete slab and seeing the steel framing go up was fantastic, but the installation of a number of the precast panels, which will provide the walls for the auditorium and stage for the performance area is outstanding and is really impressive. It’s incredible to be at this stage, and for our community to be able to see the new hall going up, to get a feel for the size and scale of the venue, and to be proud of it being theirs.”

There are 33 of these slabs in total, made by Cromwell company Central Precast Concrete. Each of them weights an average of 18 tonne, with the biggest 24 tonne. They vary in height, but generally average between 11m and 12.5m high.

The shape of the panels provides more complexity than the weights. Some panels are suspended due to leaving outdoor openings. These panels require engineered propping towers to rest the panels on, and to hold them in place.

Fast Facts

Concrete floor slab:

• 1,370m3 of concrete was used (equates to 200 trucks and about half the volume of an Olympic size swimming pool) of which 25% is E-Crete (an environmentally friendly concrete which replaces cement with fly ash).

• Local fill from Parkburn Quarry - 4600 m3 of fill 8,000 tonnes - this equates to 320 trucks or nearly 2 times the volume of an Olympic size swimming pools.

• From a waste / sustainability perspective, everything is prefabricated so very little wastage.

• Whatever waste is generated, is recycled and repurposed – e.g. saved 40 tonnes from landfill.

The Councill will be workshopping the proposed operating models for the memorial hall and events centre at the Council meeting on Wednesday 18 December 2024, to be held at Cromwell.

The journey so far:

1. Farewell Ceremony of the Old Memorial Hall
2. Demolition of the Old Memorial Hall including salvaging
3. Relocation of RSA artefacts to temporary location
4. Establishment of Site Offices for up to 100 site workers
5. Site Earthworks, Inground Three Water Services
6. Occupation of New Carpark, resealing Butchers Drive, Landscaping
7. Completion of Floor Slab (circa 3100m2)
8. Restoration of Town and Country access (pathway) and preparation for combined Service Lane accessibility and parking
9. Completion of Structural Steel over Community and Museum Spaces
10. Commencement of placing 23 (of 33 with average weight 20 tonne) Precast Concrete Panels
11. Make Site Safe for Christmas Shutdown
12. Landscaping begins with South Island Kowhai planted in carpark.

As a complete contrast to the hard structural installation going on, the soft landscaping has also been kicked off with the planting of South Island Kowhai trees in the new carpark off Melmore Terrace.

Initially grown in Southland, they were carefully nurtured onsite before going into the ground last Tuesday (10 December 2024).