160 King Edward Street

Our project at 160 King Edward Street involved extensive seismic strengthening and refurbishment of a two-storey heritage building. This included the careful restoration of the century-old Art Deco façade with its original steel windows and re-finishing the rimu flooring, staircase and handrail.

We also removed asbestos in the roof and ceiling, laid pad foundations for the new structural steel columns, installed fire separation between the two tenancies, installed a lift and fully accessible bathroom, and laid a polished concrete floor along the shop frontage.

Located on reclaimed land, the building was 200mm out of level, requiring considerable remedial action to get the floors level again while retaining the integrity of the original flooring. Access was also an issue, due to the busy street, the major excavations required to upgrade the electricity network, and an adjoining building. We worked collaboratively with the steel fabricators and structural engineers to ensure we could get the steel into the building, opting for plate-bolted joins that we could manoeuvre in through a second storey window and assemble on site.

With the structural work complete, we fitted out the two tenancies – an optometrist with a shop at the front and exam rooms at the back on the ground floor, and a physiotherapist with three clinical exam rooms and an exercise studio on the first floor.

We also completed enabling works for a proposed library on a neighbouring site, further progressing what promises to be a major redevelopment of this part of South Dunedin.