By Apollo Projects
Americold is a multinational cold store operator with 248 temperature-controlled warehouses worldwide. An ongoing partnership with Woolworths NZ led Americold to expand operations and storage capacity at their Wiri, Auckland site.
Americold appointed Apollo Projects to lead the expansion project that provided an additional 14000m2 of freezer space to the existing 7000m2 footprint.
The project's initial design was costly. Apollo was able to identify innovative solutions for an efficient design that better fit Americold's brief and budget. By reconsidering the brief, we were able to shrink the footprint, which decreased the amount of required resources, such as concrete. Refrigerants can have a major impact on a project's carbon footprint, so a low-charge ammonia system was chosen for this project's cold stores. A low-charge ammonia system is a proven alternative to HFC-based systems, offering significant energy improvement.
Considered an essential service, this project continued throughout the Covid-19 Alert Level 4 lockdown. In that environment, the on-site team was confined to essential personnel and travel was limited. Physical distancing and mask wearing was compulsory and breaks were scheduled in work groups. To help mitigate other Covid-19 complications, a Project Risk Register was established. This document considered supply chain disruptions, the possibility of having an infected person on-site, and the potential government shut down of the premises. In utilising the Register, we took pre-emptive steps such as purchasing offshore items early and having alternative suppliers on standby.
While comparable projects were impacted by lockdowns and supply-chain, Apollo was prepared to deliver despite these challenges. The project was successfully delivered under budget, on-time, and succeeded all expectations.
Photo Credit - Construction Photography – Chris Street
We are a nationwide Design and Build company with specialist knowledge and experience across verticals as diverse as cold storage, dairy, wine, food and beverage processing, commercial and retail spaces, and recreation and leisure.
Whatever the project, our focus is simple - listen to our client and deliver absolute trust and certainty from the start.
At Apollo, we've never been afraid to challenge the status quo.
When Craig Waghorn and Paul Lloyd started Apollo in 2001, they were determined to break away from the traditional management process and do things differently. They saw an opportunity to partner with clients from the very start, taking their ideas right from concept all the way through to completion – something that was poorly executed in the industry!
Today, Apollo is a leading New Zealand design and construction company with over 40 professional project delivery and support staff across the country. We regularly work with major national companies including Fonterra, Goodman Fielder, George Weston Foods, Ngai Tahu and Lion Co., as well as private owner-operated businesses, sports organisations and Government/Council entities.
Even though Apollo has grown over eighteen years, we’ve never lost our core value that a ‘client’s trust is everything’. Apollo is different simply because we operate as a partner with our clients – our goal from the very beginning has always been to build strong relationships from which we can deliver successful projects.