Summerset Regional Main Buildings, Wellington

The Summerset Regional Main Buildings (RMB) project spans 3 distinct locales: Kenepuru, Pohutukawa Place and Pāpāmoa. Each site takes a consistent approach, with a new building constructed within a larger existing retirement village. Summerset Holdings’ aim was to provide expanded levels of care to meet the changing needs of residents.

NDY was engaged to review the previous consultant’s proposal, ensuring the building aligns with client requirements for a purpose-driven and adaptable design. The 3 storey development, featuring 180 units across 9,000 m², is structured to accommodate different care needs, including specialised memory support for residents living with dementia, serviced apartments and hospital-style rooms.

It houses amenities including communal dining areas, lounges and a commercial kitchen alongside a café, spa, gymnasium and pool. These recreational areas are available for use by all residents within the retirement village.

To create a resilient building, hydraulics systems go beyond standard domestic and hot water to enable emergency water supply within the building in the event of a natural disaster.

The electrical engineering supports standard and emergency lighting and power for communications across each village. Individual apartments boast adjustable and exterior lighting and data infrastructure for residents’ safety, convenience and personal comfort.

NDY’s mechanical layout encompasses a combination of services:

• a central plant to produce heating and cooling across the building
• a commercial kitchen extract system
• split air conditioning units for cooling within resident spaces
• individual control for lounges and recreational areas.

While there were multiple consultants involved, coordination was a key project driver. We employed building information modelling (BIM) in Revit, which was vital to run clash detection, a tool facilitating contradictions between different models from various contractors. BIM also helped with running regular and real-time model exchanges between NDY and other consultants, which was necessary for a seamless and efficient design process.

Summerset RMB provides a higher level of care to residents as they transition from independent living to higher care needs. Consistent and efficient engineering services design across each village supports Summerset’s vision of providing a comprehensive continuum of care model to their residents.