A

ll concrete pours in Auckland's CBD are fraught with peril: you fill out more paperwork than an actuary, contend with typhoons and monsoons, then fight your way through the city's notorious traffic.

Since The Greenhouse broke dirt in 2021, hundreds of trucks carrying thousands of cubic metres of concrete have battled their way to site where they'll be met by our gateman, Glyn Ussher, who guides them into position on Pollen St. There they'll pump concrete up to where it's needed.

This week it was the final pour.  Though he's rarely on the tools these days, Ockham captain Mark Todd was given the hose to mark the occasion. He did pretty well, too, but then handed over to the professionals.  

Watching the Concrete Logistics crew pour the fifth floor of Star Newton this morning was to witness precision, artistry and teamwork... a masterclass, a hardhatted symphony on site. We have some superb subbies Ockham and this crew – the Caliphs of Concrete, the Princes of the Pour… the Lords of the Trowel! – are from the top drawer.

Brick brilliance

There are a ton of reasons we love brick at Ockham – they're classic, timeless, resilient, durable, fireproof, energy-efficient, sound-resistant, super-low-maintenance and... they just look bloody good! Few are more beautiful than The Greenhouse's 150,000 irridescent green bricks that were fired at a factory just outside Venice.

The brickies at The Greenhouse are our regulars, TS Bricklayers, who have been with us at Tuatahi, Kōkihi, Modal, Star Newton and Aroha. They're solid.

"The bricklayers are absolutely smashing it," Greenhouse Project Manager, JD Deely enthuses. "We’re now up to level 6 with bricks all around and part of level 7." The bricks are absolutely beautiful he says, though mostly hidden behind construction mesh. "The scaffold is due to be dropped in a couple months," JD continues. "The good citizens of Ponsonby will be blown away when they see what's been hiding here in plain sight. These bricks are works of art."

Hard yards in the interior

With milestones being monstered by our brickies, concreters and steel fixers on The Greenhouse's exterior, their comrades inside – the tilers, fixers, stoppers, painters, pipe fitters, sparkies, cleaners and carpenters – just keep quietly doing their thing.

JD again: "I’m super-excited to see the interiors starting to look like apartments, with flooring, tiling and kitchens going in on the lower levels. We’re very happy with how the finishes are looking at this stage."

📷 Adrian Malloch Photography