N E W S AUCKLAND’S TALLEST BUILDING TO BUILD DYNAMIC SKYLINE Mott MacDonald is designing 85 Customs Street, a new mixed-use development in Auckland, on behalf of Shundi Customs Limited. Once complete, the 52-storey residential tower will become the city’s tallest, adding a new dynamic to the skyline. At 46,635 square metre of floor area, 85 Customs Street will consist of 221 luxury residential apartments, studios and penthouses, two floors of retail and restaurant space and two floors of commercial office space. A five-storey basement will provide car parking, while two floors of VIP car parking will be available above ground and accessed by vehicle lifts. A health club with a swimming pool and steam room, spa and sauna facilities is also planned as part of the development. Additionally, the scheme includes the full refurbishment, conversion and extension of an adjacent existing 12-level office building into an international standard boutique hotel, as well as the seismic strengthening and refurbishment of an existing two-level heritage hotel and public tavern at the west end of the site. Mott MacDonald’s role comprises structural, building services and façade engineering. The consultancy is also responsible for the geotechnical, fire and acoustic design, as well as wind modelling. Nick Gillespie, Mott MacDonald’s project director, says: “Our client’s brief called for the apartments to have clear, unobstructed views to the north over Auckland harbour which greatly influenced the building’s design. Our structural solution uses an architecturally expressed external mega-frame to the east and west elevations of the building, supplemented by a braced elevation on the south side. The building also incorporates an innovative distributed damping system, the first of its kind in Australasia. This system controls the building sway with a series of damping devices which are hidden within party walls, meaning there is no reduction in the building’s net area.” Construction of 85 Customs Street is expected to be completed by the end of 2019. www.engineeringnews.co.nz 9 NZ’s disability seating innovator receives award Medifab, a New Zealand leader in providing specialised equipment for people with disabilities and medical difficulties, has won an international award for its new life-enhancing technology. Medifab was recognised for its world-leading disability product technology development at the biennial Australian Better Technology Awards event on the Gold Coast. The Better Technology Award recognises products designed to be used by people with a disability which incorporate the principles of good design. Medifab’s axial technology took second prize in the commercial category. The Rolleston-based cutting edge company manufactures wheelchair seating and children’s mobility equipment, and have developed the Axial technology to enable optimum positioning for clinically complex clients. This fulfils a need where traditional seating support systems are challenged to provide positioning required. WORLD’S LARGEST AIRCRAFT The world’s largest aircraft has taken to the skies for the first time in its new guise as the Airlander 10. Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) took it for a shot flight at an airfield in the UK. Measuring 92 x 43.5 x 26 m (302 x 143 x 85 ft), the Airlander 10 is an imposing bird, with the ability to carry payloads of up to 10,000 kg (22,050 lb) and stay in the air for five days at a time with a crew, or up to two weeks unmanned. The hybrid aircraft is powered by four 325-hp (242-kW), turbocharged diesel engines and uses aerodynamic lift like a conventional fixed-wing aircraft to take off, with helium keeping it aloft once it’s in the air. ROBOT HERDS THE STOCK FOR YOU Move over Rover, you’ve been upgraded. Swagbot, developed at the University of Sydney, can herd cows, tow heavy trailers, and cross rugged terrain and may mean that traditional work done on the farm by animals or humans are a thing of the past. It has been designed to manage livestock on Australia’s vast sheep and cattle stations, which are often remote and difficult to access. SwagBot is able to herd cattle, and can navigate its way around ditches, logs, swamps, and other features of a typical farm landscape. The next step will be to teach the robot how to identify animals that are sick or injured. ROBOTICS GETS WRIGGLE ON Researchers at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw have used liquid crystal elastomer technology to facilitate a bioinspired micro-robot capable of mimicking caterpillar gaits in natural scale. At just 15 millimetres in length, the soft robot harvests energy from green light and is controlled by spatially modulated laser beams. Apart from travelling on flat surfaces, it can also climb slopes, squeeze through narrow slits and transport loads. Liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are smart materials that can exhibit large shape change under illumination with visible light. MILK PACKAGING YOU CAN EAT A new type of food packaging that is made from the milk protein casein, is sustainable, biodegradable, safe and even edible is now being trialled. An initiative from the US Department of Agriculture, the casein film is reported to be up to 500 times better than alternative plastic options at locking out oxygen. The film contains much smaller pores than existing packaging option. A sprayable option is being worked on, and although the casein packaging will still need to be wrapped in protective outer layers to keep it dry and clean - not completely replacing plastics - it could significantly cut down on the amount used.
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