"Capela Montis" - Latin for "Chapel on the Hill".
(Or so I'm reliably informed... Now also known as "Chapel Ridge")
Quite simply the most impressive new wedding reception & function venue on the Central Coast. One of our recent projects and certainly one of the most challenging & complex builds undertaken by our small family team. Can we do it?
Yes we can! Well.... we think we can....
This project is definitely worthy of an extended description and several slide montages of progressive construction images. We even have some drone footage to add as we get around to it.
A complex job with diverse management requirements and specific trade difficulties, all to be built under the watchful eye of discerning clients who have been developing and nurturing this concept for several years.
Feel free to add comments on our Blog Page and check out our Facebook link to this project here.
Also, have a look at the new website for the Chapel Ridge venue by clicking HERE
(Or so I'm reliably informed... Now also known as "Chapel Ridge")
Quite simply the most impressive new wedding reception & function venue on the Central Coast. One of our recent projects and certainly one of the most challenging & complex builds undertaken by our small family team. Can we do it?
Yes we can! Well.... we think we can....
This project is definitely worthy of an extended description and several slide montages of progressive construction images. We even have some drone footage to add as we get around to it.
A complex job with diverse management requirements and specific trade difficulties, all to be built under the watchful eye of discerning clients who have been developing and nurturing this concept for several years.
Feel free to add comments on our Blog Page and check out our Facebook link to this project here.
Also, have a look at the new website for the Chapel Ridge venue by clicking HERE
|
|
Let's start with a bare cow paddock in the rural farming area of Kulnura. Beautiful outlook across the valley, but no services available except for a temporary 240v power supply. Too easy? Well, during our initial site assessment we discovered that the building area had previously been filled with unknown materials imported from other sites. We asked if there were any engineer inspections or compaction tests performed during these filling operations? Nope! Hmmm. Unfortunate. Bad start to the project!! Test drilling confirmed that the fill material had been well compacted, but varied in depth up to 2.5m deep. We can't build on that foundation, so a full sized drilling rig will be required as the first piece of equipment on site. |
The first order of business was to consult with our Geotechnical Engineer and then get our Structural Engineer to redesign our foundation slabs to incorporate a gridwork of bored piers to penetrate right through the imported filling, so that the building structure would be supported down onto the original foundation material.
This process ended up as a big job on it's own, with around 50 pier holes of 600mm and 450mm diameter to be bored at average depths of 2.7m, but up to 3.0m deep. The holes were too deep & wide, and the compacted material too hard for an excavator with a standard boring auger attachment, so a large, specialised drilling rig was brought to site. This machine was able to penetrate the filling fairly easily, but it was still a long operation to get all 50 holes drilled, cleaned and ready for concreting. We were lucky in that we found a very consistent and suitable strata of weathered sandstone bedrock throughout the whole foundation area and terminated the piers at this level.
Once the drilling operations were completed we had the Engineer assess & approve the integrity of all the pier holes, and then brought in the concrete pump to fill them all to the required level to suit our floor slabs.
All of this was unanticipated, but obviously very necessary, and needed to be completed before we could actually start any of our scheduled construction works! That's how it goes sometimes.
This process ended up as a big job on it's own, with around 50 pier holes of 600mm and 450mm diameter to be bored at average depths of 2.7m, but up to 3.0m deep. The holes were too deep & wide, and the compacted material too hard for an excavator with a standard boring auger attachment, so a large, specialised drilling rig was brought to site. This machine was able to penetrate the filling fairly easily, but it was still a long operation to get all 50 holes drilled, cleaned and ready for concreting. We were lucky in that we found a very consistent and suitable strata of weathered sandstone bedrock throughout the whole foundation area and terminated the piers at this level.
Once the drilling operations were completed we had the Engineer assess & approve the integrity of all the pier holes, and then brought in the concrete pump to fill them all to the required level to suit our floor slabs.
All of this was unanticipated, but obviously very necessary, and needed to be completed before we could actually start any of our scheduled construction works! That's how it goes sometimes.
The main building is made up of two sections - the Pavillion, which will be the reception/function area with it's own kitchen and bar servery facilities, and the Chapel, which will be a spectacular construction accomplishment in both height, scale and detail.
As we begin the Chapel roof framing and the lock-up stage of the build you begin to get a better idea of the sheer height and magnitude of the building. See how we construct the Chapel's steeple on the ground, and then lift the completed structure by crane and bolt it into position. It's simply too high to build it in position up there. We manufactured the cross at the top of the steeple as a structural lifting loop so we could accomplish the lift with safety. The louvres in the steeple are electronically operated so they can be opened & closed remotely. Getting up inside the steeple structure to install the electrical works, linings and painting etc was not for the faint-hearted! Lot's of work done from scissor lifts internally and elevating boom lifts externally.
See the painstaking work in hand fabricating the steel portal frames for the glass conservatory facade on the end of the Chapel building. All steel components cut & fitted by hand and welded into place while on the scissor lift. All of the faceted glass panels, some of them 16mm thick, fitted into place individually. Holey Moley! Great work on the Conservatory steelwork and glazing by Graham Moreland from Skyview Constructions and the BuildFlex team!
Check out the last slideshow below to see the finished project, beautifully landscaped by the owners. See the Chapel's soaring glass conservatory wall with views over the valley below, the magnificent raking ceilings and the custom-made gothic windows doors manufactured from New Guinea Rosewood. Note the beautiful stonework on the outside of the chapel building and the stone-clad fireplace with its secretly supported mantle-shelf, which was sawn & finished from a Bloodwood log which was found laying on the property.
Too many superlatives & details to list... just an awe inspiring job fastidiously completed by the BuildFlex Team. Watch!
Notes & Thoughts of the Builder:
This project was one of the most comprehensive and detailed jobs our small family company has ever taken on. For their part, the owners had been quite meticulous in their vision, preparation and design processes, and had even been gathering interesting display pieces and "Objet D'Art" collectables for some time prior to commencement. Accordingly, they had spent considerable time in researching and selecting a Builder who could bring all of their aspirations to completion.
From our perspective, the challenges were complex and daunting. Some of the considerations were:
From our perspective, the challenges were complex and daunting. Some of the considerations were:
- Starting the project from a bare cow paddock on a filled area which had been improperly prepared
- Construction of the Chapel section which involved great heights and specialist tradesmen
- Redesign & construction "on the run" of the Glass Conservatory feature in the Chapel (see images)
- Design & construction of the separate "Farm Shed" building which just kept growing in size and detail
- The difficulty of procuring quality subcontractors who were willing to travel to the remote Kulnura site
- The owners' preliminary budget concepts which were never going to be achievable