Burwood Hospital is a new 32,000m2 state-of-the-art facility that represents part of the largest and most complex hospital building project in the history of New Zealand’s public health service. The works were carried out within the campus of an already busy hospital facility, in which the team needed to ensure the continuity of the existing; water, waste, power, data, and electrical services.

The project was a very large project for Christchurch, with the Leighs Construction team in a Joint Venture (JV) bid with Cockram out of Australia. The head of the project was from Cockram, while Mike was the key person running the overall team on site. This was a large and fast-paced project, and the first major development to proceed in a difficult post-earthquake Christchurch market. The project had tight completion dates, plus the additional complexity of major demolition works being undertaken on existing buildings that were located within the new building footprint.

Through carefully planned methodologies and programming Mike led the way in ensuring all timeframes and requirements were met. His ability to embrace and navigate Building Information Modelling (BIM), and his drive to resolve potential issues before they impacted upon delivery, were major factors in the project being the success it was.