The hand over component of the project came in under budget when the variations were accounted for, and just under $20,000 was returned to ASB Bank as the residual value of recycled material.

The relocation totaled 6,000-man hours with Crown driving nearly 12,000kms to and from ASB Bank sites.

Consequently, the planning of the relocation project and managing it to a successful conclusion became the responsibility of Crown. It became apparent very early that in order to give the client peace of mind that the scope was being developed properly and everything was on schedule communication was paramount.

The Plan

Crown’s Project Manager, Andrew Tolua had regular (increasing to daily) meetings with the ASB team as he developed a plan for both the physical staff relocation and the exit from Albert Street. Crown developed a health and safety plan for each phase of the project in conjunction with ASB’s Project Manager. Included within the plan was a communication strategy to ensure knowledge of and compliance with the detail of the proposed plan. This plan was cascaded through Crown and ASB with full debriefs after every phase and meetings to reinforce it before every shift.

One health and safety challenge specific to this project was ensuring that we managed staff fatigue and burn-out given the challenging timeframes required. This was managed by bringing staff in from outside Auckland and ensuring hours worked were tightly controlled and scheduled time off was enforced.

Obstacles & Challenges

The physical relocation was relatively straightforward, but the concurrent exit plan was very ambitious. 26 floors had to be completely vacated in 14 days. Moreover, the recycling aspect of the project was of a scale never previously attempted in New Zealand.

The FF&E exit presented a few challenges:

• There were other tenants still occupying some floors
• There was only one goods lift
• All furniture had to be disassembled
• Most workstations were in pods of up to 20 stations with power running through the workstations. They had to be disconnected before dismantling could begin.
• All computers and laptops had to be re-imaged to remove bank information before they could be removed
• ASB wanted to minimise any items going to landfill
• One week to complete the FF&E exit following the staff relocation

Getting Underway

Andrew researched alternatives, calculated their impact on productivity, priced them and presented a recommendation to ASB. He also liaised with subcontractors and waste management suppliers over methodologies and produced a plan to ensure logistical continuity of service. A decision was made to begin stripping down furniture at night, where this could be achieved without disrupting ASB’s staff during the day.

Crown brought in staff from our Christchurch and Wellington branches to support the Auckland team. Crown sourced a contractor who could use surplus wood items as a power cogeneration fuel for a cement kiln. Crown modelled this solution to weigh the cost benefit. It did require additional labour to remove metal and plastic/rubber components from furniture, but it significantly reduced both the financial and environmental costs of the project. Andrew also scoped the specification for a short-term warehouse that ASB rented to accommodate surplus furniture that they wished to re-use around their branch network.

ASB required that the new North Wharf facility was immaculate when staff started working there. Not only was it an architectural award winner that they were very proud of, they recognised that there was the potential for staff discontent as they were moving to a total open plan, shared workspace environment.

Crown identified the most effective access routes on to each floor and laid protective walkways, through the building. No staff member ever walked off these walkways. All cartons of personal effects were stacked with military precision – 20 centimetres off a wall and mapped to the relevant staff member’s locker locations. The relocation to North Wharf was completed without issue and under budget.