Client: Moore Wilson
Project Type: Retail
Project Timeframe: 1990-2005
Architects: Athfield Architects
The close working relationship between LT McGuinness and family retailing business Moore Wilson extends back to 1990. In the depressed 1990s’ property and construction market, the retailers decided to develop a block on Te Aro flat bounded by Lorne, Tory and Tennyson Streets. It was marshy ground and construction began with drilling to ram down big pre-cast concrete piles.
The finished store soon became a city institution, with its stylish design and architecture reflecting the affinity between client and contractor. LT McGuinness later built Moore Wilson stores at Porirua and in Lower Hutt.
We have also been invited back on several occasions to upgrade the Te Aro store. To install the first-floor car park above the Big Fresh outlet, a post-tension slab was used for the first time, with steel rods inserted through pre-cast concrete panels and tightened later. The seven-day-a-week retail operation could not be disrupted so the car park was put in while shoppers below browsed and filled their trolleys undisturbed.
In 2012-2013, we built a multi-level single apartment in the corner of the carpark.
