The construction of the new ELIM Christian Centre in Pukekohe has seen an old factory converted into a modern church with a main auditorium for 350 people along with breakout rooms for various activities. To modernise the interior and make it fit for purpose, the ELIM team chose to line existing and new partition walls with ClimateLine pre-finished plasterboard panels with matching aluminium joiners.

“We wanted to achieve a very modern, sharp look,” explains Project Manager, Bill Kathagen, ELIM. “We could have used paint, but we’d heard about Climate’s pre-finished product and thought it’d be very good for our project. The main benefit for us was that the surfaces are pre-painted and pre-coloured.”

For the walls of the 350-person auditorium, 10mm ClimateLine powder coated in Black matt finish with the new Slimline jointer was selected. “We went with the black so that we could easily control the artificial lighting in the auditorium,” explains Bill. With the high walls of the auditorium, installing pre-finished plasterboard simplified the construction process. “The walls are massive — 6m high and 20m long,” says Bill. “If it had just been finished with ordinary plastered joints and painted, it would have been a very big job. It would have been extremely difficult to get it as clean and tidy as this product.”

In the break-out areas, the ELIM team opted for ClimateLine powder coated in Resene Half Iron, a light off-white which helps create a sense of space in those rooms. “The walls in these spaces are still very high at 4m, so the lighter coloured walls create a nice, light airy feel,” says Bill.

Installation of the wall linings was completed by FBS. While the large panels made for a big installation job, the process was quick and simple with linings attached to lightweight steel framing. For Phill Ford, Builder, FBS, the use of Climate’s products helped simplify the job. “There’s no plastering, no sanding, no dust, no painting, no fumes,” he says. “I haven’t seen anything like that here in NZ before.” With the ELIM centre located next to a food preparation facility, the minimisation of dust was a huge benefit.

Phill adds that should any damage occur, repairs will be simple and cost-effective. “If you get a hole you don’t need a builder, a plasterer and a painter, you just take the sheet off and replace it, so that’s a real advantage.”

With the time-saving benefits and high-quality finish of the ClimateLine plasterboard system, both client and builder are very pleased with the final result — sleek, low-maintenance walls for the church interior. “It’s exceeded our expectations,” says Bill, “It looks fantastic and has saved us time and money in terms of plastering and painting.”