St Anne’s School Reclad

Set amidst the sprawling sea of villas within the rolling residential hills of Newtown, Wellington, St Anne’s School is an architectural gem of contemporary 1980’s New Zealand Architecture.  Though not excessively large, the design of the building is impressively clever and complex as it traverses down the hillside, in direct relationship to the contours and limitations of the site. Typical of many New Zealand buildings at the time, the design initially had the form of a concrete building translated into timber framing with direct fixed fibre cement sheet cladding.  Unfortunately also typical of the time, style, and complex construction - it leaked. So it was re-clad once, and re-roofed once - and it still leaked. Needing to fix the problem for once and for all, DLA Architects Ltd were approached and engaged with the task of getting things right. DLA designed and documented a suitable re-cladding solution for the walls, that accommodated the existing roof cladding through a series of custom designed and fabricated watertight flashings, individually crafted to suit the building. With the right team of Project Manager, Architect, and Contractor on board, the Client now has a refreshed contemporary 1980’s New Zealand architectural gem but without the common leaks.