Apollo has delivered a number of successful projects for Fonterra at Whareroa.
The 7,000m² purpose-built Cheese Maturation Facility was negotiated with Fonterra and developed from preliminary concept design to an operational handover in less than 12 months.
The design and build project incorporates six temperature-controlled stores with a capacity of 14,500 pallet spaces. The design incorporates a leading-edge heat recovery glycol system in individually controlled, variable temperature spaces (+20 to -10°C range) with a fully integrated bulk racketed satellite system for optimum product management. The project was negotiated directly with Apollo based on their extensive track record in delivering complex projects in the food and beverage sector.
The Fonterra Whareroa P3 and P4 re-clad is probably the greatest example of Apollo’s ability in a high pressure and large team ECI environment. The client’s team alone consisted of around ten people including all affected divisions – project management, safety, compliance, maintenance, production, servicing, milk supply, etc. The project also included up to ten consultant companies and three client-appointed processing contractors.
The project involved removing and recladding two full-size dairy dryers while also upgrading all internal and external components, and associated redline areas, as well as completing a total seismic upgrade to the 40-year-old, 54m high towers.
The decision to begin this project was made in December 2020 and Apollo was commenced on site in January 2020. The cladding and internal dryer works had to be completed by September, to avoid having to dump 3 million litres of milk per day. The construction program was tight, to begin with, and then came the Covid lockdowns. Covid Alert Level changes required significant innovations to standard operating procedures, designs and processing, all while keeping to the timeline.
With the work starting on site so quickly, all design was done concurrently with the day-to-day construction work. Apollo’s role was to work with all the various design teams on practical and efficient solutions and to consider all of the constraints including access, safety and the limitations of supply created by Covid-19.
The key to the project’s success was the establishment of effective communication channels between Apollo, consultants, separate contractors, the client, and site staff. These channels enabled the project team and contractors to collaborate with Fonterra’s team and develop successful outcomes for both the project and daily production.
The incredible performance and outcomes of this project saw it become one of the first Beacon Projects under the Construction Sector Accord.
