AceCad Software

Grayson/Cadtec - New Zealand

Grayson/Cadtec

Grayson Engineering Ltd. was established in 1972, and currently employs more than 100 personnel. The company has one of the best equipped structural fabrication, plate cutting, and mechanical fabrication workshops in New Zealand. Through the use of automation in key processes, Grayson is able to achieve a much higher throughput of components and finished product than traditional labor intensive methods. Grayson Engineering Ltd. actively invests in new software technology and machinery across the disciplines of shop drawing detailing, fabrication activities, and site installation.

Cadtec Draughting Ltd. was established in 1995 as the detailing arm of Grayson Engineering Ltd. In this time it has established itself as one of the leading structural steel shop detailing companies and uses StruCad from AceCad Software for all its steelwork detailing. The company services a number of Steel Fabrication Companies throughout New Zealand and has built firm working relationships with many Architectural and Structural Engineering firms.

Utilizing StruCad, Cadtec have detailed many of New Zealand’s premier projects. The likes of Sky City, North Harbour Stadium, the New Auckland Hospital, Waikato Stadium, Auckland Museum’s Grand Atrium Building and most recently the Britomart East 1 & 2 have all been completed on StruCad. With a dedicated team that pride themselves on their professionalism and meticulous attention to detail many international detailing awards have been won by Cadtec Draughting Ltd.

An excellent example of Cadtec’s work can be seen at the Auckland Museum, the multi-million dollar Grand Atrium Building saw the Museum increase its space by over 60 percent. The building consists of seven storey’s - two underground - and includes a car park, world-class exhibition halls, educational facilities, plus collection and retail space. In a feat of engineering skill, New Zealand’s largest crane lifted a 20-tonne digger over the side of the Museum and down into the courtyard which holds the Grand Atrium Building which assisted in removing 15,000 cubic metres of material. 490 tonnes of structural steel were used in the construction of the supporting mega frame holding up the suspended bowl which is clad in 1,935m2 of Fijian kauri timber cladding. The structure was crowned with a copper and glass dome, unique in design and shape to any building in New Zealand.

The most recently constructed project by Grayson and Cadtec is the Britomart East. With Cadtec detailing the project and Grayson involved in 100% of the project fabrication it was truly a combined company effort.

Built on bearings to reduce vibration from the existing underground train station below, the new 12 story Britomart structure will provide 36,000m2 of new office and retail space. The project is the first in New Zealand to adopt the use Cellular Beams, with over 400 tones used to span the 12.5m open plan floor area. With architectural features such as the internal atrium built over the a public pedestrian street, 3 sky bridges connecting to existing buildings and the arched ETFE roof, the project was not your standard multi storey structure. Coming in at a cost of $200 million NZ this multi story office building in Auckland incorporates 3074 tonnes of steel and took an overall time of 1810 hours to detail.

Ben Cattaway, senior draughtsman at Cadtec Draughting had this to say about how important AceCad Software’s StruCad was to the success of the project. ’Due to the complexity of the column base details it was critical that the connection design intent was achieved. With the use of StruWalker models we were able to provide step by step views of the base plate connections allowing the Engineer to comment and make changes as they progressed. This avoided a lot of abortive work and ensured that the final drawings were effectively pre-approved. The supply of StruWalker joints then continued throughout the contract as we picked up variations to the Engineers standard connection designs. As the first project in New Zealand to adopt the use of Cell form beams, StruCad came into its own with the flexibility to control the final output drawings. With the use of the parameter files to control the scale and dimensions of the drawings, as well as the use of blocks, we were able to produce cell form beam drawings that required no additional work.’

Steel Detailing: Cadtec Draughting Ltd, Manukau, Auckland
Steel Fabricator: Grayson Engineering Ltd, Manukau, Auckland
Structural Engineer: Holmes Consulting Group, Viaduct Basin, Auckland.
Architect: Peddle Thorp Aitken Ltd, 23 Custom St, Auckland.
Contractor: Hawkins Construction, Parnell, Auckland.

For further information regarding Cadtec Draughting please contact cadtec@cadtec.co.nz
or for Grayson Engineering please contact  colinb@grayson-eng.co.nz

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