As the principal contractor for the construction and dismantling of the Expo Dubai 2020 New Zealand Pavilion, RIMOND combined all of its past experience in fast track construction into a 2000 sqm pavilion.
The pavilion was designed by New Zealand-based architecture firm Jasmax in collaboration with Haumi, Whanganui iwi Te ti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Workshop-e, Kaynemaile, and Mott MacDonald.
The construction started in October 2019 and was completed in 24 months due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to the Expo 2020’s postponement.
Working closely with the employer and principal designer, we provided a seamless and cohesive delivery.
Learning from our previous work on the Expo World Event projects, our early involvement enabled us to embed value-engineered options with cost certainty into the design.
Our early engagement also allowed us to form an integrated team with the client, designers and managers much earlier in the process. Collaboration with our supply chain from the early design stages was key to obtain better results.
Thanks to our use of modern methods of construction, we manufactured components of the project off-site, getting the most out of the logistic space on site and reducing on site generated waste.
As part of the legacy, we created a transparent trail of lessons learned. This included health and safety, sustainability, employment, and skills targets, and helped our leadership to identify areas for improvement to achieve excellent results here and elsewhere.
The New Zealand Pavilion was in the sustainability concourse of the Expo 2020 site between two other country pavilion constructions and Expo’s concourse infrastructure works.
Working on such space-limited sites in the busy Expo site presented an array of logistical and safety challenges.
In addition, the global pandemic impacted the delivery of the pavilion and the whole construction sector, particularly affecting foreign reliant economies like the United Arab Emirates.
One of the most significant challenges caused by the pandemic was the shortage of key trades and skilled labor from our subcontractors due to quarantine and travel bans.
Logistics planning and method statements were managed and verified within a comprehensive digital modelling system that allowed the detection of issues and predictive analysis of every aspect of the safety, risks and traffic management and lifting strategies of offsite manufactured building components.
This ensured that the logistics and methods for the works on site were accurate before they happened on site.
Our worker welfare, health and safety team did an outstanding job in managing our manpower and construction site during the global pandemic in compliance with the Expo rules and local regulations of UAE.
Our strategic self-perform and purchasing capabilities allowed our team to mitigate the risks of manpower shortages from our subcontractors, making sure that the works would proceed smoothly under direct manpower supervision provided by RIMOND.
