Located on a 20,000m² site in Dakota Park on the CIAL campus, the Boxman self-storage facility will contain over 2,000 shipping containers which store goods for private individuals and businesses.  A fully automated internal gantry crane will operate 24/7 in the warehouse, locating and distributing containers from a 6 container high stack to one of 40 private loading bay docks.

The building includes a workshop and an office area which both adjoin to a warehouse with a 25m high ridge line.  As design managers, Envision were tasked with co-ordinating the design of a structure that would support an 80 tonne gantry crane which is being manufactured in Europe. Being the first of its kind in New Zealand required lateral thinking by the team to deal with parameters such as seismicity paired with the height of the gantry crane, tolerances for the automated system, alternative fire design solutions and construction methodology.

Envision has acted as both the Tenant and Client’s Project Manager during the build programme. This has involved overseeing the construction works, co-ordination of the Tenant Fit-Out which involved integration of shipping containers within the main office to create a functional working environment, along with co-ordination of the crane installation. The basebuild and office fit-out were completed in December 2020 and the crane installed in the first quarter of 2022 after delays due to COVID.