Reaching the summit May 13, 2010
With 650 guests from around the world due to arrive for the Les Mills International Global Summit in February, the deadline for transforming Les Mills Auckland City was absolute.
Add the challenge of accommodating an operating business, and The Building Intelligence Group were in their element.
The needs of the club's 12,000 paying members were a priority for Les Mills Auckland Manager Jackie Marshall.
"It was an extremely challenging timeframe to have everything ready for the Global Summit - we couldn't be late by even a day - but through all of that, it was important we maintain the Les Mills experience."
At times, that meant her maintenance staff worked through the night moving equipment just to make sure the gym was open and beautiful as always at 5.30am.
"That's about having the people behind us that believe so much in what we do - all our staff were fantastic."
Meanwhile The Building Intelligence Group team, headed by Project Manager Blair Wolfgram, pulled out all the stops to support Jackie and her team and to ensure as smooth a transformation as possible. Nothing was too much trouble as The Building Intelligence Group met the challenges of construction in an operating gym, compressed design and construction programmes over the Christmas break in order to meet the hard deadline, and keeping within a tight value engineered budget.
"From the beginning we understood that the biggest stakeholders in the project were ultimately the gym members," Blair says.
With the members in mind, he and his team provided creative solutions when areas of the gym were decommissioned, including creating a temporary RPM room and cardio room in the car park area to maintain classes throughout construction.
Regular meetings with the Les Mills team, architect John Wray and head contractor Cape Interiors ensured any issues were overcome quickly and enjoyment was not compromised for the members, who took it all in their stride. And as the opening day of the Global Summit dawned, all was ready and waiting - but that was always certain.