Located in the heart of Lower Hutt, Summerset Boulcott is a picturesque new retirement village with views to the lush greens of an adjacent golf club, and the surrounding valley and harbour. The development features five independent commercial blocks ranging from two to six storeys, plus residential offerings including a multi-unit residential building housing a village centre, independent living units, memory care units, serviced apartments and amenities. Following successful application in other Summerset projects, AFS Logicwall was specified for intertenancy walls, corridor walls, and lift and stair cores on the project, bringing reliability and greater construction efficiency.

“Summerset has a long history with using AFS Logicwall and we again turned to AFS to assist with this development,” explains Paul Fairbrother, Project Manager, Summerset. 

AFS Logicwall ticked all the boxes for the intertenancy walls needed for the buildings, offering a 240-minute fire rating and an STC rating up to 62 once installed. 

The ability to collaborate with a trusted partner was key for the Boulcott Development, which is bespoke in nature and differs from previous developments, featuring a new layout and scale of building to maximise the smaller site. The design team and AFS worked together through the design process to ensure the best possible outcomes were achieved. “Design was seamless,” says Paul. “We’ve had a long working relationship between Summerset and AFS so expectation of both is clear and we work well together.” 

As a digitised shop drawn system, the system also ensured excellent accuracy — crucial for large projects. With the lightweight panels prefabricated off-site, hand-installed by the AFS team, and then core-filled with concrete on-site, AFS Logicwall was a smart choice for speeding up install and keeping the construction programme on track. 

“The benefits for us predominantly come on site at install time,” says Paul. “With the panels being light, the need for mechanical lifting is greatly reduced following delivery, as the prefinished panels are placed into position by hand and propped using relatively lightweight props compared to other conventional alternatives. The install team are also very efficient given their intimate knowledge of the system and process. And lastly being a prefinished substrate, the walls are ready for plaster and paint following a clean down.” 

The dependability of the AFS team to supply high quantities of product — over 8000m² to date for Summerset Boulcott — all prefabricated to measure and labelled for more efficient installation, also contributes to smooth operation of the largescale project. 

“Having trust in the people we deal with is critical,” says Paul. “Summerset is building at scale across 21 live sites currently and we are fortunate to have a number of trusted partners who support this. AFS have been on the journey for many of our villages and assist us with bringing the best of life to our residents by supplying a good product in good time.” 

The Summerset team is currently 65% through the Boulcott development with three of the five commercial blocks completed, one under construction and the last to commence in 2025. When complete it will be home to approximately 400 residents and will employ 80+ staff, providing a critical facility to the community. 

AFS Logicwall has played a key role in ensuring efficiency in the project to date. “Logicwall provides site efficiencies through being a one stop solution for our intertenancy walls,” says Paul. “From design support, shop drawings, installation and finishing, the team from AFS worked with the Summerset teams in support of the project.”

“Summerset Boulcott is shaping up to be a spectacular village and the residents that call it home are very proud,” says Paul. “As are the teams who have delivered it.”