Commercial tiling projects can’t be much more demanding than the supply of marble for the refurbishment of the Westfield Mall at 277 Broadway, in Newmarket, Auckland. The supply contract required 8,000 square metres of high quality Greek stone, and to give you a quick idea, that’s about enough to cover an entire rugby field.
Natural marble is not commonly used on New Zealand mall floors and Tile Warehouse spent seven years discussing possible options with Westfield/SG Group. SG required a supplier combining financial strength, substantial knowledge of natural stone and considerable logistical skill. All of those attributes have been tested through the delivery of this project.
The work included visits to Greece, the selection of control samples and close collaboration with a Greek QC. Marble has long been associated with Greek culture and society and the ancient Greeks were using it for buildings and sculptures as early as 2,500 years ago. The very word “marble” has come to English from the Greek marmaros, meaning “shiny stone”.
The mall tiles are Volokas Marble and arrived in 40 containers to meet tight timelines. Because marble is a product with considerable natural variation, every tile was individually checked on arrival in Auckland to ensure it met exacting quality standards. Managing Director Neville Colbert and Commercial Director Stephan Englebrecht rejected tiles that didn’t meet the required tolerances. This probably didn’t win Neville and Stephan too many friends back in Greece, but client SG Group was depending on them to deliver an outstanding result.
Stephan and a member of the company’s commercial team are still on site each week at the Newmarket project, working with the two tiling gangs to ensure all material is laid to high standards. The scale of the operation has been no mean feat, representing a significant undertaking for Tile Warehouse. In addition to supplying and laying the marble flooring, the company has also assisted with the provision of basalt for external areas and food courts.
Some marble floors in Greece have survived hundreds of years of wear, so the Tile Warehouse team expect that the floor in this project should last as long as the mall itself.
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