Wellington City Council has approved the resource consent application forwarded by Airways New Zealand for developing a leaning 32m-high airport control tower on Tirangi Road, Rongotai in New Zealand.
The structure has been designed to lean at an angle of 12.5° into the prevailing northerly wind.
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The proposed Rongotai tower will have nine storeys and be developed in an industrial area at the southern end of the road on airport land near Lyall Bay. It will replace the airline’s existing 58-year old control tower at 34 Tirangi Road.
The planned lookout area on the top floor will offer Wellington Airport’s 20 air traffic controllers 360° views, according to the project designer Studio Pacific Architecture.
Studio Pacific partnered with Paris Magdelinos Architects of Napier to produce the design for the modern air traffic control tower.
The structure will be built using the latest 21st century seismic engineering, in collaboration with Holmes Engineers and Hawkins Construction. Featuring base isolators, the building is intended to be resilient and cope with severe earthquake shakes.
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By GlobalDataAirways New Zealand COO Pauline Lamb said: "This will enable us to progress with the project as planned and in-line with our investment programme.
"Our controllers will have a good view of the airfield from this new site, which is positioned to maximise efficient operations now and into the future."
Construction of the proposed leaning air traffic control tower, which has an estimated cost of $18m, is expected to start from 2016.
Image: Impression of Wellington Airport’s leaning control tower at Tirangi Road, Rongotai. Photo: courtesy of Studio of Pacific Architecture Limited.
