Atlantis East stands in the heart of Paradise Waters and is home to a range of residential tenants.

The life of the paint at this facility was faded and in need of a washdown and repaint. Having repainted the apartment complex back in 2009, our Gold Coast team was familiar with the facility and happy to reapply our craft in 2020.

The challenge

The fundamental difficulty of this project was the architectural design of the building. The height and shape of the building required a unique access methodology. While swing stages were useful on some substrates, other areas could only be accessed safely by abseil painters. Due to the marine environment of the facility salinisation had occurred on many of the facility’s substrates.

In addition to the access challenges, the delivery of a large-scale project during the COVID-19 pandemic required minimal contact with residents and the implementation of a site-specific COVID-Safe plan.

Solution

The project team curated an access plan that utilised a mix of abseil painting and swing stages. Winds that exceeded a certain speed deemed it unsafe for our abseil painters to drop, which required flexibility from our operations plan to prevent hours lost on-site. We created several exclusion zones to keep the residents safe and utilised the communal courtyard as a landing base for the swing stages.

The new painting specification was a mix of Antique White U.S.A for the previously painted walls and soffits and a Narrow Neck for timber and steel doors. This was a minor colour change from the previous coating system. The Dulux products we applied were a mix of Weathershield, Acratex, Durebield/Weathermax and Aquanamel. These were selected explicitly to address the environmental conditions that had plagued the previous paint namely salinisation. While on-site we applied sealant to balcony tiles, performed minor render repairs and waterproofed sun hoods.

The key measures we implemented on-site in adherence to our COVID-Safe plan were social distancing at all times where feasible, minimisation of internal access, utilisation of lifts only while no residents were present and the use of face masks where feasible. For more information on our COVID-Safe procedures, click here.

Results

After a six-month painting program, our operations team of four swing stage painters, four abseil painters and two intermittent ground crew had completed the repaint at this apartment complex. The property’s building manager was kind enough to share their experience of working with Higgins.

"The Body Corporate of Atlantis East undertook the total painting of the complete tower of Atlantis East, including all common areas commencing February 2020. We engaged Higgins to perform the external repaint, including a colour change on our facility. The proposal provided by Higgins was thorough, which they matched in detail with the operations plan.

The project was overseen by their branch manager, who quickly established a working relationship between Higgins and Atlantis East that set the tone for a harmonious relationship including with all residents. Their project manager was on top of the daily on-site management and kept us perpetually informed about the milestones of the project, emphasis on the safety measures undertaken. The skill of the Higgins team has been fantastic, and the outcome has thrilled all involved. The whole project was completed almost to the day scheduled and there were no unexpected costs incurred.

From my point of view as building manager, I would recommend Higgins services to any company looking for a painting contractor, you will get much more than a painting contractor, you will get a company that leaves nothing to chance, dedicated to the result and willing to do the extra that made this large project as pleasant an experience for all as possible. A job well done.”

Building Manager - Atlantis East