Wide garage openings were a priority for the Reece Crescent townhouses in Wānaka. Prolam PLX Portals provided the bracing capacity needed to make them possible, while giving the construction team a timber solution that was straightforward to install and integrate into the build.   

Developed and built by Chris Broadhead Construction, Reece Crescent is a medium-density residential development designed by Michael Broadhead of LID Architecture.

For Chris Broadhead, the aim wasn’t simply to fit as many homes as possible onto the site. He wanted to create townhouses that worked well for the people who would eventually live in them.

That thinking influenced everything from the application of passive house principles and high-performance joinery to a very practical part of the design: the garages.

Making every square metre work

In townhouse developments, every metre (even millimetre) matters. For this eight-townhouse Wānaka development, it was important to maximise space while ensuring the seven garages were genuinely usable.

But increasing the garage openings left only around 400mm of wall on either side – not enough to achieve the required bracing using conventional plasterboard bracing. 

Redesigning the layout was one option. Steel was another.

Instead, architect Michael Broadhead specified Seven 2.7m-high x 2.7m-wide PLX200BU Portals to provide the required bracing within the available wall space.

Designed around the way people live

The solution meant the structural requirements could be resolved without compromising the garage design.
It’s a relatively small detail that Chris believes makes a significant difference to how the finished homes will function and be valued.

“Look at some of the newer developments around Wānaka and you’ll see cars parked all down the street because the garages are too small to actually fit people’s cars.”

It’s also a good example of a common townhouse challenge: as designers look to create wider openings and more usable spaces within increasingly compact footprints, there is often less wall available to provide the required bracing.

PLX Portal allowed the Reece Crescent design to achieve both.

Tailor-made for a timber loving construction crew

The advantages continued once construction started.

Chris considered steel for the garage portals, but the realities of building in Wānaka made engineered timber the more practical and efficient solution.

“The talent of the local labour is all timber here,” he says.

With the PLX Portal, Chris’ carpentry crew could assemble, lift, fix and integrate the portal frame directly into the timber framing, without the additional packing or secondary framing steel would have required.

For Alex from Chris’s team, Reece Crescent was his first time installing a PLX Portal. He rated the system for its straightforward installation, timber-to-timber connections and time-saving benefits on site. Watch the video we filmed on site to hear from Alex himself.

Simpler installation means a faster build

That simplicity mattered on a constrained townhouse site.

The PLX Portals’ lightweight timber construction meant they could be handled without introducing heavy craneage, while giving Chris greater flexibility around construction sequencing and access. 

For a multi-unit development, those practical efficiencies add up.

Chris is equally clear that the value isn’t about comparing the purchase price of timber and steel. It comes from looking at what it takes to get the structure installed and ready for the next trade.

“Where it pays for us is that the crew we can actually hire knows how to install it, we’re not bringing specialist trades in from the East Coast and housing them, we’re not paying for heavy craneage, and there’s no extra work needed before cladding and linings go on.” 

For Reece Crescent, that made PLX Portal a natural fit – a structural solution that delivered the townhouse design they wanted and worked with the way they wanted to build it.

"The specification decision was quick. Michael [architect] found the PLX Portal, I looked at the website, and it was a ten-minute conversation. It was a no-brainer for what we needed.”
— Chris Broadhead, Developer / Builder, Chris Broadhead Construction

Get the look

• Product: 7 x PLX Portals (PLX200BU)
• Length: 2.7m wide x 2.7m high
• Treatment: H1.2 
• Non-visual grade

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Images courtesy of Chris Broadhead.