Industrial insulated panel cool store shop drawings, Hastings, Hawke's Bay

Bondor engaged Marsco Architecture to produce insulated panel shop drawings for a large cool store development at Irongate Road East, Hastings, Hawke's Bay. The end client operates apple storage and distribution from the facility. Marsco's role was limited to shop drawings for Bondor's installation team: we did not design the building, coordinate the wider consultant team, or hold the building consent applicant role.

The building exceeds 7,800 m² of floor area and combines standard cool stores with controlled atmosphere (CA) rooms, plant rooms and loading pods. A standard cool store manages temperature to keep produce cold. A CA store goes further by sealing the room and actively regulating the gas composition inside, which extends storage life for fruit such as apples. That added complexity around the CA store rooms was a major driver for detailed panel documentation.

Bondor required construction-ready shop drawings covering all insulated panel walls at varying thicknesses and a suspended insulated panel ceiling across the full building length. Insulated panel shop drawings can only finalise the panel layout and panel schedule once the building design is frozen: no further movement of walls or structural members. Buildability and most coordination can be resolved earlier at developed design or detailed design stage, but the issued shop drawing set depends on a stable structural and architectural base. Marsco was brought in early on this project, which allowed time to work through clashes and sequencing before panels reached site.

The panel specification centred on Bondor XFLAM insulated metal panels at 100 mm, 125 mm, 150 mm and 250 mm thicknesses, selected to suit the thermal performance required across cool store, CA store, plant and loading zones. Marsco's shop drawings translated the approved design into panel-by-panel layouts with every sheet location labelled for clarity on a building of this scale.

A key decision was how to document buildability where two panel walls encase the structural system for the entire length of the building. Rather than treating walls as continuous planes, the drawings mapped erection sequence: which panels land first, where structural steel sits inside the panel line, and how adjacent runs meet when standard fixing access is obstructed. A clear plan highlighted the exact sequence and additional fixings for panels where fixing patterns could not follow the supplier standard.

Every bracket was drawn on the elevations and ceiling plans, showing exact alternating patterns and solutions to pattern interruptions. That level of bracket documentation is unusual on smaller panel jobs, but on a building this long with structural elements inside the envelope, installers need to see fixing logic on the drawings, not interpret it on the hoist.

Detail drawings were included so installers could read system complexities before panels were fabricated. Where another engineer or design professional runs the wider project, Marsco prefers joining early to resolve panel issues as design progresses. Having the panel installer in that conversation, as Bondor was here, often speeds up decisions that affect both factory production and site sequencing.

Bondor XFLAM insulated metal panels formed the primary envelope material at 100 mm, 125 mm, 150 mm and 250 mm thicknesses. Thickness varied by zone to match the thermal demands of standard cool storage, CA rooms, plant spaces and loading areas. Panels formed external and internal walls throughout the serviced building, plus a suspended insulated panel ceiling that carries its own coordination challenges for fixings, services and structural support.

The panel schedule identified each type by reference so factory and site teams could match the correct profile and thickness to each grid location. Cool store and CA store zones demand continuous thermal performance at panel junctions, not just weathertightness. Shop drawings defined end details, ceiling-to-wall transitions and junctions at plant rooms and loading pods at a scale installers could use on site.

Suspended ceiling panels required bracket layouts drawn separately from wall elevations, with fixing patterns mapped across the full ceiling plan. Where structural members or services interrupted standard fixing grids, the shop drawing set showed the alternate bracket positions rather than leaving those conditions to site interpretation.

The majority of buildability challenges centred on two walls encasing the structural system up the entire length of the building. Panels had to wrap structural steel on both sides while maintaining seal continuity, thermal performance and a logical erection sequence. Resolving that in plan and elevation took sustained coordination across the early programme, which early involvement made possible.

CA store rooms added envelope complexity beyond standard cool storage. Sealed rooms with active gas regulation need panel continuity and penetration treatment that supports controlled atmosphere performance. Detailing had to reflect those conditions without Marsco holding the wider refrigeration or building design roles: the shop drawings documented what Bondor needed to install against the approved design.

Standard fixing patterns break down where access is obstructed by structure, services or adjacent panel runs. On this project, every interruption was drawn with an alternate bracket pattern on elevations and ceiling plans. Installers received a complete fixing map rather than a generic supplier detail with gaps left for site resolution.

Large industrial panel projects move through many design stages before shop drawings can be issued. Marsco worked through those stages with Bondor while the wider building design stabilised, resolving panel-specific clashes before the final layout and schedule were locked. That front-loaded effort is what allowed Bondor to build from the issued set without returning for clarification.

The cool store reached completion in 2023. Bondor built from Marsco's shop drawing set without requiring any further information: zero requests for clarification once the documentation was issued for construction. On a building exceeding 7,800 m² with CA rooms, varied panel thicknesses and a suspended ceiling, that outcome reflects coordination resolved in the drawings before panels arrived on site.

The project ran smoothly with strong communication throughout a long programme. Shop drawings were well received by everyone who relied on them. More than a year later, a separate client mentioned being shown this drawing set by someone else claiming credit for the shop drawings on a big project. He already used Marsco and recognised the work immediately. At the time there was no website: reputation for quality backed by over-delivering. That still holds today.

For similar insulated panel shop drawing work on cool stores, warehouses or commercial envelopes anywhere in New Zealand, see our shop drawings and industrial insulated panel design services. Marsco works directly with panel installers and project teams when buildability documentation needs to be right before panels reach site.