1The New Zealand Parliament buildings are a hugely important part of the country’s political landscape. Like some of the politicians (!), the buildings were tired, overworked and in need of some remedial action. The refurbishment of the complex incorporated the Parliament Buildings, and the General Assembly Library, with additional work involving new underground carparking and service areas.

2Holmes Consulting Group was called in to provide all the structural engineering services for the refurbishment, base isolation and strengthening of these historic buildings. The old structures required special care to protect them from movement or settlement during the foundation modification process – the fragile, brittle structures were a significant complication over the course of the process. As with all retro-fitting projects, it was important that the end result was high quality retro-fit with no real sign of the engineers’ ‘footprints’ on the building: a challenge we were proud to accept.