Council building services manager Neil McLeod said the designs for the Great King St building were so complex it took two staff almost five weeks to process the building consent.
"We have done bigger building consents, things like the stadium, but the dental school, I believe, will probably be the most the highly serviced building in the city.
"So, in terms of the consent processing, it was one of the largest ones that we would do."
The consent was spread over 2000 pieces of largely A0 pieces of paper (841mm x 1189mm), which had to be moved with sack barrows.
"They are not something that you can just pick up and move around.
"We literally ended putting a side a special room inside the building so we could spread them all out."
The university’s consent application for a new clinical services wing and to undertake a major refurbishment of the existing Walsh Building was approved in July and the consented work was given a value of $70million.
This did not take up the total value of the project, as much of the work would not require a building consent.
The designs supplied to the council showed the new clinical services building would be built on pile beam foundations because of the nature of the ground conditions.
The rest of the building consisted of concrete floors supported by structural steel work with precast panels fixed to to the exterior.
The Walsh building interior is to be stripped out, leaving only heritage features intact, and then refurbished, with the construction of a new replica window facade to the exterior.
Leighs Cockram JV, a joint company made up of Christchurch-based Leigh’s Construction and Australian company Cockram’s Construction, was given the tender for the work last month, after a 12-week selection process.
Otago University chancellor John Ward turned the first sod at the site last month.
