The business regeneration of Christchurch

A decade on from a series of major earthquakes, Ōtautahi Christchurch remains a city being rebuilt. With regeneration in the inner city, as well as the outlying suburbs and wider Canterbury region, Ōtautahi Christchurch and its people have proved themselves to be resilient and resourceful in the face of adversity.

Europlan’s relationship with Ōtautahi Christchurch predates the earthquakes. Europlan has had an office and showroom in the city since 1990.

Post-earthquakes, Europlan felt strongly about supporting the city and business regeneration and opened its Shift Culture co-working space in Ōtautahi Christchurch in 2015. It was a central city workspace for like minded businesses who wanted to create, work and play. Teaming up with the Ministry of Awesome to manage and run the space, Europlan used their expertise in designing successful workplace environments and as a way to promote new ways of working. Since 2018, Europlan has imported goods directly to the Ōtautahi Christchurch port, reducing our carbon footprint by minimising truck freight and supporting the local logistics industry.

How is business regeneration being supported in Ōtautahi Christchurch?

Ōtautahi Christchurch is the fastest growing region outside of Auckland, which is fantastic for locals, local businesses and industry. Being the primary economic hub in the South Island, it’s no wonder it has the second-largest populated urban area in Aotearoa New Zealand. Its popularity is driven by comparatively affordable housing and an unrivalled outdoors lifestyle.

With world class facilities, the rebuilt city is becoming one of the newest and safest cities in the world. The ability to rethink city planning for modern day life is a fantastic opportunity and one that’s attracting businesses and workers alike to the South Island metropolis. Businesses in traditional and primary industries, and businesses in emerging sectors are equally attracted to the opportunities the city can offer.

Next generation facilities supporting business growth

We couldn’t be prouder to have lead the install of custom auditorium seating at the newly built Te Pae convention centre in central Ōtautahi Christchurch. Known locally as the ‘gathering place’, the convention centre is designed to build lasting social, cultural and economic connections between the region and the world. With its architecture inspired by the nearby Avon River, Southern Alps and the braided rivers of Canterbury, its curved walls and decor connect the building with the land, and its interior spaces are flexible and functional.  

This is a world-class venue. The meticulous design and focus on purpose built solutions made it a perfect fit for Europlan to do what it does best: creating inspiring spaces. This custom seating solution delivers a 1,400 seat auditorium that can be divided into two 700 seat venues.

We’ve also supported other Canterbury businesses to cement their organisations firmly in the Ōtautahi Christchurch business landscape. Ethique, a homegrown business on a mission to rid the world of half a billion plastic bottles by 2030, now has a Europlan fit out in its central Ōtautahi Christchurch new office and R&D lab. Working with Ignite Architects, our brief was corporate, modern with warm, fun pops of colour throughout the work, meeting and visitor spaces. Creating an inviting environment to make staff, investors and visitors feel welcome was important as well as alignment with the Ethique brand. This thinking fed into the types of products selected, meeting a range of working styles, and comfortable breakout areas for the Ethique team.

As a B Corp company, there were some great synergies between our business values, that meant designing a workspace solution for the beauty product brand was a cinch.

A more corporate project for Fisher Funds’ Ōtautahi Christchurch office was a great fit for us in a different way. Fisher Funds have a strong ethos of service and a client-first outlook. Having this common ground, ensured that designing a fit for purpose workspace that celebrated service, communication and care was an inspiring project to work on. A project complexity was managing both the Ōtautahi Christchurch and Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland fit outs simultaneously, and ensuring a seamless project experience for our client.

The premium, luxurious corporate look that Fisher Funds wanted was delivered with the use of sleek, minimalist furniture and innovative office space solutions. Working with Ignite Architects again, we took care to ensure the team had soft seating options for impromptu social gatherings and used acoustic solutions to protect focus work zones. Meeting pods were a practical solution to the age-old problem of never having enough meeting rooms, and movement throughout the workday was also a priority for the team and influenced their furniture selection.