Together under one roof for the first time since the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016.
Property Developers Willis Bond along with LT McGuiness and Athfield Architects have completed a regeneration of the Farmers site at 100 Cuba St, Wellington. The development comprises of three heritage buildings sympathetically revitalized and refurbished to create a 5900sqm modern character office space, built to 100% NBS.
The completion of this project brings Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) together under one roof for the first time since the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016.
The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake partly displaced GWRC staff from their office at Shed 39, Centreport and distributed them across three commerical locations in the Wellington CBD. In 2018 GWRC embarked on a journey to find a permanent space, where all staff could be housed in the same location.
The Farmers precinct at 100 Cuba Street was identified as an ideal location. It could be designed and built to accommodate their requirements, and placed GWRC in the heart of Wellington making them accessible to the community the organisation serves.
The design brief for the building was an empathetic transformation of the heritage site and to create a modern character space, with 100% NBS and preserving as many of the heritage features as possible.
GWRC took the opportunity to adopt a different style of working and chose to implement an open plan and activity-based work approach. This has meant introducing a variety of different work areas and functions, including a number of collaboration spaces that will be new to GWRC staff.
Sustainability and environmental protection are a core function for GWRC, so naturally it was big focus for this project. A guiding principle was to recycle and reuse as much existing furniture and fittings as possible in the Cuba Street project.
Client
Greater Wellington Regional Council
Completion
November 2020
Area
5900m2
Spaces
Breakout, Collaborate, Focus, Meeting, Refresh
Project Credits
Project Lead - Tim Elliott
Project Support - Georgina Brough
Photography - Jason Mann
Project Support - Georgina Brough
Photography - Jason Mann
Project Delivery
Europlan’s project team of Tim Elliott and Georgina Brough, worked closely with Doug McCutcheon, GWRC Facilities Team Lead, and Michelle Cooper and Kim Salt from Athfield Architects to complete this project.
The fitout delivers a range of social, collaborative and focus workspaces, giving GWRC staff flexibility about where they choose to work for a variety of functions. The space is open plan with lines of sight across the floorplate and in between levels, covering 5900sqm it’s an impressive and modern workplace. Athfield’s and GWRC successfully preserved and showcased the heritage features of the building, retaining the Matai floors and cast-iron columns. The colour palette is warm and inviting, drawing inspiration from the natural environment, and bringing it inside.
The successful project delivery came down to excellent communication, a shared vision from the outset and a roll up your sleeves and get it done attitude. It was a real pleasure to work with Doug on a project that reunited a team that had been distributed by the earthquake and then to home offices during lockdown. It was important to Europlan that we delivered a fitout that while feeling new and future proofed, also felt like coming home.
The fitout delivers a range of social, collaborative and focus workspaces, giving GWRC staff flexibility about where they choose to work for a variety of functions. The space is open plan with lines of sight across the floorplate and in between levels, covering 5900sqm it’s an impressive and modern workplace. Athfield’s and GWRC successfully preserved and showcased the heritage features of the building, retaining the Matai floors and cast-iron columns. The colour palette is warm and inviting, drawing inspiration from the natural environment, and bringing it inside.
The successful project delivery came down to excellent communication, a shared vision from the outset and a roll up your sleeves and get it done attitude. It was a real pleasure to work with Doug on a project that reunited a team that had been distributed by the earthquake and then to home offices during lockdown. It was important to Europlan that we delivered a fitout that while feeling new and future proofed, also felt like coming home.
Project Highlights
Sustainability! Europlan provided some very creative solutions that really hit the sustainability brief for this project.
Council Chamber Timber Tops
We sourced reclaimed Rimu River Wood Tops for the Council Chamber tables, an amazing story of logs long forgotten but now recovered and transformed into beautiful furniture.
The Rimu tops add warmth to the space and pair beautifully with the recycled sleeper feature on the Chamber ceiling.
Re-using existing Desks
In addition to the reclaimed timber tops for the Council Chamber we assisted with re-using all their existing electronic sit-to-stand workstations and modifying these desks to suit the new specification. This involved removing feet, adding cable management beams, monitor arms and above desk power for over 100 desks.
Reupholstering soft seating
Europlan also re-upholstered over 20 pieces of soft seating. This was managed so that staff could continue to use the seating for as long as possible, before it was taken off site for a freshen up and returned to the Cuba precinct in new colours.
Project Award
GWRC undertook a comprehensive procurement strategy for the project. An RFP process commenced, and the documentation was released on ‘GETS’ giving New Zealand’s commercial furniture suppliers an opportunity to submit a tender response.
Europlan prepared and delivered a comprehensive response to the RFP and were selected as a primary supplier to GWRC for 100 Cuba St. Our focus was ensuring we offered a solution that best aligned to the requirements of the project and delivered future proofed value to the client.
Europlan were selected as a preferred supplier in August 2020 with delivery and installation staged during October and November 2020.
Covid-19! We were awarded this project just after the Covid Lockdown. With all that was going on in the world, this had the potential to put our supply chain to the test. Successful project planning meant we hit all key delivery dates, demonstrating Europlan’s robust supply chain and meticulous project management processes.
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"Thank you again for the great job, the fine work you and your team did to deliver what was promised, in the short time frame."
Maureen MIller
University of Otago - ISB
"I don’t want to deal with a sales rep, I want to deal with a relationship manager who has a genuine interest in our organisation and who sees value to me in offering solutions, not value in it for themselves. That’s Europlan."
John Cameron
National Assets Manager, Barnardos
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