Bank hub to open in Hamilton
A new ASB central North Island regional centre is expected to be completed by March.
The project is being undertaken by Havelock North-based Wallace Development Company and built by Stead Construction of Hastings.
Stead Construction project manager Ken Hemara said work began in February with the demolition of the existing structure.
Stead’s part of the job will be complete in March, then the fitout crew will move in to finish the project.
Almost 25 years after ASB opened its first Hamilton branch, the new four-storey ASB Waikato Regional Centre on the corner of Bryce and Barton streets will provide office space and meeting rooms for more than 90 people from the local ASB retail, commercial, wealth and insurance and rural banking teams.
ASB executive general manager corporate, commercial and rural Steve Jurkovich said ASB was delighted to locate its new purposebuilt regional centre in the heart of Hamilton.
‘‘The CBD is the heartbeat of the regional economy and ASB is delighted to support Hamilton’s central city with our new centre,’’ Jurkovich said.
‘‘It is also pleasing to mark 25 years of service to our Waikato customers with this fresh commitment to the region.’’
The 1150-square-metre centre will also employ the latest in workplace design and technology and operate on the principles of activity-based working, similar to ASB’s head office in Auckland.
On the ground floor, the branch will have 24-hour automated express banking transaction facilities, business banking, smart ATMs and video access to banking experts, alongside the same friendly, local branch team, he said.
Wallace Development Company has been part of an extensive planning process for the new regional centre. General manager Paul Broederlow said the project would be a significant boost to Hamilton.
Stead Construction’s Ken Hemara said the ASB centre was the company’s only job in Hamilton at the moment, but it had projects, both commercial and residential, on the way from Kapiti to Tauranga including a new $7 million school in Te Kuiti.
Riding New Zealand’s building boom, the company had grown from two – managing director Jeremy Stead and Ken Hemara as project manager – to a staff of more than 120 in only a few years.