BNZ breaks ground on new WellingtonHQ
‘‘One Whitmore Street will bring all our people together under one roof and firmly cement our roots in the capital.’’
BNZ Executive GeneralManager Technology and Operations, Russell Jones.
The Bank of New Zealand commenced construction this week on a new state-of-the art home for its Wellington staff at One Whitmore Street.
Construction is expected to complete in mid to late 2022 with BNZ, which has secured a 15-year lease that includes naming rights to the building, expected to occupy in 2023.
BNZ Executive General Manager Technology and Operations, Russell Jones, said the new Wellington head office will bring together around 1500 BNZ staff who currently work from several sites in the Wellington CBD.
Russell said, ‘‘One Whitmore Street will bring all our people together under one roof and firmly cement our roots in the capital.
‘‘This is a fantastic building in the heart of the city which will be a great place to work for our Wellington people and for our customers to visit.’’
The building is one of the most seismically advanced developments in New Zealand with a strong diagrid structure and base isolation, designed to avoid structural damage in a one-in-500-year earthquake.
The building has 12 storeys, spans a full city block, is highly efficient and designed to achieve a New Zealand Green Building Council 5 Green Star rating.
The One Whitmore Street development is being managed by Newcrest which completed the nearby award-winning office building at 20 Customhouse Quay.
One Whitmore Street is owned by a joint venture between Newcrest and Steve Owen, a Wellington-born private investor.
Newcrest development director Lincoln Fraser said that the building’s upper 12 levels of office space each has 1400 square metres of lettable area with three-metre-high ceilings throughout and floor to ceiling glass to the full perimeter.
The ground floor will feature a cafe´ set within a north facing, overheight lobby extending around six metres up to the ceiling.
Newcrest development director Lincoln Fraser said, ‘‘We are very pleased to be working with the BNZ to create another modern, safe and highly resilient office tower for the Wellington CBD.’’