Company gives new office in old building ‘21st-century makeover’
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A wall made from shredded company reports, benchtops of recycled plastics, and bird calls ringing out from loudspeakers are some of the ways Meridian Energy has given its new offices in Old Bank Arcade a 21st-century makeover.
The country’s biggest power company had spent the past two years in a temporary abode on Lambton Quay after it had to vacate its Queen’s Wharf offices in 2022 when the award-winning building was declared potentially earthquake-prone.
“When we first left Queen’s Wharf, we didn’t really know where people wanted to go,” Meridian’s corporate affairs and sustainability general manager Claire Shaw said.
But having always had its headquarters in Wellington, Meridian decided on a Wellington head office.
“[The Old Bank Arcade] is an iconic building that if you’re a Wellingtonian, you’ll know it, so it just felt like a good opportunity to give it a bit of a 21st-century makeover.”
Shaw said the entire workspace balancing showcasing heritage and was sustainability. The workspace was designed to access natural light and fresh air, and the company wanted to challenge itself to make the building sustainable and regenerative.
At the front door of its new office on the top floors of Old Bank Arcade, people walking in are welcomed by a wall made from shredded company reports and brochures that could be easily mistaken for pebbles from a distance.
Bird calls ring out from the loudspeakers above reception. Under the building’s original rimu roof, the office’s benchtops have been made from recycled plastics, and its windows’ frames were fashioned from plywood from an old restaurant just downstairs. oddly-shaped
There are also facilities for staff who commute by bike, scooter or on foot.
The design was part of meeting the internationally recognised Living Building Challenge, with it hoping to become the first in Wellington and the second in New Zealand to be certified, after Te Kura Whare, built by Tūhoe’s Te Uru Taumatua, in Tāneatua in rural Bay of Plenty.
Half of all construction materials had to be locally sourced in New Zealand, 98% of waste needed to be diverted from landfill, and 90% of its materials couldn’t contain chemicals harmful to living creatures.
After completion, the buildings and interiors will be monitored on seven criteria for a year to be certified, including its water and energy efficiency, and the origin of its materials.
Daniel Grinter, the account lead for Meridian at interior design firm Unispace, said the office would be “one of the world’s healthiest workplaces”.
“The alignment with sustainability and te ao Māori workstreams are totally complimentary, so we leaned on that to make sure we were reflective of Māoridom.”
It was more challenging than a normal renovation, not only because heritage space was involved, Grinter said, but also because of the constraints to stick to the Living Building Challenge.
“The construction teams and the local trades weren’t allowed to use a lot of typical practices and materials, and they were up for the challenge.”