Media Release
8 February 2012
New building and plaza proposed for Kumutoto Precinct on Wellington Waterfront
The design of a new building and public plaza at the Railway Station end of the waterfront has been unveiled and
Wellington Waterfront Limited is now seeking feedback on the design.
The Kumutoto Precinct is already home to the award-winning Meridian Building and Kumutoto Plaza, and the proposed new
building at 10 Waterloo Quay and the new Whitmore Plaza would be an extension of this popular waterfront area. The
building and plaza would occupy the site that is currently the Motor-home Park opposite the NZ Post building on Waterloo
Quay, and known as Site 10 in the Wellington Waterfront Framework document.
Ian Pike, CEO of Wellington Waterfront Ltd, said today: “This will be an attractive and high quality building and public
space including the unique feature of a large ground floor indoor plaza for public use, providing an all-weather
environment overlooking the harbour, as well as public toilets and the facility to buy food and coffee; it would also
provide a seamless flow to the new landscaped Whitmore Plaza outside.”
The Whitmore Plaza would be a continuation of the Kumutoto public space providing a landscaped area for people to relax
and enjoy the waterfront; it would also complete the waterfront pedestrian promenade to the Railway Station, both on the
Quay and waterfront sides of the building.
The building above the ground floor will provide five levels of premium commercial office space in line with the use
outlined for this site in the Wellington Waterfront Framework, and contained within Variation 11.
The proposed building has been designed by award winning architects Studio Pacific Architecture.
Nick Barratt-Boyes, the lead architect on the project, said: “It is proposed as a sculptural, contemporary addition to
this waterfront site, while being sympathetic to its historical maritime context, and taking careful consideration of
critical view shafts and key views from the city and the harbour.
“The form of the building takes it cues from its maritime context and has an exo-skeletal (net-like) structure that
wraps and cradles the building on three facades whilst allowing the expression of the seaward facade to be a beautiful
folding crystalline form. The indoor plaza on the ground floor is seamlessly stitched into the waterfront promenade and
public spaces via sheltered colonnades and walkways.”
The design is for the most seismically advanced new office building in the country – featuring base-isolated
foundations. It would also achieve a minimum 5 star Green Star rating from the New Zealand Green Building Council.
Ian Pike said: “The proposed building is a project of the Newcrest Group which is very familiar with the precinct having
completed the refurbishment of the adjoining Shed 21 into the Waterloo on Quay premium apartments. The company is the
most awarded developer in the New Zealand Property Council Awards.” he said.
The Wellington City Council was briefed on the design yesterday (7 February), and Wellington Waterfront Limited is now
seeking public feedback on the design of the building and the public space development. Members of the public can make
their comments until 9 March.
Those interested in providing feedback can go to the website: www.wellingtonwaterfront.conz, or fill in a feedback form which are available from the Wellington Waterfront Project Information Office on the ground
floor of Shed 6 Queens Wharf Wellington.
Wellington Waterfront has also set up an information display in its Project Information Office and open days will be
held on Saturday 18 February and Saturday 3 March 2012 between 10am and 3pm where the project team will be available to
answer questions on the development.
The feedback, along with a design review by Wellington Waterfront Ltd’s Technical Advisory Group, and the commercial
terms of the proposed deal, will be considered by a meeting of the Council in late March.
Resource consent applications will be informed by the Environment Court’s decision following a hearing on variation 11
to the District Plan. The hearing is scheduled to start on 12 March.