A tour of the new offices of architectural firm Warren and Mahoney
Architects Warren and Mahoney have moved Auckland offices, leaving Dock St and Wellesley St for the Mason Bros. Building at 139 Pakenham Street West in the Wynyard Quarter near the waterfront.
John Coop, board chairman, said 110 staff were now in the refurbished building where 12 car parks have beenallocated on an adjoining site as part of the lease with landlord, NZX listed Precinct Properties.
A Warren and Mahoney statement said Mason Bros. Engineering Co was established by Harold and Percy Mason in the 1920s and changes to their building aimed to celebrate its industrial history and use. Construction work by NZ Strong saw the character warehouse converted into commercial offices.
The building had more recently been used by Southern Spars and Rigging whose spar-making operations are now at Avondale.
Coop said the expanding Auckland architectural business had been on two separate sites and it was significant to be united but also to be in the innovation hub, a dynamic burgeoning area.
Scott Compton, a Warren and Mahoney associate, was lead architect for Precinct on the building.
Coop said space there was also leased to Auckland Council-controlled Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development and engineers Mott MacDonald. Those two move to the Mason building next year, he said.
Original steel beams were left unpainted to distinguish them from new beams. New foundations were laid and new concrete floor slabs poured.
The red brick facade was exposed and a new internal 'laneway' established from the southern end of the old building to the seaward or northern end.
The exterior of Warren and Mahoney's new offices in Auckland. Photo/ Doug Sherring
Terrace-style seating has created an auditorium for 50 to 100 people, developed in the architects' reception area alongside stairs to level one.
Coop said industry events for organisations such as the Property Council were planned to be held there.
Precinct is projecting the first stage of its Wynyard project will generate net contract income of $6.7 million on completion with a weighted average lease term of 11.2 years.
"The forecast project cost remains $84 million with an estimated yield on cost of 8 per cent," Precinct said in an NZX notice.
