Site works still at ground stage but formwork and some concrete slab walls are up. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Site works still at ground stage but formwork and some concrete slab walls are up. Photo / Jason Oxenham
A fixed crane is operating on a $17.5 million Herne Bay waterfront property where award-winning architects have designed a new home, under construction for a businessman.
Richlister Steve Lockwood - a co-founder of homegrown insurance giant Crombie Lockwood - is developing the huge new home at the end of theexclusive Cremorne St, a quiet cul de sac running down to the waterfront but only a few minutes drive from the CBD.
Lockwood was one of the neighbours of a Wairangi St home, a block away, who supported a boatshed application for a new structure measuring 18m x 2m. That is planned to be built above the sea by the owners of the $22m weatherboard villa-style home, once owned by the Sultan of Brunei.
Some wealthy neighbours were backing the proposal and others were concerned it would create an eyesore in the area. Lockwood’s submission in support of his neighbour spelt out his connection to the area and his latest activities.
“I have lived in the area for many decades along this part of the coast, first at 15 Cremorne St and now we are building,” he told the council citing the address of his newer place.
Many trades specialists are on the waterfront site. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The house he once owned across the street he sold to marina entrepreneurs Simon and Paula Herbert for what was thought to be a record of just under $30m in 2018. That is a modernist Brent Hulena concrete place with its own boatshed, helicopter pad, pool overlooking the waterfront and beachfront access.
Real estate agent Graham Wall said he had brokered the sale in an off-market, non-advertised sale: “The best part of New Zealand is Auckland and its best suburb is Herne Bay and probably its best street is Cremorne St. Where else can you live on a beach just five minutes from the CBD?” Wall asked at the time.
At the same time they bought in Herne Bay, the Herberts also sold one of New Zealand’s most stately city mansions for $25.5 million: a 6105sq m property in two titles on Remuera Rd.
Asked about his new home at the end of the street and the construction, Lockwood said: “I like to keep a low profile.”
Site works are at the basement level, with excavators and other equipment operating throughout the winter but formwork is up for new walls and some concrete walls are already up.
One tradesman on the Cremorne St site said he had been there for around 14 months because he had also been involved in the demolition of the previous house to make way for the new place.
The original home was built in the early 1990s and had six bedrooms, five bathrooms and at least three car parks.
Construction business Boyd Cox + Thompson won the construction contract. They say they “specialise in building and renovating high-quality properties, from building large luxury homes to modest dwellings or renovations, our focus is on achieving excellence in both service and workmanship”.
It is their fixed crane which is hauling heavy equipment and supplies on the site, above the clifftop lined with pohutukawa.
Scarborough Civil is on the earthworks.
Site works are still at ground stage but formwork and some concrete slab walls are up. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Auckland Council values the 1745sq m site at $12.5m and the home that once stood there at $5m.
Lockwood is one of New Zealand’s most successful business people. The insurance business he co-founded said it “remains true to the Kiwi values we’re built on, and today Crombie Lockwood is still run by two of its founders, Steve Lockwood and Carl O’Shea”.
The business, founded in Napier in 1978, says it is now one of this country’s largest insurance broking companies.
“We arrange business, personal and life and health insurance on behalf of over 100,000 clients throughout New Zealand, placing insurance premiums of more than $1 billion.”
In 2014, Crombie Lockwood joined the insurance and risk management business Gallagher. Lockwood is the managing director of Gallagher Australia and New Zealand.
In 2019, he was named in a new deal where the NZ Super Fund invested in a $300m Auckland and Christchurch hotel portfolio with Brett Russell’s Russell Group.
Lockwood was involved in that hotel deal via his Lockwood Property Group.
Cremorne St in Herne Bay ends on the waterfront yet is only a few minutes from the CBD. Photo / Auckland Council
Russell expressed delight at joining the Super Fund and Lockwood was quoted in the Herald in July that year as saying a significant opportunity for future growth in the sector was a major motivation for it. Lockwood continues as managing director of the wider Arthur J Gallagher Australian and New Zealand businesses and is a longstanding investment partner of the Russell Group of companies, the article said.
The Lockwood Group is a private investment business owned by Lockwood, the 2019 article said.
In 2017, he was also reported as having bought a 1934 Bugatti Type 57 Gangloff Roadster for some millions. The car, once owned by a member of the Louis Vuitton family, had been listed for sale for $4m. He planned to offer it for display around car museums so everyone could enjoy it.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, having won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
