KEY POINTS:
BNZ will not be splashing its name across the top of its new national headquarters. The bank has given up naming rights to its $240 million, 20-level Queen Street office tower in favour of accounting and consulting firm Deloitte.
In a deal brokered by commercial real estate agency
Colliers International, Deloitte has signed up to lease the top 10 floors of the Queen St tower from developer Multiplex.
BNZ has a lease of the remaining seven floors of the building's office space, as well as some retail space for a bank branch at ground level.
Office space in the high-rise is now fully tenanted, more than two years ahead of its expected completion in January 2010.
BNZ chief executive Cameron Clyne said when the bank released the naming rights it wanted to find a co-tenant that shared its commitment to sustainability, and Deloitte did that.
Deloitte chief executive Murray Jack said the tower's five-star green rating was a major factor in signing up for the 12-year lease. The building is the first high-rise to be given the five-star rating, which was awarded by the New Zealand Green Building Council under a pilot scheme to assess environmental sustainability.
BNZ partnered with Multiplex to seek the rating, which was granted in October this year.
The development will have a long history by the time Deloitte moves in in 2010. BNZ bought the historic Jean Batten Building and 80 Queen St sites in the 1990s for a new head office. In 2003 it entered a joint venture with Multiplex, but shortly afterwards heritage issues surfaced over the Jean Batten Building.
The Historic Places Trust said the building was architecturally significant as one of the earliest major government office buildings to be constructed in the moderne style. It was also one of government architect John Mair's last major works.
Negotiations with the Auckland City Council and Historic Places Trust resulted in Multiplex, BNZ, the council and the trust agreeing for a heritage covenant to be registered on the title, clearing the way for Multiplex to demolish all but the facade of the Jean Batten Building in March this year.
The new building, which will be located between Queen St, Shortland St, Fort St and Jean Batten Place, is on the CBD's only island site.
