Fonterra to move about 1500 staff into new world HQ

An impression of the new Fonterra headquarters, to be built and owned by Goodman Property Trust.

Fonterra job cuts don't appear to be impacting plans for the diary giant's move into new 1.6ha international headquarters from early next year.

Maury Leyland, managing director of people, culture and strategy, outlined the programme to shift about 1500 people into the building - the same number which has often been cited and 500 more people than were announced when Fonterra's lease of the premises was announced in 2013.

The new building is opposite Victoria Park, near the waterfront on the Fanshawe St/Halsey St corner.

Leyland emphasised that the 750 job cuts were not just in Auckland but all around the world and indicated that the staff moves would have little effect on occupancy of the new building, almost finished and owned by Goodman Property Trust and the Singaporean government.

"The 750 roles announced [to be cut] are from our global workforce. Roughly half of these roles will come from our offshore teams," she said.

"In New Zealand, the large majority of disestablished roles have come from our Hamilton and Auckland offices. To put these numbers in perspective, Fonterra has 22,000 staff globally, of which 12,000 are based in New Zealand We are aiming to begin the move in stages from the end of February 2016.

Fonterra leases its current Princes St world headquarters, between Shortland St and Waterloo Quadrant, and has to leave that building when its right to occupy it ends.

"The timing of the move makes financial sense as our lease at Princes Street is expiring in July 2016. Additionally, the lease on Fonterra's Shortland Street office expires in August 2016," she said.

"In addition to the teams from our Princes Street and Shortland Street offices, a number of staff from our Fonterra Brands team based at our Takanini and Tip Top sites will also relocate to the building. This brings the total number of staff expected to move into Fanshaw Street to be approximately 1500 people - close to the building's maximum capacity," she said.

Fire restrictions on the new building are understood to limit occupation to 1584 people.
Yesterday, questions were raised about whether Fonterra would need the entire new building, after so many job cuts were announced.

A November 2013 Goodman announcement to the NZX cited Fonterra staff numbers.
"More than 1000 staff are expected to work in the new head office," the announcement said, describing how Fonterra's new HQ would be a "16,000 sq m campus style office, one of two low-rise commercial buildings being developed by Goodman Group in conjunction with Fletcher Building, owners of the leasehold interest in the site."

Fletcher has now almost finished Fonterra's new building.

"Fonterra has taken a 15 year lease over the building which includes naming rights, underground car parks, and further rights of renewal," Goodman announced in 2013.