By ANNE GIBSON
Eliminating motorway traffic noise from the new McDonald's headquarters building in Freemans Bay was one of the design briefs for the job.
Mainzeal is due to begin site works this week on the $10 million headquarters for McDonald's New Zealand.
The three-storey office block will be built beside the
historic former St Patrick's School building at 57 Wellington St.
The building is already part of McDonald's operations in Auckland and used as its training centre.
The site is just below the on-ramp to the Northern Motorway via Union St and Wellington St, so cutting down on noise levels will be achieved with the use of acoustic glass, says Alan Dunn, McDonald's managing director.
The decision to build new offices was part of the company's expansion here, says Mr Dunn. It was in addition to the $25 million national redevelopment programme to upgrade all 145 McDonald's in New Zealand.
The new 2887 sq m head office will include two levels of underground parking, with space for 120 vehicles.
Up to 110 people will work in the building, designed by Andrew Scott Cotton Architects.
Staff are split between two sites now - the Wellington St headquarters and another building in Grey's Ave.
The new building is due to be finished in September next year.
Mr Dunn says that McDonald's is extremely proud of the historic building on the site, officially called the Gary Lloyd Training Centre, named after a former McDonald's managing director.
This building has been fully restored and is a well-recognised Freemans Bay landmark, Mr Dunn says.
