Leading questions: Scott Pritchard on $500m of development and being a milk boy

Precinct chief executive Scott Pritchard. Photo / Michael Craig

Scott Pritchard is chief executive of Precinct Properties, now finishing its $1 billion 40-level Commercial Bay project tower on Auckland's waterfront. He reflects on 2019 and looks forward to 2020.

Q: How would you describe 2019 for your business?

A: It has been another great year for Precinct, the completion of the Bowen Campus development and successful handover to Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry of Defence is a major milestone for our Wellington team, and we're excited to start on the next stage of Bowen Campus shortly.

Our business continues to grow and evolve and this year moving to 100 per cent owner of Generator and the introduction of a private office concept means we are able to provide office accommodation for more than our typical client base. The shared workspaces at Generator continue to be a popular model, and more premium smaller offices of our private offices at the new PwC Tower and the ANZ Centre have been well received in the market.

Q: What do you think 2020 will bring?

A: For us, the completion and opening of Commercial Bay is going to be huge. Our business has spent many years working tirelessly on this exciting project and we're looking forward to welcoming clients into the building and Aucklanders into the retail and hospitality space.

We'll be completing one significant development but we'll also be starting on One Queen St and stage three of Wynyard Quarter in Auckland and stage two of Bowen Campus in Wellington. Combined, this represents a further $550 million in development projects which will get started in 2020.

Q: Going into an election year, what are the three biggest issues the Government needs to solve?

A: Infrastructure. Infrastructure. Infrastructure.

Q: What was your favourite corporate stoush of the year?

A: Maybe not a stoush, but it was fascinating watching the WeWork IPO play out in the market.

Q: What should be uninvented in 2020?

A: Single-use plastic products.

Q: What do you want to fix in 2020?

A: Auckland Council is doing some fantastic work on the civic spaces along the waterfront – very much following in the footsteps of their Wellington counterparts who have done an amazing job with their waterfront. I'm looking forward to those works being completed and for Aucklanders to recognise how great Auckland city actually is. We're so lucky to have our city on the waterfront and improving the connection is really going to make the most of this location.

Q: What was your first job?

A: Milk boy delivering milk to the family home.

Q: What was your worst job?

A: Any time I have to do some gardening.

Q: If you could change one thing about the workplace what would it be?

A: We're seeing a lot of early adopters in the new ways of working that, as a property owner and developer, is really exciting. We have plans for all our new developments to feature flex space as well as meeting and event spaces, in addition to amenities, activated lobbies and outdoor spaces. It's a change that is probably overdue in New Zealand and I'd love for more businesses to see how modern workplaces can significantly improve the quality of their workforce and the performance of their business through focusing on their workplace.

Q: How do you stop yourself from working during the holiday period?

A: My phone doesn't work when I'm in the water surfing and that's one thing I'd be keen for no one to ever invent.