Property Insider: New SkyCity CEO Jason Walbridge starts; NZ’s highest outdoor office garden; nine-level Kingsland apartments win fast-track consent

Property Editor·NZ Herald·

22 Jul, 2024 05:00 PM7 mins to read

SkyCity chief executive Jason Walbridge's powhiri on July 12 at SkyCity, Auckland. He started work on July 15. Video / supplied by SkyCity Entertainment Group.

NOW PLAYING • Pōwhiri for new SkyCity CEO Jason Walbridge

New boss welcomed on Friday, July 12 at SkyCity, Auckland. He started work on Monday, July 15. Video /

Jason Walbridge was welcomed with a pōwhiri before starting in his new role as SkyCity CEO this month; Auckland’s tallest outdoor rooftop garden has pou whenua commemorating life – as well as death – at One Queen where three died last year; Kingsland block wins fast-track approval under the Covid-19 recovery legislation.

New SkyCity CEO begins job

“There’s a few challenges ahead of us, but I’m cheered by what I see,” said Jason Walbridge when he was welcomed into his new role as SkyCity chief executive after Michael Ahearne returned to Ireland.

He started the same week the casino giant voluntarily agreed to a five-day closure in Auckland after apologising for harm caused to a gambler who the Department of Internal Affairs revealed had lost more than $1 million between 2017 and 2021.

A pōwhiri by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Trust was held on July 12 on the Auckland forecourt of the company’s main gaming headquarters beside Federal St.

Walbridge is a Kiwi who has returned from more than 20 years in Las Vegas where he worked in the gaming industry.

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Marama Royal, chair of the trust, cloaked Walbridge in a kōrowai (cloak).

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He began in his new role last Monday when acting chief executive Callum Mallett returned to being chief operating officer.

Interestingly, it was Mallett who fronted publicity responding to the NZX announcement on the five-day closure.

Walbridge’s appointment was announced on April 17 when he worked for ASX-listed Sydney-headquartered global gaming and technology company Aristocrat Leisure which trades around A$52 ($58) and has a market cap of A$33 billion.

Jason Walbridge and his wife Liisa were welcomed this month with a pōwhiri. Photo / SkyCity Entertainment Group

He worked for that business for 18 years, holding executive leadership roles in New Zealand and the United States. Previously, he held senior consulting roles including with Ernst & Young. He has served as a commissioned officer in the New Zealand Army in a variety of operational leadership roles around the world.

His advisory role with Aristocrat included working on its proposed acquisition of Israel-based lottery software company NeoGames S.A.

He was also executive chairman of the largest US amusement kiosk operator National Entertainment Network LLC.

He has an MBA in international management from the Auckland Institute of Studies.

Chairman Julian Cook said Walbridge knew the online gaming sector well, which was important to the company.

“The online gaming market in New Zealand is actually a lot bigger than anyone in New Zealand realises. To date, it hasn’t been regulated. It’s one of the last grey markets in the OECD. In New Zealand at the moment it’s been described as a free-for-all, with essentially no regulation,” Cook told the Herald in April.

Marama Royal cloaks new CEO Jason Walbridge in a kōrowai at the pōwhiri on July 12, held on the forecourt of the company's headquarters in Auckland. Photo / SkyCity Entertainment Group

Walbridge’s experience at Australian-based gambling machine manufacturer Aristocrat Leisure was crucial and he understands risk and compliance, Cook said.

Ahearne said last October: “I’ve been in New Zealand six years through Covid. It’s time to head home. I’ll go back to Ireland, take some time off, and figure out where I go from there. I’ll be returning to County Waterford. That’s where I grew up.”

Highest outdoor office roof garden

The rooftop garden at One Queen in May this year. Photo / Michael Craig

It’s Auckland but viewed from a perspective few would have seen before, taking gardening to new heights.

Herald photographer Michael Craig captured a series of startling images of a new rooftop garden installation in the central city, which is the highest outdoor office rooftop garden.

The angle puts Auckland in an entirely new perspective.

From level 22 of the PwC Tower at Commercial Bay, looking across to the outdoor garden area of the rooftop bar on level 21 of One Queen Street. Photo / Michael Craig

Craig was in offices on level 22 of Commercial Bay’s PwC Tower in early May when he looked across to the top level of the neighbouring refurbished block.

His unusual vantage gave him a clear view of the 21st level of Precinct Properties’ One Queen St: the Deloitte Centre and InterContinental Auckland.

Queens Rooftop & Wineshop is the new dining venue with a deck and an exterior garden. Craig saw gardeners, harnessed for safety, working in that jaw-dropping location.

In the background are the high-rise towers of Takapuna to the left, the Hauraki Gulf and Rangitoto visible to the right.

One Queen Street: the Deloitte Building and InterContinental Auckland in the refurbished block were lit up during Matariki.

A Precinct spokeswoman said the sculpture in the new garden, Nga Pou Atua, refers to connecting people with the heavens.

The five tōtara pou are by iwi artist Chris Bailey. They look charred because they were finished in a Japanese process, shou sugi ban, which involves charcoaling and burnishing the surface with bee’s wax. This highlights the timber grain and acts as a preservative

“The narrative and inspiration behind Nga Pou Atua considers the things we have in common as humans, those things that unify us rather than fracture us and includes sentiments around whānau, loved ones, missing those who are not with us – which is particularly relevant to Precinct on this project – and a place for celebrating new births and whānau gatherings,” the Precinct spokeswoman said.

Gardening at height: level 21 of the refurbished One Queen Street building. Photo / Michael Craig

That is a reference to shootings in the tower and three deaths last July.

The spokeswoman said the pou stand in the planting pattern of taki toru, which is the traditional binding pattern, embracing visitors and reflecting the hospitality of the hotel below and Commercial Bay with its dining outlets.

“This particular binding pattern has four rows of lashings, which symbolically binds Precinct’s four mana whenua groups together. The planting has colour palettes that reference each iwi: black/ yellow, Ngāti Whātua, blue/green for Ngāti Paoa, green/red for Ngāti Te Aata Waihoua and red/black for Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki,” she said.

Ngā Pou Atua at the rooftop garden at One Queen, Auckland. This image was supplied by Precinct Properties.

There is no public access to the garden and it can only be accessed by maintenance staff in full fall arrest harnesses. So there is no balustrade, The edges are open to the sky.

An automatic irrigation system has been installed.

“The rooftop planting forms a whāriki (woven mat), finishing the building. The plants were selected to match the colours required by design by Mace Landscapes, who supplied and installed the garden,” the spokeswoman said.

Hardy native grasses and low-growing ground covers were chosen for their ability to endure extremes of weather. The plant colours were matched to the garden pattern design.

Kingsland to hit new heights

A nine-level apartment block proposed for Auckland’s Kingsland won fast-track consent, according to the Environment Protection Authority which said an independent panel approved the application for the mixed-use development.

A company, 617 New North, applied under the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 to develop the building on the site at 617-619 New North Rd.

Plans for a nine-level apartment building with two basement car parking levels have been approved for 617-619 New North Rd, Kingsland. Image / Environmental Protection Authority

The block is to be 29.3m tall: 13.3m taller than the 16m height standard for the site, which is in the business local centre zone.

Approval was granted for 44 apartments, 34 visitor accommodation units, a rooftop terrace for residents and visitors and two basement levels for parking.

All up, the building will have 11 levels including the car parking areas which are to have space for 46 cars via 23 stacked car parks.

The site is occupied by the Peel to Pip Café, which fronts on to New North Rd and the former Unite Union office and carpark, which fronts on to Western Springs Rd.

The heritage villa where the cafe is will be removed. The panel’s decision said comments were received from Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga that the applicant would also need to seek authority under the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, because the site of the cafe is within the definition of an archaeological site.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.