Skyscraper a step closer

NDG Centre will be among Auckland's tallest. Photo / Paul Brown and Architects

Planning work for New Zealand's tallest new skyscraper is going on behind the scenes.

No site works have begun, but work is on to establish the team to build the 52-level NDG Auckland Centre in Auckland's heart.

Ludo Campbell-Reid, Auckland Council's design champion and environmental strategy and policy department manager, said his organisation had been in touch with theteam from Chinese-headquartered NDG.

The building will rise on the site between Albert St, Victoria St and Elliott St, and is named after the Shanghai-based New Development Group, headed by Furu Ding.

Auckland mayor Len Brown announced the huge new tower in February, saying resource consent had been granted for the block which would be 119m shorter than the Sky Tower.

The skyscraper is to have a hotel, shops, cinema, restaurant, public swimming pool and apartments.

Campbell Reid said that this month, NDG had let him know about progress.

"They informed us they are just about to appoint a local project management team to move the project forward. So once they have done that they will be in contact again and the project will become more public then."

Another council spokesman said he expected the next stage would be NDG applying for building consent, and this was anticipated later this year.

"I have confirmed that the milestones and details outlined in the February release are still correct," he said, referring to the mayor's statement that the tower would stand alongside the Sky Tower as "a world-class development for Auckland that will create hundreds of new jobs, energise the CBD and boost Auckland's GDP, through a more than $350 million investment by NDG".

"It's also an example of the major commercial opportunities created by the City Rail Link project. To date the private sector has confirmed more than a billion dollars of new investments along the proposed route ... "

Auckland's tallest

• Sky Tower 328m.
• NDG Auckland Centre 209m.
• Vero Centre 172m.
• Metropolis 155m.
[Source: Auckland Mayor Len Brown]