The building measures approximately 20m by 20m, he said.
Senior station officer Martin Campbell said the fire began in the plant room but the cause had not yet been confirmed by a specialist fire investigator.
Campbell said the fire was on the roof and top floor of the building and firefighters were facing “heavy smoke conditions”.
The fire had not spread beyond these areas and had been successfully extinguished, he said.
The damage to the building was contained to these areas.
“Nobody was in the building at the time, all the construction workers had evacuated,” Campbell said.
It was looking like a “potential accidental fire” from the processes of construction work, Campbell said.
A nearby cafe manager said there were two fire engines outside a construction site next to the library and “lots of construction workers standing outside”. There was “no smoke and flames” that she could see.
Built Construction Company said: “At approximately 12pm, a small fire broke out on level 16 of the 2/16 Wakefield St project site and was quickly contained by onsite personnel and emergency services.”
Built Construction said no one was injured, and the area was immediately isolated and the site evacuated as a precaution.
“We consider site safety as our No 1 priority and we will co-operate with any investigations accordingly.”
RNZ reported that Wakefield St is closed between Mayoral Drive and Queen St.
Rutland St is closed between Queen St and Lorne St.
The fire was initially understood to be at 2/14 Wakefield St, the site of Auckland’s second-largest commercial building project by global fund PAG, known as Wakefield Place, according to a list released this week by CBRE.
More to come ...
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