Plans for the new 13-level multi-faculty Grafton building in Auckland which Naylor Love will build. Photo / University of Auckland
The Law Faculty and Maidment Theatre are being replaced at Auckland University; Fletcher Living is selling Three Kings land; in Sandringham, flood-prone Kāinga Ora land is for sale.
The University of Auckland has begun developing one of its largest new buildings in yet a further transformation of the city Grafton campus, following the huge wins with its new $320 million Hiwa, recreation centre.
To make space for its new tower, an historic 1850s villa had to go.
Nayor Love won the contract to build the 13-level B230 tower, now under construction between Alten Rd and Wynyard St.
The new 20,000sq m $200 million-plus block will be the new home of the university’s Faculty of Law as well as arts and education faculties.
A multi-purpose performing arts faculty with retractable seating will be developed there after the Maidment Theatre was demolished in 2016.
A cafe, student study areas, teaching spaces with flexible functions and academic areas are all planned.
University chief property officer Simon Neale said construction had started at what will be “a transformative new development on our city campus that will provide academic offices, contemporary teaching spaces, student amenities, and a purpose-built performing arts facility”.
The block is rising adjacent to the award-winning B201 which houses arts and education.
“They’ll have a nice view of the High Court,” quips Neale of the Law Faculty, explaining the plan to move that out of a group of older buildings on Eden Cres in a gully which he said was not as easily accessible as the big new tower would be.
“But a giant?” he said, questioning the Herald’s headline. “It’s probably a medium-sized building for us - and there’s much more to come.”
To put B230 in context, arguably the university’s most successful development, Hiwa, was a $320m project.
So B230 at $200m isn’t in the same league as Hiwa, a name gifted by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and which means vigorous, active, robust and sound.
It’s a somewhat scruffy area compared to the upmarket Symonds St heart of new development.
The site for the new B230 tower is on the rise above the Grafton gully, near the motorway offramp, in the section of the campus closer to Anzac Ave, below the High Court where Waipapa Marae stands.
The new B230 is designed to support the university’s creative and cultural life but will also enable it to vacate leased premises and consolidate its estate, Neale said.
“We will be targeting a 6 Green Star sustainability rating,” Neale said.
The B241 historic villa at 3 Alten Rd was removed during the night recently. It was originally built on Wynyard St but shifted to Alten Rd in 2002 to make room for the Sir Owen G. Glenn Building.
Two decades later, it was on the move again, the university said.
The villa was previously used by the Alten Road Early Childhood Centre but it is going to Muriwai where it will be a private family home once again.
Nat Warmington, a senior project manager for the university’s property services, said the idea of selling then shifting the villa emerged during the early planning stages for B230.
“Initially, it was a tricky conversation regarding moving the [early childhood centre] because it has been a home for children and families, but we have delivered a great new space, Te Tupu o Te Tōrea, which has been up and running since its official opening in April,” Warmington said.
Sports courts are also being relocated.
The temporary courts, installed while Hiwa was under construction, are being deconstructed and will be reinstated and reused at another institution.
Neale estimates many hundreds of people will be working in the building at any one time. Six floors of offices alone are planned.
Wynyard St used to be a service area “and it will now be very front of house because the rest of the street will be redeveloped through this project so it will become the centre of the culture and arts part of the campus”.
The new block was designed by James Mooney of Architectus. Resource consent was granted earlier this year.
Bruno Goedeke, Naylor Love CEO, said the builder won the project via a competitive tendering process.
The two previous projects the builder completed for the university were:
B230 is due to be completed by 2029.
Where did all the money come from for the two huge buildings? Neale said Hiwa’s planning dated back to 2018 whereas B230’s dated back to only last year.
No bank finance has been used for either project.
“These have been funded from the university’s capital plan, which is a rolling capital programme. Hiwa was partly funded not only from that capital plan but also from student levies accumulated for that purpose over the years,” Neale said.
He promises to say more about future developments soon, so watch this space for further tertiary transformations.
“Has Fletcher Living run out of money?” asked a Three Kings resident when he saw two big sites up for sale.
He was surprised at advertisements for sites around the former Three Kings quarry, once operated by Fletcher Building’s Winstones, now becoming a new residential hub courtesy of Fletcher Living.
Ray White has a tender out for land surrounding the new housing estate and sports field being developed in the ex-quarry.
The agents are selling half a hectare on Grahame Reed Dr and a quarter of a hectare on Koheramui Rise.
Tenders are due by October 23.
A Fletcher Building spokesman said the business was fully committed to completing the quarry scheme but it didn’t need that land to do it.
“As part of our masterplan, we had identified two sites which are at the periphery of the development and are seen as sites others may wish to acquire and develop.
“In particular, there is the old Auckland Works Depot site which sits in a prime location adjacent to the town centre looking north across our development.
“The second site sits between our already completed apartment buildings on Mt Eden Rd and the existing Danske Mobler showroom.
“These super-lot sales do not change our commitment to delivering the wider Three Kings development,” the spokesman said.
OK. Fletcher - not shy on cash, then.
“In the Sandringham flood zone, Kāinga Ora is actively selling flood-prone land disguised as development opportunities,” a local told this column.
Geoff Mills, Kāinga Ora market delivery director, said: “We are selling the land we own at 2-8 and 39-41 Parrish Rd, Sandringham.”
That is on the open market as part of its work renewing and replacing stock nationally.
“While it doesn’t make commercial sense for us to build social housing on the land, there may be potential for others to redevelop these sites, subject to planning approval,” Mills said.
Real estate agents were aware that area has flooded in the past and were encouraging potential buyers to do due diligence, including checking with Auckland Council about zoning, infrastructure, and the flood risk in the area, he said.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.